Fausses notes (1939) is a treat for fans of the studio's contract players, featuring memorable bits by Allen Jenkins, Maxie Rosenbloom and the young Ronald Reagan. Mystery fans will get a special charge out of the casting of Helen Broderick and Zasu Pitts as Dick Powell's supportive aunts. Each had previously played Stuart Palmer's crime-solving school teacher Hildegarde Withers. Broderick was the first to succeed Miss Wither's original interpreter, Dame Edna May Oliver, when she starred in Le Mystère de l'allée Cavalière (1936), while Pitts finished out the series in Forty Naughty Girls (1937).
Regarding Warner Bros. "oomph" girl campaign, Ann Sheridan was grateful for the chance to play better roles, but never quite understood the label. As she told film historian John Kobal (People Will Talk), "it always reminded me of a fat man bending down to tie his shoelaces."
Dick Powell had come to Warner Bros. from a career as a big band vocalist. After seven years and 37 films, Powell was upset with his continual "boy crooner" typecasting while with Warner Bros. and refused to sign a new contract when his existing contract expired. This made Fausses notes (1939) his last film for the studio. In response, Warner Bros. shelved the film for a year. Later, when publicity was building on their newest "discovery" Ann Sheridan as a result of their "oomph" girl campaign, they finally released "Naughty but Nice," promoting her supporting player role to that of second billing behind Powell.
Fausses notes (1939) is a Warner Bros. musical comedy film directed by Ray Enright and starring Dick Powell, Ann Sheridan, Gale Page, Ronald Reagan and Helen Broderick. The original story and screenplay were written by Richard Macaulay and Jerry Wald, and the film includes songs with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Johnny Mercer, as well as music adapted from Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Robert Schumann and Richard Wagner. Sheridan's original voice is heard in most of her songs, but for the song "In a Moment of Weakness," her voice was dubbed by Vera Van.
The working titles of this picture were "Professor Steps Out" and "Always Leave Them Laughing."