John Nesbitt's Passing Parade

The Passing Parade, also known as John Nesbitt's Passing Parade, was an American radio series created, written and narrated by John Nesbitt. It was adapted into an Oscar-winning series of MGM short subjects. In both formats, the series usually focused on strange-but-true historical events, both obscure and famous, as well as on historical figures such as Catherine de' Medici and Nostradamus.

Passing Parade on radio

The radio series was developed as an offshoot of Headlines of the Past, an earlier program that John Nesbitt had produced. The show was launched on the NBC network on February 1, 1937, running intermittently until 1951 over three different networks and in syndication. Nesbitt's inspiration was a trunk inherited from his father that contained news clippings of odd stories from around the world. He utilized a research staff of 14 people to verify the details of his stories, but wrote the final scripts himself, often within an hour of airtime. The stories were usually presented without sound effects or music.[1] The show was also heard as a segment on the John Charles Thomas radio program, upon which Nesbitt served as narrator, from 1943 to 1946.[2]

Billboard wrote: "There was a time when no one could be sold the idea that one man, without much musical help, could fill a half hour and hold his audience. Nesbitt has disproved the bromide because he's Nesbitt and spins a yarn that's as tight as an Armistice announcement."[3]

Radio producer/announcer John Doremus later acquired the rights to the series and revived it as a late 1950s-early 1960s syndicated feature, billing his version as "from the files of John Nesbitt." More than 1,500 three-minute episodes were broadcast.[4]

Passing Parade on film

A series of Passing Parade one-reel short subjects were produced for MGM from 1938 to 1949.[5] Most of the films feature the slow movement of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 as the opening theme music. The films' directors included Fred Zinnemann and Jacques Tourneur.

The films were reedited for television syndication by MGM in the early 1960s. The shorts in their original form were eventually re-aired on Turner Classic Movies. The films episodes may also be found as DVD extras accompanying some MGM films.

Year Title Subject matter Cast Home video availability
1938 Passing Parade Margaret Bert
1938 The Face Behind the Mask The Man in the Iron Mask Leonard Penn, directed by Jacques Tourneur
1939 The Story of Alfred Nobel Alfred Nobel Paul Guilfoyle
1939 Flag of Mercy Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross Sara Haden
1939 Yankee Doodle Goes to Town
1939 The Story that Couldn't be Printed John Peter Zenger Victor Kilian
1939 One Against the World Jonathan Hale
1940 The Hidden Master Common luck Peter Cushing, Emmett Vogan and Louis Jean Heydt
1940 A Way in the Wilderness Joseph Goldberger's research on pellagra Shepperd Strudwick
1940 Trifles of Importance Clark Gable, Lana Turner, Robert Taylor, Myrna Loy, Mickey Rooney and Franklin D. Roosevelt
1940 Utopia of Death
1940 Dreams
1940 American Spoken Here American slang John Harmon, Barbara Bedford and Ray Teal
1941 Willie and the Mouse
1941 This is the Bowery Manhattan, the Bowery
1941 Of Pups and Puzzles
1941 Strange Testament Edward Ashley and Ava Gardner
1942 We Do It Because— Ava Gardner, Dorothy Morris and Mark Daniels Reunion in France (DVD)
1942 The Woman in the House Ann Richards
1942 The Incredible Stranger Paul Guilfoyle, Dorothy Vaughan and Walter Baldwin
1942 The Magic Alphabet Christiaan Eijkman's discovery of vitamins Horace McNally Great Day in the Morning (DVD)
1942 Famous Boners Three people who caused or were victims of errors Edward McWade, Ian Wolfe, Dave O'Brien, Joe Yule, and Margaret Bert
1942 The Film that Was Lost Film preservation
1943 Madero of Mexico Francisco I. Madero Paul Guilfoyle and John Picorri
1943 Who's Superstitious? Common superstitions Don Taylor, Ernie Alexander, Fred Toones and Margaret Bert
1943 That's Why I Left You Jacqueline White and James Warren
1943 Forgotten Treasure Film preservation
1943 Storm
1943 To My Unborn Son Steven Geray
1944 Return from Nowhere Don DeFore
1944 A Lady Fights Back SS Normandie Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (DVD)
1945 The Seesaw and the Shoes Rene Laennec's invention of the stethoscope; Charles Goodyear's invention of vulcanized rubber
1945 The Great American Mug History of the barber shop Thrill of a Romance (DVD)
1945 Stairway to Light Philippe Pinel Wolfgang Zilzer and Gene Roth; won an Oscar for Best One-Reel Short Subject The Picture of Dorian Gray (DVD)
1945 People on Paper Comic strips Harold Knerr (The Katzenjammer Kids), Bud Fisher (Mutt and Jeff), Fred Lasswell (Barney Google and Snuffy Smith), Frank King (Gasoline Alley), Chester Gould (Dick Tracy), Dick Calkins (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century), Milton Caniff (Terry and the Pirates), Chic Young (Blondie and Dagwood), Raeburn Van Buren (Abbie an' Slats), Ham Fisher (Joe Palooka), Hal Foster (Prince Valiant), Harold Gray (Little Orphan Annie) and Al Capp (Li'l Abner)
1946 Golden Hunch
1946 Magic on a Stick John Walker's invention of the friction match Paul Langton and Jacqueline White
1946 Our Old Car Jacqueline White
1947 A Really Important Person Dean Stockwell, Connie Gilchrist, Clancy Cooper and Chick York Song of the Thin Man (DVD)
1947 Tennis in Rhythm
1948 Goodbye, Miss Turlock Nana Bryant; won an Oscar for Best One-Reel Short Subject Fiesta (DVD)
1948 My Old Town
1948 Souvenirs of Death The voice of the Mauser pistol Command Decision (DVD)
1948 The Fabulous Fraud Anton Mesmer and hypnotism John Baragrey, Phyllis Morris, Marcia Mae Jones and Morris Ankrum
1949 Annie Was a Wonder Kathleen Freeman, Howard J. Negley, Ruth Lee and Hugo-Sven Borg The Barkleys of Broadway (DVD)
1949 Mr. Whitney Had a Notion Eli Whitney and interchangeable parts Lloyd Bridges On the Town (Blu-ray)
1949 City of Children Mooseheart, Illinois

References
  1. Dunning, John (1998). On The Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 533. ISBN 0-19-507678-8. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
  2. Terrace, Vincent (1999). Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-4513-4. P. 177.
  3. Koehler, Joseph M. (July 31, 1943). "Program Reviews: "The Passing Parade". Billboard. p. 12. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
  4. "The Passing Parade", Grace Gibson Productions.
  5. Slide, Anthony (2014). The New Historical Dictionary of the American Film Industry. Routledge. ISBN 9781135925543. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
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