This film was based on the 1913 novel Seven Keys to Baldpate by Earl Derr Biggers and the hit play of the same name by George M. Cohan, which premiered in New York on 22 September 1913. These literary sources have been the basis of many films. For more information about other versions, please consult the entry for the 1917 film Seven Keys to Baldpate, directed by Hugh Ford and starring Cohan and Anna Q. Nilsson.
       While the 19 October 1929 Motion Picture News announced that actor Richard Dix had begun work on his first RKO production, Seven Keys to Baldpate, the previous day, the 26 October 1929 Exhibitors Herald-World stated that production started on that day. Miriam Seegar had been loaned to RKO from Paramount for the role of leading lady “Mary Norton.” On 23 November 1929, Exhibitors Herald-World reported that the film had been completed at RKO studios in Culver City, CA. The 7 December 1929 edition printed a photograph of the production team and noted that James Dugan served as assistant director.
       Seven Keys to Baldpate premiered in New York on Christmas Day 1929 at the Earl Carroll Theatre. A review in the 26 December 1929 [Brooklyn, NY] Standard Union stated: “The picture is wholly delightful entertainment following, as it does, almost literally the original stage play produced by George M. Cohan. Dix continues his engaging aptitude for comedy effects, although some of the scenes—until the cat is let out of the bag—seem melodramatic enough. As would be assumed in a George M. Cohan play, the dialogue is fast, racy and humorous, and in the present adaptation by Jane Murfine [sic] nearly all of the old-time flavor has been retained. In the beginning Earl Derr Biggers wrote the story. Now as then it depicts the hero—portrayed by Dix—as a young novelist who makes a wager that he can write a complete book in twenty-four hours. To carry out that wager he journeys, in the winter time, to Baldpate, a mountain summer resort inn, where many things happen. The mystery is not at all what you are led to believe. But Dix, in the end, not only completes the novel—he wins the girl as well. Ghostly figures, eerie sounds, banging doors, shooting, shouting and screams afford some of the adult peregrinations. More than capable are those in the cast, which includes Miriam Seegar, Margaret Livingston, Crauford Kent, Lucien Littlefield and Edithe Yorke [sic]. Carleton Macy as a country police chief gives a capital performance.”
       This film is extant.