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Life in Sometown, U.S.A. (1938)
Character: Narrator
A satirical visualization of strange and forgotten, but (at that time) nevertheless still existing laws in the U.S.A.
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Ghost Treasure (1941)
Character: Narrator (voice)
This short film presents three legends of hidden gold in California's Death Valley.
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The Great Heart (1938)
Character: Narrator (voice)
This short film tells the true story of the heroic sacrifice of Father Damien, the Belgian priest who suffered a living death in order to bring hope and God's comfort to the lepers confined on the Hawaiian island of Molokai.
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What Do You Think? (1937)
Character: Narrator (voice)
The narrator's voice tells of John Dough, who wakes up after a late-night party and prepares to go to work. However, a few interruptions, including thinking for a moment that he sees a woman's body in his bed, having his car key not work, and thinking he hears his mother calling, delay his departure from home by almost a minute. When tragedy strikes close by, John revisits the morning's events. A phone call from his brother in Chicago confirms how odd this morning is. Did John experience telepathy or was it all coincidence? If radio waves can carry a communication, why not a mother's love?
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The Lady or the Tiger? (1942)
Character: Narrator
Author Frank R. Stockton, often asked the question, finally decides to divulge the untold ending of his story, The Lady or the Tiger?
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Bravest of the Brave (1938)
Character: Narrator (voice)
This short film looks at the life of Michel Ney, who fought at Napoleon's side and was made a Marshall of France.
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The Greenie (1942)
Character: Commentator
Told on the premise that the United States has always been a refuge from those seeking a reprieve from poverty and bigotry, this Miniature short from M-G-M is the story of a young Polish boy, unable to speak English, just arriving in New York City with hie parents. He leaves his lower east-side tenement to go play. Passing an open field he sees a sight unfamiliar to him; a group of boys playing baseball. When the boys drop their bats and gloves to hitch a ride on a passing ice-wagon, the Polish boy goes over to the baseball diamond and starts examining the baseball equipment. The boys come back and think he is about to steal their belongings but, when they learn he is a new immigrant and doesn't understand English, they invite him to play base ball with them..and he gets a base-hit his first time at bat.
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1925 Studio Tour (1925)
Character: Self
A tour of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio in 1925 shows the people who make the movies there, and gives viewers a glimpse at how movies are made.
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Pitcairn Island Today (1935)
Character: Narrator (voice)
This visit to Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific Ocean shows that life for the residents has changed little in the years since Fletcher Christian and his fellow mutineers on HMS Bounty, along with several Tahitian natives, landed here. The island is self-sufficient and has few visitors. Among the islanders we see at work is Fletcher Christian's great-grandson.
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Mr. Gardenia Jones (1942)
Character: Narrator
Documentary short film depicting the work of the United Service Organizations (USO) in providing recreational and morale-boosting services for American troops.
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The Rainbow Pass (1937)
Character: Told by (voice)
In Chinese culture, live theater performances are attended by all classes of society. This short shows a performance of "The Rainbow Pass," a tale of a wife who challenges her husband's murderer to combat.
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Cavalcade of the Academy Awards (1940)
Character: Commentator - as Oscar statuette (voice)
This 1940 presentation features highlights of earlier (1928 onward) Oscar ceremonies including Shirley Temple and Walt Disney, plus acceptance speeches for films released in 1939 with recipients and presenters including Vivien Leigh, Judy Garland, Hattie McDaniel, Fay Bainter, Mickey Rooney, Thomas Mitchell, Sinclair Lewis, and more, with host Bob Hope.
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Hollywood - The Second Step (1936)
Character: Narrator
This short follows the early career of actress Jane Barnes. She starts by doing extra work. After several months she is offered a studio contract (the "first step"). However, her work consists mostly of fashion shoots and bit parts that end up on the cutting room floor. She is even used as a stand-in for Maureen O'Sullivan on the set of a Tarzan movie when camera angles and lighting must be set up.
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Bikini, the Atom Island (1946)
Character: Narrator
This shows the natives of Bikini Island as they were being evacuated and relocated (o.k., dispossessed) from their island prior to the atom bomb tests.
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Portrait of a Genius (1943)
Character: Narrator(voice)
Leonardo Da Vinci was seen as a great artist during his lifetime. The same cannot be said for his life as an inventor. His genius as an inventor was only truly known through reading his secret manuscripts after his death. His want to invent was because of his curiosity and insatiable quest for knowledge. He was able to invent the earliest prototypes of such things as the steam cannon, the machine gun, the submarine, the depth charge, and the tank, all which were welcome inventions of the day for monarchs who saw their usefulness in warfare.
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Target Nevada (1951)
Character: Narrator
The Story of United States Air Force support to the Atomic Energy Commission on Continental Atomic Tests.
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This Is Russia! (1957)
Character: Narrator
Documentary footage of late 1950s Russia covers such cities and towns as Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Yalta, the Black Sea, Kharkov, Sochi, Sukumi, Gori, Bukhara, Samarkand, Frunzo and Siberia.
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Operation Sandstone (1948)
Character: Narrator (voice)
In 1948, the U.S. nuclear stockpile consisted of approximately 50 atomic bombs. Since the industrial complex to produce more nuclear weapons was not fully complete and there were limited amounts of plutonium, researchers wanted to develop more efficient implosion bombs. Operation Sandstone was a series of atmospheric nuclear "proof tests" conducted in the Pacific Proving Grounds Marshall Islands area April and May 1948. The goal of this test series was to prove the workability of changes to implosion warhead design that used less plutonium. The first shot, X-ray, conducted on April 14, 1948, had a yield of 37 kilotons. The second shot, Yoke, detonated on April 30, had a yield of 49 kilotons, while the last shot, Zebra, occurred on May 14 with a yield of 18 kilotons.
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Prophet Without Honor (1939)
Character: Narrator (voice)
This short film portrays the story of Matthew Fontaine Maury (1806-1873), an American Naval officer who developed the first maps that charted the oceans' winds and currents.
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Strange Glory (1938)
Character: Narrator (voice)
During the American Civil War, General Ulysses Grant carries out the 'Tennessee Plan,' which involves stopping the Confederate supply line on the Tennessee River. This proved to be a vital action for the North in its push south...
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A Failure at Fifty (1940)
Character: Narrator (voice)
The story of Abraham Lincoln's 30-year struggle of persistence-through-failure is told to an unemployed 50 year old man.
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Inca Gold (1943)
Character: Himself - Narrator (voice)
Legends associated with the lost treasures of Incan gold, thought to be located at the bottom of one of the many shafts of what is called the hawk's nest above the city of Cusco, Peru are presented. These stories begin in 1531 with the arrival of explorer Francisco Pizarro, under the direction of King Charles V of Spain, Pizarro who is in search of the gold associated with the legendary El Dorado. Pizarro holds captive the Emperor of the Incas, Atahualpa, to discover the location of the gold. Atahualpa, in turn, promises a cave full of gold for his release. Receiving some gold, Pizarro, not trusting Atahualpa, murders him without ever finding the location of the gold, thought to be twenty thousand shiploads full, worth, in today dollars, in the billions. Legend now has it that the Incas have placed a curse on the gold to avenge Atahualpa's murder, the several attempts by outsiders to locate it leading to tragedy. Coincidence or curse?
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You, John Jones! (1943)
Character: Narrator (uncredited)
John Jones contemplates how fortunate he and his family are in America, where no wartime bombing occurs.
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More About Nostradamus (1941)
Character: Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
This short film portrays Nostradamus as having predicted the horrors of WWI and Hitler's rise to power, as well as the eventual triumph of "the daughter of the English Isles" against these forces. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, One-Reel.
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The Man on the Rock (1938)
Character: Narrator (voice)
A look at whether Napoleon Bonaparte indeed died on the island of St. Helena in 1821.
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Strange Destiny (1945)
Character: Narrator
This Carey Wilson Miniature tells the true story of a humble YMCA worker, Asa K. Jennings (Louis Jean Heydt), who lived a productive life for 27 years after medical science doomed him to death. Jennings had a hand in saving 350,000 lives during the evacuation of Smyrna in 1922.
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Master Will Shakespeare (1936)
Character: Narrator (voice)
A short biography of William Shakespeare that highlights the various jobs he worked at in the theater.
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Joaquin Murrieta (1938)
Character: Narrator (voice)
This MGM Historical Mystery short follows the life and exploits of killer outlaw Joaquin Murrieta, in California in the 1850s.
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Nostradamus and the Queen (1953)
Character: Narrator (voice)
An elderly Catherine de Medici reflects back on how the prophecies of Nostradamus accurately predicted the fates of her husband, her three sons and herself.
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Nostradamus IV (1944)
Character: Narrator (voice)
This Carey Wilson Miniature takes a further look at prophecies by 16th century seer Nostradamus.
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Let's Ask Nostradamus (1953)
Character: Narrator (voice)
Nostradamus writes a letter to his young son, and his prophecies are compared to events of the French Revolution.
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Nostradamus (1938)
Character: Narrator (voice)
A look at various predictions Nostradamus made, such as the American and French Revolutions.
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The Man in the Barn (1937)
Character: Narrator (voice)
After John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, he escaped to Maryland and was discovered hiding in a barn. After he refused to surrender, the barn was set afire and Booth died in the blaze. However, in 1903 a Mr. David E. George, while on his deathbed in Enid, Oklahoma, claimed to be John Wilkes Booth. This MGM An Historical Mystery series short presents evidence of the possibility that Mr. George's claim was true.
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The King Without a Crown (1937)
Character: Narrator (voice)
This short explores the possibility that Louis XVII, son of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, escaped death during the French Revolution and was raised by Indians in America.
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The Boss Didn't Say Good Morning (1937)
Character: Narrator (voice)
Carey Wilson narrates this MGM Miniature short in which an average office worker suffers all week-end because his boss, who had a bad case of indigestion, didn't speak to him when he came to work on Friday and is convinced he is going to get fired.
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Westward the Women (1951)
Character: Trailer Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
There's a deficit of good, honest women in the West, and Roy Whitman wants to change that. His solution is to bring a caravan of over 100 mail-order brides from Chicago to California. It will be a long, difficult and dangerous journey for the women. So Whitman hires hardened, cynical Buck Wyatt to be their guide across the inhospitable frontier. But as disaster strikes on the trail, Buck just might discover that these women are stronger than he thinks.
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Dangerous Number (1937)
Character: Sheriff
Hank Medhill, artificial silk manufacturer, has returned to the U.S. from Japan to learn that his former girlfriend, Eleanor Breen is about to marry. Hank convinces Eleanor to leave the groom-to-be and marry him. Shortly after the marriage, they discover that they have nothing in common. They separate. Hank decides to pick any name from the phone book and date them. That date results in a wild and frightful night for Hank, thanks to Eleanor's clever plan.
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