During filming, John Barrymore and Willard Louis replaced their scripted dialogue with dirty jokes and foul language, thinking no one would notice in a silent film. However, this was a time when deaf people could comfortably go to the movies and many of them were quite adept at lip reading. As a result, the studio received thousands of letters of complaint.
Charles Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks visited their friend John Barrymore on the set and posed for comedic photos with Barrymore in full 'old man' makeup.
According to the documentary Scandal: The Trial of Mary Astor (2018), John Barrymore fell in love and wooed Mary Astor on screen. Because of her controlling father, the two were not allowed to be alone together until Barrymore convinced her parents to allow her to have private "acting" lessons with him. He was much older than she and became a mentor to her.
At the Christmas party at York House, two African children appear in a story otherwise told with an all-white cast. The boys are slaves. Slavery was not abolished in the UK until 1833. Although abducted from their African parents, these boys are seen dressed in Indian-style tunics and turbans, as Brits of the day casually mixed up their colonial possessions for fantasy effect. Fancifully-attired slave boys were popular with the wealthy of Britain, who used them as functional decorations.
Mary Astor was 18 years old when she made this movie.
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