Hedda Hopper makes reference to Joan Crawford's "custom Billy Haines furniture." Billy Haines was a silent film star who became a Hollywood interior decorator after he was routed out of the film business for refusing to give up his relationship with his male lover.
In his opening scene Robert Aldrich (Alfred Molina) is directing Sodom and Gomorrah (1962) when there is a mishap on the set.
The episode implies that Bette Davis was playing a supporting part on stage in "The Night Of The Iguana", whereas she was (at her own insistence) top-billed in the production and thus would have been center-stage when the actors take their bows at the end of the performance and not at the edge of the group as shown. The play did not open on Broadway until December 27th, 1961, although this episode shows it being a Broadway hit somewhat earlier in the year.
Liebesträume was the song played during the birthday party in All About Eve starring Bette Davis and Gary Merrill.
Aldrich asks Pauline about "that espionage script"; actress Alison Wright was best known at the time for her work on the FX Network espionage series The Americans (2013).