Peter Schmidt (September 4, 1892 – January 12, 1979 ), Americanized to Pete Smith, was a film producer based in Hollywood, California. He is best known for the Pete Smith Specialties, a long-running series of general-interest short films, ranging from human-interest stories to sports subjects. Best remembered are the comedies, exaggerating common pet peeves and household problems, with Smith offering pointed commentary in his distinctive, nasal tenor.

Early life and career

Peter Schmidt was born in 1892, in New York City. He became interested in the theatrical business, working behind the scenes as an aide for a vaudeville performers union, an editor and critic for a trade magazine, and a press agent. In 1915, as the new field of motion pictures was transforming show business, Smith became a publicity man for Bosworth, Inc., Oliver Morosco Photoplay Co., Artcraft Pictures Corporation, and Famous Players–Lasky. He was one of the founding members of the Associated Motion Picture Advertisers. By 1925 Smith was the manager of publicity for Louis B. Mayer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). In 1929, producer Jules White and his partner Zion Myers conceived the Dogville Comedies, featuring trained dogs in satires of then-current films (the successful musical The Broadway Melody became The Dogway Melody, for example). Pete Smith was pressed into service to provide some of the comic voices for the soundtracks. This led him into the field of voice-over work, and he narrated some of MGM's sports reels. As a lark, Smith embellished the action by running certain scenes in reverse and adding his own wisecracking comments. Beginning in 1933 MGM offered Goofy Movies, a series of short comedies based on antique silent films. Pete Smith received screen credit in these shorts, which he narrated in florid style. In 1935 Smith introduced the concept of 3-D movies to audiences, by offering explanatory remarks in the "MGM Miniature" Audioscopiks.

Pete Smith Specialties

Because of Smith's flair for comedy, MGM gave him his own series, Pete Smith Specialties. He produced and narrated dozens of movie short subjects for MGM from the 1935 to 1955. Most of Smith's movies were one reel in length (9 to 11 minutes). Short subjects were shown before a feature film in movie houses and theaters. The diverse subject matter Smith featured in these shorts were Emily Post-style household hints, insect life seen through a microscope, military training and hardware (during World War II), and dancing lessons. There were even several "series-within-the-series", such as general-knowledge quizzes, professional-football news, and features concerning different kinds of animals (Donkey Baseball and Social Sea Lions). During the war effort, Smith narrated a patriotic short movie for the U.S. Government, The Tree In a Test Tube (1943), filmed in color, featuring Laurel and Hardy in a demonstration of household wood products, with Smith explaining the various exhibits for the viewer. In October 1943 Melville Danner, owner of a 250-seat theater in Granite, Oklahoma, printed an open letter to MGM, suggesting that Pete Smith should make a short subject about people who behave badly in theaters. Motion Picture Herald gave the suggestion a special headline: "Assignment for Pete Smith." Smith took the suggestion and made Movie Pests (1944), with Dave O'Brien exemplifying the inconsiderate patron who causes problems for everyone around him. The short was so successful that it inspired three sequels: Guest Pests (1945), Bus Pests (1945), and Neighbor Pests (1947). Dave O'Brien became the primary actor in the Pete Smith Specialties during the 1940s. The hapless O'Brien would personify everyday nuisances: demonstrating pet peeves, tackling hazardous home-improvement projects, and having other problems with which the audience could identify. O'Brien's scenes were silent, compelling O'Brien to express his satisfaction or frustration entirely in visual terms as narrator Smith offered commentary. O'Brien knew the format so well that he also directed many of the short movies, using the name "David Barclay". He staged many of the sight gags himself, taking stupendous falls for the camera. The Pete Smith Specialties earned 14 Academy Award nominations and two Best Live Action Short Film Academy Awards. At the 26th Academy Awards, Smith was awarded an Academy Honorary Award "for his witty and pungent observations on the American scene in his series of Pete Smith Specialties." Smith announced his retirement in 1954. The MGM unit that produced the Pete Smith Specialties was terminated the next year, a casualty of short movies' decreasing popularity at the time. The final film in the series was a tribute to Dave O'Brien, featuring a collection of his spectacular stunts and pratfalls. The reel was appropriately titled The Fall Guy (1955).

Personal life

Smith, under his birth name Peter J. Schmidt, married Marjorie Ganss on February 6, 1919, in Manhattan. They had one son, Douglas Mosely Schmidt (1919–1984), who later became a technician for RKO. Smith and Ganss remained married until her death in 1957. Smith's second marriage was to his secretary, Anne Dunster, whom he married in Las Vegas in October 1962.

Later years and death

Smith spent his later years in poor health at a convalescent home in Santa Monica, California. On January 12, 1979, he committed suicide by leaping off the building's roof. He was survived by his second wife, Anne, and his son Douglas. For his contribution to the movie industry, Smith received a star symbol on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1621 Vine Street.

Selected filmography

Home media availability

Pete Smith’s short films are included as extras on DVDs of many classic Warner Home Video films of the era. These include: