The original story, “Emmy Lou,” was attributed to screenwriter Bernard McConville in the 22 Jul 1922 Camera, although the Oct 1922 Educational Screen credited Myra Kelley. The title character may have been inspired by the 1902 novel, Emmy Lou, Her Book and Heart by G. M. Martin; both stories concerned a young white woman of the Southern U.S. Principal photography began in late Aug or early Sep 1922 under the working title, Miss Emmy Lou, as stated in the 2 Sep 1922 Camera.
       According to the 23 Sep 1922 and 30 Sep 1922 issues of Motion Picture News, a ten-day location shoot took place at Little Bear Lake in the Big Bear Valley of San Bernardino County, CA. The Nov 1922 Photodramatist noted that “a reproduction of a large South Carolina mountain cabin” was constructed at the site. Joining the company were twenty young women, described as “flappers” in the 15 Oct 1922 [Oakland, CA] Oakland Tribune and the 28 Oct 1922 Moving Picture World, Other cast members included Crete Sipple, stand-in for star Viola Dana, and dancer Clayton Jones in the role of a “he-flapper,” also known as a “flipper” (23 Sep 1922 Camera).
       On 20 Oct 1922, the Oakland Tribune reported that a swimming pool scene had recently been filmed at a private residence in Pasadena, CA. Co-star and former “bathing beauty” Betty Francisco made an impressive dive but was unable to swim and had to be rescued by fellow cast member John Bowers. The actress intended to begin taking swimming lessons the following week. An article in the 17 Nov 1923 [Pasadena, CA] Pasadena Post claimed that Viola Dana bribed several cast members to keep secret an old-fashioned bathing suit she was required to wear in at least one scene. The 22 Oct 1922 Oakland Tribune noted that the actress was appearing as “Puck” in a stage production of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream while filming was in progress. The completion of principal photography was announced in the 21 Oct 1922. A production chart in that day’s Camera estimated a shooting schedule of eight weeks.
       The film was released as Crinoline and Romance on 5 Feb 1923, followed by a New York City opening on 8 Feb 1923 at Loew’s State Theatre. The 4 Aug 1923 Motion Picture News later reported that the feature was one of seven Metro Pictures Corp. productions chosen by the United States Shipping Board to be exhibited on American ocean liners.
       In a letter to the Jan 1924 Picture-Play, reader Hubert Creekmore of Water Valley, MS, denounced the film as an inaccurate caricature of the contemporary South, claiming that the region and its culture had changed considerably since the Civil War. In addition to consistent misuses of the colloquialism, “you all,” Creekmore discredited such common screen archetypes as the “black mammy,” the aristocratic “colonel,” and the naïve Southern belle, all of which he claimed had disappeared over the previous six decades. Creekmore also criticized the film’s references to slavery, declaring, “It was a great mistake to bring back remembrances of incidents that are long past and that we are trying to forget.”