Trivia / Swing Time

• Cut Song: The original opening number, "It's Not in the Cards," showed Pop's magic act as well as the dancing troupe in action. Sadly, not only has the footage been lost, but not even the sheet music survives; only the very end of the song can be heard as the film opens.
• Creator's Favorite Episode: This was Ginger Rogers' favorite of her films with Fred Astaire.
• Real-Life Relative: George Stevens' father, Landers Stevens, played the role of Judge Watson.
• Referenced by...: Young Sheldon: In "Teen Angst and a Smart-Boy Walk of Shame" Sturgis tries to cheer Sheldon up by telling Sheldon about Astaire singing the song "Pick yourself up".
• What Could Have Been: The original concept of "Bojangles of Harlem" was actually much more elaborate than what ended up on film. A scenario called "Hot Fields" was prepared as a loose parody of the all-black vehicle "Green Pastures." It would have involved the Bojangles character traveling through a variety of stylized sets representing Heaven, Hell and jungle locations, and would have involved many routines with that most familiar Bill Robinson setting - stairs. Thirty-three scenes would have been required. No doubt such an elaborate series of sequences was deemed to be too expensive to construct and film. All that remains in the film is an introduction to the character involving an outsized bowler hat which turns into enormously long legs.
• Working Title: Initially, the working titles for the film were I Won't Dance and Never Gonna Dance, but studio executives worried that no one would come see a musical where no one danced, and the title was changed. Pick Yourself Up was also considered as a title, as were 15 other possibilities.

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