According to an article in the Milwaukee Journal (September 8, 1940), dozens of costumes from major Paramount films were brought out of storage for use in the black-cast costume ball sequence. Items included Maurice Chevalier's uniform from The Smiling Lieutenant (1931), Rudolph Valentino's burnoose from The Sheik (1921), a beaded gown worn by Gloria Swanson in Male and Female (1919), Gary Cooper's uniform from Morocco (1930), and costumes that had been worn by Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, Bebe Daniels, Mary Miles Minter, Pola Negri, Charles Ray, Adolphe Menjou and others.