This was the first in a series of Boston Blackie films starring
Chester Morris and was sufficiently popular to spawn 13 more hour-long pictures released by Columbia from 1941 to 1949. Most of the films in the series worked on a twelve day schedule.
Schlitze best known for his appearance in Freaks (1932) is seen briefly as sideshow "Princess Betsy".
The character, "Boston Blackie," was first used in a story, "Boston Blackie's Mary," by Jack Boyle, in Red Book Magazine, published November 1917.
A similar mechanical man impersonator can be seen in the film noir, City That Never Sleeps (1953).
Charles Wagenheim, who played the Runt, was replaced in succeeding episodes by George E. Stone.