 In Leonard Maltin (qv)s commentary on the current DVD release, he  states that there was a longer opening sequence. Starting with a  title card that places the movie in Milan, Italy, there was then a  musical number in which people on the street were "passing along"  the melody line of a song, as in the Maurice Chevalier (I) (qv)  vehicle _Love Me Tonight (1932)_ (qv). The song was followed into  the restaurant where Mrs. Claypool was waiting for Otis B.  Driftwood. Maltin says the scene was cut during World War II to  remove references to Italy, and unfortunately, the main negative was  cut as well, so the scene is now lost. This was why the stated  running time of the movie was three minutes longer than it is now.