Trivia for
Royal Wedding (1951) More at IMDbPro »

• June Allyson was first cast in the role of Ellen, but became pregnant. Judy Garland was cast next, but MGM terminated her studio contract.
  
  
• Moira Shearer was considered for the role of Anne.
  
  
• The story was loosely based on the real-life partnership of Fred Astaire and his sister, Adele Astaire.
  
  
• The ship's rocking during "Open Your Eyes" was based on the Astaires' own dancing experience on a voyage to London in 1923. A boat-rocking device was used to create the film effect.
  
  
• The idea of dancing with a clothes tree had been suggested to Astaire earlier by Hermes Pan.
  
  
• The "You're All the World to Me" dance was accomplished by putting a whole room, attached camera and harnessed cameraman inside a 20 ft. diameter rotating "squirrel cage."
  
  
• Retitled "Wedding Bells" in England so as not to make it seem as a documentary of the recent Royal Wedding of Princess Elizabeth, later to become Queen Elizabeth II.
  
  
• Fred Astaire and Jane Powell sing "How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Love You When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life," the longest song title in a Hollywood film
  
  
• After being fired from this film, Judy Garland locked herself in a bathroom and scratched her neck with broken glass. There is much dispute over whether it was a serious suicide attempt or a desperate cry for help.
  
  
• Charles Walters was originally signed to direct the film, but he quit when Judy Garland replaced June Allyson, as he refused to work with Garland again after Summer Stock (1950).
  
  
• Final film of James Finlayson, who has an unbilled bit as a cab driver.
  
  
• Near the end of filming, Jane Powell discovered she was pregnant.
  
  
• This is one of a handful of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer productions of the 1950-1951 period whose original copyrights were never renewed and are now apparently in Public Domain; for this reason this title is now offered, often in very inferior copies, at bargain prices, by numerous VHS and DVD distributors who do not normally handle copyrighted or Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer material.
  
  
• In an interview given shortly after the film was released, Fred Astaire revealed that he had tried dancing with more than thirty commercially available hat racks before the studio had the prop department design and build the one in the film at a final cost was over $900. The hat rack disappeared shortly after the film wrapped.
  
  
• After being fired from this film, Judy Garland was a guest on Bing Crosby's radio show, and they sang a duet of "How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Love You When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life". A recording of the broadcast survives today and reveals the legendary Garland wit. She says she was going to star in this film, but "Leo the Lion bit her".
  
  
• The singing voice of Keenan Wynn is dubbed by an uncredited vocalist named Bill Reeve.
  
  

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