Hairy-chested Gene Nelson was forced to submit to a complete body wax before being filmed shirtless for his impressive calisthenics routine on the trapeze.
Gene Nelson was second only to Gene Kelly for the muscularity and technique he brought to his work. Because he was the only dancer under long-term contract at Warner Bros. in the 1950s, nearly all of his numbers were solo efforts, as Nelson was a trained gymnast, a polished skater and a dynamite tapper to boot - and never was his robust athleticism better evidenced than in his spectacular gymnasium routine in this film, all the more impressive in that the sequence was entirely Nelson's doing. He himself chose the song "Am I In Love?" from the Warner catalog, and it was his inspiration to act out the lyric in the most physical way possible - in a gymnasium, employing all the equipment it offers, and the many skills he could bring to bear in this environment - swinging on bars, riding rings from one end of the room to the other, running jumps and flips on the mat, high somersaults on the trampoline, a slam-dunk from halfway down the basketball court and a remarkable section where he keeps breakneck rhythm with his fists and elbows against a punching ball.
The set designers chose the Italian Renaissance style popular in California universities for the buildings of what is supposed to be a Midwest college. On what is clearly a painted backdrop at the end of the main campus street, Royce Hall, the auditorium of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), is prominently featured.
At 32, not only was Gene Nelson far too old to be playing a college student, but he was the same age as Virginia Mayo and nine years younger than Ronald Reagan, both of whom were playing their own ages if not older.