To secure the part of Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Henry Fonda had to sign a long-term contract with Fox. Except for The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), Fonda disliked the other films he was forced to do, none more so than "Lillian Russell".
After the huge success of The Great Ziegfeld (1936), MGM wanted to make a movie about Lillian Russell starring Jeanette MacDonald, but that project fell through. Twentieth Century-Fox then decided to make a movie about Russell.
Director Irving Cummings played on stage with the real Lillian Russell in a 1908 Broadway play called "Wildfire".
"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60-minute radio adaptation of the movie on
October 21, 1940, with Alice Faye and Edward Arnold reprising their roles and Victor Mature in the Henry Fonda part.
"The Last Rose of Summer" (a traditional Irish folk song), sung by Alice Faye, was cut from the movie.
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