Louis B. Mayer, head of MGM, originally was against the idea of Myrna Loy being cast in this picture but director W.S. Van Dyke wanted to use the stars of the movie Manhattan Melodrama, William Powell and Myrna Loy. Mayer said that Powell was OK for the part since he had already played detectives in other films. Loy eventually got the part and made new image for herself.
Maureen O'Sullivan appears intoxicated in her entrance to the dinner party at the end of the movie. She falls against the door frame prior to entering the room and her speech is slurred and stilted. In subsequent scenes at the dinner itself she is fine.
The Thin Man author Dashiell Hammett drew on his experiences as a union-busting Pinkerton detective in Butte, Montana, in creating his detective characters. Meanwhile, "The Thin Man" star Myrna Loy was born near and raised in Helena, Montana.
American Film Institute Catalog of Feature Films 1931-40 erroneously identifies Huey White as playing the role of 'Face' Tefler, but it's actually Jack Irwin.
Asta is played by a dog named Skippy, who continued in the first two sequels.
Film was shot only in about two weeks. Was originally said to be a "B" picture. First of six in The Thin Man series.
Given three weeks to shoot the film, W.S. van Dyke managed it all in 12 days for the paltry budget of $231,000 (April 9-mid May). The film surprised everyone by becoming a major box office hit, ranking in $1.4 million.
In The Thin Man while serving guests at a Christmas Party, and in My Man Godfrey when he comes home "intoxicated" William Powell sings the same line to a song, "For tomorrow may bring sorrow, so tonight let us be gay"
In the original novel, Jorgensen was Rosewater. For some reason, this was later changed or filmed and cut to get the movie the Hays seal.
Reportedly, Dashiell Hammett based Nick and Nora's banter upon his rocky on-again, off-again relationship with playwright Lillian Hellman .
Skippy, who played Asta the dog, bit Myrna Loy during filming.
The title does not refer to Nick Charles (William Powell), but to the murder victim (Edward Ellis). Audiences and critics alike kept referring to Nick Charles as "the Thin Man", so subsequent films kept the name.
While William Powell, Myrna Loy, Minna Gombell , Porter Hall , and William Henry recreated their roles in the June 8, 1936 Lux Radio Theater broadcast, Thomas Jackson was promoted from an uncredited bit as a reporter to the major supporting role of Lt. Guild. Even though Cecil B. DeMille had begun his 9 year run as Lux Theater host on June 1, only one week before, he was missing from this broadcast. Taking his place was The Thin Man's director W.S. Van Dyke. Legendary silent star Theda Bara made an appearance and reminisced with him about silent film acting and the research she had to do to play Cleopatra in 1917. The washed-up Bara, who hadn't made a film in years, talked about making a comeback in films and seemed to be channeling the Norma Desmond character from Sunset Blvd.. One wonders if either Billy Wilder or Charles Brackett was listening that night. Bara's unusual appeara
While the "Thin Man" in the movie refers to character Clyde Wynant, in the opening credits of the film the cover of the novel "The Thin Man" is shown. On the dust jacket of the book we see a thin man who's not just a model for the photo but who is also author Dashiell Hammett.