This John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short explores the origins of various customs such as shaking hands, kissing, and why ships are christened.
Production
MGM's glossy mini-docs made learning feel like movie magic.
Acting
Ava Gardner as Lucretia Borgia in a 10-minute short? Star power wasted beautifully.
Director
Basil Wrangell
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was one of over 150 Passing Parade shorts MGM cranked out between 1938-1949, essentially YouTube explainers before YouTube existed.
The handshake origin presented here—showing empty hands to prove no weapons—remains disputed by historians, but it's the story we all WANT to believe.
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