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. 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.

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."

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.

Passing Parade on film
A series of Passing Parade one-reel short subjects were produced for MGM from 1938 to 1949. 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.