Handies

"Handies" was one of those bizarre fads that periodically sweep the country. It reached the high point of its popularity in the summer of 1936. After that, its descent was steep and fast. No one could figure out where the fad came from. From Time magazine:

To play "Handies" a person attempts by manual manipulation to portray a familiar phrase, title, personage or situation. The more extravagantly far-fetched the conception, the better the "Handy." Observers are not expected to be able to identify the improvisation but to be ready to return an even more fantastic one.

So it was like a static version of charades. The image shows the Handy for "Indian riding in a V8." It's the only image of a Handy I could find. Not hard to see why the fad died out.
     Posted By: Alex - Mon Mar 23, 2009
     Category: Fads | 1930s





Comments
I've got a 'handy' I perform all the time when I'm driving.

"Indian riding in a V8"
Ok, I guess the hand in the back of the head is for feathers, and the Vee sign is for, of course, the V in V8. Where are you supposed to get the eight from? I think this guy sucks at playing "Handies".
Posted by Madd Maxx on 03/23/09 at 08:18 AM
Bela - I thought that was strange too but, this was 1936 so who knows what kind of stupid, familiar phrases people were uttering (or handying) back then.
Posted by Madd Maxx on 03/23/09 at 08:37 AM
There was an Indian motorcycle back then and I <<think>> the Chief was had a classic "V" shaped engine. If so this makes more sense that an Indian in a V8!
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 03/23/09 at 08:57 AM
No, back then they were just Injuns. But that was better than "Filthy Heathens" and/or "Dirty Redskins". They had to work their way up to "Native Americans".
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 03/23/09 at 10:55 AM
I can only imagine all the other pictures that came up in a image search for "Handy"! :lol:
Posted by DownCrisis on 03/23/09 at 12:42 PM
I thought "V-8" was a vegetable juice. That would work well for "Handies" - just slap your forehead!
Posted by vegas_girl in Vegas Baby!! on 03/23/09 at 02:47 PM
I thought surely there has to be more than just one image out there, so I did some googling ... only thing I found was that the game was also called Dillies. And an image search for the Dillies game got me this. I've no idea what the connection could be, but it made me giggle.
Posted by Nethie on 03/23/09 at 05:56 PM
Looks like he's trying to say, "Look into my eyes while the wind blows my toupee back".
Posted by Madd Maxx on 03/23/09 at 06:26 PM
I thought that was the "Handy" for grab the Back of my head. It's dinner time at the "Y" - I'm just saying, thats what i thought.
Posted by avmayes614 in the wt"F"-State on 03/24/09 at 01:33 PM
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