American Maker

About

Relates how Americans build, from youth throughout life, by using their ingenuity not only in technological advancement but in everyday efforts by everyone. (From contemporary synopsis).

One of a series of six films (one unfinished) produced by Detroit's Jam Handy Organization for Chevrolet, AMERICAN MAKER was shown in theaters, on television and to community groups, schools and organizations to whom it was loaned for free. Though it is a prominent example of "institutional advertising," promoting a corporation in general rather than its specific products, it specifically shows Chevrolet automobiles being manufactured and on the road. The film pays tribute to American craftspeople and industrial workers, but could also easily be read as a tribute to mass production and its designers. Full of scenes showing idealized white workers and suburban families enjoying the benefits of American mass production, the film is a noteworthy document of post-World War II and pre-Vietnam War corporate optimism.

Jam Handy Production Number M-4441, completed 1960-03-04.

See Maria Popova, The Marginalian, 2011-02-07, online at https://www.themarginalian.org/2011/02/07/american-maker/. Accessed 2023-06-06.

Archive

Internet Archive, in Prelinger Archives

Licence or status

The Internet Archive states none for this item.

Rights statement

"Copyright MCMLX, Chevrolet Division, General Motors Corporation."

Credit

Jam Handy Organization

Subtitles

Automatic captions

Who can watch

The archive gives no rating. Invisible Network shows it to Tweens profiles and older, judged from its collection and subjects. How films are placed