The original Broadway production of "The Picnic" by William Inge opened on February 19, 1953 at the Music Box Theater, ran for 477 performances and won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 1953.
While selecting locals to play extras in the film, director Logan said, "There's a girl with a typical Kansas face." The woman, Joan Farwell, was hired for "atmosphere" but confessed, "I'm from Brooklyn. I'm just here visiting my grandmother."
William Holden was so nervous about having to dance in the Moonglow scene that Joshua Logan took him to Kansas roadhouses to practice his dance steps, along with choreographer Miriam Nelson. When the scene came to be shot, Holden, an alcoholic, was drunk to calm his nerves.