Reportedly suggested by the life and career of Bing Crosby and songstress wife Dixie Lee; when his popularity as an entertainer eclipsed that of Lee, she drifted into extreme alcoholism, just as Susan Hayward's character does in film.
According to Marsha Hunt in a November 1989 article for Films in Review, "I had a big fight onscreen with Susan Hayward in a powder room, and we went right at it... no retakes. The bruises were showing. It was a hard movie to make. Miss Susan Hayward never talked to her co-workers when waiting for a take. She took no interest in the rest of us. It was extremely strange -- as if we did not exist."
Loretta Young, who clinched the Oscar for Best Actress that year in a surprise win for The Farmer's Daughter (1947), in later years admitted that she voted for Susan Hayward to win the award.
Walter Wanger consulted with the National Committee for Education of Alcoholism and used their suggestions about continued vigilance in the film. Similarly, director Stuart Heisler consulted with authorities on alcoholism.
In 1947, alcoholism was still a relatively unexplored topic in Hollywood films. Billy Wilder had created quite a stir with The Lost Weekend (1945) two years previously, obviously paving the way for this depiction of the disease from a female perspective.
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By what name was Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman (1947) officially released in India in English?
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