Annie Was a Wonder
In this John Nesbitt's Passing Parade series short, narrator John Nesbitt tells the story of Scandinavian immigrant Annie Swenson, who worked as cook and housekeeper in his family's home while he was growing up.
In this John Nesbitt's Passing Parade series short, narrator John Nesbitt tells the story of Scandinavian immigrant Annie Swenson, who worked as cook and housekeeper in his family's home while he was growing up.
John Nesbitt
Narrator (voice)
Kathleen Freeman
Annie Swenson
Howard Negley
Mr. Nesbitt
Ruth Lee
Mrs. Nesbitt
Sven Hugo Borg
Gus
Charles Bates
Younger Son (uncredited)
In this John Nesbitt's Passing Parade series short, narrator John Nesbitt tells the story of Scandinavian immigrant Annie Swenson, who worked as cook and housekeeper in his family's home while he was growing up.
I quite enjoyed this jolly depiction of the narrator’s young life with Swedish housekeeper Annie (Kathleen Freeman). Right from day one, she isn’t about to be played pranks upon by the brothers, but by joining in their hosepipe game risks a swift termination of her fortnight’s trial. Luckily, she came top of the class at her cookery school and anyone who has ever tasted Swedish cuisine will know that when it is done well it is certainly not one for the calorie counter. Studying for her citizenship qualification and befriending the local delivery man she spends the next few years gradually becoming an integral part of a family that worked her to the bone, but clearly cared a lot for her too. Freeman is clearly enjoying her role here and though perhaps the Nesbitt’s might genuinely want to feel some guilt for their exploitation for $15 a month, it’s one of the cheerier stories of the American dream working out for someone conflicted between her homeland of old and her new land of opportunity.
When Manny Singer's wife dies, his young daughter Molly becomes mute and withdrawn. To help cope with looking after Molly, he hires sassy housekeeper Corrina Washington, who coaxes Molly out of her shell and shows father and daughter a whole new way of life. Manny and Corrina's friendship delights Molly and enrages the other townspeople.
Norwegian immigrant Marta Hanson keeps a firm but loving hand on her household of four children, a devoted husband and a highly-educated lodger who reads great literature to the family every evening. Through financial crises, illnesses and the small triumphs of everyday life, Marta maintains her optimism and sense of humor, traits she passes on to her aspiring-author daughter, Katrin.
Newlyweds Nick and Suzanne decide to move to the suburbs to provide a better life for their two kids. But their idea of a dream home is disturbed by a contractor with a bizarre approach to business.
A group of dated appliances, finding themselves stranded in a summer home that their family had just sold, decide to seek out their eight year old 'master'.
Anastasia Romanov escapes through a portal when her family is threatened by Vladimir Lenin, and she finds herself in the year 1988, befriended by a young American girl.
An engaged, spoiled hotel heiress finds herself in the care of a handsome, blue-collar lodge owner and his precocious daughter after getting amnesia in a skiing accident.
Young Nigel Slater has big culinary aspirations, even though all his mother knows how to make is toast. When his mother dies, relations grow strained between Nigel and his father, especially when he remarries a woman who wins his heart with a lemon meringue pie. Nigel enters culinary school, starts working in a pub, and finds himself competing with his stepmother - both in the kitchen and for his father's attention.
The original '70s TV family is now placed in the 1990s, where they're even more square and out of place than ever.
Mewsette is a starry-eyed cat who grows weary of life on a French farm and heads for the excitement of 1890s Paris. Her tomcat suitor, Jaune-Tom, and his furry cohort, Robespierre, chase after Mewsette, but she's already fallen under the spell of a feline modeling-school racket run by Madame Rubens-Chatte and her slimy assistant, Meowrice.
On an idyllic beach in the Pacific Northwest, curiosity gets the better of a young raccoon whose frustrated parent attempts to keep them both safe.