Scriptwriter Sidney Howard wrote the screenplay based upon his 1934 stage adaptation of Sinclair Lewis"" 1929 novel of the same name.The words of the romantic Stan Jones ballad (sung by The Sons of the Pioneers) hat play during the credits,What Makes a Man to Wander?, define the central theme of the film - one man""s wanderings and obsessive search:What makes a man to wander?What makes a man to roam?What makes a man leave bed and boardAnd turn his back on home?Ride away, ride away, ride away.He remembered how - as a privileged young man - he had given up college to volunteer for military service, and hat he admired other lowly and disposable "grunts" (mostly teenaged male high-school dropouts from small towns, all poor, black and Hispanic) as the "heart and soul" of he war effort, used as infantry bait:(voice-over)Of course, Mom and Dad didn""t want me o come here.The wo were brought into a world of subversiveness by a bisexual host - the carnivorous "sweet ransvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania" - Dr."Mommer" Sieppe (Sylvia Ashton) carries a large picnic basket; the twin brothers Max and Moritz (Oscar and Otto Gotell) and kid brother ""Owgooste"" (Austin Jewel) are dressed for the picnic outing and carry a butterfly net and a toy boat; and buck-toothed cousin Selina (Joan Standing).