Among the diverse topics Smith featured by his short movies were Emily Post-style household hints, insect life seen through a microscope, military training and hardware (during World War II), and dancing lessons. Short-movie subjects in this era were part of the studios' exhibition packages, along with serials, animated cartoons, newsreels, travel documentaries, etc. Most of Smith's movies were comedy documentaries, typically one reel (9 to 11 minutes long). His distinctive tenor voice and nasal tone were very recognizable and a trademark of the series.
Smith would later narrate the studio's sports newsreels he would embellish the action by running certain scenes in reverse, or adding his own commentary.īoth MGM and the movie-going public learned of Smith's flair for comedy, and he was given his own series, Pete Smith Specialties he produced and narrated 150 short movie subjects for MGM from the 1930s to 1955. He was later recruited to overdub the actions of trained dogs for the studio's Dogville Comedies.
ĭuring 1925, Smith was hired as the manager of publicity for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer by Louis B. He was one of the founding members of the Associated Motion Picture Advertisers. By 1915 he was doing movie publicity for Bosworth, Inc., followed by the Oliver Morosco Photoplay Co., Artcraft Pictures Corporation, and Famous Players-Lasky. Smith then worked as an editor and critic for a trade magazine before becoming a press agent. He began his career as an aide for a vaudeville performers union.