Trivia / Now, Voyager

• Actor-Inspired Element:
  • Bette Davis claims she was shocked at Paul Henreid's first screen test, where he wore a slicked back hairstyle that "made him look like Valentino". He too was uncomfortable in the style, and Bette suggested giving him a more natural hairstyle. Once they screen tested him with that, he was cast as Jerry.
  • Bette also personally selected much of Charlotte's wardrobe, including the frumpier dresses for the pre-makeover scenes.
• Actor-Shared Background: Bette Davis was a native of Boston, just like her character.
• California Doubling: California stood in for Brazil, with some generous use of Stock Footage to help disguise it.
• Creator Backlash: Bette Davis disliked the score, despite it winning an Academy Award. The reason was that she thought it was too intrusive on her performance.
• Deleted Scene:
  • A silent dream sequence where the young Charlotte dances with her old boyfriend.
  • There was a sequence that showed Lisa taking Charlotte to the beauty parlour for a Makeover Montage. It was cut so that the audience would see the transformed Charlotte at the same time as the rest of the characters.
• Fake American: Both Gladys Cooper and John Loder were British, playing Massachusetts blue bloods. The former was Not Even Bothering with the Accent.
• Money, Dear Boy: Claude Rains turned down the film at first but came on board when his salary was increased, and the part of Dr Jaquith was expanded.
• Reality Subtext: Charlotte's discomfort at her makeover rather accurately parallels Bette Davis's own when her career first started and the studio tried to doll her up into "the next Jean Harlow".
• Recursive Adaptation: The film was based on a book and then got a radio adaptation in 1946 - with Bette Davis reprising her role.
• The Red Stapler: Jerry's little stunt of lighting two cigarettes at once proved very popular. For years, Paul Henreid would be approached by fans asking him to do it.
• Typecasting: Gladys Cooper at this point in her career was often cast as disapproving aristocratic women.
• Uncredited Role: Janis Wilson was uncredited for her role as Jerry's daughter Tina.
• Underage Casting: Depending on what age Charlotte is meant to be, Gladys Cooper could be several years younger than her character is meant to be. Charlotte was born when her mother was already in her forties, so that should place her mother in her sixties or possibly seventies (especially given her poor health). Gladys Cooper was only fifty-six.
• Vacation, Dear Boy: Inverted. Bette Davis was partly interested in the project because some filming would have to be done in her hometown of Boston.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Edmund Goulding was attached to direct the project for a while but he fell ill, and it passed to Michael Curtiz. When Bette Davis came on board to play Charlotte, she refused to work with him. Thus Irving Rapper became director. Michael Curtiz's preferred choices for Charlotte were Ginger Rogers and Norma Shearer.
  • Davis wanted Charlotte to look even homelier before her makeover - potentially wearing a fatsuit (which would account for the Hollywood Pudgy in the script). Her original before look was rejected for being "too grotesque", and the look she has in the finished film is a compromise.
  • Henry Fonda and Fredric March were considered for Jerry D. Durance.
  • An early idea was to have the film in color and the flashbacks to Charlotte's youth would be in black and white.

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