Racing shorts

The programming theme on TCM tomorrow morning and afternoon is automobile racing. Somebody had the good sense to program shorts about racing, too, although none of them involve automobile racing. (To be fair, one does involve motorized bikes.)

First up, at about 7:15 AM, will be the 1935 short Crew Racing. With a date and a title like that, my first instinct was that it's a Pete Smith short, and sure enough, that turns out to be the case. Having said that, the full title according to IMDb has it as A Sports Parade Subject: Crew Racing. That makes it sound a bit more serious than a lot of the Pete Smith shorts, although I think the earlier shorts actually did cover more serious (or real-world, at least) subjects. It's just that they had Pete Smith's commentary.

Next up is Dirt Track Racing, at 12:34 PM. This one is dated 1957, which immediately made me think "RKO Sportscope". Once again, I was right. I don't think I've seen this one, which according to IMDb's information was filmed in Austria and looks at dirt bike racing over there.

Finally, at about 4:19 PM tomorrow is Grandad of Races. I could swear I blogged about this, but perhaps it's the spelling of "Grandad" throwing off my searches. This one is about a horse race in a city square in Siena, Italy, a race which apparently was a tradition. Actually, it still is being held twice every year.