This play in its original form was called Off the Record. Original playwright George A. Hendon, Jr. sold it to the Federal Theater, after which David Peltz offered some revisions. Producer John Shubert purchased the rights to the play, and then had Parke Levy and Alan Lipscott write a new adaptation, which played Washington DC and Philadelphia in late 1940. Shubert then hired Charles MacArthur to write a new version, this time called Johnny on a Spot.