Passing Parade

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Passing Parade, a.k.a. John Nesbitt's Passing Parade, was a long-running series of MGM short subjects which ran from 1938 to 1949. All of them were narrated by announcer John Nesbitt, and most of them featured the slow movement of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 as the opening theme music. Some of them were directed by Fred Zinnemann.

The series usually focused on both little-known and famous historical events, as well as figures such as Catherine de' Medici and Nostradamus. Unseen for years, the series began reappearing when Ted Turner launched his cable channel Turner Classic Movies. It can be seen from time to time in between showings of films, though episodes are never listed in the schedule; therefore, one often comes upon it by accident.

[edit] "Passing Parade" on radio

The series would be heard on NBC radio as a summer replacement for Fibber McGee and Molly during World War II. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, radio producer John Doremus acquired the rights to the series and revived it in syndication.