Working on the first Road Picture, Anthony Quinn had been the recipient of so many jibes from Bob Hope and Bing Crosby that he had threatened to beat them up. Although attractive and athletic, Quinn at the time was confined to mostly villainous roles, possibly because of his all-purpose ethnic look. During the filming of Road to Morocco, Hope announced, "Anthony Quinn and I both suffer from gross miscasting when we were born for romantic leads." Crew members couldn't tell if he was joking about himself or himself and Quinn or maybe even not joking at all.

When Crosby saw Hope decked out in Arabian finery for his scene as Dorothy Lamour's consort, he said, "Right now you look like a pile of old, tired laundry." Hope shot back, "And you look like the bag for it."

One of the biggest goofs in Road to Morocco is the presence of two-humped (Bactrian) camels in the Arabian desert. Arabian camels have only one hump.

One of Dorothy Lamour's handmaidens is Yvonne De Carlo, in one of her first film appearances. Once she reached stardom, De Carlo would star in her fair share of desert adventures like those satirized in Road to Morocco.

Cowboy star Kermit Maynard, who was between studio contracts when he made Road to Morocco, led the stunt riders in the chase scene set in the Casbah.

Road to Morocco was in the box office top 20 for the 1942-43 season. Its success, after a November 1942 release, helped propel Bob Hope to the number two spot on Quigley Publications' poll to name the top box office stars of 1943 and helped Bing Crosby place fourth.

by Frank Miller

FUN QUOTES FROM ROAD TO MOROCCO (1942)

"This must be the place they empty all the old hourglasses." -- Bob Hope, as Turkey Jackson, on seeing the desert

"Like Webster's Dictionary, we're Morocco bound." -- Bing Crosby, as Jeff Peters, and Hope, as Turkey Jackson, singing the title song

"I'll lay you eight to five we meet Dorothy Lamour." -- Crosby, as Jeff Peters, and Hope, as Turkey, referring to the Road Pictures

"For any villains we may meet we haven't any fears; Paramount will protect us because we've signed for five more years." -- Crosby, as Jeff, and Hope, spoofing their own status as movie stars

"How'd you get the spinach, old boy?"
"Funny thing, a guy I've never seen before in my life gives me 2,500 Kolacs...that's 200 federal diplomas, are you listening?"
"Two hundred skins? Why, what for?"
"I sold him something."
"Well you've got nothing to sell! We've already hocked your pivot tooth.
"It wasn't much, but it was all I had, and was he anxious to get it!"
"What did you sell him?"
"Look, uh, Orville, I want you to keep very calm now. Don't get excited."
"What did you sell him?"
"You."
"Oh, well, for a minute I -- HUH? Me? Wait a minute, get that guy and give him those fish back! What's the matter with you. You can't sell me. I'm not a horse! It's just the way I comb my hair!" -- Hope and Crosby

"We're going to get married on...uh...when is the big day, Dream Thing?"
"When the moon, in its last quarter, silvers the blossoms of the almond tree. That's Tuesday night, about nine." -- Hope and Dorothy Lamour, as Princess Shalmar

"Now kiss him on the nose, and see if you can straighten that out." -- Crosby, after Lamour, as Princess Shalmar, kisses Hope so hard it makes the curled toes of his Arabian slippers straighten out.

"A fine thing. First, you sell me for two hundred bucks. Then I'm gonna marry the Princess; then you cut in on me. Then we're carried off by a desert sheik. Now, we're gonna have our heads chopped off."
"I know that."
"Yeah, but the people who came in the middle of the picture don't."
"You mean they missed my song?" -- Hope and Crosby

"We must storm the palace"
"You storm. I'll stay here and drizzle." -- Crosby and Hope

"Sometimes, when I see how silly people behave, I'm glad I'm a camel."
"Aww. I'm glad you're a camel, too, Mabel." -- Sara Berner, as the voice of Mabel the camel, and Kent Taylor, as the voice of the male camel

"I can't go on! No food, no water. It's all my fault. We're done for! It's got me. I can't stand it! No food, nothing! No food, no water! No food!"
"What's the matter with you anyway. There's New York. We'll be picked up in a few minutes."
"You had to open your big mouth and ruin the only good scene I got in the picture. I might have won the Academy Award!" -- Hope and Crosby, after the ship carrying them home blows up

"This is the screwiest picture I've ever been in!" -- Last line, delivered by Taylor, as the voice of the camel

SOURCES:
Bob Hope - The Road Well-Traveled by Lawrence J. Quirk
My Side of the Road by Dorothy Lamour