Three legendary women were considered to play Mama Rose on film: Broadway's original Rose, Ethel Merman (who was producer-director Mervyn LeRoy's first choice), Judy Garland and Judy Holliday.
Before the decision was made to dub most of her vocals, Rosalind Russell attempted to do her own singing. The results are an extra feature on the soundtrack CD. After Ethel Merman died, a tape of the Russell recordings was found in a box in Merman's closet. Merman, furious that she had not been cast in the film, evidently kept a copy of the Russell vocals as a strange, somewhat vengeful consolation prize.
Rosalind Russell won her fifth Golden Globe for this film. At the time, that was a record for any performer. She never won a competitive Academy Award.
In the film, the character of Herbie appears early as "Uncle Jocko." This doubling does not exist in the original musical but was done, presumably, to get Karl Malden on screen earlier.
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