The Merry Widow

The Merry Widow Trivia

As in the 1925 and 1952 film versions, almost the entire plot is changed from the stage version, though several of the characters are basically the same. Only the made-for-TV versions have used the original plot and characters.
The 1,000 gas chandeliers on the sets took two hours to turn on.
It took four months and 12 seamstresses to make Adrian's two dozen designs for Jeanette MacDonald's gowns.
Una Merkel later appeared as Kitty Riley in the 1952 film version of The Merry Widow (1952), starring Lana Turner and Fernando Lamas.
Because the contracts of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart contained a clause stating they were a team, they both got on-screen credit for the lyrics of the songs, even though only Hart wrote them.
A French-language version was filmed simultaneously, with Chevalier and MacDonald in the starring roles. (As a trained opera singer, MacDonald spoke and sang excellent French.) However, the rest of the cast was replaced with French-speaking actors. Marcel Vallée played the Ambassador (who is played by Edward Everett Horton in the English version).
MGM hired at least 500 extras for the "Merry Widow" dance number.
The final film collaboration between Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, and director Ernst Lubitsch.