The television executive, Charlie Appleby, tells the Ricardos about acquiring films. Movie studios at that time were generally opposed to releasing any recent movie other than B-westerns to TV. Charlie predicts a career revival for Conway Tearle and Mabel Normand. They were silent movie actors who had died in the 1930s.
The joke about making Conway Tearle famous alludes to part of Lucille Ball's life. She was in a stage comedy with him, titled "Hey Diddle Diddle" in 1937. The Broadway-bound comedy was tried out in Princeton and Washington, DC, but they had to close when Mr. Tearle became too ill to continue with it.
Doris Singleton, who played Caroline Appleby, reminisced that while filming this episode, the mother of the baby who played Little Stevie said that he was a little fussy, as he'd just gotten over a cold. The mother gave Singleton some suggestions on how to keep him calm if he acted up. When Singleton relayed this to Lucille, Lucille promptly told her that if he acted up, she should place him on the floor, off to the side, out of camera range. Singleton was to continue with the scene as though nothing was wrong. Thankfully, the baby acted perfectly the day of filming.
The magazine on the Ricardos' coffee table is the May 11, 1953 issue of "Life". This is the same issue that featured an article about Ricky's home life in Ricky's Life Story (1953).
Ricky is reading the April 25, 1953 edition of The New York Times.