Meet the Chevrolet workers of America and see them at work on the production lines in this 1937 Jam Handy film.
Day breaks in the East and a mighty army rises. Not an army marching to the deep and desolating roar of shells, but a mighty army of builders who go forth accompanied by the whistles from America’s greatest factories – while their giant smokestacks write across the skies promise of a new prosperity in a land where that prosperity brings a fuller life to every man who labors and who serves.
Those are the words of the opening crawl for this Jam Handy Chevrolet epic, From Dawn to Sunset. The 1937 production’s obvious purpose was to show the daily lives of Chevrolet workers at home, at work, and at leisure, in order to illustrate how the automaker contributed to the social and economic fabric of America. To tell the story, the film includes scenes from historic Chevrolet plants across the country: Flint, Tarrytown, St. Louis, Janesville, Oakland, and others. The film is in part a tribute to the Chevrolet factory worker. A love letter, if you will.
But not shown here is that just then, the relationship between Chevrolet employees and management had seen a profound transformation. Earlier that year, workers in Flint, Michigan won their 44-day sit-down strike at the Chevrolet Fisher Body no. 1 plant, earning a pay raise and more importantly, the right to organize. While the film presents a cordial, mutually beneficial partnership between Chevrolet and its workers, the actual relationship was adversarial in a number of fundamental ways. From Dawn to Sunset offers Chevrolet’s idealized view of the partnership, no doubt to counter all the poor publicity generated by the historic strike. Video below.
Much stands out in this film. Most of those plants now long gone. The total lack of safety gear or eye protection. And probably most notably absolutely zero diversity in that workforce, all white males.
Five years after this film was made many of the young men shown were wearing uniforms and helmets and learning different skills…
From a simpler time, when automobiles were all mechanical, men worked in factories and came home to the wife and kids. Before Govt mandates and Union demands increased the prices of automobiles beyond the income of the average worker. Physical labor was the norm back then, not an oddity like today. Simpler, maybe not better in a multitude of ways, but lived at a much slower pace.
“Jam Handy reminds you to keep your preserves conveniently positioned.” – MST3k