The first film to feature Leo the Lion roaring as MGM's logo. Designed by Howard Dietz, the logo was first used for the Goldwyn Pictures Corporation film Polly of the Circus (1917) and passed to MGM when Goldwyn merged with two other companies to form MGM. Fittingly, a real lion plays a key plot point in the film's story.
This was the first production to start filming in the newly formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was not their first release, though; it was held until the holiday season when attendance is higher for "important" films.
The actual onscreen title is "HE Who Gets Slapped," with the "HE" capitalized, so as to emphasize that HE is a proper name, not a pronoun.
George Davis, who appears in the film as a clown, was a vaudeville performer who been a clown in Europe. He appeared in American, French, German, English and Italian films. He coached Lon Chaney for his role.
Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg upon viewing early rushes of this production wanted to fire the film's cinematographer, Milton Moore, as they thought the photographic exposure too low and blamed Moore for incompetence. Victor Sjöström came to Moore's defense by stating he had told Moore to shoot "low", as it was essential to the plot of the story. Moore was kept on as cinematographer
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