National Film Preservation Board: National Film Registry
Photoplay Awards: Best Pictures of the Month (August)
Photoplay Awards: Carole Lombard – Best Performances of the Month (August)
Photoplay Awards: William Powell – Best Performances of the Month (August)
Online Film & Television Association: OFTA Film Hall of Fame

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Godfrey: The only difference between a derelict and a man is a job.

Alexander: All you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind of people.

Irene: You have a wonderful sense of humor. I wish I had a sense of humor, but I can never think of the right thing to say until everybody’s gone home.

Angelica: You mustn’t come between Irene and Godfrey. He’s the first thing she’s shown any affection for since her Pomeranian died last summer.

Godfrey: Prosperity is just around the corner.
Mike: Yeah, it’s been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.

Cornelia: You can’t go on like this forever. You really like me and you’re afraid to admit it, aren’t you?
Godfrey: You want me to tell you what I really think of you?
Cornelia: Please do.
Godfrey: As Smith or as a butler?
Cornelia: Choose your own weapon.
Godfrey: You won’t hold it against me?
Cornelia: It’s your day off.
Godfrey: Very well. You belong to that unfortunate category that I would call the “Park Avenue brat.” A spoiled child who’s grown up in ease and luxury, who’s always had her own way, and whose misdirected energies are so childish that they hardly deserve the comment, even of a butler on his off Thursday.
Cornelia: Thank you for a very lovely portrait.

Alexander: Life in this family is one subpoena after another.

Godfrey: Hasn’t anyone ever told you about certain proprieties?
Irene: You use such lovely big words. I like big words. What does it mean?
Godfrey: Well, I’ll try to simplify it. Hasn’t your mother or anyone ever explained to you that some things are proper and some things are not?
Irene: No she hasn’t. She rambles on quite a bit, but then she never has anything to say.

Godfrey: But you want me to remain, don’t you?
Irene: Oh, of course!
Godfrey: And I want to justify your faith in me by being a very good butler, and filling the void created by your late, lamented Pomeranian.
Irene: Oh, I’ve forgotten all about him. He had fleas, anyway. Besides, you’re different. You use big words, and you’re much cuter.

Godfrey: Why can’t you let me alone?
Irene: Because you’re my responsibility, and someone has to take care of you.
Godfrey: I can take care of myself.
Irene: You can’t look me in the eye and say that. You love me and you know it. You know, there’s no sense in struggling against a thing when it’s got you. It’s got you, and that’s all there is to it – it’s got you!

• William Powell suggested his ex-wife, Carole Lombard, for the leading role with the explanation that his real -life romance with her had been much the same as it was for the characters of Godfrey and Irene.
• Carole Lombard had a habit of ad-libbing, inserting swear words into the dialogue, which necessitated the reshooting of several scenes.
• This is the only film to receive Oscar nominations for writing, directing, and all four acting awards without being nominated for Best Picture. It was also the only film to receive those six nominations without winning in any category until American Hustle (2013).
• After hearing Godfrey has 5 children, Anjelica Bullock replies, “If a woman in Canada can have 5 children, why can’t Godfrey?” This is a reference to the famous Dionne Quintuplets, born in Ontario in 1934.
• Based on the book “1101 Park Avenue” by Eric Hatch. Reflecting this location, the early drafts of the screenplay, written in March 1936, were tentatively entitled “Ten Eleven Fifth.”
• Around one hour into the film, Carlo starts reading a poem: “‘Courage!’ he said, and pointed toward the land, ‘This mounting wave will roll us shoreward soon.'” These words are from the opening lines of the poem “The Lotus-Eaters” by Alfred Lord Tennyson.
• The Bullock mansion is located at 1101 Park Avenue, Manhattan. 1101 Park Avenue is at East 89th Street, just behind the famed Museum Mile section of Fifth Avenue, just a few blocks north and east of the Metropolitan Museum of Art at East 82nd Street and Fifth Avenue.