Cameras rolled on Libeled Lady in July 1936. The top-notch ensemble cast of Jean Harlow, William Powell, Spencer Tracy and Myrna Loy had acting styles that harmonized together beautifully onscreen, and they all had great fun working together. The stars were already well acquainted with each other, and Harlow and Powell were a well-established couple off-screen as well.

Myrna Loy recalled in her 1987 autobiography Being and Becoming that a good time was had by all during the shoot. "Libeled Lady was one of the best of the so-called screwball comedies," she said, "with a great cast, and Jack Conway directing us at breakneck speed." She praised her co-stars and also expressed her love for working with Walter Connolly, the actor who played her father, whom she described as "darling."

Some of the cast and crew traveled to the California mountains during production in order to shoot exteriors of the bucolic scenes. They spent nearly a week living cozily in small cabins, according to Loy, and enjoying the rustic scenery far from the bright lights of Hollywood. This was where William Powell filmed his hilarious bit of slapstick in which he must pretend to be an expert angler in order to impress Connie's father. "It's a hysterical piece of work," praised Loy, "but then Bill was a very gifted man, able to do great comedy and tragedy, everything."

When she wasn't needed on set, Jean Harlow at one point took a break to sunbathe on nearby Catalina Island. Unfortunately, the naturally fair-skinned starlet suffered a serious sunburn that required medical treatment and held up production until she could properly recover and be camera ready again.

Throughout the course of filming, Spencer Tracy had fun giving Myrna Loy a good-natured hard time. According to Loy, the married Tracy had been pursuing her ever since they had made the film Whipsaw together in 1935. While Loy always liked Tracy, she had always resisted his romantic advances. On Libeled Lady Loy was newly married to producer Arthur Hornblow, Jr., and Tracy made an elaborate show out of his disappointment that she was now officially off the market. "Spence carried on during the shooting, because it was the first time we'd worked together since my marriage," said Loy. "He moped around pretending to pout, playing the wronged suitor. He set up a 'Hate Hornblow table' in the commissary, announcing that only men I had spurned could sit there. So all these men joined him who were supposed to have crushes on me, which they didn't have at all. It was just a gag, but Spence made his point."

Before the film could be released, the Production Code office once again reared its head. It insisted that a few more tweaks be made to the film in the editing room in order to downplay any perceived suggestiveness. Even after the picture was finally cleared for release, Joseph Breen still demonstrated some disapproval, citing that parts of the story, in his opinion, "reflect unfavorably upon marriage and the sanctity of the home."

Libeled Lady opened in the Fall of 1936 and was an immediate hit with audiences and critics. One of the year's biggest box office successes, theatergoers loved the story and especially enjoyed seeing their beloved blonde bombshell Jean Harlow return to her scrappy comic roots.

The success of the film not only solidified Harlow as MGM's most popular female star, but also boosted the careers of everyone involved, especially the three other leads. It was rewarded with an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, though it ultimately lost out to another big MGM hit starring William Powell and Myrna Loy, The Great Ziegfeld.

MGM remade Libeled Lady in 1946 as a musical called Easy to Wed. It starred Van Johnson, Esther Williams, Lucille Ball and Keenan Wynn.

by Andrea Passafiume