Produced in 1953 by Jam Handy, one of the most famous industrial filmmakers of the 20th Century, HOW TO BUY A CAR was made for Chevrolet to promote the sale of their new automobiles. It features a father who doesn’t want to buy a new car, but of course the rest of the family has other ideas. Lots of great shots of 1953 Chevrolet cars including a convertible Bel Air, a wagon and sedan, as well as a Chevy showroom and salesman from the 1950s.
Henry Jamison “Jam” Handy (March 6, 1886 – November 13, 1983) was an American Olympic breaststroke swimmer, water polo player, and leader in the field of commercial audio and visual communications. Handy was noted for the number of training films that he produced over the years.
The Jam Handy Organization was probably best known for producing the first animated version of the then-new Christmas story Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer directed by Max Fleischer. After the war, the Jam Handy Organization was contracted as the Chicago-Detroit branch of Bray Productions, creating films for the auto industry, Bray’s largest private client.
General Motors selected Handy’s organization to produce short training films as well as other training and promotional materials. One such film was Hired! – a training film for sales managers at Chevrolet dealerships. This film was eventually featured as two parts on the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes Bride of the Monster and Manos: The Hands of Fate. The Mystery Science Theater 3000 team also spoofed the Handy film short, “A Case of Spring Fever” during the Squirm episode, one of the final shows for the entire MST3K series.
Handy also produced films for other companies and for schools. He’s estimated to have produced over 7,000 films for the armed services during World War II. Handy was noted for taking only a one-percent profit on the films, while he could have taken as much as seven percent. He was noted for never having a desk at work, instead using any available work space. Handy’s suits didn’t have pockets, as he thought they were a waste of time.
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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
