The story of the short film from the beginning of the movies in the 1890s, when all movies were shorts, through the 1950s when short subjects virtually disappeared from theaters.

Chevy Chase
Narrator (voice)

Kenneth Anger
Self (uncredited)

Richard L. Bare
Self (uncredited)

Nat Benchley
Self (uncredited)

Sid Caesar
Self (uncredited)

Phyllis Coates
Self (uncredited)

Tim Conway
Self (uncredited)

Walter Cronkite
Self (uncredited)

Dorothy DeBorba
Self (uncredited)
William Dunster
Self (uncredited)
Dr. Raymond Fielding
Self (uncredited)

Joe Franklin
Self (uncredited)

Sylvia Froos
Self (uncredited)
Richard Goldstone
Self (uncredited)

Lorna Gray
Self (uncredited)