Pete Smith
Birthday: 1892-09-04
Place of Birth: New York City, New York, USA
Biography: Born Peter Schmidt in New York City, Pete Smith got a job after graduating business college with The Player magazine and later with Billboard magazine. That led to his being hired as a publicist for Famous Players-Lasky and Artcraft Pictures, and he was later appointed publicity director at Paramount Pictures. Director Marshall Neilan hired Smith to be the publicist for his own production company, and Smith left New York for Hollywood. After Neilan's company closed, Smith freelanced for a short period before being hired by MGM in 1925 as the head of its publicity department, a position he held until 1930. The job that really brought him recognition, however, was his producing, writing and narrating a series of shorts known as "Pete Smith Specialties" for MGM. The one-reelers covered just about every subject imaginable, from the animal world to the latest technology to how to handle annoying patrons in movie theaters, all delivered with Smith's trademark wry, bemused narration. Many of the later shorts were written and directed by actor Dave O'Brien, using the name David Barclay. Sixteen entries in the series were nominated for Oscars, and two of them won. The series came to an end in 1954, though there were enough made to continue releasing into 1955. Smith's later years were plagued by bad health, and he spent more and more time being hospitalized. In 1979, with his health deteriorating rapidly, he committed suicide by jumping out of the window of his ninth-floor hospital room. He was 86 years old.
Movies
Let's Cogitate
Short film covering a variety of topics that folks may have wondered about....
View Movie
Those Good Old Days
Life in mid-century America is humorously compared to life at the turn of the century. Subject cover...
View Movie
Water Wisdom
This Pete Smith Specialty shows water-safety and life-saving techniques taught by the American Red C...
View Movie
Marine Circus
This Pete Smith Specialty offers a look at Marineland of Florida, featuring the various marine life ...
View Movie
Throttle Pushers
Highlights the fast-paced and dangerous world of professional auto racing....
View Movie
Neighbor Pests
Narrator Pete Smith talks about the different kinds of neighbors that can be pests, and how to deal ...
View Movie
Menu
A chef helps a housewife cook a duck dinner that will not give her husband indigestion....
View Movie
Romance of Radium
Romance of Radium is a 1937 American short film directed by Jacques Tourneur, and released by Metro-...
View Movie
Strikes and Spares
This short features professional bowler Andy Varipapa. He first shows the correct way to grip a bowl...
View Movie
Goofy Movies Number Seven
This comedy short contains a "Wotaphony" newsreel and a short film from Super-Stupid Pictures entitl...
View Movie
Penny Wisdom
A Pete Smith Specialty short on saving an important dinner after the household's cook suddenly quits...
View Movie
Friend Indeed
Pete Smith tells the story of 'Sparky', a German shepherd dog trained to lead his blind master, a co...
View Movie
The New Audioscopiks
A Pete Smith short that deals with the newly-created 3-D process....
View Movie
Fisticuffs
This Pete Smith Specialty short showcases former heavyweight boxing champion Max Baer with various s...
View Movie
Three on a Rope
This short looks at the sport of rock climbing. A team of three men ascend a rock wall on Southern C...
View Movie
Guest Pests
An examination of the problem of the house guest who has overstayed is welcome, and how to get rid o...
View Movie
Out for Fun
A tense businessman seeks to find a relaxing pastime but proves himself inept at golf, duck-hunting,...
View Movie
Swing High
Swing High is a 1932 American Pre-Code short documentary film directed by Jack Cummings. In 1932, it...
View Movie
The Tree in a Test Tube
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are stopped by narrator Pete Smith for the purpose of showing the audie...
View Movie
Hurling
A short film showing the Irish contact sport known as hurling, which is similar to, but much rougher...
View Movie
Diamond Demon
The unusual talents of Johnny Price, a minor league baseball pitcher and trick artist, are showcased...
View Movie
The Grand Bounce
A man writes a check for $1,000 to cover a gambling debt. The problem is that he doesn't have enough...
View Movie
Let's Talk Turkey
It's Thanksgiving. Newlywed husband Abner Poodlebean faces the turkey his wife has prepared: she wan...
View Movie
Set 'em Up
Five years after he narrated STRIKES AND SPARES, Pete Smith returns to the subject of bowling with t...
View Movie
Radio Hams
A "Pete Smith Specialty" - a fairly serious look at radio hams in the usual jokey format. Shows airc...
View Movie
Trader Hound
Trader Hound, a dog who walks upright, wears human clothes, and speaks English, is in darkest Africa...
View Movie
Fala: The President's Dog
Fala was the famous Scotch Terrier owned by Franklin Delano Roosevelt during his last two presidenti...
View Movie
Hollywood Daredevils
A "Pete Smith Specialty" short that looks at legendary movie stuntman Harry Woolman planning and reh...
View Movie
The Jonker Diamond
Re-enactment of how the 726-carat Jonker diamond was discovered in South Africa in 1905 by the famil...
View Movie
Added Attractions: The Hollywood Shorts Story
The story of the short film from the beginning of the movies in the 1890s, when all movies were shor...
View Movie
We Can Dream, Can't We?
Humorous look at fantasy gadgets like ketchup in a tube, tilting book shelves, etc....
View Movie
Ain't It Aggravatin'
This comedic short looks at human foibles that lead to major aggravations....
View Movie
Goofy Movies Number Six
A comic short filled with fake news and a fake movie trailer made up of clips from silent movies....
View Movie
Goofy Movies Number Ten
This entry in the "whole show on one reel" series begins with a do-it-yourself overture for which th...
View Movie
Goofy Movies Number Eight
In this eighth installment in Pete Smith's Goofy Movies short films series, clips from silent films ...
View Movie
Take a Cue
Despite the school just having won an important basketball game, its students are more interested in...
View Movie
Goofy Movies Number One
The first part of this short is a "Metrophony" newsreel. It contains actual newsreel footage with hu...
View Movie
Things We Can Do Without
A Pete Smith Specialty shorts series entry. Dave demonstrates a variety of household items and furni...
View Movie
Did'ja Know?
This short looks at the following questions: How would you act as an expectant father? How many gree...
View Movie
Goofy Movies Number Four
This entry in the series starts with a "Wotaphony Newsreel," which contains feature stories with hum...
View Movie
Goofy Movies Number Five
In this short, Pete Smith provides comedic narration over silent film footage....
View Movie
Wedding Bills
Another in the long series of "Pete Smith" shorts from M-G-M in which William Newell meets and falls...
View Movie
Third Dimensional Murder
A 3-D short subject in which the narrator goes to a creepy old house in search of his missing aunt. ...
View Movie
Goofy Movies Number Two
A satire on movie newsreels combines with humorous narration of silent screen footage in this one re...
View Movie
Goofy Movies Number Three
This "complete show on one reel" starts with Super-Stupid Picture's "The Heel of a Nation", in which...
View Movie
Goofy Movies Number Nine
This comedic short presents a series of nonsensical news stories, in a "Wotaphony Newsreel". The ree...
View Movie
Let's Dance
Choreographer Dave Gould and his students demonstrate various tap dancing steps. Also featured are a...
View Movie
Candid Cameramaniacs
Short comedic subject on the history of photography from the daguerrotype to modern amateur photogra...
View Movie
Bar-Rac's Night Out
In this Pete Smith Specialty short, a raccoon spends the night looking for food for his family. Afte...
View Movie
Sure Cures
This comedic Pete Smith Specialty short examines the folly of using "home remedies" for various ills...
View Movie
Wanted - A Master
A dog living in a junkyard learns that all stray dogs will be exterminated by 3 o'clock that afterno...
View Movie
Fishing Feats
With Pete Smith providing dry off-screen commentary, we watch some serious fishing: a marlin caught ...
View Movie
The Fall Guy
In this final entry in the Pete Smith Specialty series, Smith pays tribute to actor and stuntman Dav...
View Movie
Movie Pests
This Pete Smith Specialty short takes a humorous look at the inconsiderate pests whose annoying habi...
View Movie
I Love My Husband, But!
In this Pete Smith Specialty short, a wife endures the trials of being married to a husband with tra...
View Movie
Weather Wizards
Modern meteorology and a hard-working government weather team put their science and organization to ...
View Movie
'What's Your 'I.Q.'?': Number Two
Questions and answers on various subjects, from Lady Godiva to the Panama Canal....
View Movie
Equestrian Quiz: What's Your I.Q.? No. 11
A series of questions testing one's knowledge of fun facts about horses and equestrian in general ar...
View Movie
Roping Wild Bears
Wild bears that bother livestock are captured with ropes and shipped to zoos....
View Movie
Fancy Answers
In this Pete Smith Speciality, the audience is asked a series of multiple-choice questions on variou...
View Movie
Seeing Hands
This serious Pete Smith Specialty series entry encourages industry to hire people with disabilities ...
View Movie
Water Trix
In this Pete Smith Specialty, cameraman Charles T. Trego films water skiing champion Preston Peterse...
View Movie
Aeronutics
This Pete Smith Specialty is a humorous look at a student's first flying lesson, in a propeller-driv...
View Movie
I Love My Wife BUT!
In this Pete Smith Specialty short, a husband endures the trials of being married to a wife with irr...
View Movie
A Wife's Life
In this comedic Pete Smith Specialty short, average housewife Mrs. George T. Hardnose's day is recal...
View Movie
I Love My Mother-In-Law But...
In this Pete Smith Specialty short, a series of vignettes illustrate some ways that mothers-in-law i...
View Movie
Cash Stashers
This Pete Smith Specialty short shows, humorously, the disastrous results when people save their mon...
View Movie
Camera Sleuth
In this Pete Smith Specialty short, we see how real-life investigator Jo Goggin used a motion pictur...
View Movie
Just What I Needed
Harry Horseknuckle tries to figure out what to do with some strange and unwanted gifts....
View Movie
Snow Birds
This Pete Smith Sports Champion short visits Southern California where it quickly moves from orange ...
View Movie
The Man Around the House
A humorous look at some typical housework troubles that may arise. A Pete Smith Specialty short....
View Movie
Wrong Way Butch
This Pete Smith Specialty short was produced in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Labor. Using...
View Movie
You Can't Win
In this comedic Pete Smith Specialty short film, a homeowner experiences a series of mishaps while t...
View Movie
Do Someone a Favor!
In this Pete Smith Specialty short, a friendly do-gooder's good deeds backfire....
View Movie
Donkey Baseball
This short film highlights the odd 1930s fad of playing baseball while riding donkeys....
View Movie
Acro-Batty
A humorous look at various circus and other acrobatic feats. One of the "Pete Smith Specialties" pro...
View Movie
Hollywood Scout
This short film focuses on a day in the life of a Hollywood talent scout assigned to cast animals....
View Movie
The Great Morgan
Frank Morgan is hired to put together a movie using odds and ends from the MGM vaults. He does so by...
View Movie
Just Suppose
An off-camera narrator takes us through various scenarios of "just suppose". First we watch what wou...
View Movie
How to Hold Your Husband - BACK
In this Pete Smith Specialty comedic short, we see various ways a wife may unintentionally hold her ...
View Movie
Gettin' Glamour
This Pete Smith Specialty comedic short details the troubles the average woman faces with maintainin...
View Movie
Reducing
Pete Smith does his usual mocking observations while the overweight Maxine Gates goes through the tr...
View Movie
Athletiquiz: What's Your I.Q.? No. 12
The audience is asked questions about sports facts and records involving tennis, wrestling, swimming...
View Movie
Water Sports
This short film showcases water sports activities such as sailboat racing and surfboard riding, incl...
View Movie
Fine Feathers
A look at colorful (and mostly imported) birds, ranging in size from hummingbirds to storks....
View Movie
The Camera Caught It
A man looks at stacks of canisters of film on shelves. He pulls out a few to show real-life events c...
View Movie
Animals in Action
The profession of capturing animals in action on celluloid is both an art and science. Some of the m...
View Movie
Rough Riding
This rare Technicolor entry in the Pete Smith Specialty series shows various events at a rodeo in Ca...
View Movie
Have You Ever Wondered?
In this Pete Smith Specialty short, answers are sought regarding some things people may have wondere...
View Movie
Bargain Madness
In this comedic Pete Smith Specialty short, women battle for bargains in a department store....
View Movie
Dogs 'n Ducks
A boy trains his new golden retriever for duck retrieving competition, much to the chagrin of his fi...
View Movie
Victory Quiz
A short film where viewers are given 10 or 15 seconds to answer questions about the United States an...
View Movie
Calling All Pa's
In this Pete Smith Specialty short, a new father experiences the trials and tribulations of fatherho...
View Movie
Harnessed Rhythm
This Sports Parade series entry follows the life of Dixie Dan, a harness racehorse, from birth throu...
View Movie
Lions on the Loose
In this Pete Smith Specialty short, two lion cubs escape from the zoo and go on an adventure....
View Movie
Crashing the Movies
This Pete Smith Specialty short shows newsreel clips of people performing strange stunts. Among thos...
View Movie
Ice Aces
This Pete Smith Specialty short provides a behind-the-scenes look at the Ice Capades practices with ...
View Movie
Musiquiz
In this Pete Smith Specialty short, we take a music quiz, plus survey various unusual musical instru...
View Movie
Fish Tales
In this short film, champion fisherman Ernie St. Claire tries to catch a large salmon in Oregon's Ro...
View Movie
Microscopic Mysteries
This short film takes a look through a microscope's lens at insect life....
View Movie
Heroes at Leisure
This short film focuses on a group of lifeguards from a Southern California beach during the off sea...
View Movie
Flicker Memories
In this Pete Smith Specialty short, clips from several unidentified silent films are woven into a st...
View Movie
Audioscopiks
After the audience is instructed how to use the 3-D glasses they received, demonstrations of three-d...
View Movie
Now You See It
This Pete Smith Specialty short demonstrates the uses of micro- and macrophotography. We see extreme...
View Movie
Quicker'n a Wink
In this Pete Smith Specialty short, Dr. Harold E. Edgerton demonstrates stroboscopic photography, wh...
View Movie
Army Champions
This Pete Smith Specialty short focuses on the young men who have signed up for the U.S. Army. The f...
View Movie
La Fiesta de Santa Barbara
La Fiesta de Santa Barbara is a 1935 American comedy short film directed by Louis Lewyn. It was nomi...
View Movie
Marines in the Making
This short film shows U.S. Marines in training at a number of unidentified bases, with a focus on ha...
View Movie
Safety Sleuth
Demonstrates how accidents happen when proper safety devices are neglected....
View Movie
Groovie Movie
A boogie-woogie piano introduces what purports to be a jitterbug lesson, starring prize winner Arthu...
View Movie
The Domineering Male
This Pete Smith Specialty short looks at the notion that a man chases a woman till he catches her. W...
View Movie
Color Scales
This humorous short film shows various species of tropical fish at the Steinhart Aquarium in San Fra...
View Movie
Treasures from Trash
This short film presents an unusual Beverly Hills store called the Patio Shop, where trash is turned...
View Movie
Football Thrills of 1940
Pete Smith narrates some of the most spectacular college football plays from the 1940 season....
View Movie
Football Thrills of 1944
Pete Smith would make a "Football Thrills of...." each year as part of his Pete Smith Specials. 1944...
View Movie
Manhattan Melodrama
The friendship between two orphans endures even though they grow up on opposite sides of the law and...
View Movie
Seventh Column
This humorous short film shows how carelessness and accidents can harm the war effort, and steps on ...
View Movie
Equestrian Acrobats
This Pete Smith Specialty showcases the Cristiani Family, a circus act. They mount and dismount movi...
View Movie
Pro Football
This MGM Oddity features the 1933 National Football League champion Chicago Bears. The team demonstr...
View Movie
Desert Regatta
In this Sports Champions entry, power boat racers use specially designed outboard motor boats in a r...
View Movie
Badminton
Two expert badminton players demonstrate how the best play the game, including some slick trick shot...
View Movie
Wild and Woolly
This Sports Champions entry visits a rodeo and highlights the three main events: bronco busting, bul...
View Movie
This Is a Living?
This "Pete Smith Specialty" features narrated clips of acrobats and stunt performers who earn their ...
View Movie
Water Bugs
This Pete Smith Specialty showcases a group called the Water Bugs. Its members devise new ways to ex...
View Movie
Studio Visit
This humorous Pete Smith Specialty short looks around various studios on a film lot....
View Movie
Sportsman's Memories
Filmmaker Pete Smith is very protective of the trophies and other mementos associated with his films...
View Movie
Aqua Antics
In this short, members of the California Water Bugs club demonstrate new ways to get thrills when wa...
View Movie
Olympic Events
This short film presents several athletes preparing for the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, Cal...
View Movie
Cuban Rhythm
In this Pete Smith Specialties short, two professional dancers beautifully demonstrate the rumba and...
View Movie
Curious Contests
This Pete Smith Specialty shows newsreel footage events that live up to the title. They include, amo...
View Movie
Hot on Ice
How the game of ice hockey is played, demonstrated by the hockey team at Loyola University....
View Movie
Dexterity
Beautiful women allow men to crack whips and throw horseshoes at their heads....
View Movie
Man's Greatest Friend
An examination of the role played by dogs over the years in scientific research....
View Movie
Anaesthesia
An examination of the history of anesthesia, from ancient Egyptian times to contemporary times....
View Movie
Poetry of Nature
Pete Smith takes a humorous look at the wildlife that lives among the California redwoods....
View Movie
Memory Tricks
A few different methods that are supposed to help with memorization are presented...
View Movie
Culinary Carving
A Pete Smith Specialty explaining the finer points of meat carving, shown by an expert....
View Movie
Home Maid
Wartime housekeeping tips by a home-economics pro who comes to the aid of a bumbling, vertically cha...
View Movie
The Mosconi Story
Tells the story of young Willie Mosconi. From growing up with his father's pool hall downstairs to h...
View Movie
What About Daddy?
The trials and tribulations of a husband as his pregnant wife gets closer to the delivery date....
View Movie
Spots Before Your Eyes
After their mother remarries, two brothers cause chaos at their Aunt's home....
View Movie
Maintain the Right
Under Pete's Smith's narration, this one-reeler tells the story of the training of three new recruit...
View Movie
Football Thrills of 1938
The annual compendium of highlights from last season's major intercollegiate gridiron classics....
View Movie
Social Sea Lions
A "Pete Smith Specialty". Three sea lions gatecrash the kitchen of a beach house, steal some goodies...
View Movie
Please Answer (I.Q. #3)
A Pete Smith Specialty. A documentary that explains the answers to questions about Portuguese man-o...
View Movie
Football Thrills of 1939
A Pete Smith Specialty. The annual compendium of highlights from last season's major intercollegiat...
View Movie
Penny To the Rescue
A Pete Smith Specialty. Chef Prudence Penny gives hints on cooking....
View Movie
Football Thrills of 1941
A Pete Smith Specialty. The annual compendium of highlights from last season's major intercollegiat...
View Movie
Football Thrills of 1942
A Pete Smith Specialty. The annual compendium of highlights from last season's major intercollegiat...
View Movie
Football Thrills of 1943
A Pete Smith Specialty. The annual compendium of highlights from last season's major intercollegiat...
View Movie
Fala at Hyde Park
The second "Pete Smith Special" dealing with Fala, the pet dog of the late-President Franklin D. Roo...
View Movie
Football Thrills No. 9
A Pete Smith Specialty. Classic high spots from last year's football landmarks....
View Movie
Football Thrills No. 10
A Pete Smith Specialty. The annual compendium of highlights from last season's major intercollegiat...
View Movie