Jam Handy filmstrips

[carbking]

I have been attempting for more than 40 years to document the various training media produced for Pontiac. Believe I am getting close to having a complete list of the Jam Handy produced filmstrips (and the associated records) for Pontiac. Currently have a list of 340 different filmstrips from 1929 to 1972.

I would be happy to share this list with any interested individuals or organizations.

I would be delighted to hear from anyone who may also collect these, or know someone who does.

I would also like to know if there have been any of these produced for Oakland.

An addition to these 35 mm filmstrips; Pontiac also used the infamous Super 8 filmloops, 16mm movies, 35mm movies, laser discs, "Tech-trac" cassettes, Beta format tapes, and VHS format tapes.

I know Chrysler had another type of film cartridge produced for them by Kodak.

What other audio/video items exist?

Jon. <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

[poci1957]

Hey Jon, have you amassed a collection of them? Any chance you are planning to film any on DVD for sale? If so let us know, Todd

[carbking]

Todd - I have more than 325 different. At the present time, trying to get a complete list together of what exists.

There were 16 different filmstrips released during 1957 (I have them all).

What often makes things complicated is that the last few of each year MAY (or may not) relate to the following year models. In the case of the 1957 Pontiac, the 2 best (my opinion) filmstrips were released in 1956 and carry a 1956 designation.

Trying to do a DVD (correctly) would be an exercise in futility. We have converted some of the filmstrips to digital. This averages about 3 hours per filmstrip.

BUT, the filmstrips came with a 33 1/3 RPM narration record. One started the record, and then each time a BEEP was heard, it was time to manually advance the filmstrip. Each record runs about 30 minutes. I have not yet found software that will allow dropping each frame into the MP3 file from the record, but guessing another 3~4 hours per filmstrip. So, if we have 3 hours for the video and 4 hours for the audio, looking at 7 hours times 16 filmstrips or more than 100 hours per year. You DON'T have minimum wage employees during these tasks.

I seriously doubt there is sufficient demand to justify doing the conversion.

Jon.

Edited March 16, 2010 by carbking (see edit history)

[poci1957]

Hi Jon, thanks for the reply, sounds like you have quite a collection, I would love to be able to see the 1957 Pontiac stuff.

Several years ago I bought a DVD from someone with a comparison filmstrip of 1957 Pontiac vs Dodge and 1958 Pontiac vs DeSoto (complete with beeps). The DVD was homemade but well done, clear, good sound, etc. But I BET that would be lots of work.

At a swap meet I bought a whole set of 1956 Ford sales training, with filmstrips, records, meeting booklet, the whole original package. And when I set up my school surplus projector I found Ford apparently produced their material to be used with the combination projector and record player. Thus, no beeps...hard to know when to turn the filmstrip and I have not played them since. I haven't seen one of those since elementary school and even then we almost always had beeps.

Thanks for the reply, Todd C

[carbking]

Hi Jon, thanks for the reply, sounds like you have quite a collection, I would love to be able to see the 1957 Pontiac stuff.

Thanks for the reply, Todd C

Decatur is not that far!

Jon.

[poci1957]

Decatur is not that far!

Jon.

Hmmm....so it isn't. If I get through central MO I may have to call to ask for an invitation to see some. Of course I knew about your carburetor operation but did not know of your interest in Pontiacs, haven't been to your web site before.

Just a little carb trivia question, in 1957 did Rochester 4GCs all come from the factory with the little ID tag attached? If so is anyone reproducing them? Thanks Jon,

Todd C, POCI 1957 Technical Advisor

[carbking]

Hmmm....

Just a little carb trivia question, in 1957 did Rochester 4GCs all come from the factory with the little ID tag attached? (YES)

If so is anyone reproducing them? (YES, BUT NOT FOR SALE). Thanks Jon,

Todd C, POCI 1957 Technical Advisor

Answers in caps in quote.

Jon.

[oldsobsolete]

Hi Jon,

I was a very active buyer of general Motors NOS and acquired a pile of the tapes as well as some of the earlier record and strips ,some of them pontiac and I would like to sell them is there somewhere i can learn more about them?

I also have service bulletins for Oldsmobile from about 1940 thru around 1980 which contains a lot of usefull information.

regards

oldsobsolete

[carbking]

Oldobsolete - there is not a lot of information available. This is what I am trying to do, at least with the Pontiac ones, is provide documentation.

I would certainly be interested in all of your Pontiac filmstrips, movies, records, etc.

Call me at 573-392-7378 (9-4 Mon-Wed central time).

Jon.

[rocketraider]

The Jam Handy Organization also produced training material for Oldsmobile, and I've managed to get quite a bit of it. Even have the storage cases for a couple years.

Last year at Fall Carlisle, I accidentally stumbled across an original 50s DuKane filmstrip projector/record player combo. It needs a cartridge and stylus which I haven't pushed too hard to find, but amp powers up and it has two good lamps. The cord for the pushbutton trigger to advance the filmstrip is literally toast. Lamp cord will work for the cord, but the special plug is moulded to it and not enough good wire left to splice it to a new cord. Not sure if I can find another identical plug.

Have a couple of Bell & Howell projectors with cassette players too for later issue stuff. I ran those things daily as a high school audio-visual operator. Hey, it was a good way to get out of a study hall.

[Dave Mellor NJ]

I never heard of the "jam Handy"name before, but I have 66 record/film strip sets from Chrysler cars from late 40's to 60's with a few in the thirties. I also have an original record player/film projector that needs retoration.Most of the boxes were never opened. Would the Chrysler sete also be called Jam Handy ?

[carbking]

I never heard of the "jam Handy"name before, but I have 66 record/film strip sets from Chrysler cars from late 40's to 60's with a few in the thirties. I also have an original record player/film projector that needs retoration.Most of the boxes were never opened. Would the Chrysler sete also be called Jam Handy ?

Dave - I am unaware of who may have produced these for Chryster. In the case of the Pontiac filmstrips, the very last frame of the filmstrip basically says "The End, produced by the Jam Handy Company".

I know that Jam Handy produced literally thousands of these training filmstrips (for other than car companies as well). I have maybe a hundred or so Chevrolet (all of which are for sale or trade for Pontiac) that were produced by Jam Handy; and I once had what I believe was a complete set for GMC that were produced by Jam Handy.

These have been ignored for way too many years, and little is known about them. My primary reason for starting this thread was to increase my own knowledge (and possibly acquire some of the filmstrips I am missing) for Pontiac; but a secondary reason is to invite discussion of these from those who have them.

In addition to the filmstrips/records; other formats of which I am aware: 8mm, 16mm, 35mm, Super 8 filmloop (cartridge), Kodak cartridge (Chrysler used these), Tech-Trak (cassette), Beta, VHS, and laser disc.

My telephone number for any who wish to discuss is: 573-392-7378 (9-4 Mon-Wed central time).

Jon.

[Jolly_John]

"Jam Handy" Productions....named for its owner, Henry Jamison Handy. Here's a link that gives a bit of insight into the man and the company responsible for creating thousands of marketing and "how to" films. Jam Handy's works helped train many defense factory workers and U.S. soldiers in W.W. II.

The]The Jam Handy Organization: a short history Jam Handy Organization: a short history

Interesting stuff. Best, John in Wisconsin

[MrEarl]

I bought 3 projectors before finally finding one that works perfectly. I have a lot of the 1954,55 and 56 Buick films and a few records. Also have a few Chevrolet films. If anyone has any 'spare' 54 Buick films and records I'd be interested in buying or trading for Chevy.

Edited March 22, 2010 by MrEarl (see edit history)

[poci1957]

Hey Jolly John, thanks for the link, that was really interesting to find out more about the company and Mr Handy

[Reattatude]

Some may disagree but all these materials need to be transfered to digital media before they decompose into nothing. I would imagine most the film strips you all have are turning reddish or pink, fading out.

If these materials were on DVD then many ohers could partake in seeing them.

I produce various video productions on DVD, these film strips would fit on to DVD discs and you could get a lot of them on to one disc.

The film needs to be scanned - yes its is time consuming. The audio on the records are easily

written to digital files.

Then just sync it up with a video editor.

Anyone who is willing to transfer their materials to digital, I can make the final product - with navigational menus to locate the specific strips.

nothing to it, really. For a Pro. : P

[carbking]

I agree with the need for digital conversion; although the filmstrips I have are in great shape. And I am working on the conversion.

The problem is, as you mentioned, TIME!!!!! About 6 hours per filmstrip on average! I have about 350 Pontiac filmstrips, and several hundred others.

Man must do things other than scan filmstrips :grin

Would you be willing to suggest a program for mixing the JPEG and MP3 files? I was planning on using Microsoft Moviemaker.

For scanning, I am using the Wolverine standalone scanner (will scan the filmstrips without cutting them into five image clips); and then cleanup using Adobe Photoshop.

For digital conversion of the records, I am using Ion Profile Pro turntable.

Any suggestions on conversion of the Super 8 filmloops with the optical sound tracks?

Jon.

[HarryJ]

CarbKing.............did you know the Prelinger archive online has a large collection of the Jam Handy films? Check out "Master hands".

[Reattatude]

Ahh my last posting stop for the evening.

How many frames are on ONE film? around 30-40? I only know some of this Co. background and do not own any of the materials.

Sound Super 8mm takes a special projector called a Telecine. Dont be taken in by cheap transfer boxes. A true telecine is not inexpensive and if you want the best I can show you. However I dont have one that will do 8mm, only the 16mm films.

Every editor has there own preference of software. I prefer A/B timeline format, but single timeline is the vogue these days. Your object is simple, sync up of these BEEPS with the change to the next frame of film it isnt rocket science and the Movie Maker might work but I dont use that software. Adobe Premier would work but is probably overkill for such a simple task.

There a lots of demos you could test. Find what works best for you.

I hope you can get it accomplished but you have a mountain to move.

I am tired and my spelling sucks. Going to bed!

[carbking]

Well, we just finished a movie file for one of the longer filmstrips. It took approximately 7 manhours. Final file plays approximately 11 minutes, and requires 77 megabytes of disk space. Since there are generally 13 Pontiac strips per year, I should be able to put one full year on one DVD.

The process is not at all difficult, just time-consuming.

Jon.

[oldsobsolete]

I have several big boxes of the later cassette type for all GM models. not to sure what to do with them

oldsobsolete

[carbking]

Old obsolete - if these are the super 8 filmloops, they are an absolute pain in the ...!

The super 8 filmloops come in at least two sizes. They are super 8 film enclosed in a transparent blue plastic cannister. These were produced from roughly 1972~1985.

Converting the video to digital is not difficult, as the cartridges can be taken apart, and the film wound on a conventional super 8 reel.

The problem is the audio; as these things have an optical soundtrack rather than the conventional magnetic soundtrack.

I have searched and searched to find a company to convert these, but you say optical soundtrack and the conversion companies either say "never heard of such a thing" or "yeah, I heard about those, but can't do anything with them".

I did track down one technician who rebuilt one of my projectors; so at least I can view my films. One of the gears is plastic, and the heat from the optical soundtrack lamp causes this gear to warp and the projector to fail. The technician warned me to always have an auxiliary fan cooling the projector when I use it.

Anyone know of any company that can convert these things to digital?

Oh, and while I think I have all the Pontiac ones, would certainly be interested should you have any Pontiac ones.

Jon.

[Reattatude]

Well, we just finished a movie file for one of the longer filmstrips. It took approximately 7 manhours. Final file plays approximately 11 minutes, and requires 77 megabytes of disk space. Since there are generally 13 Pontiac strips per year, I should be able to put one full year on one DVD.

The process is not at all difficult, just time-consuming.

Jon.

Yeah, very time consuming

As for those optic track Super 8 films, if you have a working player

you can playback a film and record the sound (with a mic?) or maybe there is a way to tap the audio signal from the playback amplifiers.

Anyway once you have digizited the sound recording you a sync it back to the image element. Shouldnt be to hard to accomplish. Sound on Optical track isnt that good anyway so audio should be acceptable.

Keep us posted as to your progress on these films.

[carbking]

Well, the conversion of the filmstrips is going well. I have two employees working on the project part-time (full-time would probably have them quitting, as this is a boring project). I also work on the project evenings, boring as it is, better than modern TV! As we gained experience, we have also gained efficiency. We are now averaging about 5 hours per filmstrip with record, and 3 hours for older ones without records.

Reattatude - you were correct on the filmstrips turning red. Some of the color ones are turning, but the black and white are still perfect. The fact of some deterioration has caused me to give more emphasis to the project.

I have found companies that can convert the 35mm, 16mm, and 8mm movies; but still no help (or hope) on the optical soundtrack Super 8's. Reactions from those in the industry range from "I've been in the industry 40 years, and they never made such as item" to the less belligerent "Sorry, we cannot help you on these". The best answer was "on optical soundtrack systems, just play the movie, camcorder the picture on the screen, and hook up a microphone to record the sound".

So, I have a machine to play the movies. If I take this advice, what type screen should I use? I have a super-lenticular (spelling?) silver screen; also a plain white screen. Or would a painted wall be better? The projector has a speaker port. Can this be converted into digital sound?

This solution is also probably the way to digitize the Tech-Trak service cassettes. And I do have a working projector for these also.

Surely, we can get the laser disks converted. And I know we can get the Beta and VHS converted.

Any thoughts on using a projector and camcorder? Is there no better way?

Jon.

[MrEarl]

Jon, KUDOS TO YOU for stepping up to the plate and taking this on (and your dedicated employees for enduring it). I have been dreaming of doing the same thing you are doing with my few mid fifties 35 mm's for years. I assume at some point you will offer these for sale. If so count me in. Also if you are missing any mid fifties Buick one's let me know.1954buick@gmail.com

Edited April 1, 2010 by MrEarl (see edit history)

[carbking]

Lamar - as my interest lies only in Pontiac, we are only converting Pontiac audio/video. I will leave the other brands to someone else. However, you are welcome to profit by whatever experience we have gained. 573-392-7378 (9-4 Mon-Wed central time) should you wish to discuss (further than what I have posted) our experience.

Jon.

[poci1957]

This all sounds like a great thing Jon, I will call you one day to see how things are going. And I would probably be interested in buying a copy of your work on 1957s and other Pontiac stuff. Keep us posted, thanks and good luck, Todd c

[carbking]

Todd - for certain the originals are all going to be for sale once the digitizing is completed. If anyone knows of an automotive library that would be interested, I am going to initially offer the complete collection as a collection. Probably enough material to fill a Ford Econoline van. Not even sure it would fit in the Econoline.

Jon.

[carbking]

Well, we have now converting more than 100 of the filmstrips. Things are going well. I have also inventoried most of the various forms of Pontiac audio/video items, and have listed them on my website. If anyone can add to this list, please let me know.

And hopefully, some of you that collect foreign (you know, other than Pontiac :grin) audio/video will do the same and make known what material is available.

Here is the link:

THE CARBURETOR SHOP / Pontiac audio video index

Todd (poci1957) please give me a call at 573-392-7378 (9-4 Mon-Wed central time).

Jon.

Edited May 23, 2010 by carbking (see edit history)

[Guest macrylinda]

Oldobsolete - there is not a lot of information available. This is what I am trying to do, at least with the Pontiac ones, is provide documentation.

I would certainly be interested in all of your Pontiac filmstrips, movies, records, etc.

Call me at 573-392-7378 (9-4 Mon-Wed central time).

Jon.

The Jam Handy Organization also produced training material for Oldsmobile, and I've managed to get quite a bit of it. Even have the storage cases for a couple years.

Last year at Fall Carlisle, I accidentally stumbled across an original 50s DuKane filmstrip projector/record player combo. It needs a cartridge and stylus which I haven't pushed too hard to find, but amp powers up and it has two good lamps. The cord for the pushbutton trigger to advance the filmstrip is literally toast. Lamp cord will work for the cord, but the special plug is moulded to it and not enough good wire left to splice it to a new cord. Not sure if I can find another identical plug.

Have a couple of Bell & Howell projectors with cassette players too for later issue stuff. I ran those things daily as a high school audio-visual operator. Hey, it was a good way to get out of a study hall.

[Guest El_Diablo]

Jon, when I first saw the red filmstrips, I haven't thought of fading - I thought the red would be "original".

You have quite a collection! I only have 40-50 filmstrips, all 1950-1960 Buick. Some are faded, but I always scan in 7200dpi and with a Generic Positive setting to get the best quality. To scan 10 slides needs 1 hour. 1 slide has about 250 MB. I started using Photoshop to redo all images. 10min per slide.

Take this time, too, if you can! Not all color information is lost! See this example... (haven't removed the scratches, yet).

Best regards,

Jan

Edited February 4, 2011 by El_Diablo (see edit history)

[carbking]

Jan - thanks for your comments. I had considered using Photoshop, but not overly skilled in its use. Of course, once we get the filmstrips digitized, we can go back and Photoshop at anytime.

Jon.

[Guest kofoed1662]

can any one help me i have a JAM HANDY PROJECTOR record player// EXPLAINER MODEL "D" from the 1930's, i am trying to find out what its worth and if anyone may be collecting them.

[carbking]

can any one help me i have a JAM HANDY PROJECTOR record player// EXPLAINER MODEL "D" from the 1930's, i am trying to find out what its worth and if anyone may be collecting them.

These show up quite frequently on ebay (in fact there is one there now at 69.95 with no bids).

These are normally priced on ebay from $10. to $100. Often, the ones priced at $35. or less sell.

It should be noted that virtually all of the ones I have seen on ebay are sold as is, and don't work. A restored, working model should be worth significantly more.

Jon.

[MrEarl]

I paid $250 for a good working condition 60's model about 6-7 years ago. It is a combination projector and record player. That was after going through 2 nonworking ones that I paid and resold for around $100 each for.

Edited February 28, 2011 by MrEarl (see edit history)