The original play opened in Paris in 1852. The first Broadway production opened on 9 December 1853. There have been 15 Broadway revivals of the popular play, the last (to date) in 1935.
Concerned about the all-seeing eye of the camera revealing her true age--which was, at the time, past 40--Alla Nazimova saw to it that all of her closeups or near closeups were shot in heavily filtered soft focus.
The film contains many before-their-time innovations. These include: Marguerite's high "Afro" wig in the theatre scene at the beginning, an open fire pit set in the middle of her living room, and doors that open automatically at approach.
The novel "Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux, et de Manon Lescaut" (The Story of the Chevalier des Grieux and Manon Lescaut) by Antoine François Prévost is the seventh and final volume of "Mémoires et aventures d'un homme de qualité" (Memoirs and Adventures of a Man of Quality). It was published in 1731, and, though banned in France, though pirated editions were widely available.
The Count de Varville's Limousine is a 1920 Franklin Model 9-B.