THE BEST BUTLER IN THE BUSINESS: TOM DALY OF THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA.
Toronto: University of Toronto, 1996. First edition. 293 pages. Item #5568
Paperback in very good condition.
The Fourth Way is in life. Yet most expressions of it are out of the context of life, e.g., meetings, or books about work ideas. This book offers a rare glimpse of the effect of one man's application of the Work to his life and professional relationships. D.B. Jones had no prior contact with the Fourth Way when he entered upon his project to tell the history of Thomas C. Daly's 43-year career with the Film Board of Canada. Soon Professor Jones found that Daly's "philosophical work" was integral to his subject's development as an editor, producer and as an individual. As a result of their exchanges on this ‘Philosophy’, the reader of the book is beneficiary of many of Daly's explanations of his actions and insights, expressed in common terms (rather than in work language). Knowledge thus applied to one's life comes across more complete and emotional. The book is filled with Daly's being and understanding and is an insightful book in terms of its application to the Fourth Way. "The Best Butler in the Business" is a career portrait of the man who is widely regarded as one of the most important figures to work in the English-language branch of the National Film Board. Jones describes in detail the films of which Daly was both editor and producer and which reveal his unique aesthetic vision. In tracing the connection between Daly's intriguing philosophical views and his approach to film, Jones presents both a portrait of a great filmmaker and a study of one man's philosophical quest as he applied his understanding of the work principles of G.I. Gurdjieff to his own life. This philosophy became "an essential part of Daly's life and professional growth," Jones notes. His overall attitude forged the con-nection of a man whose central creative contribution lay in helping others be creative and make the finest films they could. "They suggest the philosophy behind the art," Jones says at one point. Daly added, "My own learning has gone on in the sense of realizing, more and more, the inclusion of the opposites and the contradictions, of life and death, in the larger wholeness. The sense that the harmony of the universe, or of the ecology of the planet, is the same as a harmonious relationship among people in a film unit. And that you can't really be happy unless others are happy, too."
Price: $65.00