Robert Stack was almost twice as old as Elizabeth Taylor. The last day of filming was January 27, 1948. At that time Stack was 29 and Taylor was 15.
This movie was a big hit at the box office, earning MGM a profit of $1,495,000 ($18.4 million in 2022) according to studio records.
Carmen Miranda (Rosita Conchellas) enjoyed her biggest movie-song hit with the jaunty travel tune, "Cuanto la Gusta" (music by Gabriel Ruiz, lyrics by Ray Gilbert). Miranda's Decca single, blending her with The Andrews Sisters, peaked at number twelve on "Billboard", where the song had a fourteen-week stay. In this movie, Miranda's song and samba had the backing of Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra. On Columbia Records, Xavier Cugat without Miranda scored a "Billboard"-charting success.
This film's distinctive, off-brand flavor stems from the fact that the majority of supporting roles were not played by the 'usual suspects' of the MGM stock company. Rather, to preserve the unassuming small-town flavor of the radio show on which it was based, the film was largely cast with unfamiliar faces, including Robert Stack, appearing in his first film following WWII; George Cleveland as Gramps; Jerry Hunter as Randolph; Jean McLaren as Mitzi; Lloyd Corrigan as Pop Scully; Lillian Yarbo as Nightingale; and Buddy Howard as Jo-Jo Hoffenpepper. Several of these actors would never appear in another film, and, with the obvious exception of Stack and perhaps Corrigan, none clocked significant screen time before or after this film.