Is Everybody Happy? (1946)

Part of The March of Time series, this episode (Volume 13, Number 1) deals with the question of whether people are happy. Despite new technology and labor saving devices everywhere, people ... See full summary »

Stars:

Charles Atlas, Jackson Beck, Dorothy Dix

Cast

Credited cast:
Charles Atlas	...	Himself - Body Builder
Jackson Beck	...	Narrator
Dorothy Dix	...	Herself - Newspaper Columnist
Earnest Albert Hooton	...	Himself - Harvard Anthropologist

Storyline

Part of The March of Time series, this episode (Volume 13, Number 1) deals with the question of whether people are happy. Despite new technology and labor saving devices everywhere, people seem to have no more time on their hands and in many ways seem unhappier. The correspondence with advice columnist such as Dorothy Dix, seems to be growing. Health and fitness advocates, like Charles Atlas, have a booming business as people search for something that will make them feel better. Fortune tellers and self-styled counselors on the radio are popular but, in the opinion of doctors, dangerous.

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Plot Keywords:

punctuation in title | question in title | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Short

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 September 1946 (USA)

Also Known As:

March of Time (Volume 13, No. 1): Is Everybody Happy?

Company Credits

Production Co:

The March of Time

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Followed by Germany - Handle with Care! (1947)

User Reviews

Apparently Not

For more than a decade and a half the single leading newsreel was THE MARCH OF TIME, produced, like the radio show, as a loss-leading advertisement for the news magazine. Over its life, Louis de Rochemont's team produced many important and ground-breaking pieces, like 1938's INSIDE NAZI Germany, an early warning of the threat that Germany posed.

Of course, they couldn't do that every month. That would have simply been exhausting to the audience. So they eked out the production with pieces like this, more human interest pieces in which they covered how people make themselves happy, from Waring blenders to palmistry.

It looks like a lot of fuss over very little, especially with Westbrook Van Voorhies' typical "you must hear this" narration. But recall that this was typically seen in a show that included a cartoon, several short subjects, including a comedy and an educational one and perhaps two feature.... and you'll see that as a part of that, this was a reasonable and important part.