During location shooting in Pensacola, Florida for Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, General Hap Arnold gave director Mervyn LeRoy an early look at the B-29 bomber, still in development. After seating the director in the cockpit he cautioned him not to tell anybody how the new plane worked. "General Arnold," LeRoy said, "you have nothing to worry about. I don't even know how an electric light works."

LeRoy had to shoot a complicated aerial sequence for Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo in Florida on a cloudy day. When the cloud cover finally broke, he shouted into his microphone, "Bring them in. Bring them in while the sun's out." Unknown to him, his words were broadcast to air towers all over the state, where nobody knew what he was talking about. The incident even made the next day's papers.

The choir of Chinese children who sing "The Star Spangled Banner" in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo were conducted by Dr. Phillip Lee, a pastor, who also translated the national anthem into Chinese.

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo premiered in New York with a benefit for the Sixth War Loan drive. The Los Angeles opening was a benefit for the Volunteer Army Corps.

MGM advertised the film with the line "Heart-Warming Romance...Stark, Sensational Drama! Thrills! Action! Adventure!...Ripped From The Heart!"

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo was a big hit for MGM, bringing in $4.5 million in domestic rentals. It would help make Spencer Tracy the number five box-office star of the year. A year later, Van Johnson would enter the top ten at number two.

While Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo was shooting at MGM, an executive decided Robert Mitchum's car was too beat-up for the studio parking lot and told him to either get a new car or park somewhere else. The next day, Mitchum was four and a half hours late for his call. When he arrived, he explained to LeRoy and producer Sam Zimbalist that he had been forced to take the bus to work. By day's end, the ban on his car had been lifted, and Mitchum was never late again.

According to some sources, Mitchum had a fling with the unhappily married Lucille Ball while filming Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo on the MGM lot.

While MGM was still considering signing Mitchum, they showed some of his scenes to their famed acting coach, Lillian Burns, and asked her to work with him. When they met, she told him she wasn't going to work with him because she didn't want to get in the way of his natural talent. "Do what you've been doing," she told the young actor, which is exactly what he did for the rest of his career.

Robert Mitchum's supporting performance in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo convinced RKO Pictures to offer him a long-term contract.

For some reason, composer Herbert Stothart included bits of the title song from Oklahoma! in the score, even though none of the characters in the film are from that state.

SOURCES:
Robert Mitchum: Baby, I Don't Care by Lee Server
Mervyn LeRoy: Take One by Mervyn LeRoy

Memorable Quotes from THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO

"One-hundred and thirty-one days after December 7, 1941, a handful of young men, who had never dreamed of glory, struck the first blow at the heart of Japan. This is their true story we tell here." -- Opening title card.

"Hello, hello, York? Doolittle. I want you to get 24 B-25's and volunteer crews down to Eglin Field as soon as you can. The job'll take 'em out of the country for about three months. Tell 'em it's a secret mission. They won't know where they're going until they get there. That's right, volunteers. Tell them they're not to talk to anybody. That's an order!" -- Spencer Tracy, as General James Doolittle, setting up the mission.

"Oh, Ted, I'm going to write you a letter every day you're gone. I know they won't deliver them. I won't even mail them, but I'm going to write them anyway. That way we'll kind of be in touch. That way we'll feel close." -- Phyllis Thaxter, as Ellen Lawson.

"Tell me, Honey, how come you're so cute?"
"I had to be if I was going to get such a good-looking fella." -- Van Johnson, as Lieutenant Ted Lawson, and Thaxter, as Ellen Lawson, sharing a repeated exchange.

"When I was a kid, I used to dream about going someplace on a ship. Well, here I am!" -- Robert Mitchum, as Lieutenant Bob Gray.

"Well feed me corn and watch me grow! How did all this scum get in here?" -- John R. Reilly, as Lieutenant Jacob 'Shorty' Manch.

"I have one sorrow, Lieutenant, that we did not have the medicine to ease your pain."
"You saved my life, Doc."
"I hope that someday you'll come back to us."
"We'll be back. Maybe not us ourselves, but a lotta guys like us, and I'd like to be with them. You're our kind of people." -- Johnson, as Lieutenant Ted Lawson, bidding goodbye to Benson Fong, as Young Dr. Chung, who cared for him in China.

Compiled by Frank Miller