Made in 1951 by the Jam Handy Organization, makers of some of the greatest industrial films of the 20th Century, THE HEAD MAN Is a comical promo for Chevrolet. The film focuses on the importance of understanding customer wants and needs as a part of a successful business. In this case, through a series of flashbacks, a woman informs a psychiatrist about her husband Henry’s run-ins with poor customer service and subsequent odd behavior. While Henry never stands up for himself, he immediately writes in a small journal after each bad experience. Paging through Henry’s book, his wife and the psychiatrist view sketches of each bad salesperson and descriptions of what they did wrong. In addition, they note cryptic phrases such as “over the fireplace” and “over the gun rack.” (05:55-07:40)
After hearing loud hammering, the two head over to the den to see what Henry is up to. Upon opening the door, they realize the phrases in the journal correspond to areas on the wall of the house where animal trophies had been fixed, and Henry is now tearing them down. Mortified, the two envisioned the heads of the salespeople mounted on the wall. Has Henry finally lost his mind?
Instead of being psychotic, Henry reveals intentions to give the animal trophies, complete with witty phrases on the back, to each of the bad salespeople in order to teach them a lesson about better business; “Don’t be a smart SHARK. Know your product, but let the customer tell you what he wants.” The plot along with the title’s play on words had been just as cleverly calculated, as the ending title reads, “the head man in any business is the customer.”
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
