Pete Smith (film producer)
Encyclopedia
Pete Smith was a film producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...

 and narrator of "short subject
Short subject
A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...

" film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

s from 1931 to 1955.

Smith was a publicist at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...

 who was recruited to overdub the actions of trained dogs in the studio's "Dogville" comedies. Smith's speaking voice was distinctively nasal, and he would go on to narrate the studio's sports reels. Smith would embellish the action by running certain scenes in reverse or adding his own pungent commentary. Both the studio and the moviegoing public picked up on Smith's flair for comedy, and soon he had his own series, Pete Smith Specialties.

Smith made more than 150 shorts, almost all of which were comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 documentaries. They were made as filler material for MGM's cinema
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....

 exhibition packages, which typically consisted of a feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...

, a B-movie
B-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....

 or a serial
Serial (film)
Serials, more specifically known as Movie serials, Film serials or Chapter plays, were short subjects originally shown in theaters in conjunction with a feature film. They were related to pulp magazine serialized fiction...

, plus one or two "short subjects" of various types, such as animated cartoon
Animated cartoon
An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...

s, newsreel
Newsreel
A newsreel was a form of short documentary film prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, regularly released in a public presentation place and containing filmed news stories and items of topical interest. It was a source of news, current affairs and entertainment for millions of moviegoers...

s and documentaries. The Smith shorts were typically 9 to 11 minutes long, shot in black-and-white, with many of the laughs generated by the highly ironic voice-over
Voice-over
Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...

 narration delivered by Smith himself. (His somewhat nasal, matter-of-fact idiosyncratic vocal style has been imitated and parodied by many.)

The subject matter of the individual films was enormously diverse. Among the topics Smith cast his affectionate but jaundiced eye upon were: Emily Post
Emily Post
Emily Post was an American author famous for writing on etiquette.-Background:Post was born as Emily Price in Baltimore, Maryland, into privilege as the only daughter of architect Bruce Price and his wife Josephine Lee Price of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania...

-style household hints, insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

 life seen through a microscope
Microscope
A microscope is an instrument used to see objects that are too small for the naked eye. The science of investigating small objects using such an instrument is called microscopy...

, military training and hardware (during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

), and dancing lessons. There were even several "series-within-the-series", such as lighthearted general-knowledge quizzes, professional football highlights (in the days before widespread television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

), quirky looks at many different kinds of animals (for example, Donkey Baseball and Social Sea Lions), and "Goofy Movies" (playing antique silent dramas for laughs). Smith narrated a patriotic short for the U.S. Government, The Tree In a Test Tube
The Tree in a Test Tube
The Tree in a Test Tube is a short film produced by the U. S. Department of Agriculture and distributed by the U.S. Forest Service, featuring Laurel and Hardy, with narration read by MGM announcer and producer Pete Smith.-Plot outline:...

(1943), filmed in color, featuring Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema...

 in a demonstration of household wood products, with Smith explaining the various exhibits for the viewer.

In the 1940s movie stuntman and actor Dave O'Brien
Dave O'Brien (actor)
Dave O'Brien was an American film actor, director and writer. Born David Poole Fronabarger in Big Spring, Texas, O'Brien started his film career in bit parts before gradually winning larger roles, mostly in B pictures....

 became the primary focus of Pete Smith Specialties. The hapless O'Brien would personify everyday nuisances: dealing with pests at the movies, demonstrating pet peeves, tackling hazardous home-improvement projects, and other problems with which the audience could identify. O'Brien's scenes were shot silent, compelling O'Brien to express his satisfaction or frustration entirely in visual terms as narrator Smith offered get-a-load-of-this commentary. O'Brien knew the format so well that he also directed many of the shorts, under the name "David Barclay." He staged many of the sight gags himself, taking stupendous pratfalls for the camera.

The Pete Smith Specialities, instantly recognizable and highly popular in their day, are nowadays rarely seen, being almost completely unavailable on video or DVD. They occasionally appear between feature films on Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...

.

Smith retired in 1954 (his last films were released in 1955). His last years were spent in a Santa Monica, California, nursing home, where, despondent over his failing health, he committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

 on January 12, 1979 by leaping off its roof.

Awards

Smith's short subjects were nominated for Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

 sixteen times in various short film categories. One of these, 1933's Menu
Menu (film)
Menu is a 1933 short comedy film directed by Nick Grinde, produced by Pete Smith, and filmed in Technicolor. The film was nominated for an Academy Award in 1933 for Best Short Subject...

, was written by novelist Thorne Smith
Thorne Smith
James Thorne Smith Jr. , was an American writer of humorous supernatural fantasy fiction.He is best known today for the three Topper novels, comic fantasy fiction that sold millions of copies in the early 1930s...

. Pete Smith won twice, in 1938 for Penny Wisdom
Penny Wisdom
Penny Wisdom is a 1937 short comedy film directed by David Miller and produced by Pete Smith. The film won an Academy Award in 1938 for Best Short Subject ....

and in 1941 for Quicker'n a Wink
Quicker'n a Wink
Quicker'n a Wink is a 1940 short documentary film about stroboscopic photography, directed by George Sidney. It won an Academy Award in 1941 for Best Short Subject .- Cast :* Clarence Curtis...

. The latter used then-recent cinematic techniques to show events which normally occur too rapidly for the human eye to witness them properly, such as the shattering of a bottle of milk and the spilling of its contents. In 1954, at the end of his career, Smith was awarded an honorary Oscar "for his witty and pungent observations on the American scene in his series of "Pete Smith Specialties."

Smith has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...

 at 1625 Vine Street.

Films

Smith's short subject titles include:
  • Swing High
    Swing High
    Swing High is a 1932 short documentary film directed by Jack Cummings. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 1932 for Best Short Subject .-Cast:* The Flying Codonas - Themselves* Pete Smith - Narrator * Edward Codona - Himself...

    , 1932
  • Menu
    Menu (film)
    Menu is a 1933 short comedy film directed by Nick Grinde, produced by Pete Smith, and filmed in Technicolor. The film was nominated for an Academy Award in 1933 for Best Short Subject...

    , 1933
  • Strikes and Spares
    Strikes and Spares
    Strikes and Spares is a 1934 short sports film directed by Felix E. Feist. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 1934 for Best Short Subject .-Cast:* Pete Smith - Narrator * Andy Varipapa - Himself - World's Greatest Bowling Fixture...

    , 1934
  • Audioscopiks
    Audioscopiks
    Audioscopiks is a 1935 short documentary film directed by Jacob Leventhal and John Norling. The main point of the short was to show of 3-Dimensional technology. It was nominated for an Academy Award at the 8th Academy Awards in 1935 for Best Short Subject...

    , 1935
  • La Fiesta de Santa Barbara
    La Fiesta de Santa Barbara
    La Fiesta de Santa Barbara is a 1935 short comedy film directed by Louis Lewyn. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 1936 for Best Short Subject...

    , 1935
  • Wanted - A Master
    Wanted - A Master
    Wanted - A Master is a 1936 short film directed by Arthur J. Ornitz and Gunther von Fritsch. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 1936 for Best Short Subject ....

    , 1936
  • Romance of Radium
    Romance of Radium
    Romance of Radium is a 1937 short film directed by Jacques Tourneur, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 1937 for Best Short Subject .- Cast :* André Cheron - Henri Becquerel...

    , 1937
  • Penny Wisdom
    Penny Wisdom
    Penny Wisdom is a 1937 short comedy film directed by David Miller and produced by Pete Smith. The film won an Academy Award in 1938 for Best Short Subject ....

    , 1938
  • Radio Hams, 1939
  • Third Dimensional Murder
    Third Dimensional Murder
    Third Dimensional Murder is a 1941 3D comedy short produced and narrated by Pete Smith. It is the last of the Audioscopiks 3D short series.It is MGM's first 3-D all-color film, but was otherwise in black and white, including the opening credits....

    , 1941
  • Quicker'n a Wink
    Quicker'n a Wink
    Quicker'n a Wink is a 1940 short documentary film about stroboscopic photography, directed by George Sidney. It won an Academy Award in 1941 for Best Short Subject .- Cast :* Clarence Curtis...

    , 1941
  • The Tree in a Test Tube
    The Tree in a Test Tube
    The Tree in a Test Tube is a short film produced by the U. S. Department of Agriculture and distributed by the U.S. Forest Service, featuring Laurel and Hardy, with narration read by MGM announcer and producer Pete Smith.-Plot outline:...

    , 1942
  • Water Wisdom, 1943
  • A Wife's Life
    A Wife's Life
    A Wife's Life is an eight minute short film made in 1950 by classic short filmmaker, Pete Smith , who also narrates. It is directed by Dave O'Brien and written by Dave O'Brien and Julian Harmon. The film is narrated in Smith's classic nasally matter-of-fact comedic delivery and is shot as a...

    , 1950

External links

  • Inflation, explained by Pete Smith, directed by Zion Myers (1933), pro-inflation
    Inflation
    In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...

    movie (IMDb)
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