The Women

There are over 130 roles in this movie, all played by women. Phyllis Povah, Majorie Main, Mary Cecil and Marjorie Wood originated their roles in the play, which opened on 7 September 1937 and had 666 performances at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York. No doubles were used in the fight sequence where Rosalind Russand bites Paulette Goddard. Despite the permanent scar resulting from the bite, the actresses remained friends.

Though many people view Joan Crawford as the "bad girl" of the movie, Clare Boothe Luce, who wrote (as Clare Boothe) the play that the film was based on, sympathized most with Crystal Allen, Crawford's character.

In addition to its all-female cast, every animal that was used in the film (the many dogs and horses) was female as well. In addition, none of the works of art seen in the backgrounds were representative of the male form.

Sydney's, the beauty salon where the initial action takes place, was named after Sydney Guilaroff, the chief hairstylist at MGM from 1934 to the late 1970s. He was brought to MGM from New York at the request of Joan Crawford.

According to her autobiography, Rosalind Russell called in sick because Norma Shearer refused to share top billing. She stayed "sick" until Shearer finally relented.

Myrna Loy and Greta Garbo were the only top-tier female stars at MGM who did not star in this film, although Loy was considered for the role of Crystal Allen.

The lines Mary reads alone in bed are from "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran: "Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing floor, Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears," but MGM omitted the reference to "nakedness" to avoid offending the censors.

Although uncredited, F. Scott Fitzgerald contributed to the writing of the screenplay.

When Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford were called to shoot publicity stills, neither actress would enter the studio first. Instead, they remained in their limousines and circled the parking lot until director George Cukor summoned them and they instantly behaved like best friends.

In addition to those cast members already listed, Beatrice Cole and Beryl Wallace also appeared in the stage play.

George Cukor was fired as director of Gone With The Wind (1939) only a month before The Women (1939) was scheduled to begin filming. Producer Hunt Stromberg enlisted Cukor's services immediately upon his sudden availability.

Butterfly McQueen's film debut.

The stage actress who originated the role of Sylvia Fowler (Rosalind Russell's role in the film) was Ilka Chase. She is probably best recognized by today's audiences as the Stepmother in the original Julie Andrews live TV musical production of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's Cinderella (1957) (TV), the kinescope of which was recently rediscovered and released on DVD.

"The Women's" screenwriter Anita Loos who wrote this film's original 1939 screenplay, started her writing career in 1912 with her first full film screenplay The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) starring Lillian Gish and directed by D.W. Griffith for the American Mutoscope & Biograph Co. which is still in existence today. After writing many scripts for Biograph, Loos went on to write such other films such as Saratoga (1937), Another Thin Man (1939), San Francisco (1936), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953).

The beauty salon and spa featured in the film's opening sequence was based on cosmetics mogul Elizabeth Arden's parlor in New York City. At the premiere of the film, Arden scoffed that the film's salon was an exact copy of hers.

As of 2009, Joan Fontaine (Mrs. John Peggy Day) is the film's last surviving principal cast member.

Cast of The Women

Norma Shearer as Mary Haines
Joan Crawford as Crystal Allen
Rosalind Russell as Sylvia Fowler
Mary Boland as The Countess De Lave
Paulette Goddard as Miriam Aarons
Phyllis Povah as Edith Potter
Joan Fontaine as Peggy Day
Virginia Weidler as Little Mary
Muriel Hutchison as Jane, Mary Haines' maid
Lucile Watson as Mrs. Morehead
Marjorie Main as Lucy
Virginia Grey as Pat, Perfume Counter Clerk
Ruth Hussey as Miss Watson
Hedda Hopper as Dolly Dupuyster
Florence Nash as Nancy Blake
Cora Witherspoon as Mrs. Van Adams
Mary Beth Hughes as Miss Trimmerback
Margaret Dumont as Mrs. Wagstaff (uncredited)
Butterfly McQueen as Lulu, Perfume Counter Maid (uncredited)
Barbara Jo Allen as Receptionist (uncredited)
Gertrude Astor as Mud Bath Attendant (uncredited)
Marie Blake as Stockroom Girl (uncredited)
Barbara Pepper as Tough Woman (uncredited)
Flora Finch (uncredited)