At one point, Godfrey and Tommy Gray are looking at the polluted stream in the garbage dump, and Gray asks, "What's that?" Godfrey replies, "Oh, that? That's Ol' Man River", a reference to the song from the musical "Show Boat", which Universal also filmed in 1936.
The opening scene showing the show boat in the distance; also the arrival and introduction of the players spoofs the introduction of the players in "Show Boat".
During one of his daydreams, in a nod to "Show Boat"'s Gaylord Ravenal, Mitty imagines himself as Gaylord Mitty, a riverboat gambler. During one of the songs, Mitty utters the line "Tote dat barge, lift dat veil", a deliberate misquote from the song "Ol' Man River".
