According to an article in the 6 November 1941 edition of The Hollywood Reporter, Joan Crawford and Hedy Lamarr were each offered the part of "Consuelo", but both turned it down.
The $3,200 Taylor loses to Shearer playing the card game punto banco (a form of baccarat) would equate to about $57,600 in 2022.
The year before directing this notorious box office bomb (which was widely blamed for bringing Norma Shearer's movie career to an abrupt end) George Cukor also directed the film that finished off screen legend Greta Garbo's career as well - yet another flat-footed romantic comedy, Two-Faced Woman (1941).
Irving Thalberg earlier wanted to make a musical version of the play, starring Grace Moore and Maurice Chevalier, but Chevalier backed out of the production because he was asked to take second billing below Moore.