The stage version made a star of June Lockhart in the role played by Debbie Reynolds on screen. A later tour of the play, put into place before the film version, also contributed to the rise of Grace Kelly. Neither Lockhart nor Kelly were considered for the film, as Reynolds had a virtual lock on roles of this sort by 1956.
One of the film's running motifs is Curd Jürgens' lower back going out every time he attempts to assert himself in a masculine vein. In fact, though his temples were grayed for the role, Jurgens was only 43 years old at the time the film was made.
Based on the play "For Love or Money," which opened on Broadway on November 4, 1947 at Henry Miller's Theatre, where it ran for 263 performances.
Troy Donahue appears in one of his pre-stardom bit roles as Tony Manza, an up-and-coming actor nipping at the heels of the story's much older leading man, Preston Mitchell, played by Curd Jürgens. Just one year later, Donahue would burst onto the Hollywood scene in A Summer Place (1959).
The following year, But Not for Me (1959) utilized nearly the exact same plot, with Clark Gable, Carroll Baker, Barry Coe, and Lilli Palmer enacting the roles played here by Curd Jürgens, Debbie Reynolds, John Saxon, and Alexis Smith. But Not For Me (1959) was based on the stage play "Accent on Youth," whereas this film was derived from the play "For Love or Money."