Movie Name | Character | Release Date | Overview |
Inflation | Narrator (voice) | 1933-06-15 | An attempt to explain the economic cycle of inflation and unemployment…. |
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Romance of Radium | Narrator (voice) | 1937-10-23 | Romance of Radium is a 1937 American short film directed by Jacques Tourneur, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This short film tells the story of … |
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Penny Wisdom | Narrator (voice) | 1937-04-10 | A Pete Smith Specialty short on saving an important dinner after the household’s cook suddenly quits…. |
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Friend Indeed | Narrator | 1937-12-28 | Pete Smith tells the story of ‘Sparky’, a German shepherd dog trained to lead his blind master, a country doctor who lost his sight in a fire, and now… |
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Pigskin Champions | Narrator (voice) | 1937-08-14 | The Green Bay Packers teach football tips…. |
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Three on a Rope | Narrator | 1938-02-19 | This short looks at the sport of rock climbing. A team of three men ascend a rock wall on Southern California’s Tahquitz Rock (also known as Lily Rock… |
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The New Audioscopiks | Narrator | 1938-01-16 | A Pete Smith short that deals with the newly-created 3-D process…. |
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Fisticuffs | Narrator (voice) | 1938-08-27 | This Pete Smith Specialty short showcases former heavyweight boxing champion Max Baer with various sparring partners in the ring. Slow motion is used … |
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Swing High | Narrator (voice) | 1932-11-12 | Swing High is a 1932 American Pre-Code short documentary film directed by Jack Cummings. In 1932, it was nominated for an Academy Award at the 5th Aca… |
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Diamond Demon | Narrator (voice) | 1947-02-01 | The unusual talents of Johnny Price, a minor league baseball pitcher and trick artist, are showcased in this Pete Smith Specialty. Among other talents… |
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Let’s Talk Turkey | Narrator | 1939-10-28 | It’s Thanksgiving. Newlywed husband Abner Poodlebean faces the turkey his wife has prepared: she wants him to carve it at the table in front of her sc… |
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Radio Hams | Narrator (voice) | 1939-05-19 | A “Pete Smith Specialty” – a fairly serious look at radio hams in the usual jokey format. Shows aircraft using morse code…. |
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Set ’em Up | Narrator | 1939-10-06 | Five years after he narrated STRIKES AND SPARES, Pete Smith returns to the subject of bowling with two pros: Andy Varipapa, who threw some trick shots… |
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Did’ja Know? | Narrator (voice) | 1950-05-06 | This short looks at the following questions: How would you act as an expectant father?; How many greeting cards are sold in the USA each year?; Why do… |
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Bar-Rac’s Night Out | Narrator (voice) | 1937-02-27 | In this Pete Smith Specialty short, a raccoon spends the night looking for food for his family. After his encounters with a skunk, a frog, and a menac… |
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The Jonker Diamond | Narrator (voice) | 1936-03-27 | Re-enactment of how the 726-carat Jonker diamond was discovered in South Africa in 1905 by the family of Jacobus Jonker; how it was sold to Harry Wins… |
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Ain’t It Aggravatin’ | Narrator (voice) | 1954-02-06 | This comedic short looks at human foibles that lead to major aggravations…. |
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Goofy Movies Number One | Narrator (voice) | 1933-12-23 | The first part of this short is a “Metrophony” newsreel. It contains actual newsreel footage with humorous commentary (e.g., a flotilla of gondolas is… |
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Goofy Movies Number Two | Narrator (voice) | 1934-02-24 | A satire on movie newsreels combines with humorous narration of silent screen footage in this one reel comedy short…. |
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Goofy Movies Number Three | Narrator (voice) | 1934-03-24 | This “complete show on one reel” starts with Super-Stupid Picture’s “The Heel of a Nation”, in which the narrator tells a humorous story while the aud… |
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Goofy Movies Number Four | Narrator (voice) | 1934-05-05 | This entry in the series starts with a “Wotaphony Newsreel,” which contains feature stories with humorous commentary. Then we see “Passions of Horse P… |
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Goofy Movies Number Five | Narrator (voice) | 1934-06-06 | In this short, Pete Smith provides comedic narration over silent film footage…. |
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Goofy Movies Number Six | Narrator (voice) | 1934-07-28 | A comic short filled with fake news and a fake movie trailer made up of clips from silent movies…. |
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Goofy Movies Number Seven | Narrator (voice) | 1934-09-18 | This comedy short contains a “Wotaphony” newsreel and a short film from Super-Stupid Pictures entitled “The Downfall of Thaddeus G. Blotto, Esq.” As t… |
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Goofy Movies Number Eight | Narrator (voice) | 1934-10-06 | In this eighth installment in Pete Smith’s Goofy Movies short films series, clips from silent films are given comedic narration…. |
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Goofy Movies Number Nine | Narrator (voice) | 1934-11-03 | This comedic short presents a series of nonsensical news stories, in a “Wotaphony Newsreel”. The reel’s feature, “The Curse of an Aching Husband”, tak… |
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Goofy Movies Number Ten | Narrator (voice) | 1934-12-01 | This entry in the “whole show on one reel” series begins with a do-it-yourself overture for which the narrator asks the audience to hum any song they … |
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Things We Can Do Without | Narrator (voice) | 1953-12-05 | A Pete Smith Specialty shorts series entry. Dave demonstrates a variety of household items and furniture which, while modern, is much more trouble tha… |
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Third Dimensional Murder | Narrator (voice) | 1941-03-01 | A 3-D short subject in which the narrator goes to a creepy old house in search of his missing aunt. There he encounters the Frankenstein monster, a wi… |
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Menu | Narrator (voice) | 1933-09-23 | A chef helps a housewife cook a duck dinner that will not give her husband indigestion…. |
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Handlebars | Narrator (voice) | 1933-08-26 | A humorous history of the bicycle since 1819…. |
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Strikes and Spares | Narrator (voice) | 1934-10-20 | This short features professional bowler Andy Varipapa. He first shows the correct way to grip a bowling ball and the proper form for delivering the ba… |
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I Love My Husband, But! | Narrator (voice) | 1946-12-07 | In this Pete Smith Specialty short, a wife endures the trials of being married to a husband with traits that drive her crazy…. |
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Movie Pests | Narrator (voice) | 1944-07-08 | This Pete Smith Specialty short takes a humorous look at the inconsiderate pests whose annoying habits make enjoying a movie impossible…. |
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Sure Cures | Narrator (voice) | 1946-11-02 | This comedic Pete Smith Specialty short examines the folly of using “home remedies” for various ills…. |
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Wanted – A Master | Narrator (voice) / Dog (voice) | 1936-12-26 | A dog living in a junkyard learns that all stray dogs will be exterminated by 3 o’clock that afternoon, so sets off to find a master before the deadli… |
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Fishing Feats | Narrator (voice) | 1951-12-22 | With Pete Smith providing dry off-screen commentary, we watch some serious fishing: a marlin caught near Catalina, a hammerhead shark caught then wres… |
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The Fall Guy | Narrator (voice) | 1955-06-04 | In this final entry in the Pete Smith Specialty series, Smith pays tribute to actor and stuntman Dave O’Brien, who took many falls and spills (and upo… |
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Weather Wizards | Narrator (voice) | 1939-04-08 | Modern meteorology and a hard-working government weather team put their science and organization to work as a cold front moves from Alaska toward the … |
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‘What’s Your ‘I.Q.’?’: Number Two | Narrator (voice) | 1940-08-08 | Questions and answers on various subjects, from Lady Godiva to the Panama Canal…. |
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Equestrian Quiz: What’s Your I.Q.? No. 11 | Narrator (voice) | 1946-05-18 | A series of questions testing one’s knowledge of fun facts about horses and equestrian in general are asked. The questions deal with horse age and siz… |
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Roping Wild Bears | Narrator (voice) | 1934-02-10 | Wild bears that bother livestock are captured with ropes and shipped to zoos…. |
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Seeing Hands | Narrator (voice) | 1943-07-03 | This serious Pete Smith Specialty series entry encourages industry to hire people with disabilities to help with the war effort. As a boy, Ben Helwig … |
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Water Trix | Narrator (voice) | 1949-11-05 | In this Pete Smith Specialty, cameraman Charles T. Trego films water skiing champion Preston Petersen, as he and two unnamed female skiers perform var… |
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Fancy Answers | Narrator (voice) | 1941-11-01 | In this Pete Smith Speciality, the audience is asked a series of multiple-choice questions on various subjects…. |
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Aeronutics | Narrator (voice) | 1941-04-26 | This Pete Smith Specialty is a humorous look at a student’s first flying lesson, in a propeller-driven biplane…. |
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I Love My Wife BUT! | Narrator (voice) | 1947-04-05 | In this Pete Smith Specialty short, a husband endures the trials of being married to a wife with irritating traits…. |
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A Wife’s Life | Narrator (voice) | 1950-09-01 | In this comedic Pete Smith Specialty short, average housewife Mrs. George T. Hardnose’s day is recalled…. |
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I Love My Mother-In-Law But… | Narrator (voice) | 1948-02-07 | In this Pete Smith Specialty short, a series of vignettes illustrate some ways that mothers-in-law irritate, and/or cause problems for, their son-in-l… |
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Cash Stashers | Narrator (voice) | 1953-08-29 | This Pete Smith Specialty short shows, humorously, the disastrous results when people save their money in unsafe places…. |
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Camera Sleuth | Narrator (voice) | 1951-04-28 | In this Pete Smith Specialty short, we see how real-life investigator Jo Goggin used a motion picture surveillance camera to gather evidence and dispr… |
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Sports Oddities | Narrator | 1949-12-31 | A Pete Smith Specialty showcasing athletic stunts…. |
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The Man Around the House | Narrator (voice) | 1955-01-01 | A humorous look at some typical housework troubles that may arise. A Pete Smith Specialty short…. |
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Just What I Needed | Narrator | 1955-04-15 | Harry Horseknuckle tries to figure out what to do with some strange and unwanted gifts…. |
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Snow Birds | Narrator (voice) | 1932-08-20 | This Pete Smith Sports Champion short visits Southern California where it quickly moves from orange orchards to the mountain snow playground at Big Pi… |
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Wrong Way Butch | Narrator (voice) | 1950-09-02 | This Pete Smith Specialty short was produced in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Labor. Using humor, it shows what can happen when tools and ma… |
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You Can’t Win | Narrator (voice) | 1948-05-29 | In this comedic Pete Smith Specialty short film, a homeowner experiences a series of mishaps while taking a day off from the office…. |
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Do Someone a Favor! | Narrator (voice) | 1954-04-10 | In this Pete Smith Specialty short, a friendly do-gooder’s good deeds backfire…. |
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Hollywood Scout | Narrator / Chimp (voice) | 1945-04-14 | This short film focuses on a day in the life of a Hollywood talent scout assigned to cast animals…. |
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Acro-Batty | Narrator | 1942-03-28 | A humorous look at various circus and other acrobatic feats. One of the “Pete Smith Specialties” produced and narrated by “A Smith named Pete.”… |
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Donkey Baseball | Narrator (voice) | 1935-03-02 | This short film highlights the odd 1930s fad of playing baseball while riding donkeys…. |
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Just Suppose | Narrator (voice) | 1948-07-17 | An off-camera narrator takes us through various scenarios of “just suppose”. First we watch what would happen if a private detective behaved at home a… |
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Reducing | Narrator (voice) | 1952-03-22 | Pete Smith does his usual mocking observations while the overweight Maxine Gates goes through the trials and tribulations of losing weight. The agony … |
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Gettin’ Glamour | Narrator (voice) | 1946-02-02 | This Pete Smith Specialty comedic short details the troubles the average woman faces with maintaining beauty and fitness…. |
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How to Hold Your Husband – BACK | Narrator (voice) | 1941-12-30 | In this Pete Smith Specialty comedic short, we see various ways a wife may unintentionally hold her husband back…. |
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Fine Feathers | Narrator | 1933-11-18 | A look at colorful (and mostly imported) birds, ranging in size from hummingbirds to storks…. |
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Rough Riding | Narrator | 1954-12-11 | This rare Technicolor entry in the Pete Smith Specialty series shows various events at a rodeo in Casper, Wyoming… |
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The Camera Caught It | Narrator | 1954-10-09 | A man looks at stacks of canisters of film on shelves. He pulls out a few to show real-life events caught on camera. He pulls out spools of film that … |
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Water Sports | Narrator (voice) | 1935-10-26 | This short film showcases water sports activities such as sailboat racing and surfboard riding, including Christian Peterson doing a human surfboard a… |
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Animals in Action | Narrator (voice) | 1955-05-21 | The profession of capturing animals in action on celluloid is both an art and science. Some of the most exciting footage can be obtained in different … |
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Athletiquiz: What’s Your I.Q.? No. 12 | Narrator | 1947-01-11 | The audience is asked questions about sports facts and records involving tennis, wrestling, swimming, golf, and cycling…. |
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Have You Ever Wondered? | Narrator (voice) | 1947-12-13 | In this Pete Smith Specialty short, answers are sought regarding some things people may have wondered about…. |
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Bargain Madness | Narrator (voice) | 1951-07-04 | In this comedic Pete Smith Specialty short, women battle for bargains in a department store…. |
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Harnessed Rhythm | Narrator (voice) | 1936-06-06 | This Sports Parade series entry follows the life of Dixie Dan, a harness racehorse, from birth through age three…. |
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Victory Quiz | | 1942-05-09 | A short film where viewers are given 10 or 15 seconds to answer questions about the United States and its involvement in World War II…. |
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Calling All Pa’s | Narrator (voice) | 1942-10-24 | In this Pete Smith Specialty short, a new father experiences the trials and tribulations of fatherhood…. |
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Dogs ‘n Ducks | Narrator (voice) | 1953-06-27 | A boy trains his new golden retriever for duck retrieving competition, much to the chagrin of his first dog, a lovable but untrained mutt…. |
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Lions on the Loose | Narrator (voice) | 1941-05-24 | In this Pete Smith Specialty short, two lion cubs escape from the zoo and go on an adventure…. |
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Crashing the Movies | Narrator (voice) | 1950-01-28 | This Pete Smith Specialty short shows newsreel clips of people performing strange stunts. Among those featured are a motorcyclist driving through a pa… |
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Fish Tales | Narrator (voice) | 1954-03-13 | In this short film, champion fisherman Ernie St. Claire tries to catch a large salmon in Oregon’s Rogue River…. |
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Ice Aces | Narrator (voice) | 1948-11-06 | This Pete Smith Specialty short provides a behind-the-scenes look at the Ice Capades practices with ice skating favorites of the time…. |
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Musiquiz | Narrator (voice) | 1952-02-16 | In this Pete Smith Specialty short, we take a music quiz, plus survey various unusual musical instruments…. |
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Heroes at Leisure | Narrator (voice) | 1939-02-02 | This short film focuses on a group of lifeguards from a Southern California beach during the off season…. |
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Microscopic Mysteries | Narrator (voice) | 1932-10-18 | This short film takes a look through a microscope’s lens at insect life…. |
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Flicker Memories | Narrator (voice) | 1941-10-04 | In this Pete Smith Specialty short, clips from several unidentified silent films are woven into a story, with humorous commentary by Smith…. |
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Army Champions | Narrator (voice) | 1941-10-11 | This Pete Smith Specialty short focuses on the young men who have signed up for the U.S. Army. The film uses the analogy of the speed, accuracy, and t… |
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Now You See It | Narrator (voice) | 1947-03-20 | This Pete Smith Specialty short demonstrates the uses of micro- and macrophotography. We see extreme closeups of the mechanical workings of a tiny wri… |
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Audioscopiks | Commentator (voice) | 1935-12-26 | After the audience is instructed how to use the 3-D glasses they received, demonstrations of three-dimensional films are presented. Various objects mo… |
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Quicker’n a Wink | Narrator (voice) | 1940-10-12 | In this Pete Smith Specialty short, Dr. Harold E. Edgerton demonstrates stroboscopic photography, which he helped develop. This process allows us to s… |
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La Fiesta de Santa Barbara | Narrator (voice) | 1935-12-07 | La Fiesta de Santa Barbara is a 1935 American comedy short film directed by Louis Lewyn. It was nominated for an Academy Award at the 9th Academy Awar… |
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Marines in the Making | Narrator (voice) | 1942-12-26 | This short film shows U.S. Marines in training at a number of unidentified bases, with a focus on hand-to-hand combat…. |
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Groovie Movie | Narrator | 1944-02-19 | A boogie-woogie piano introduces what purports to be a jitterbug lesson, starring prize winner Arthur Walsh, his partner, and then later various other… |
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Safety Sleuth | Pete Smith – Narrator | 1944-11-25 | Demonstrates how accidents happen when proper safety devices are neglected…. |
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The Domineering Male | Narrator (voice) | 1940-03-30 | This Pete Smith Specialty short looks at the notion that a man chases a woman till he catches her. Who’s really chasing whom?… |
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Color Scales | Narrator (voice) | 1932-04-23 | This humorous short film shows various species of tropical fish at the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco, California…. |
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Treasures from Trash | Narrator (voice) | 1946-06-08 | This short film presents an unusual Beverly Hills store called the Patio Shop, where trash is turned into art…. |
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Trained Hoofs | Narrator (voice) | 1935-10-12 | This short film focuses on how racehorses are trained…. |
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Football Thrills of 1940 | Narrator | 1941-09-20 | Pete Smith narrates some of the most spectacular college football plays from the 1940 season…. |
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Football Thrills of 1944 | Narrator | 1945-09-08 | Pete Smith would make a “Football Thrills of….” each year as part of his Pete Smith Specials. 1944 was in the midst of WW II and most of the college… |
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Seventh Column | Narrator (voice) | 1943-07-31 | This humorous short film shows how carelessness and accidents can harm the war effort, and steps on how to avoid them…. |
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Equestrian Acrobats | Narrator (voice) | 1937-08-14 | This Pete Smith Specialty showcases the Cristiani Family, a circus act. They mount and dismount moving horses and perform acrobatic feats while riding… |
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Pro Football | Narrator (voice) | 1934-09-22 | This MGM Oddity features the 1933 National Football League champion Chicago Bears. The team demonstrates various plays, which are shown first in real … |
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Badminton | Narrator (voice) | 1945-12-08 | Two expert badminton players demonstrate how the best play the game, including some slick trick shots. Meanwhile, befuddled bungler Bellamy B. Birdbra… |
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Wild and Woolly | Narrator (voice) | 1931-11-07 | This Sports Champions entry visits a rodeo and highlights the three main events: bronco busting, bull riding, and bull-dogging steers…. |
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Desert Regatta | Narrator (voice) | 1932-09-17 | In this Sports Champions entry, power boat racers use specially designed outboard motor boats in a race on California’s Salton Sea…. |
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Water Bugs | Narrator (voice) | 1941-08-16 | This Pete Smith Specialty showcases a group called the Water Bugs. Its members devise new ways to experience thrills on the waters of California lakes… |
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Studio Visit | Narrator (voice) | 1946-05-11 | This humorous Pete Smith Specialty short looks around various studios on a film lot…. |
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Sportsman’s Memories | Narrator (voice) | 1944-04-22 | Filmmaker Pete Smith is very protective of the trophies and other mementos associated with his films that are located in his office at the studio, but… |
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Aqua Antics | Narrator (voice) | 1942-01-24 | In this short, members of the California Water Bugs club demonstrate new ways to get thrills when water skiing…. |
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Olympic Events | Narrator (voice) | 1932-03-05 | This short film presents several athletes preparing for the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California…. |
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Cuban Rhythm | Narrator (voice) | 1941-06-21 | In this Pete Smith Specialties short, two professional dancers beautifully demonstrate the rumba and conga while actors humorously display some incorr… |
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Curious Contests | Narrator (voice) (as a Smith named Pete) | 1950-11-11 | This Pete Smith Specialty shows newsreel footage events that live up to the title. They include, among others, a diaper derby (the father who puts a d… |
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Anaesthesia | Narrator | 1938-07-09 | An examination of the history of anesthesia, from ancient Egyptian times to contemporary times…. |
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Dexterity | Narrator | 1937-01-16 | Beautiful women allow men to crack whips and throw horseshoes at their heads…. |
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Football Thrills of 1937 | Narrator | 1938-09-10 | A review of the 1937 football season…. |
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Grid Rules | Narrator | 1938-10-15 | Shows how the game of football developed, and how its rules came to be…. |
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Hot on Ice | Narrator | 1938-10-22 | How the game of ice hockey is played, demonstrated by the hockey team at Loyola University…. |
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Man’s Greatest Friend | Narrator | 1938-11-19 | An examination of the role played by dogs over the years in scientific research…. |
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Poetry of Nature | Narrator (voice) (uncredited) | 1939-06-17 | Pete Smith takes a humorous look at the wildlife that lives among the California redwoods…. |
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Bowling Tricks | Narrator(voice) | 1948-01-10 | A demonstration of trick shots by champion bowler Andy Varipapa…. |
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Killer Dog | Narrator (voice) | 1936-08-29 | A dog accused of murdering sheep is brought to trial…. |
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Those Good Old Days | Narrator | 1949-04-16 | Life in mid-century America is humorously compared to life at the turn of the century. Subject covered are keeping accurate time, proposing marriage, … |
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Water Wisdom | Narrator(voice) | 1943-11-27 | This Pete Smith Specialty shows water-safety and life-saving techniques taught by the American Red Cross to advanced swimmers…. |
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Marine Circus | Narrator | 1939-03-11 | This Pete Smith Specialty offers a look at Marineland of Florida, featuring the various marine life on display there…. |
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Throttle Pushers | Narrator(voice) | 1933-04-01 | Highlights the fast-paced and dangerous world of professional auto racing…. |
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Double Diving | Narrator | 1939-01-14 | An exmination of the sport of championship diving…. |
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Super Cue Men | Narrator | 1949-01-29 | Pete Smith special about billiard…. |
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Hurling | Narrator | | A short film showing the Irish contact sport known as hurling, which is similar to, but much rougher than, American football…. |
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Trader Hound | Narrator (voice) (uncredited) | 1931-04-08 | Trader Hound, a dog who walks upright, wears human clothes, and speaks English, is in darkest Africa with a young sheik who is looking for adventure. … |
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Let’s Dance | Himself | 1936-01-04 | Choreographer Dave Gould and his students demonstrate various tap dancing steps. Also featured are an adagio and Russian sword dancers…. |
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Penny’s Picnic | | 1938-12-17 | 1938 short film starring Prudence Penny…. |
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Neighbor Pests | Narrator | 1947-05-03 | Narrator Pete Smith talks about the different kinds of neighbors that can be pests, and how to deal with them…. |
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Let’s Cogitate | Narrator (voice | 1948-12-25 | Short film covering a variety of topics that folks may have wondered about…. |
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Wedding Bills | Narrator (voice) | 1940-11-13 | Another in the long series of “Pete Smith” shorts from M-G-M in which William Newell meets and falls in love with Sally Payne, and begins to budget fo… |
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Take a Cue | Narrator (voice) | 1939-08-12 | Despite the school just having won an important basketball game, its students are more interested in one of its teachers, namely Charles C. Peterson, … |
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Penny’s Party | Narrator | 1938-04-09 | Prudence Penny and Gwen Lee give more cooking tips in Technicolor… |
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The Tree in a Test Tube | as Interlocutor (voice) | 1942-11-19 | Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are stopped by narrator Pete Smith for the purpose of showing the audience how much wood and wood by-products the average… |
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Candid Cameramaniacs | Narrator | 1937-12-11 | Short comedic subject on the history of photography from the daguerrotype to modern amateur photographers…. |
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This Is a Living? | Narrator (voice) | 1953-10-10 | This “Pete Smith Specialty” features narrated clips of acrobats and stunt performers who earn their living in unusual and exciting ways…. |
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The Grand Bounce | Narrator (voice) (uncredited) | 1937-05-22 | A man writes a check for $1,000 to cover a gambling debt. The problem is that he doesn’t have enough money in his bank account to cover it. The check … |
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The Great Morgan | Narrator in ‘Badminton’ (voice) (archive footage) (uncredited) | 1945-01-01 | Frank Morgan is hired to put together a movie using odds and ends from the MGM vaults. He does so by splicing together a string of completely unrelate… |
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Manhattan Melodrama | Racetrack Announcer (Voice) (uncredited) | 1934-05-04 | The friendship between two orphans endures even though they grow up on opposite sides of the law and fall in love with the same woman…. |
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