The gag of slipping on the banana peel that Arnold left on the floor is a tried and true gag as old as vaudeville and burlesque, perhaps first used circa 1900 by comedian "Sliding" Billy Watson (1876-1939). Its first known use in cinema is attributed to Charles Chaplin in his two-reeler By the Sea (1915).
Haney says the Douglas house is made of "gen-u-whine" Mississippi chittlin' wood.