a
series of
American comedy shorts (movies that are usually less than thirty
minutes in length and taking only one reel of film) created and produced from 1936 until the 1950s by
Pete Smith (1892--1979). These films covered a wide variety of subjects and usually
involved Pete getting himself into difficult situations but yet always getting out of them. They were very popular with
American audiences for their inventive and informal
style as well as
Smith's witty observations on
American life. He eventually narrated and produced approximately 300 "Pete
Smith Specialties." Two of them won
Academy Awards (the annual awards from the
Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) and twenty others were nominated. I'
ve seen them in-remember the Pete
Smith specialties from way back when that used to show on the
screen, and so forth,
gag, one-reel comedies and so forth?