Don't You Believe It

It's MGM presents John Nesbitt's Passing Parade. It quotes a wise man who claims that half of the history taught to kids are absolute non-sense. It then goes to list a lot of famous stories that are more myth than history. Lady Godiva is probably the most memorable part.

They are a little fast and loose about half of history being wrong. At best, it's a cynical humorous dig. At worst, it's a cynical destruction of truth itself in our modern society. Maybe they should cut out the half bit. Most of these are just popular historical myths. I doubt that schools are teaching these although they do illustrate that people should always be aware of who is writing the history.

John Nesbit debunks the legend of Lady Godiva and how George Washington was not the first president of the United States in this episode of the long-running THE PASSING PARADE series of shorts from MGM.

It's a nice entry in the series, mostly because it offers a bit of information that runs contrary to the accepted wisdom and legends. Steve Brody, it turns out, did not jump off the Brooklyn Bridge, and Lady Godiva did not ride naked through the streets of Coventry (darn it!). All slanderous lies, from political opponents and newspapermen looking for a news item to perk up a dull front page.

It's a bit unusual for the series. Usually the actors perform silently, while Nesbit sonorously describe what they are doing, and the implications. Here, Ferdinand Munster and associates talk over how they are going to stand Godiva, and Walter Kingsford and friend talk about serving as president.

I'm a history teacher and this film is a wonderful resource to use in your classroom! Especially the short on President Washington. Not enough information is given about the beginning of our great nation.

George Washington was the first President under the Constitution. But, our first government was not under the Constitution. Our first government was under the Articles of Confederation where we had a 'first' president.

This film shows how President Washington becomes our first President under the Constitution. It was very well done. This kind of "history" is not really taught in our classrooms. This is real history, not the short versions that are so often taught in the classroom.

Don't You Believe It (1943)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This Passing Parade short is mildly entertaining but you really shouldn't believe it. The short tries to say that 50% of the history taught to kids is in fact just myths or legends. We hear that it really wasn't the cow that started the Chicago fire and we learn that Nero really wasn't playing a fiddle when Rome burned. The main focus of this short includes the fact that Lady Godiva never rode naked through the streets and that George Washington was really the eighth President and not the first. That bit on Washington has its history mixed up but I'll let you see the film to see their reasoning. Overall this is only a mildly entertaining entry to the series. Unlike most, this one here doesn't just have John Nesbitt's narration but instead we get some live action material. This live action material was just boring in my opinion and I think it probably would have done better with Nesbitt's narration.

DON'T YOU BELIEVE IT examines some well-known facts we're all taught in school about history, dispensing with myths that it claims are actually untrue.

50% of history is nonsense, so it says, and we're given some examples--such as, Steve Brody never jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, doing away with the notion that somebody can "pull a Brody".

Nero was "fast asleep" when Rome burned, never having been the great arsonist we're told he was.

It wasn't Mrs. O'Leary's cow that knocked over the lantern--it happened actually in another neighbor's barn.

Lady Godiva was actually a pious and refined woman who never would have dreamed of riding naked through the streets of Coventry to protest taxes. The story was made up by political foes of her husband who decided that emphasizing her charms in a notorious way would spread the rumor successfully. They even decided to include a white horse in the story.

Most surprising fact: George Washington was not proposed as first president of the United States. He was seventh or eighth on a list that had John Hanson's name first. But Washington was sought when the country needed a great leader and decided that, as much as he loved his life on a plantation, when summoned by fellow countrymen he would agree to lead the country.

Summing up: Nothing really startling, it's just an average documentary debunking what it calls popular myths.