Trivia / Guys and Dolls

• Breakaway Pop Hit: Though songs like "Luck Be a Lady" and "If I Were a Bell" later became standards, the show's only pop hit during its original run was the novelty song "A Bushel and a Peck."
• Cast the Runner-Up: Frank Sinatra wanted to play Sky with Dean Martin as Nathan Detroit.
• Creator's Favorite Episode: This was Jean Simmons' favourite film of her own.
• Cut Song:
  • "Traveling Light," a duet for Sky and Nathan, appeared in tryouts but was cut because the original Nathan, Sam Levene, couldn't sing.
  • "Ooh, My Feet!" a song for a beat cop, was cut when the role was dropped. Loesser rewrote the lyrics and used it as the opening number of The Most Happy Fella, where it was sung by a waitress.
  • Several of the songs from the Broadway show were cut from the film, but were featured in the movie as background music. Among them are "A Bushel and a Peck," "My Time of Day," "I've Never Been In Love Before" and "More I Cannot Wish You."
  • Adelaide and Sarah's duet "Marry the Man Today" was cut from the film, perhaps because it was considered to be too cynical.
  • "More I Cannot Wish You" had originally been written for a Samuel Goldwyn movie, Roseanna Mccoy, only to be cut when Goldwyn hated it. Loesser successfully put it into Guys and Dolls instead, but since Goldwyn was the producer of the movie version, he unsurprisingly cut it again.
• The Danza: Nathan Lane portrayed Nathan Detroit in the nineties Broadway revival. This is actually somewhat of an Invoked trope on Lane's part. His birth name was Joseph, but there was already a Joseph Lane registered under Actor's Equity, so he changed his first name to that of his dream role: Nathan.
• Executive Meddling: The reason "A Bushel and a Peck" was cut and replaced with "Pet Me, Poppa" in the film was that Samuel Goldwyn hated the former, and asked Loesser to write him something with cats instead.
• Hostility on the Set: Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando didn't get on at all. Sinatra wanted to play Sky Masterson and resented the fact that Brando got that role, while he got the lesser role. The cast and crew were quickly divided between Brando's supporters (among them, director Joseph L. Mankiewicz and lead actress Jean Simmons) and Sinatra and his entourage. Eventually, Brando and Sinatra spoke to each other only through intermediaries and even gave each other nicknames - Mumbles and Baldy.
  • The tension started right off. Brando approached Sinatra, asking for help with musical numbers and suggesting they get together often and work on them. Sinatra told him he did not go for "that Method crap," and refused.
• Hypothetical Casting: Before Samuel Goldwyn outbid Paramount for production rights, the studio was hoping to assemble his dream cast: Clark Gable as Sky Masterson, Bob Hope as Nathan Detroit, Jane Russell as Sergeant Sarah Brown and Betty Grable as Miss Adelaide.
• Playing Against Type:
  • Marlon Brando in a light comedic role in a musical.
  • Frank Sinatra as Nervous Wreck comedic relief Nathan Detroit. Sinatra wasn't happy about this, wanting to play Sky Masterson instead, a part more at home with his repertoire.
• Promoted Fanboy: Nathan Lane, who took his Actor's Equity name from Nathan Detroit, got to play his dream role in the 90s Broadway revival.
• Role Reprise: Original cast members Vivian Blaine, Stubby Kaye, B.S. Pully, and Johnny Silver reprised their roles for the film.
• Wag the Director: Frank Sinatra refused to perform his one ballad, "Adelaide," in character as the comic, Bronx-accented Nathan Detroit, turning on all his romantic crooner charm instead, and composer Frank Loesser was less than pleased with the star's turn in the comic "Sue Me" number. ("We'll do it my way or you can f**k off," he reportedly told Loesser.)
• What Could Have Been:
  • Gene Kelly was the first choice for Sky in the film version, but MGM wouldn't loan him out to the studio. Ironically, MGM wound up becoming the film's distributor. Cary Grant and Burt Lancaster were also considered.
  • Marilyn Monroe wanted to play Adelaide, but Joseph L. Mankiewicz did not want to work with her again (she appeared briefly in All About Eve) and supposedly pretended he never got her phone messages. Since Betty Grable wasn't available, Mankiewicz got Sam Goldwyn to agree to cast Vivian Blaine, the only cast member to reprise her role from the stage production (which was originally written for her). Judy Holliday was also considered.
  • Grace Kelly was the original choice for Sarah Brown. Deborah Kerr also passed on it.

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