Jam Handy facts for kids
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Handy in 1966
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | "Jam" | |||||||||||||||||||
| Born | March 6, 1886 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
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| Died | November 13, 1983 (aged 97) Detroit, Michigan |
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| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Breaststroke, freestyle | |||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Chicago Central YMCA Chicago Athletic Association |
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Medal record
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Henry Jamison "Jam" Handy (born March 6, 1886 – died November 13, 1983) was an American Olympic swimmer and water polo player. He also started a company called the Jam Handy Organization (JHO). This company made many films, slidefilms (which are like filmstrips), and training materials for businesses.
Jam Handy is sometimes called the first person to think of distance learning. He made his first film in 1910. His company created around 7,000 movies and possibly 100,000 slidefilms before it closed in 1983.
Contents
Jam Handy's Sports Career
Jam Handy was a talented swimmer. He brought new swimming styles, like the Australian crawl, to America. He would often wake up early to practice and invent new strokes. This helped him get an advantage over other swimmers.
Olympic Swimming and Water Polo
His swimming skills led him to win a bronze medal at the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri. Twenty years later, he joined the Illinois Athletic Club water polo team. They competed at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, France. His team also won a bronze medal there.
By competing in both the 1904 and 1924 Olympics, Jam Handy set a record. He had the longest time between his first and last Olympic competitions. He continued to swim almost every day until just a few months before he died.
In 1978, Handy appeared in a TV commercial. He was asking people to support American athletes training for the 1980 Olympic games. At that time, he was the oldest living United States Olympic medalist.
Hall of Fame Honors
Jam Handy's achievements in sports were recognized many years later. In 1965, he was added to the International Swimming Hall of Fame. Then, in 1977, he was also inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame.
Jam Handy's Early Life and Work
Jam Handy went to North Division High School in Chicago. He then attended the University of Michigan for a year. While there, he worked as a student reporter for the Chicago Tribune newspaper. He later had to leave the university.
After leaving college, Handy got a job at the Tribune. He worked in different parts of the newspaper. While working in advertising, he noticed something important. He saw that if salespeople understood and were excited about their products, they sold more. He also started studying why people bought certain things.
Handy left the Tribune to work more on how companies talk to their customers. He worked with John H. Patterson from National Cash Register. Patterson used slides to help train his workers. With help from a friend, Handy began making and sharing films. These films showed customers how to use everyday products.
When World War I started, Handy began making films to show how to use military equipment. It was during this time that the Jam Handy Organization was officially started.
Handy's Family Life
Jam Handy was married to Helen Hoag Rogers. They had five children together. One of his daughters, Chaille, had children who became famous. Her son, Garner Tullis, became a well-known printmaker. Another of her sons, Barclay J. Tullis, became an inventor.
Jam Handy's Filmmaking Work
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After World War I, Jam Handy worked for Bray Productions in Chicago and Detroit. He made films for the car industry, which was Bray's biggest client.
General Motors chose Handy's company to make short training films. They also produced other training and advertising materials. One famous film was Hired! from 1940. This film was made to train sales managers at Chevrolet dealerships. You might have seen parts of it in the TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000. Many films made by the Jam Handy Organization are now available online at the Internet Archive.
Master Hands, a well-known documentary film from 1936, was chosen for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1999. This means it's considered an important part of American film history.
Between 1936 and 1938, the Jam Handy Organization made a series of six animated films for Chevrolet. These films featured a gnome named Nicky Nome. In the stories, new Chevrolet cars would save the day from villains. Often, these were new versions of classic tales like Cinderella. Two of these films were A Coach for Cinderella and A Ride for Cinderella. Other films included Nicky Rides Again, Peg-Leg Pedro, The Princess and the Pauper, and One Bad Knight.
The Jam Handy Organization also made the first animated version of the Christmas story Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 1948. This film was sponsored by the store Montgomery Ward. It was directed by Max Fleischer.
Handy also made films for other companies and for schools. It's estimated that he produced over 7,000 films for the armed forces during World War II. He was known for taking only a small profit (one percent) on these films, even though he could have taken more. Handy was also known for not having a desk at work. He would use any available space. His suits didn't have pockets because he thought they were a waste of time.
Later Life and Legacy
Even though Jam Handy had trouble at the University of Michigan, his family members later got degrees from the school. Handy himself received an honorary doctorate degree from Eastern Michigan University.
Handy passed away in Detroit on November 13, 1983, when he was 97 years old. He continued swimming regularly until just a few days before his death.
The Jam Handy advertising company closed down in the year he died. This happened because another company, Campbell Ewald, took over as General Motors' main advertising agency. Losing General Motors as a client meant the company lost a lot of money.
See also
In Spanish: Henry Jamison Handy para niños
- List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men)
- List of Olympic medalists in water polo (men)
- List of members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame
- Industrial film
- Collage film
