There are more than 130 roles in this movie, all played by women. Phyllis Povah, Marjorie Main, Mary Cecil and Marjorie Wood originated their roles in the play, which opened September 7, 1937, and had 666 performances at New York City's Ethel Barrymore Theatre--a Broadway run which, unusually but quite proudly, is displayed in the movie's opening credits. No doubles were used in the fight sequence where Rosalind Russell bites Paulette Goddard. Despite the permanent scar resulting from the bite, the actresses remained friends.
George Cukor told Rosalind Russell to play the part of Sylvia very broad. "Because in this picture Sylvia's breaking up a family, and there's a child involved, and if you're a heavy," Cukor told her, "audiences will hate you. Don't play it like a heavy, just be ridiculous." Of this advice Russell said, "He was a hundred-percent right. I was frightened to death, but from then on, I did what he said, and everything that came to me from 'The Women'--namely, my reputation as a comedienne--I owe to George . . . He was marvelous to work for, he could think of a hundred bits of business for every moment."
Joan Fontaine recorded her impressions of each of the actresses in her 1978 autobiography "No Bed of Roses". About Norma Shearer she said, "Hers was a dignified, delightfully warm demeanor." Joan Crawford, she said, "had the democratic touch, knowing every grip and electrician by name". Rosalind Russell, she said, "was a tomboy, hearty, frolicsome, highly popular with the cast and crew . . . But best of all was our director, George Cukor. He handled all the women in the star-studded cast with tact and gallantry, so that what might have been a highly charged assignment for any other director turned out to be a happy association all around. We adored George, as do all actresses who work with him."
The film's costume designer Adrian had his work cut out for him dressing some of Hollywood's most glamorous leading ladies. In addition to the regular costumes for the film, he was also asked to create multiple high-fashion gowns and outfits for a Technicolor fashion show scene that was to be inserted into the black-and-white film. Technicolor was still something of a novelty in 1939, and producer Hunt Stromberg wanted the fashion show to be an eye-popping, unexpected surprise for moviegoers. When all was said and done, Adrian had designed more than 200 gowns for the cast of the film.
After Sylvia bites Miriam on the leg, Miriam's line, "Yeah, gotta be careful of hydrophobia!" is her veiled way of calling Sylvia a bitch (hydrophobia is a synonym for rabies, referring to a late stage of the disease, in which the victim has difficulty swallowing, even liquids, and simultaneously becomes very thirsty, while panicking at the idea of trying to drink water). Also, near the end a second allusion to the word "bitch" is used when Crystal says, "There's a name for you ladies, but it isn't used in high society . . . outside a kennel."