Booth Tarkington's story was actually a play, "Magnolia," which opened at the Liberty Theatre in New York on 27 August 1923 and closed in October 1923 after 40 performances. In the opening night cast were Leo Carrillo as "Tom" and Elizabeth Patterson as "Madame Rumford."
One of over 700 Paramount productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.
Since Jan Duggan is credited in the opening set of credits, but not in the more comprehensive end set, the opening credits are listed first, followed by those in the end credits not yet in, as required by IMDb policy on cast ordering.
The lead role was intended for Lanny Ross, but Bing Crosby was cast because he was the more popular star instead. In fact, the songs were also selected especially for Ross, even though Crosby sings them in the final cut.
When Bing Crosby was cast, he requested another song be added. However, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart had already returned to New York. The song, "It's Easy To Remember", was composed by the duo back east and they then sent a demo record back to Hollywood. It wound up becoming the film's biggest hit.