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Handy (Jam) OrganizationSafety Patrol (1937)

A member of a schoolboy safety patrol takes a walk with his friend, a police sergeant, and over a triple ice-cream soda reviews safety precautions for juvenile pedestrians. Shot in and around the urban landscape of 1930s middle-class Detroit.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Handy (Jam) Organization
Sponsor: Chevrolet Division, General Motors Corporation
Audio/Visual: Sd, B&W
Keywords: Safety: Pedestrian; Police; Children

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: JayKay49 - - January 1, 2012
Subject: Jam Handy, Detroit
Ironically, Jam Handy Headquarters was located on E Grand Blvd but way up the Blvd from where this was shot which was down near Jefferson, not too far from the river and the Belle Isle Bridge.

In the 30+ years I lived in Detroit and vicinity I never heard a Brooklyn? Jersey? accent like that kid's. Did Jam Handy hire some actor kid from out east?

The east side of Detroit did however have its own accent - the Hamtramck accent which didnt have a "th" sound. examples: [kids scrapping in the car] "Cut it out, now, boh-dah-yahs!" [in a store] "Will there be anything else?" "No, Debbie all." as well as the phrases: "dat dere," "dis here." They also called a viaduct a vye-dock. Mount Elliot Street was pronounced "Mun D'ellyit"

Great flick from the good ol days when Detroit cops had nothing better to do than canoodle with elementary school safety boys.

Great shot of people crossing Woodward towards Hudson's (biggest department store in the world - 18 floors and 3 basements!).

Reviewer: uniQ - - April 17, 2011
Subject: "doesn't give you a free ticket to the other side of the street"
Somewhat dry little presentation of pedestrian traffic rules presented in a dialog with examples between a safety patrol boy (Do they still exist anymore?) and a police sergeant.

Note the absolute absence of anything on the walls of the underpass.

Reviewer: seasquirt - - May 3, 2008
Subject: Historical view
A cop walking the beat and chatting with a law abidding kid? Nothing to see like that nowadays! I am sure there is no budget for a soda either!

Reviewer: ERD - - December 10, 2005
Subject: Nicely done
"Safety Patrol", made in 1937, was well done for its time. The production is nicely photographed, acted and directed. The script presented the information
in a clear and entertaining manner.

Reviewer: cashel - - August 4, 2004
Subject: detroit in 1937
I would like to think that Life was as depicted in this General Motors film of 1937. It certainly fits the Hollywood model. I liked this film and found interesting, the views of suburban street life. I liked the boy,s accent( how I hate it when boorish people mock another,s voice or grammar).

Reviewer: Visaman - - August 4, 2004
Subject: Pete to Cop:
Pete:I suppose even your wife does it sometimes?

Cop: (Chuckling) Well, I suppose maybe she does.

Pete: Nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more, say no more!

Reviewer: Spuzz - - June 21, 2004
Subject: Gawsh!
A kid with an intolerable accent and a cop go over the rules of crossing the road in this film. While the kid is sometimes hard to understand and the cop less so, we do learn, through dramatized examples of what to do and what NOT to do. I never knew that women are more likely to cross in the middle of the street then men... hmm.. It would also be sort of neat to compare a similar Sid Davis film to this one, and see what matters to him vs Chevrolet.

Reviewer: dynayellow - - September 15, 2003
Subject: Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be in Safety Patrol
Uses the conceit of a child safety patrol officer to explain that it's Adults who don't know how to cross the street. Check out the kid's outrageous accent.

Shotlist

A member of a schoolboy safety patrol in one of our typical cities tells the story of how children can prevent accidents by taking wise and careful traffic precautions.
"At the end of 1955 it had delivered useful traffic safety pointers to 11,823,000 young Americans in the 5th, 6th and 7th grades. Recorded showings, as noted on the records of the General Motors Film Library, exceed 75,000." [Business Screen 17:6, 1956]


CHEVROLET ADVERTISING AUTOMOBILES HEALTH AND SAFETY PATROL CHILDREN BOYS GIRLS ACCIDENTS TRAFFIC PEDESTRIANS STUDENTS SCHOOLS STREETS ROADS
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