Robert L. Ripley

In this short film, Robert L. Ripley introduces narrator Leo Donnelly who presents various "Believe It or Not" oddities from around the world as gathered by Ripley. Segments include a NYC clothier that caters to very large men and circus elephant grooming. Vitaphone No. 1363.

A documentary examining the life of Robert L. Ripley (played by an actor), the man who created the "Believe It Or Not" series.

Ripley shows unusual athletic feats, a boy born with "clock" eyes, and a blind French monk who invented navigation laws.

This entry in the Believe It or Not series finds Mr. Ripley aboard a U.S. naval ship speaking to a group of sailors. The film he shows them includes items on a Mr. Curt Thompson, a blind telephone operator, and John R. Voorhees, who, at age 102, has voted 81 times since his 21st birthday. The finale is a demonstration of skill by Otto Reiselt, the three-cushion billiards champion.

Robert Ripley gives a show aboard a luxury liner at sea, starting with drawings discussing the origin of the "fathom" and Christopher Columbus being banished from America. Vitaphone No. 1361.

This first entry in the "Believe It Or Not" series of shorts visits northern Africa. Included are a look at the Tuareg people of the Sahara Desert, a waterfall whose under-surface builds up because of lime deposits, a clock that strikes 13, and the Tree of Abraham, estimated to be 3500 years old. Vitaphone No. 1282.

Robert L. Ripley sitting in a "living room" recounting tales of strange stories. Ripley died on 27 May and was replaced by Robert St. John who continued to November 1949. The second season, beginning in January 1950, was a dramatic anthology series based on Ripley's stories and featured guest players every week.

Billy falls asleep and dreams Robert L. Ripley takes him on a tour of Believe-It-or-Not land to see many oddities. Vitaphone No. 1320.

Ripley shows an aged Japanese statesman, a strange fish with legs, the 'Rubaiyat' in a finger ring, how a house of cards is torn up, and a giant typewriter in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Vitaphone No. 1294.

This omnibus of film clips include a Savanna golf course made from Civil War trenches, wooden Indians used ourside cigar stores, an American Indian artist from South Dakota who paints upside down, the smallest residence house, a Bronx River statue with mysterious Civil War origins, the Ocean Grove community in New Jersey that closes on Sundays and a futuristic automated parking garage. Vitaphone No. 1364.

Robert Ripley shows a pretty blond a shrunken head and an iron execution chamber. Vitaphone No. 1336.

A Ripley's Believe It or Not short film, it tells the story of a man wrongly imprisoned who goes abroad to find his fortune and ends up getting sent back home on the Titanic.

At a charity bazaar, Ripley settles a thousand dollar bet by producing man who has not slept in 75 years.

Ripley shows a chair of growing trees, the narrowest street in the world, a city of wine cask dwellers and a bungalow of 144 rooms.

Robert Ripley presents a well-dressed cocktail party an assortment of drawings and film clips showing the world's youngest parents and the largest bible. Vitaphone No. 1362.

This entry in the series criss-crosses America to find various curiosities. Among them are a church in Nebraska made of bales of hay; a duck with four legs that lives with its owner in Flint, Michigan; a 128-year-old former slave who lives in Holly Springs, Mississippi, with her 100-year-old daughter; and, in a cemetery in Mayfield, Kentucky, a family plot wherein the deceased members are memorialized with life-size statues, including the patriarch's horse and other family pets. Vitaphone No. 1304.

Robert Ripley draws and shows movies to train passengers. Vitaphone No. 1346.

Reporters interview Ripley about his world travels. Vitaphone No. 1053.

In Robert L. Ripley's absence, Leo Donnelly acts as the guide to the unusual from around the world. A group of people in the Philippines are moving a house, foundation and all, six miles, by carrying it on their backs. A one-armed boat builder demonstrates the water crafts he has devised for his disability. A junk in China propelled by treadmill propeller. Dwarf trees in Japan, some as old as 700 years. Also in Japan, chickens are shown with tail feathers measuring up to twenty-five feet in length. A sun dial in Manila is the world's largest at 30 feet in height and 65 feet in length. A group of church goers in Luxembourg are dancing as a ritual toward good health. Livestock with unusual physical attributes are shown. Tree limbs are displayed in Tacoma, Washington that form an alphabet. The world's largest collection of the smallest books. And celebrity footprints displayed outside of Grauman's Chinese Theater. Vitaphone No. 1427.

Traveling to North Africa, Ripley offers views of The Meeting Place of the Dead in Morocco, a jail for nagging wives, a village with houses made of tin cans, and a sultan with many wives and children.