Cummings was cast when Lew Ayres refused to play the role.[4]
Reception
Frank Nugent of The New York Times said, "Miss Martha Raye, the lusty lark of Paramount's roster of curiosa, has her starring moment in Hideaway Girl, current at the Rialto. Some one in our circle has suggested that the explosive Miss Raye has but one opportunity left—to swallow a stick of dynamite and light the fuse, distributing her animated self over a Paramount set. In Hideaway Girl Miss Raye falls sadly short of this mark, contenting herself, in her own peculiar form of vociferation, with expressing her preference for "Liszt, Beethoven or Bach" over the current manifestation of vo-de-o-do. She expresses this preference with swing dance gestures."[5]
The Picturegoer's Lionel Collier wrote "it all wears very thin and becomes distinctly boring towards the end. This sense of boredom is not helped by the singing of Miss Raye, the lady who rivals Joe E. Brown in mouth appeal. Shirley Ross sings pleasingly as a contrast, and Bob Cummings makes a passable hero.[6]
