Past Shapes Future

Are You Feeling a Case of Spring Fever?

Be careful what you wish for

What if we lived in a world without springs? Maybe today that wouldn’t be such a travesty as society has come to rely much more on electromechanical and electronic devices than those powered by reserved kinetic energy captured mechanically.

But in 1940 that exact question was posed in a part fictional, part documentary short film by movie producer Henry Jamison “Jam” Handy. In the film, A Case of Spring Fever we are introduced to Gilbert who, frustrated by the repair of the springs on his couch keeping him from golf with his buddies, wishes to never see another spring.

Of course, Gilbert’s wish is granted, by the animated sprite, “Coily”. Gilbert then quickly experiences the frustrations of a modern existence free from springs, chided by Coily each time it is revealed just how omnipresent springs are in daily life. You can watch the 8-minute film here at the Internet Archive.

Gilbert repents for his irresponsible ignorance and pleads with Coily to restore springiness to the world. Once all is made right, Gilbert becomes a devoted acolyte of the mighty spring and extols the benefits and utility of springs to his golf buddies ad nauseam.

Sponsored by the Chevrolet Company, the film spends plenty of time detailing how integrated springs are to the modern automobile as Gilbert chauffeurs his golf pals to and from the links.

And, in what might have been the inspiration for Benjamin Buford “Bubba” Blue’s monologue about shrimp in the film Forrest Gump, Gilbert delivers a running list of all things powered by springs. “Why, there’s springs in your cigarette lighter, mouse traps, guns, exercisers, hinges, pogo sticks…”

Jam Handy was a prolific documentary and instructional film maker with his Jam Handy Organization producing over 7,000 motion pictures and 100,000 slide films starting in the early 1930’s through 1983.

Handy produced scores of promotional and training films for General Motors, including a set of fantasy sales promotions featuring the animated Nicky Nome using Chevrolet automobiles to save the day from a host of untoward outcomes.

It is only with the above information for reference that we can imagine why anyone would create a story, set in almost mockumentary fashion and featuring an animated coiled spring with a long elfish nose and a slightly Irish-sounding accent, that celebrates the virtues of springs.

Otherwise we are only left to question why such a film might even exist. But, setting the bizarreness of this particular film short aside, the clip does invite a thought-provoking question: What if things we take for granted suddenly were no longer available to us?

Many of us are experiencing a small taste of that today as we endure a few more weeks of what seems like a perpetual lock down of our routine activities. For some the impact may be small, perhaps not being able to visit our gym or yoga studio.

For others, the impact of shelter in place has fundamentally altered their existence. Those with school age children likely are feeling a momentous shift in the foundation of what traditional educational models look like and what a future might look like without return to the old structure.

Others, now forced to work from home, might wonder what the future holds in terms of job security. Without being present in the workplace each day, might you find your salaried role reduced to piece work as your employer evaluates a new workforce paradigm?

And, for many, there is no mystery as their job has simply disappeared altogether as businesses contract, downsize and dissolve in the wake of the financial devastation wrought by a viral disease outbreak.

Unfortunately for all of us, there is no animated sprite waiting in the wings to determine whether we have learned our lesson and then restore normality. We will have to face these new happenings as reality rather than “what-if”.

Our only consolation, and it is meager, is that we don’t have that same animated character yelling, “Springs” in our ear and laughing maniacally each time we discover a novel facet of our problematic new reality. Small victories, I suppose.

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Timothy Key spent over 26 years in the fire service as a firefighter/paramedic and various fire chief management roles. He firmly believes that bad managers destroy more than companies, and good managers create a passion that is contagious. Compassion, grace and gratitude drive the world; or at least they should. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and join the mail list.