As the Kettles are shown the features of their new home the newsreel footage on TV is that of the first flight of the Hughes H-4 Hercules AKA "Spruce Goose". The H-4 first and only flight was on 2 November 1947, just 17 months prior to the release of this movie.
One of the modern paintings hanging in the Kettle's new home, is by Ferdnand Leger, whose work had focused on the machine age the alienation of the individual as he became a consumer.