During the scene in which the women are asked to model outfits for Tom Brookman (Cameron Mitchell), the fashion house mistress introduces Marilyn Monroe's character in a diamond-encrusted bathing suit with the words "You know, of course, that diamonds are a girl's best friend, and this is our proof of it." This is a humorous nod to Monroe's hit film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) in which she sang one of her most iconic numbers "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend."

Another inside joke in the film occurs when Loco (Betty Grable) is in Maine with Waldo (Fred Clark). While listening to the radio, Loco insists that the music they are listening to is by famed big band leader Harry James. James was Grable's real life husband at the time.

Lauren Bacall delivers one of the film's funniest inside jokes when her character Schatze is trying to convince her older man suitor J.D. (William Powell) that she loves older men. "I've always liked older men," says her character. "Look at Roosevelt. Look at Churchill! Look at that old fellow - what's-his-name in African Queen. Absolutely crazy about him!" The "old fellow" in The African Queen [1951] was, of course, Bacall's much older real-life husband Humphrey Bogart.

How to Marry a Millionaire premiered at the Fox Wilshire Theatre (now known as the Saban Theatre) in Beverly Hills on November 4, 1953.

How to Marry a Millionaire was the first film presentation of the weekly NBC series Saturday Night at the Movies. It premiered (in color) on the small screen on September 23, 1961. Ironically, the TV broadcast was in pan-and-scan, which lost the effect of the CinemaScope completely.

According to producer/writer Nunnally Johnson, Betty Grable affectionately called Lauren Bacall "Miss Bagel" as a nickname throughout shooting.

In her 1979 memoir By Myself Lauren Bacall recounted that she had very few conversations with Marilyn Monroe throughout the production of How to Marry a Millionaire. "She came into my dressing room one day and said that what she really wanted was to be in San Francisco with Joe DiMaggio in some spaghetti joint," wrote Bacall, describing one of their few off-screen interactions. "They were not married then. She wanted to know about my children, my home life - was I happy? She seemed envious of that aspect of my life - wistful - hoping to have it herself one day."

To coincide with the release of How to Marry a Millionaire Lauren Bacall was invited to put her hand and footprints in cement in front of the famed Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. However, Bacall declined the invitation. "The day I was told about it," she said in her memoir, "I said to Bogie [Humphrey Bogart] that it seemed to me anyone with a picture opening could be represented there, standards had been so lowered. Bogie, loving a chance to puncture Hollywood's ego, said, 'Why don't you refuse?' [Hollywood columnist] Joe Hyams, sensing a story, agreed. I, welcoming the idea of a new cause, however minor and short-lived, decided I would refuse. Joe said he'd print my statement in the Tribune, and I wrote, 'Before I came to Hollywood, Grauman's Chinese was something very special to me - it meant not only achievement - it was the Hall of Fame of the motion picture industry and the people in it were unforgettables and irreplaceables. I don't think of myself as either - I feel that my career is undergoing a change and I want to feel I've earned my place with the best my business has produced.' That statement made newspapers across the country and, along with all the other news stories, was forgotten the next day. Time went by, I wasn't asked again, and so twenty-five years later, a tourist or aspiring actor going to Grauman's Chinese to see the legendary stars' footprints will not see mine - or miss them."

In a letter written to Twentieth Century-Fox executive (and future Fox Production Chief) Robert Goldstein dated May 20th, 1953, producer/writer Nunnally Johnson shared a tale that happened just after filming was completed on How to Marry a Millionaire between Darryl Zanuck and director Jean Negulesco. "Last Sunday while playing croquet [Negulesco] lost his temper over some error on the court and flung his mallet to the turf. It hit on the handle and leaped up again like Charlie Chaplin's cane and bludgeoned, oh God, Mr. Zanuck right between the eyes, drawing blood, or plasma, whichever he is equipped with. Three stitches had to be taken in Mr. Zanuck's skin, which was wide open with ideas pouring out like a leak in a bag of grain. I scarcely need tell you what this did to Mr. Negulesco's emotions. Nevertheless, there seemed to be no need for him to take strychnine, cut his throat, hang himself, and shoot himself too. For the truth of the matter was that Mr. Zanuck took it very well, contenting himself with putting Mr. Negulesco on layoff."

Famous Quotes from HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE

"Now, there's a fine contribution to a million dollar proposition - one whole quarter."

"Maybe, but she's awful clever with a quarter."

--Schatze (Lauren Bacall) and Pola (Marilyn Monroe), discussing how Loco (Betty Grable) only has a quarter to contribute towards lunch.

"Look, the first rule of this proposition is that gentlemen callers have got to wear a necktie. I don't want to be snobbish, but if we begin with characters like that, we might just as well throw in the towel right now."

--Schatze, to Loco

"If you want to catch a mouse, you set a mousetrap. So, all right, we set a bear trap. Now, all we've got to do is one of us has got to knock off a bear."

"You mean marry him?"

"If you don't marry him, you haven't caught him, he's caught you."

--Schatze and Loco, discussing their plan.

"I've always liked older men. Look at Roosevelt. Look at Churchill! Look at that old fellow - what's-his-name in African Queen. Absolutely crazy about him!"

--Schatze, to J.D. Hanley (William Powell), making an inside joke about Bacall's real life husband, movie star Humphrey Bogart.

"If only you'd told me."

"I told you the first day we went skiing. I told you then that's what I was - a ranger."

"Is that what you meant?"

"What else could I have meant?"

"I'm sorry. I just thought you meant you came from Texas."

--Loco and her young (and poor) suitor Eben (Rory Calhoun)

"He's nothing. Absolutely nothing. A character straight from characterville."

--Schatze, describing Tom Brookman (Cameron Mitchell), the man she's in love with, to her fiancé J.D. Hanley.

Compiled by Andrea Passafiume