[3] Robert Ward first got the idea of adapting He Who Gets Slapped into an opera after reading the first two acts of psychoanalyst Gregory Zilboorg's English translation of the play in 1948.
[3] Upon reading the last two acts, both men were dissatisfied with the progression of the play, and the decision was made to substantially alter the focus of the plot for the second half of the work.
[3] Rather than have a tragic murder-suicide by poison at the end, the writers chose instead to have Consuelo reject Pantaloon's profession of love and go off with her lover Begano instead.
[7] Other artists who gave valuable input included Emanuel Balaban, Mack Harrell, Otto Luening, and Max Rudolf.
The reaction of the circus owner reveals that Pantaloon is a famous upper class intellectual who is highly respected, but the audience gains no further knowledge of the character other than he is 39 years old.
At the end of the act Zinida reveal's Pantaloon's past as a man broken by an adulterous wife who publicly humiliated him in upper class society.
[4] Essentially a workshopped opera presentation by a professional cast, the original production was costumed but had minimal sets and a smaller orchestra.