Search For Happiness (1948)

Master of the sky above and the Earth beneath modern man out of speed and comfort in so his most deeply desired objective happiness he has surrounded himself with ever more complicated mechanisms to reduce mental and physical effort to a [Music] minimum man is ever employing his vast scientific resourcefulness for the creation of entertainment devices to provide him with constant [Music] distraction year by year the number of appliances and gadgets contributing to man's convenience multiply around [Music] him but despite all the mechanisms he has invented in his pursuit of personal happiness man is finding existence in the modern world full of frustrations and vexations today the Machines man has invented to conquer his environment seem themselves to be conquering men driver driver I have to be at 10 station at 3:30 and it's 20 after now listen lady I can't pick up this cab and carry it can I how dare you speak to me that way you're the most [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] in the calm of America's universities are many thinkers who pondering the pressure of today's mechan world are seriously concerned with the effect of modern living upon mankind among them is Professor Ernest Albert hooton of Harvard eminent Anthropologist whose studies of the human race from the Stone Age to the present have left him totally impressed by recent technological advances and none too hopeful of the prospects for happiness of the tottering bipad known as man it took millions of years for man to evolve from a super ape into a sing thinking animal but during the past 30,000 years of increasing gadgetry man has back slid mentally and physically technology perfects machines that even feeble Minds can operate the unintelligent user of gadgets still retains the mentality of primitive man he Resorts from moral support to mumble jumble just as did his SA ancestors machines get better and better illogical beliefs persist mechanized in moronic man moves toward Extinction any questions corroborating Dr hooton is the American Press where reports of the current Trend toward mental disorders and crimes of violence testify that man is far from happy one out of every 10 Americans is due for a nervous breakdown one American in every 200 is now a patient in a mental hospital the great variety of popular books on mental problems Bears witness to the everyday American troubled State of Mind among the commonest worries of most people is the problem of How To Succeed in one's [Music] job no less urgent to the average man or woman is the problem of how to attract the opposite sex faced by these and other problems troubled people have always turned to the traditional counselors The Family Doctor experienced and reliable the school teacher instructor of the young the man of God who ministers to the spirit and the Elders of the family group but that traditional counseling is not always adequate is shown by the success of syndicated newspaper Columns of personal advice read by over 15 million Americans every day is the most popular of these columns written by the venerable Dorothy dicks I am desperately in love with my boss a married man with whom I am having an affair shall I ask his wife to give him up so that he can marry me you're sensible man is likely to give up home and career for a light of love you're wasting your time on your married sweetheart Turing your guns on lawful game airwave equivalent to the love laen columns are the personal counseling programs on the radio which broadcast the Troubles of unhappy people to millions of listeners every week you have just been listening to experience teaches Elmer P lightwood's personal counseling program are you unhappy depressed in trouble write a Frank statement of your problem to Elmer Peter Lightwood care of the station to which you are listening he can help you as he has helped thousands troubled people by the thousands send in requests for advice every week and from among them the radio counselor picks the most theatrically effective for discussion on his program carefully withholding the names of the participants the counselor probes their dilemmas before a nationwide audience and what's your problem Miss why well I don't know it's just that my fiance was killed in the war life doesn't seem to mean much to me anymore it's though I couldn't bear to live sometimes oh come come come now miss why many of us have lost persons dear to us in the war but we've learned not to take it so hard think of the sunshine miss why and all the beauties of nature can you think of all those glorious Everlasting things and still say that you don't want to live I don't care about anything that's how I feel oh so you're going to turn your back on things eh you're going to say no to life is that it well now let me tell you young woman seriously concerned about The Morbid interest these programs arouse and the quality of the advice given is Dr George Stevenson medical director of the National Committee for mental hygiene listen to experience teaches next week another gripping human half hour you know these radio programs that exploit people in distress on the pretext of helping should not be allowed advice given by self-styled counselors who aren't prepared scientifically to deal with human problems is apt to be both misleading and dangerous of equal concern to doctors is the Blind Faith of many people that diet alone will solve all their problems the addiction of Americans to food feds as a means of bolstering themselves up has enabled many a diet theist to build his private formula into a flourishing business I use liver brain spinal cord heart kidney mixed the juices of raw vegetable that fix up gray hair wrinkles bad teeth sugging chin brittle nails if somebody has sex problem your worries are over but the currently popular Health theorist has by no means crowded out the colorful medicine man with his nostrums guaranteed to cure every ill and solve every problem step right up ladies and gentlemen and see how Dr Mayfield's famous vzone remedy works carrying his germ destroying properties to every corner of the human system riding it of impurities Dr Mayfield's wonderful vitone remedy brings a new spring to your walk New Life to your weary jaded eyes and a ready glow of Health to your pale cheeks only $1 a bottle my friends for Dr Mayfield's vitone surpassing all the medical specialists and all the hospitals of the globe who's going to be the first to buy a wonderful bottle of Fone oh I see a fine intelligent young gentleman there oh thank you $1 who's going to be with unflagging optimism man has been buying potions and pills for centuries forever ass sure that a miraculous solution of all his problems is just around the corner another means of self-improvement mail order courses in muscle building have for years enjoyed a phenomenal success from offices which cover a whole floor in a New York skyscraper strongman Charles Atlas operates a million dooll business from all over the world poor in the inquiries of clients young and old all of whom are ambitious to achieve a torso like atlases why only the other day a very rich man called me up and said Charlie I have just lost a half a million dollars I'm going to blow my brains out so I told him to forget it and get to exercising let me teach you how to become strong like this [Music] today some doctors have great reservations as to the value of exercise for everybody prominent among them is Dr William H Sheldon noted Authority on the human Constitution for some people physical culture is a good thing for some others it may be disastrous but despite wise counsel millions of men and women continue to search for happiness each in his own strange way ever seeking to win the admiration of others never daunted by his previous failures man is forever sure that next time he'll hit the jackpot 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 a [Music] year 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 Suits saying now here's your heartline well certainly get plenty of attention from the Wolves don't [Music] you bad confluences looming up next year do not swim in the ocean that would be fatal Moon and Pluto in the air sign geminy H Your Love life's not very satisfactory is [Music] it naturally you've had bad luck with a name like Ruth barl the letters don't coincide with your astral influences now if you'll change your name to this one I've worked out for you you'll be in tune with the infinite and all your problems will vanish what's my new name your new name is Kora Ral for the pretentions of numerologists and astrologists who base their predictions on the stars there is no respect whatever among astronomers whose job is to study the stars scientifically men like the Hayden planetarian chairman Gordon Atwater astronomy is the science of the Stars astrology is a cult a cult which claims that the stars have a direct influence upon people's lives and that they may be used to foretell the future astrology has no scientific basis whatsoever if any of you have come to the Planetarium expecting us to cast your horoscope you have come to the wrong place but watching men's fumble Pursuit of Happiness from among primitive evidences of human irrationality even the sardonic Professor hooton is not completely pessimistic people who consult Mystics diviners and Prophets of the occult employ the same sort of subhuman reasoning as produced these masks and magical paraphernalia you seem to take a very dim view of humanity Professor hooton haven't you any hope for the future of man certainly but we must realize that we need not merely better machines and Sounder beliefs but wiser and healthier man when we have learned what qualities of Mind and Body combine in heredity to make Superior individuals we may then produce intelligent human beings who will ultimately Salvage civilization bolstering up the scientist's Hope a National Committee of 13 with a campaign of good humored burlesque to expose the baselessness of Humanity's fears and phobias is trying to prove on a popular level that Superstition can be eradicated backed by people as well known as illustrator John vasos the committee feels it may in time get mankind to substitute logic and Common Sense for its Eternal Wishful flight from reality to educate by example these iconoclasts publicly VI at all the time honored taboo for with the scientists they believe that until men learn that their future lies in themselves the ages will still elude them Time Marches On