John Nesbitt

Born: 1910-08-23

John Nesbitt was an actor, announcer, narrator, producer, and screenwriter. He is best remembered as having been the producer/narrator of MGM's "John Nesbitt's Passing Parade" short films series.


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Main Street on the March!

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1941-12-09

This Best Short Subject Academy Award winning film begins in the spring of 1940, just before the...

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That Mothers Might Live

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1938-04-30

That Mothers Might Live is a 1938 American short drama film directed by Fred Zinnemann. The...

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Main Street Today

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1944-03-25

This patriotic short film promotes America's war effort at home. The story looks at a fictional...

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The Great Morgan

as Narrator in 'Our Old Car' (voice) (archive footage) (uncredited)
Released: 1945-01-01

Frank Morgan is hired to put together a movie using odds and ends from the MGM vaults. He does...

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The Woman in the House

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1942-05-09

This short looks at the illness anthropophobia, the fear of people. In 1901, young Catherine...

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Watchtower Over Tomorrow

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1945-03-29

Short documentary film about the Dumbarton Oaks plan and the proposed formation of the United...

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Souvenirs of Death

as Narrator - Voice of the Gun (voice)
Released: 1948-06-19

This MGM John Nesbitt's Passing Parade series short tells the story of how a Mauser pistol used...

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Kentucky

as Commentator (voice)
Released: 1938-12-30

Young lovers Jack and Sally are from families that compete to send horses to the 1938 Kentucky...

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Goodbye, Miss Turlock

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1948-01-24

Narrator John Nesbitt laments the disappearance of the rural one-room schoolhouse in America. He...

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The Film That Was Lost

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1942-10-31

In this John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short, a look is taken at the problems of film...

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The Ship That Died

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1938-02-19

This MGM An Historical Mystery short traces the final voyage of the Mary Celeste, a ship...

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The Great American Mug

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1945-10-06

This John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short takes a look at the typical American barbershop...

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The Story of Alfred Nobel

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1939-02-18

This John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short tells the story of Alfred Nobel, who invented dynamite,...

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Angel of Mercy

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1939-05-20

This MGM Passing Parade series short tells the story of Clara Barton, the founder of the Red Cross.

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The Story of Dr. Jenner

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1939-03-18

This short focuses on the story of Dr. Edward Jenner, who developed vaccination.

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Mr. Blabbermouth!

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1942-08-08

Following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, America was rife with rumors about the size of Japan's...

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Willie and the Mouse

as Narrator
Released: 1941-05-17

John Nesbitt's "Passing Parade" purports to show how the behavior of mice can be studied in...

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The Incredible Stranger

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1942-06-20

In December 1892, a silent mysterious and very private man, for whom a new house has just been...

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Mr. Whitney Had a Notion

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1949-05-07

Historical short showing how Eli Whitney (best known for the invention of the cotton gin) played...

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Storm

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1943-10-23

A look at how the weather bureau tries to warn farmers and businessmen about approaching large...

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Who's Superstitious?

as Narrator
Released: 1943-01-02

This short film examines the origins of several superstitions including crossing your fingers,...

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Yankee Doodle Goes to Town

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1939-06-17

Made just before America would be forced into the Second World War, this short subject is a...

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People on Paper

as Narrator
Released: 1945-11-17

Americans are preoccupied with the news, but need an escape from many of the events reported in...

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A Way in the Wilderness

as Narrator
Released: 1940-06-22

This Passing Parade entry tells the story of Dr. Joseph Goldberger (1874-1929), a Hungarian...

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Trifles of Importance

as Narrator
Released: 1940-07-13

Part of John Nesbitt's Passing Parade series, this short shows how three seemingly unimportant...

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The Face Behind the Mask

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1938-03-19

This dramatized short film describes the historical mystery of France's "man in the iron mask"....

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Inflation

as Radio Announcer (voice) (uncredited)
Released: 1942-01-01

The Devil works with Adolf Hitler to cause inflation in the United States.

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Of Pups and Puzzles

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1941-09-06

This short film shows how the war department utilizes a Ph.D., a chimp, and three dogs to help...

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My Old Town

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1948-02-07

Narrator John Nesbitt reminisces about his hometown and childhood in this Passing Parade series...

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To My Unborn Son

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1943-10-30

A Yugoslav man, dying after being shot while attempting to help defend his village, writes a...

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Famous Boners

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1942-10-24

This Passing Parade series entry looks at three instances of people who either caused or were...

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Strange Testament

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1941-11-15

This MGM Passing Parade series short tells the story of Julian Poydras, whose encounter with a...

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American Spoken Here

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1940-11-30

This MGM John Nesbitt's Passing Parade series short takes a look at the origins of North...

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Clues to Adventure

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1949-04-11

This MGM Passing Parade series short presents how separate events led to the creation of three...

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Return from Nowhere

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1944-10-28

In this John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short, a man recovers his lost memories when he is forced...

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Flag of Mercy

as Narrator
Released: 1942-01-31

The 1939 dramatic short "Angel of Mercy," about Red Cross founder Clara Barton, is reedited to...

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Madero of Mexico

as Himself - Narrator (voice)
Released: 1942-11-28

This Passing Parade series short chronicles the political life of Francisco Madero, who tried to...

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The Hidden Master

as Self - Narrator (voice)
Released: 1940-04-20

Shows how important luck can be in a person's life.

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Our Old Car

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1946-06-11

In this John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short, a man traces his history by the succession of cars...

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One Against the World

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1939-08-19

This short film presents the story of Dr. Ephraim McDowell, who came under scrutiny for his...

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The Forgotten Step

as Narrator
Released: 1938-05-20

An American art collector, living in France in the 1870s, who loses his fortune in a stock...

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A Lady Fights Back

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1944-11-11

The saga of the Normandie is recounted from her life as a luxury liner, the horrific fire that...

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The Seesaw and the Shoes

as Narrator
Released: 1945-05-05

This short shows how two objects led to important discoveries. Children playing with a seesaw...

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Annie Was a Wonder

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1949-01-29

In this John Nesbitt's Passing Parade series short, narrator John Nesbitt tells the story of...

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Dreams

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1940-11-10

This entry in MGM's Passing Parade series looks at the meaning of dreams, including one by...

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This Is the Bowery

as Narrator
Released: 1941-05-31

In this somewhat whitewashed documentary on Manhattan's Bowery a newcomer to the area takes his...

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A Really Important Person

as Narrator
Released: 1947-01-11

A policeman's son searches for a suitable subject for an essay about an important person.

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Forgotten Treasure

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1943-07-24

This John Nesbitt's Passing Parade series short highlights the film preservation efforts of the...

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The Fabulous Fraud

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1948-08-28

In this John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short, we learn the story of Dr. Franz Anton Mesmer, the...

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Magic on a Stick

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1946-01-19

This MGM Passing Parade series short recounts how English chemist John Walker invented the...

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That's Why I Left You

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1943-06-12

Young couple Joe and Mary Thompson love each other and their children despite the struggles that...

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Stairway to Light

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1945-11-03

This John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short tells the story of 18th Century French physician Dr....

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The Magic Alphabet

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1942-10-10

This MGM John Nesbitt's Passing Parade series short dramatizes how the work of Dutch physician...

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Utopia of Death

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1940-10-12

This short film focuses on the mysterious and legendary Seri Indians who live in a utopian...

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We Do It Because

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1942-01-24

This John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short explores the origins of various customs such as shaking...

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Out of Darkness

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1941-03-29

This John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short tells of the Nazis' efforts to shut down an underground...

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City of Children

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1949-08-27

This final John Nesbitt's Passing Parade series short looks at a community, Mooseheart, in...

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Tennis in Rhythm

as Self - Narrator (voice)
Released: 1947-08-23

A "Passing Parade" MGM short featuring tennis star Alice Marble

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The Golden Hunch

as Self - Narrator (voice)
Released: 1945-11-15

This entry in John Nesbitt's "Passing Parade" series is about the great moments in the lives of...

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The Story That Couldn't Be Printed

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 1939-07-22

This John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short tells the story of John Peter Zenger, who in Colonial...

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Passing Parade

as Self - Narrator (voice)
Released: 1938-10-15

Three specific and separate stories of life's passing parade are presented.

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Telephone Time

as Self - Host
First aired: 1956-04-08

Telephone Time is an American anthology drama series that aired on CBS in 1956, and on ABC from...

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