Vernon Castle is performing a slapstick routine as "second banana" to vaudevillian Lew Fields when he meets Irene Foote, the daughter of a staid New Rochelle doctor.  Irene, who loves to dance, arouses Vernon's ambition to become a great dancer, and she weans him away from vaudeville.

After working on dance routines together for three months, they are married and go to Paris under the misconception that they have been hired to perform dance specialties.  The Parisian managers, however, only want Vernon to repeat his slapstick act.  Irene and Vernon are down to their last franc when they meet Maggie Sutton, an English talent agent who gets them a chance to exhibit their dance, the Castle Walk, at the Cafe de Paris.  The Walk is an immediate success, and the Castles' rise to stardom is meteoric.

Soon the fashion world is emulating Irene's new hair bob and Vernon's shoes.  After many successful tours, they return to the United States to retire and spend quiet hours together.

When war breaks out, Vernon, who is British, enlists in the British Flying Service.  Many dangerous missions later, he is sent back to the U.S. to teach flying to American aviators.  Separated for a long time by the war, the Castles arrange a romantic meeting at a quiet hotel near the air field, and as Irene anxiously awaits the return of her husband, Vernon tragically dies in a plane crash when he swerves to avoid a collision with a student pilot.

Notes
Based on the book My Husband (New York, 1919) by Irene Castle and her short story "My Memories of Vernon Castle" in Everybody's Magazine (Nov 1918 - Mar 1919).

The working titles of this film were The Castles, The Life of Vernon and Irene Castle, and The Romantic Vernon Castles.  According to NYT, RKO wanted Irene Castle to play the role of her mother in the film, but she declined, preferring to have her role limited to consultant.

The NYT notes that Mrs. Castle was pleased with the film and commented that Fred Astaire played the role of Vernon perfectly, even fitting into his old uniforms.  Mrs. Castle noted that some of the episodes depicted in the film were slightly exaggerated and the character of Walter Ash, a black man who was the Castles protector in Paris, was altered to fit actor Walter Brennan.  This picture marked Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire's last collaboration for RKO.

Materials contained in the RKO Production Files at the UCLA Theater Arts Library add that the picture was partially filmed on location at the Russel Ranch at Triunfo, California; Newport Beach, California; Bel Air, California and the Long Beach Municipal Airport.  According to modern sources, in 1937, RKO paid Irene $20,000 for the rights to her story.  Under her RKO contract, Mrs. Castle had approval of costumes and script treatment on which she worked closely with scriptwriter Oscar Hammerstein II.  She plagued the studio with complaints over departures from the script and Rogers' costumes and hairstyles.  Mrs. Castle opposed Rogers as the lead and was particularly upset that Rogers refused to cut her hair in the style of the "Castle Bob."  The studio silenced Mrs. Castle with an additional payment of $5,000.  In 1915, the Castles starred in The Whirl of Life, which was loosely based on the couple's life.

Music includes:  "Missouri Waltz" by John V. Eppell and "Too Much Mustard," music by Cecil Macklin.

Songs include: "Only When You're in My Arms," words and music by Bert Kalmar, Herman Ruby and Con Conrad; "The Yama Yama Man," words and music by Otto Haverback and Karl Hoschna; "By the Light of the Silvery Moon," words and music by Edward Madden and Gus Edwards; "When You Wore a Tulip," words and music by Jack Mahoney and Percy Wenrich; "It's a Long Way to Tipperary," words and music by Harry William and Jack Judge; "Waiting for the Robert E. Lee," words and music by L. Wolfe Gilbert and Lewis Muir; "Rose Room," words and music by Harry Williams and Art Hickman; and "Little Brown Jug," words and music by R.A. Eastburn.