The episode was filmed aboard the RMS Queen Mary, although the at sea pictures show the SS France (later known as the Norway before it was scrapped).
When Mel mistakenly refers to Kolchak as a member of the "5th column" Carl corrects him by saying that it was a Nazi spy ring. He's thinking about the one in Norway that so effectively helped the Germans conquer Norway in 1940. It was led by Vidkun Quisling, who became Hitler's stooge until Germany was defeated, and he was then promptly tried, convicted, and executed. After the war "quisling" became a synonym for traitor, much like Benedict Arnold.
Paula tries to remember the title of the movie about a werewolf starring John Wayne, only to realize she was thinking of Charlie Chan, not Wayne. However, she was actually thinking of Warner Oland, an actor famous for portraying Chan, who starred in Werewolf of London (1935) as a different character. Ironically, in 1987, a low budget indie horror comedy called Curse of the Queerwolf came out and in it the protagonist has to wear a medallion with Wayne's manly photograph to ward off the curse.