Meet John Doe went into production July 8, 1940 and ended principal photography on September 18, 1940, five days over schedule.

Regis Toomey had already memorized his monologue about the John Doe Clubs for his audition, so the day he was supposed to shoot it, Frank Capra asked if he needed a rehearsal. Toomey didn't, so they shot the scene in one take.

Well into production, Capra refused to reveal publicly what the film was about. Part of the motivation for his secrecy was fear that U.S. Fascist groups would pressure Warner Bros. not to make the film. But he also did not have a completed screenplay, and keeping mum on the film's subject was his way of keeping Warner Bros. from pulling out of their agreement.

Capra went into production without a clear idea of how Meet John Doe should end. He shot or edited five endings and previewed two. In one, the film ended with Gary Cooper's being disgraced at the John Doe Convention and James Gleason's editor saying, "Well, boys, you can chalk another one up to the Pontius Pilates." Preview audiences found that version too depressing. Another ending actually had Cooper committing suicide, with his friend, Walter Brennan, cradling his dead body in his arms and saying "Long John, you poor fool. You poor sucker." Riskin preferred this ending, but Capra was unconvinced, and feared the suicide would cause problems with the Catholic Church. He also had a version in which Barbara Stanwyck talks Cooper out of committing suicide and a variation in which Cooper's merry Christmas with Edward Arnold causes the corrupt publisher to see the light. Undecided, Capra released different versions of the ending for the film's initial engagements in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, DC. Finally, a comment from one of the previews inspired a fifth ending, in which some of the original John Doe Club members show up to tell Willoughby they had never stopped believing in him. That also would allow Capra to deal with another problem pointed out by preview audiences and in letters from angry fans - the depiction of Cooper's followers as a fickle herd easily swayed by the film's corrupt politicians. Capra shot the new ending and had prints called back from theatres so it could be added before the film went into national release. Years later he would say that even that ending wasn't quite right.

The rooftop set for the final scene in Meet John Doe was built in an icehouse to capture the sense that it was taking place on Christmas Eve. Stanwyck later said after shooting the scene she had to go to "the hospital for a defrost."

Although Meet John Doe seemed poised to make a handsome profit for Capra and Riskin, under current federal laws they were required to pay taxes on the income before the profits even came in. Without studio overhead and a steady stream of pictures to keep money rolling in, they had to dissolve their corporation simply to pay taxes on the film. Capra would have to postpone his dream of producing his own films for years because of that.

by Frank Miller

SOURCES:
Starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck by Ella Smith