 John Cassavetes (qv) had been the guest on a Manhattan radio show,  promoting _Johnny Staccato (1959)_ (qv). Somehow, the conversation  had moved into making a feature film, which Cassavetes encouraged  listeners that if he were to make a feature film, that they should  donate a dollar or two by sending it to the station. A few days  later, a surprised Cassavetes had received a couple of thousand  dollars from listeners sending money to the station, which he put  toward the making of this film.