In the scene at the 1937 Academy Awards that opens the film, director Edward Dmytryk is pointed out in hushed tones by event attendees as if he were a major director. At that time, he had directed a single, low-budget and very minor movie.
Near the beginning of the movie, a scene set in the 1937 Academy Awards (taken from archive footage) shows a billboard reading "Edward G. Robinson in Scarlet Street.