Is Everybody Happy?

Series

Series Name

The March of Time 11th Year

Issue

Issue No.

13

Date Released

Nov 1946

Length of issue (in feet)

1560

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1Is Everybody Happy?

Story

Story No. within this Issue

1 / 1

Summary

The March of Time synopsis: Crimes of violence, and reports of the current trend toward mental disorders testify that man is far from happy. Among the commonest worries of most people is the problem of how to succeed in one’s job, while another, no less urgent to the average man or woman, is the age-old question of attracting the opposite sex. Harassed by life’s complexities, troubled people have always turned to the traditional counsellors - the family doctor, teachers, the clergy and family elders - but that traditional counselling is not always adequate is shown by the success of syndicated newspaper columns of personal advice. The most popular of these, written by the venerable Dorothy Dix, is read by over 15,000,000 Americans every day, while millions listen to the radio equivalent broadcasting the troubles of unhappy people, thousands of whom send in requests for advice every week.

Technology perfects machines that even feeble minds can operate, says the film, but man’s illogical beliefs persist. Though today some doctors have grave reservations as to the value of exercise for everybody, the "strong man" continues to enjoy a phenomenal success, and from all corners of the world come inquiries from young and old who are ambitious of achieving physical perfection. Dieticians are no less popular than the colourful medicine man with his nostrums guaranteed to cure every ill and solve every problem, for man, with unflagging optimism, has been buying potions and pills for centuries, always sure that a miraculous solution of all his troubles is just around the corner.

Part and parcel of every man’s spirit of hope is his immemorial desire to know what the future holds in store. Upon fortune-tellers and fortune-telling devices, the American public spends some 150 million dollars a year, and the fact that the same person may hear three or four contradictory versions of the future from as many practitioners seldom does anything to shake her faith in the ancient arts of soothsaying.
Modern man, says the March of Time, applies his utmost ingenuity and inventiveness to the pursuit of speed and comfort in search of his most deeply desired objective - happiness. Yet despite the fact that he has surrounded himself with ever-more-complicated mechanisms to reduce mental and physical effort to a minimum, he is finding existence in the modern world full of frustrations and vexations and the machines he has invented to conquer his environment seem themselves to be conquering man.

Researcher Comments

This story was included in Vol.13 No.1 of the US edition.

Keywords

Health and medicine; Religion and belief

Written sources

Monthly Film Bulletin   Vol.13 No.155 November 1946, p162.
The March of Time Promotional Material   Lobby Card, Used for synopsis

Credits:

Production Co.

Time Inc.