Lynley Shimat Lys, Rob Moore Lynley Shimat Lys, Rob Moore &&

Master Hands Presentation Outline

• Master Hands clip• Helping You Sell clip• Chevrolet’s Films

– History– Use

• A Coach For Cinderella Clip

• American Harvest Clip• Industrial Parodies• Brief Intro to Jam Handy• Filmography of Gordon

Avil• Labor Issues and

Chevrolet

A Clip from A Clip from Master Master HandsHands

The Sales Pitch - Helping You Sell

The Sales Pitch - Helping You Sell Clip

Chevrolet’s Films

Partial List of Films

Use of Films

• Helping Salespeople & Dealerships• Newsreel Product Placement• Encouraging workers / discouraging strikes• Showings:

– High Schools and Universities – (Students’ influence on the family)– Organized Groups and Clubs – (Outreach to Business and Professionals)– Factories, Mills and Industrial Organizations

– Community Theaters (Family Showings)

A Coach For Cinderella Cartoon

A Coach For Cinderella Cartoon

Master Hands Reunited - American Harvest

Clip

Master Hands Reunited - American Harvest

Clip

Industrial Parody Without Zinc Oxide you wouldn’t have your prosthetic

limb, the brakes on your car, or that fire extinguisher . . . Parody of industrial films.

A Brief Intro To Jam A Brief Intro To Jam HandyHandy

• Henry Jam(ison) Handy:

– Kicked out of University of

Michigan for writing exaggerated

newspaper article about

professor

– Blacklisted from university

career

– Journalist

– Olympic Swimmer (won medals 20

years apart)

– Industrial filmmakerLinda Robinson Walker in Michigan Today 3/95: http://www.umich.edu/~newsinfo/MT/95/Mar95/mt2m95.html

Jam Handy OrganizationJam Handy Organization

• “General Motors executives picked Handy to develop filmstrips for GM subsidiaries—films that could have subtitles printed on them, and be stopped to allow discussion. Skip Wendt, a filmmaker who was employed by the Handy Organization in the 1960s and '70s, said that for the introduction of a new model Chevrolet,

Handy's group would produce separate packages of materials for dealers, salesmen, mechanics, and customers--brochures, manuals, pamphlets, filmstrips, everything--to teach about the model, and to fire the enthusiasm of the staff.”

Linda Robinson Walker in Michigan Today 3/95: http://www.umich.edu/~newsinfo/MT/95/Mar95/mt2m95.html

Gordon Avil Filmography

Labor Labor Relations Relations

and and ChevroletChevrolet

Labor Relations and ChevroletLabor Relations and ChevroletJune 1936June 1936

• United Auto Workers (UAW) targets Flint, Michigan: General Motors’ Home Office and production center

Beginnings of the UAW

•UAW signs first GM members in Indiana•Reuther brothers Victor, Walter and Roy join UAW as union organizers•Member drive begins in Flint•Fisher Body I workers succeed in a short sit-down strike•Roy Reuther heeds government inquiries into company spies infiltrating labor organizations; strike is planned for January 1st

November/December 1936

• Fisher Body I workers succeed in a short sit-down strike

• Roy Reuther heeds government inquiries into company spies infiltrating labor organizations; strike is planned for January 1st

December 30th 1936

• Company spies are exposed at Flint UAW Local meeting

• Spies are convinced strike will occur in another state

• Two days before the strike, GM begins removing dies from Fisher Body 1 and 2

January 1937

• Workers at Fisher Body 1 and 2 sit down to occupy the plants and prevent die removal

• GM is granted an injunction against workers• Police prepare to evict strikers but Judge

Black’s decision is overturned when it’s revealed he owns over $200,000 in GM stock

• Union leadership demands recognition from General Motors as their sole bargaining unit

Sit downs spread

• 3800 Workers at Cadillac factory in Detroit stage a sit down

• Police use tear gas and shotguns in an effort to evacuate the strikers in Fisher 1 and 2: Later named “The Battle of the Bulls”

GM forced to bargain• Strikers at Fisher 1 and 2 fight back with fire

hoses and showers of 2-pound door hinges• Governor sends in the National Guard• A wave of sit downs occurs in plants in

Detroit, Anderson, IN, St. Louis, MO; more than 3/4 of GM’s workforce is on strike

• GM agrees to meet with UAW officials• Michigan governor insists GM resolves its

labor issues

GM Reverses Its Promise

• UAW agrees to evacuate factories when GM agrees to bargain

• GM breaks its agreement; Fisher 1 and 2 are occupied

• GM agrees to meet with UAW officials

• Michigan governor insists GM resolves it’s labor issues

• UAW agrees to evacuate factories when GM agrees to bargain

February 1937

• GM is granted another injunction on the striking UAW members

• UAW members converge in Flint for a massive demonstration

• Governor denies the injunction and forces GM and UAW to the bargaining table

• February 11th GM signs agreement to bargain with UAW; sit downers leave the plants