Building films for business: Jamison Handy and the industrial animation of the Jam Handy Organization

For over forty years, Henry Jamison Handy (1886–1983) operated one of the leading industrial film studios in the United States, the Jam Handy Organization. Based in Detroit, Handy’s studio was conveniently located in America’s industrial heartland, and produced hundreds of advertising, training, and informational films for National Cash Register, General Motors, RCA, and other growing industries looking to take advantage of business opportunities afforded by the new media. Until the firm was broken up in 1970, its clients also included local governments, the military, and educational and religious organizations. The paper concentrates on Handy’s use of various animation techniques in its films, and the influence on them of theatrical cartoon styles developed by J.R. Bray, the Fleischer brothers, and the UPA studio.