Based on the novel "Hold Autumn in your Hand", by George Sessions Perry, which won the first National Book Award in 1941.
The film was banned on its release by the Memphis Board of Censors, which claimed it gave "a false impression of the South."
The medical term for "spring sickness" mentioned in the film is an often fatal condition associated with skin lesions, bleeding gums, and lethargy, a disease later identified as scurvy, which is simply cured with a dietary supplement of fresh vegetables and fruit.
The "twin days" was how farmers referred to February 28 and 29 in a leap year. 1932, 1936 and 1940 were leap years.