The scenes at the end which are supposedly from Bruce Blair's "new" movie are actually scenes from Sitting Pretty (1948), the first of Clifton Webb's Mr. Belvedere trilogy. The theater marquee correctly identifies the film as "Sitting Pretty", blurring the line between real-life actor Clifton Webb and his actor character Bruce Blair in this film.
When Thorton tells his daughter he came in second in a popularity poll, she asks who came in first. He doesn't say the name, just that it was a "stupid police dog". Of course this is a reference to Rin Tin Tin, who made 29 films from 1922 to 1931 and more often than not received top billing.
The gold lamé dress worn by Ginger Rogers in one of the scenes was worn again by Marilyn Monroe in a short scene in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). Marilyn visited Ginger on the set and instantly loved the dress.