Editing Sullivan's Travels (section)

===Development===
[[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]] purchased Sturges's script for ''Sullivan's Travels'' for $6,000. He wrote the film as a response to the "preaching" he found in other comedies "which seemed to have abandoned the fun in favor of the message."<ref name="afi">{{cite web |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/27051 |title=Sullivan's Travels (1941) – History |website=[[AFI Catalog of Feature Films]] |access-date=May 12, 2024}}</ref>

The film as released opens with a dedication:<blockquote>To the memory of those who made us laugh: the motley mountebanks, the clowns, the buffoons, in all times and in all nations, whose efforts have lightened our burden a little, this picture is affectionately dedicated.</blockquote> This was originally intended to be spoken by Sullivan. Sturges wanted the film to begin with the prologue: "This is the story of a man who wanted to wash an elephant. The elephant darn near ruined him."<ref name="afi"/> Paramount contracted with the Schlesinger Corp., who made the [[Warner Bros.]] ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' and ''[[Merrie Melodies]]'' cartoons, to make an animated main title sequence, but this was not used in the film, if it was ever actually produced.<ref name="afi"/>

The censors at the [[Hays Office]] had objections to the script they received. They felt that the word "bum" would be rejected by British censors, and warned that there should be no "suggestion of sexual intimacy" between Sullivan and The Girl in the scenes in which they are sleeping together at the mission.<ref name="afi"/>