The seven deadly sins of Hollywood (1957)

HITTING THE COUCH if you are unhappy because you have good reason to be unhappy you are perfectly normal. There are Hollywood people who have all the material comforts of life but are nevertheless unhappy. There is nothing necessarily neurotic about that. The possession of minks and diamonds and fame has never been a guarantee of happiness. These people are not suffering from psychological disturbances but from faulty logic : they have simply been mistaken in assuming they have reasons to be happy. Their trouble is that they had assumed success would solve all their problems. But it doesn't. On the contrary, it creates new ones. Suddenly you have a lot to lose, which is more worrying than not having anything. Whilst a person is a failure he can get along assuming that all his worries and frustrations will disappear with success. At least he has a goal, there is a panacea just round the corner. But what do you do when you are a success and are worried and frustrated, worried because you feel you may lose what success you have won, frustrated because though you have reached the grapes they are none the less sour? Where do you go from there? Usually you assume you need still more success: the glamour girl thinks she needs respect and turns to the classics. The classical actor thinks he needs the recognition of the masses and turns to musicals. Inevitably, they both end up on the psychiatrist's couch. But for them he cannot really do anything. They feel insecure. They feel frustrated. They worry because they are unhappy and they are unhappy because they worry. They feel the public may tire of them. They feel they are getting old. The psychiatrist can do little. They probably are getting old ; the public probably will tire of them; they have every reason to feel insecure, because you cannot insure against changing tastes — they have 105