My Old Town

John Nesbitt wrote and narrated this episode of his long-running MGM series. The latter was invariable. The former was common, but not invariable.

It's a warm and nostalgic look at the small town where, as Nesbitt tells it, he grew up: a small but growing village where the houses stood behind neatly-painted picket fences, where there was a one-room schoolhouse, young men in boiled suits walked along the unpaved sidewalks, and the girl next door, grown into a young beauty, had to inveigle you into going on a picnic with a well-filled basket. It was a place filled with certainties in G*d anddecency of people.

It's a good thing to wish for, isn't it?

Consider that the short was made in 1948, just as the Cold War was heating up and the Soviets were getting their own nuclear bomb. I expect author and narrator Nesbitt's text reflects much popular anxiety of the time. Sure, the old pre-Depression days were great for middle-class folks, all the common experiences of growing up in middle America. The short does a good job idealizing these, so that we too feel the nostalgia. But now, it's 1948 and an unpredictable new age is dawning. Here Nesbitt reminds us that the past is past and, like it or not, we face an unknown future. But we must have faith in what's to come, which he underscores with religious symbolism. The net effect is to go forth bravely regardless the call of the past. Placed in its time period, this is an understandable popular appeal he's making, and material for Cold War historians. Thus, the short is best understood as a product of that period, even as it touches on a widely shared sentiment.

This is John Nesbitt's Passing Parade. He is reminiscing about his old home town. It has changed a lot over the years. It's 1900 or 1910 or whenever you want. Times were simpler.

Nesbitt is not actually reminiscing about his home town. The marker indicates his home town, but it is in British Columbia, Canada. No, this is an everyman's home town USA. I recognize some of the footage which are probably stock footage from the MGM vault. Without a reality to any of this, it becomes nothing but a generalized place that never existed or just fill in the blank. It does have a nostalgia to it which Nesbitt addresses.

Nostalgic but not exactly stimulating is my brief description of this rather quiet little short subject narrated by John Nesbitt, a tribute to his old hometown.

Images of spring, firecrackers on the 4th of July, farmers ploughing the land, a boy fishing and swimming with pals, school days, high school graduation exercises, and young men pursuing more adult pleasures such as the poolroom, dances, summer concerts, etc.

The narration concludes with the statement that "No path leads to yesterday," and the glimpse of small town life is over as the scene shifts to the present day 1948.

Anyone who has grown up on MGM films can spot scenes from "Our Vines Have Tender Grapes" used as stock footage with "Butch" Jenkins as the boy doing the fishing and seen in a couple of other farm images.

My Old Town (1948)

*** (out of 4)

Part of John Nesbitt's Passing Parade, this short has the narrator talking about his love for his hometown even though the exact city is never named. After reading the description to this film I was rather worried even though it only ran 10-minutes but it turns out that the movie is actually a lot more entertaining than it should have been. Nesbitt's narration is right on the mark as he talks about nostalgia and he really captures the mood of an adult looking back over his life. We get to see what he remembers as a young kid, like the July 4th parties and then what he remembers as an adult, like dating, his first cigarette and so on. The film does a very good job at what it tries to do and that is look back at something from our past that sticks with us as adults.