1. [Tribute to Undine Moore] (11:02)

Date:
unknown/unknown
Summary:
This film opens in a classroom, showing a music teacher working through a piece with a group of string musicians. He goes on to talk about an influential teacher he had at Virginia State College named Undine Moore. Quipped the "Dean of Black Women Composers," Undine Eliza Anna Smith Moore was a notable and prolific American composer and professor of music in the twentieth century. Much of her work was inspired by black spirituals and folk music. She was a renowned teacher, and once stated that she experienced “teaching itself as an art.” Towards the end of her life, she received many notable awards for her accomplishments as a music educator.

2. Dorothea Lange : the closer for me (30:15)

Date:
1965
Summary:
Provides an opportunity for the viewer to compare the personality of Dorothea Lange, photographer-artist, with her work. Many of her photographs are presented; these cover various periods, such as the depression, World War II, and the growth of the urban sprawl in contemporary California. Lange is shown in her home as she states she is convinced the world is not being truly photographed at all today. To the present generation of photographers, she proposes a new photographic project with the cities of America as the subject--to be done on a scale comparable to that of the Farm Security Administration Photographic Project of the thirties.

3. Automation (1:00:42)

Date:
1964
Summary:
Mr. Hoffer examines the role that works plays in self-esteem as well as the effects of growing automation upon this self-esteem. He comments on the basic human need in all societies, in every period of history, for self-realization. It is, he feels, the feeling of worth derived from productive activity whether it be manual labor or the creation of art, literature and philosophy. Mr. Hoffer points out that early science grew out of Western man’s conception of God as “a master scientist,” and that Leonardo da Vinci, for his art, investigated anatomy and became interested in science because he believed it was “God’s work.” He then traces the development of machines from early civilization to what he terms, “present day over-mechanization and automation.” Today’s fast-growing automation and shrinking labor market is turning early man’s dream of luxury and leisure into a nightmare. Unemployment among workers is outstripping the ability of today’s economy to supply jobs for the unskilled. Mr. Hoffer cites current unemployment figures and projects them into the future, commenting that “when man is cut off from the chance to exercise his skills, he loses his confidence, his joy for life, and his sense of worth. Where you have people without a sense of usefulness, you have a potentially explosive situation ideal for the growth of hatred, bigotry and racism.”

4. Talent (59:54)

Date:
1964
Summary:
Mr. Hoffer argues that the men working beside him as longshoremen on the San Francisco docks are “lumpy with talent.” Genius, he notes, is not rare, it is wasted; and the talent of the workingman is a kind of common sense practicality. Wherever this talent exists among working men, they do their jobs without “all that fuss” which he considers to be characteristic of the underdeveloped countries of the world. Then, Mr. Hoffer raises a question regarding the forces that bring about creative periods in our history – periods that began quite suddenly and ended just as suddenly. He cites, as examples, “the period of cave drawings,” “the Age of Pericles,” “the Florence of the Renaissance,” and “the flowering of New England,” Mr. Hoffer contends that it was not because there was more talent during these periods (“the artists of Florence,” he notes, “were the sons of shopkeepers, and tailors.”), but rather that others forces which exist in every period of history were at work and these forces freed the talent.

5. The growth of a train of thought (1:00:05)

Date:
1964
Summary:
San Francisco longshoreman and author-philosopher Eric Hoffer began more than fifteen years ago to identify in his thought the nature of the “true believer,” the inspiration for his book on the subject. After writing the book, he turned his thoughts to the underdeveloped nations of the world, leading him to a consideration of the effects of change. Suddenly, Mr. Hoffer found himself thinking about juveniles; concluding that nations, as people, can be juvenile and that “true believers” are, in fact, perpetual juveniles – “true believers” such as General de Gaulle of France, Premier Khrushchev of Russia, and Premier Sukarno of Indonesia. His conclusion from all this is that each human being has one central preoccupation, - one train of thought- to which all of his thoughts are related.

6. The mysterious occident (1:00:07)

Date:
1964
Summary:
In this program, Mr. Hoffer explains why he believes it is the West and not the East that demonstrates mysterious and unnatural behavior in times of stress and change. His interest in the East and Middle East began in 1955 with the emergence of the new nations of Africa and the East. Their desire for self-rule, for modernization, was, and still is, being accompanied by terrorism, riots and violence. The west, on the other hand, finds that it does not have to resort to these tactics of violence because change has taken place in an orderly way. Mr. Hoffer’s conclusion is that this was the unnatural way… this was not normal human behavior. This orderliness and practical sense that keeps us going is due, he feels, to the rise of the autonomous individual who has the ability to make his own decisions and who must save his soul by his own efforts. This individual did not rise in the Eastern societies mainly because the secular and political powers were one in much the same manner as communism is today. In this way, a man’s religion and political faith were one, and therefore, there was never a conflict. In our society, these faiths are “fighting each other.” It is this struggle within Western man to reconcile these forces that has given rise to the autonomous individual capable of controlling his destiny in an orderly and practical manner. Mr. Hoffer then discusses this practical streak in the Westerner and the antagonism between the practical and the intellectual. Our society, unlike that of the Greeks, is dominated by the masses or the practical man, not by the intellectual as is the general belief. “Any society shaped and dominated by the intellectual,” Mr. Hoffer concludes, “Will not allow practical actions to be a gateway to man’s feeling of a sense of worth. Since our society is governed by practical considerations, it is dominated by the masses and not by the intellectuals.”

7. The new age (1:01:35)

Date:
1964
Summary:
Mr. Hoffer begins his discussion of “The New Age” by pointing out that it is generally, though falsely, referred to in America as the “Age of the Masses” (i.e. mass communications, mass consumption, mass production). He explains that it is no longer the masses who control the political and economic life of the country. In politics, it is the intellectual who is the general, the diplomat, the ruler. Economically, with the rise of automation, it is the intellectual with the machine who is replacing the many laborers and their hands. Mr. Hoffer then compares the intellectual of the past and present in this country. In the past, the intellectual of America, in much the same manner as today’s European, Asian and African intellectual, was a colonial and ruled with the attitude of a colonial. He demanded absolute obedience and power, and his interests were not so much with the needs of the masses as with the construction and initiation of imposing works and great ideas. In contrast to the “Old Colonialism” of America’s intellectual of the past, the “New colonialist” intellectual of America today rose from the masses and his interests lie with the needs and demands of the masses. Mr. Hoffer describes the “New Colonialist” intellectual as “the man in the business suit who looks like everyone else.” Economically, he is interested in wages, clothing and feeding the people. Politically, he wants not blind obedience but the enthusiastic approval and support of the masses for his projects and ideas. He concludes by stating his believe that the “Old Colonialism” of today’s European, Asian and African intellectual leaders should learn from the “New Colonialism” of America.

8. Man's Struggle for Uniqueness (30:18)

Date:
1963
Summary:
Reviews Eric Hoffer's views on man as a truly free being. Describes check of absolute power and struggle away from the animal in man as prerequisites to freedom. Reveals play as one of the best times for man to receive insight.

9. Role of the weak (29:29)

Date:
1963
Summary:
Reveals the intense feeling for the weak individual and the place in society which Eric Hoffer has achieved. Describes working as source of power for these people. Focuses on Hoffer's systematized mode of living with its inherent difficulties for the weak individual.

10. The Nature of Man (29:50)

Date:
1963
Summary:
Presents Eric Hoffer in an extended dialogue on man's weaknesses and how they relate to the total process of learning to become human. Describes human nature as highly unnatural in comparison with the simplicity of the physical sciences. Reviews man's struggle to survive by attempting the impossible and overcoming his weakness.