Trivia / Adam's Rib

• Actor-Inspired Element: Jean Hagen has a role as Warren's girlfriend. She had been Judy Holliday's stunt double on Broadway, and Judy lobbied for her to be in the film.
• Actor-Shared Background: Adam jokes about Amanda giving him the "Bryn Mawr accent". Katharine Hepburn did indeed attend Bryn Mawr College, where she claimed to have picked up her distinctive accent.
• Creator-Chosen Casting: The roles of Adam and Amanda were specifically written for Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.
• One-Take Wonder: Doris's monologue about why she shot her husband was done perfectly on the first take by Judy Holliday.
• Recycled: The Series: A short-lived Sitcom adaptation, with Ken Howard and Blythe Danner starring as the Bonners, aired on ABC in 1973.
• Throw It In!: Doris can be seen trembling in an early monologue scene with Amanda. This was Judy Holliday's genuine reaction, as she was very nervous to be performing alongside Katharine Hepburn.
• Underage Casting: Madge Blake is only eleven months older than Spencer Tracy, despite playing his mother.
• Wag the Director:
  • Judy Holliday turned down the role of Doris initially, because the script had lines nicknaming the character 'Fatso'. When it was removed, she came on board, but then later had it restored because she felt it was the best way to make the scene work.
  • Katharine Hepburn refused to film more than a couple of reaction shots for the scene where Doris is explaining why she shot her husband, forcing George Cukor to focus the majority of the scene on Judy Holliday - in the hopes that this would convince studios to give her the role in Born Yesterday that she had originated on the stage.
• What Could Have Been: Amanda was originally named 'Madeleine', but this was changed when Cole Porter refused to write a song about anyone with that name. It turns out he was hoping to use a discarded song titled "So Long, Samoa", and the name Amanda had the same syllables as Samoa.

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