According to screenwriter Hildegarde Stadie, the main character of Burma Roberts was inspired by a real woman, Burma White, about whom little is know. This appears to be the same case that was dramatized in an episode ('Burma White Case') of the radio program 'Calling All Cars' that was broadcast December 6, 1933.
In 1938, Roadshow Attractions distributed this with the short film How to Undress in Front of Your Husband.
The film's screenwriter Hildegarde Stadie (wife of director Dwain Esper) is one of the extras in the roadhouse at the beginning of the film. She is sitting at a table, wearing a white hat, looking like a drug addict might.
The original trailer for the film included a shot of a girl's leg getting grabbed at the weenie roast, and a close-up of hands clutching for a row of needles. These shots do not appear in the final film.