Trivia

In the original comic, the Sad Sack's name is just that, Private Sad Sack, and he was even given an uncle, a colonel named Saggy Sack. But in the movie, the Sad Sack's name is Meredith Bixby. The comic character also doesn't have a photographic memory like in the movie.

Her role as the major in this Jerry Lewis comedy was the final theatrical feature film for Phyllis Kirk. The remaining 13 years of her acting career would be working on television.

Based on Sad Sack, the American comic strip and comic book character created by Sgt. George Baker during World War II. Set in the United States Army, Sad Sack depicted an otherwise unnamed, lowly private experiencing some of the absurdities and humiliations of military life. The so-called "unnamed private" was actually Ben Schnall, a true-life private in the US Army during World War II, member of Yank magazine and good curmudgeonly friend of Sgt. George Baker. The title was a euphemistic shortening of the military slang "sad sack of shit," common during World War II. The phrase has come to mean "an inept person" or "inept soldier."

The film is based upon George Baker's comic book character. Hal B. Wallis purchased the film rights with the intention of the project starring the comedy team Martin and Lewis, but they split up before filming began.

The Sad Sack was shot between March 18 and May 31, 1957 and released on November 27. It was re-released in 1962 as a double feature with another Jerry Lewis vehicle, The Delicate Delinquent (1957).