Rita Tushingham was selected from more than 2000 applicants.
Rita Tushingham was working backstage at the Liverpool Rep when she spotted an ad for the auditions for this film.
Shelagh Delaney was only 18 when she wrote her ground-breaking play.
Joan Plowright won the 1961 Tony Award (New York City) for Actress in a Drama for "A Taste of Honey."
Hazel Blears, who later became a member of the UK parliament and a minister in Tony Blair's government, appears in the film as a 5-year-old urchin along with her brother. She can be seen wearing a tartan skirt and playing with a ball during the films opening credits.
Despite winning Best Actor (Murray Melvin) and Best Actress (Rita Tushingham) prizes at Cannes, Dora Bryan and Tushingham went unrecognized and were barred from the film's celebration party until film critic Alexander Walker spotted them outside and was able to get them in.
On its initial release, the film was supplemented by a study guide on the "causes and cures" of homosexuality. The guide was subsequently reprinted in Life magazine.
Shot exclusively on location, in Salford, Blackpool and a disused house in the Fulham Road in London that cost £20 a week to rent.
The hit song "A Taste of Honey" written by Ric Marlow and Bobby Scott has nothing to do with the film whatsoever. It was simply trading in on the success of the film.
The movie "A Taste of Honey" is based on the original Broadway stage play written by Shelagh Delaney which opened on October 4, 1960 at the Lyceum Theatre. Shelagh Delaney collaborated with Tony Richardson to write the screenplay for the movie version.
The origin of the children's rhyme heard in this film, "The Big Ship Sails", is sometimes linked to the opening of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894 (the Canal being the 'alley'). The canal features in this film. However, there is no definite proof of the link.
The poem that the teacher recites is "Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats.
When the Manchester Shipper and Manchester Pioneer were chosen to star in Shelagh Delaney's novel "A Taste of Honey", it was not known that part of the plot involved a drunken seaman taking his girlfriend on board, and also involving a drunken first officer! When the premiere took place, the company had to take space in the programme to point out that Manchester Liners neither approved nor allowed such conduct.