This MGM Passing Parade series short recounts how English chemist John Walker invented the wooden friction match during the 1820s.
Narrator (voice)
John Walker (uncredited)
Mrs. John Walker (uncredited)
21 Feb 1975
In nineteenth-century Łódź, Poland, three friends want to make a lot of money by building and investing in a textile factory. An exceptional portrait of rapid industrial expansion is shown through the eyes of one Polish town.
06 Sep 1941
This short film shows how the war department utilizes a Ph.D., a chimp, and three dogs to help design aptitude tests for men applying for work.
09 Feb 1940
Inventor Robert Fulton receives support from a tavern owner and a shipyard worker to help realize his dream of a high-powered steamboat.
03 Nov 1945
This John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short tells the story of 18th Century French physician Dr. Philippe Pinel, who initiated enlightened, humane treatment of the mentally ill.
14 Dec 2002
In 1863, Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five Points of America to seek vengeance against the psychotic gangland kingpin, Bill the Butcher, who murdered his father years earlier. With an eager pickpocket by his side and a whole new army, Vallon fights his way to seek vengeance on the Butcher and restore peace in the area.
24 Jan 1942
This John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short explores the origins of various customs such as shaking hands, kissing, and why ships are christened.
28 Jul 2017
A police raid in Detroit in 1967 results in one of the largest citizens' uprisings in the history of the United States.
19 Mar 1938
This dramatized short film describes the historical mystery of France's "man in the iron mask". King Louis XIV imprisoned a man who was never identified, but who was forced to wear an iron mask for the length of his captivity, which ended only in his death. Several candidates for the identity of the man are investigated.
12 Oct 1940
This short film focuses on the mysterious and legendary Seri Indians who live in a utopian colony off the west coast of Mexico.
22 Jun 1940
This Passing Parade entry tells the story of Dr. Joseph Goldberger (1874-1929), a Hungarian immigrant who devoted his life to finding the cause of pellagra, a disease that killed hundreds of thousands in the southern United States. Although the medical community believed that the condition was caused by a virus, Goldberger proved that a healthy diet was the cure.
19 Aug 1939
This short film presents the story of Dr. Ephraim McDowell, who came under scrutiny for his pioneering of surgical practices.
15 Jun 1961
While on holiday in Rhodes, Athenian war hero Darios becomes involved in two different plots to overthrow the tyrannical king, one from Rhodian patriots and the other from sinister Phoenician agents.
05 May 1945
This short shows how two objects led to important discoveries. Children playing with a seesaw inspire French physician Rene Laennec to invent the stethoscope, and a pair of shoes made of caoutchouc lead Charles Goodyear to discover the process for vulcanizing rubber.
18 Jul 1993
True story of Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone, inspired by his mother.
18 Jun 1938
The story of Dr. George Washington Carver (1864-1943), black educator and horticulturist. He is perhaps most well known for developing over 140 products from all parts of the peanut plant, including the shells and husks. He also developed products based on sweet potatoes and soybeans, and developed a cotton hybrid that was named after him.
21 Oct 2021
The extraordinary true story of eccentric British artist Louis Wain, whose playful, sometimes even psychedelic pictures helped to transform the public's perception of cats forever.
31 Jan 1942
The 1939 dramatic short "Angel of Mercy," about Red Cross founder Clara Barton, is reedited to relate the story to America's involvement in World War II. Edited from Angel of Mercy (1939)
07 May 1949
Historical short showing how Eli Whitney (best known for the invention of the cotton gin) played a significant role in the introduction of mass production techniques to the USA in the late 18th century.
17 Jun 2023
In the midst of one of the most significant moments in human history - the Moon landing - a guy working at a NASA warehouse has his own little passion project: the invention of the first urinal net.
02 Jan 2000
Parallel stories: 18th century Harrison builds the marine chronometer for safe navigation at sea; 20th century Gould is obsessed with restoring it.