The Stolen Jools

"The Stolen Jools" is this film's original title. It was made by the National Variety Artists (NVA) as part of a charity campaign and distributed free to theaters in 1931. After the showing a live speaker would come out and request donations. The film was rediscovered in 1972 in Britain, where it had been released in 1932 as "The Slippery Pearls," one of the Masquers Club comedy series for RKO. Subsequently a U.S. print was discovered and the film's true title, origin and purpose were at last known.

On Detective Kane's pawn ticket, "saxophone" is misspelled "saxaphone."

Original release included several musical numbers, including ones performed by Dorothy Lee, Warner Baxter and Maurice Chevalier. Prints of this original version survive, but all circulating prints derive from the Blackhawk Films version which cut the musical numbers out in the interest of copyright. This cut version is the only one that has ever been released on the home movie market, video or DVD. The original cut does survive in Blackhawk Films' collection.