Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's first-ever television series MGM Parade arrived in the Fall of 1955, promising an insider's look at the world's most glamorous movie studio. The half-hour show followed the formula innovated by Walt Disney the year before- a variety program that also promotes new product, blurring the line between entertainment and advertising. MGM's trailer department was given the responsibility of putting the show together. Actor George Murphy serves as host, introducing personalities, vintage short subjects and clips from old movies. Broadcast on September 28, Episode #3 was timed to tout MGM's theatrical feature The Trial with Glenn Ford and Dorothy McGuire, due in theaters the very next week. From 'the MGM vault' first come clips from a 1931 courtroom drama, A Free Soul, in which Lionel Barrymore won an Academy Award for Best Actor. Host Murphy then introduces the 1939 One Against the World, a John Nesbitt 'Passing Parade' short subject docudrama about early internal surgery, starring Jonathan Hale. The lighter offering is the Pete Smith Specialty short Guest Pests, a comedy making fun of unwanted house guests. Unlike many MGM Parade episodes, this one has no live guest. George Murphy finishes with a courtroom clip from The Trial, in which attorney Glenn Ford defends a Mexican-American boy (Rafael Campos) against a charge of murder. MGM Parade endured for thirty-four episodes, with actor Walter Pidgeon eventually replacing George Murphy.

By Glenn Erickson