The story of Dr. Kildare.
Whatsoever house I enter there will I go for the benefit of the sick.
Whatsoever things I see or hear concerning the life of men, I will keep silence thereon, counting such things to be held as sacred trusts.
I will exercise my arts only for the...
The story of Dr. Kildare, starring Lou Ayres and Lionel Barabour.
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Now the story of Dr. Kildare, starring Lou Ayres as Dr. Kildare and Lionel Barabour as Dr. Gillespie.
Blair General Hospital, one of the great citadels of American medicine.
A clump of grey-white buildings planted deep in the heart of New York. Nerve center of medical progress.
Where great minds and skilled hands wage man's everlasting battle against death and disease.
Blair General Hospital. Where life begins, where life ends, where life goes on.
Good morning, Mr. Beauregard.
Colonel Beauregard, sir. This I remind you repeatedly, Dr. Kildare, I have the honor to be a full Colonel of the Virginia Volunteer.
I'm sorry, Colonel, I forgot about it. How do you feel?
Well, sir, if I wasn't feeling mighty bad, I wouldn't be here.
I came here from Richmond two weeks ago, paralyzed from the waist down, and I am now also paralyzed in my left arm.
And nothing has been done for me.
We can't treat the paralysis until we've diagnosed the cause of it.
It is arthritis, sir. I informed you of that the first day I came here.
There's positively no evidence we can find of any arthritic changes.
Now, you look here, young man, I came up north to get one of those newfangled arthritis shots I've heard about, and I'm going to have one.
Even if I have to take legal action against this institution. Do you hear me?
Yes, I imagine the whole seventh floor can hear you.
Well, I'll drop in again later in the day.
Enough! Don't you go running out on me.
I'm a doctor, Colonel Beauregard. Legal matters come under another department. Good day.
Dr. Kildare, I could hear Papa shout and clear down the hall. He's not any worse, is he?
No, your father's about the same, Amy Lou. He's a little upset, that's all.
Well, I'd better go on in and talk to him.
Seems like he just can't feel contented with us. I'm standing right there at his side.
Yes, I've noticed he depends on you a lot.
Dr. Kildare, you're not holding something back, are you?
I mean, it's not real bad, and you just won't tell us about it.
No, Amy Lou, Dr. Gillespie and I have checked every possibility we can think of.
We still don't know what's causing this paralysis of your father's.
I wish to heaven we did.
Jimmy, you can go through those books until you're blue in the face,
but you are not going to find any rare disease that explains this Beauregard case.
I wasn't looking for a disease, Dr. Gillespie. I was thinking more of a syndromy.
Syndromy, huh? A group of concurrent related symptoms without a known cause.
You're reaching for straws.
Maybe. What's your idea?
Well, the kernel is afflicted with a progressive atrophy of neural function,
possibly degenerative in nature, and you're...
You're stalling. All you've said is that the patient is paralyzed.
We've known that for two weeks.
All right, you mean...
All right, all right. Then I'll venture a tentative diagnosis.
I'm interested. Shoot.
There's no physiological cause at all.
The trouble is psychoneurotic hysterical paralysis.
I'm afraid I can't buy that.
Why not? He's a hysterical type, isn't he?
Yes, but no, it won't hold water.
Do you have a better idea?
Sure. A hereditary syndromy called familial periodic paralysis.
Ridiculous. That's textbook curiosity.
I've never had a case written 35 years of diagnosis.
You've got one now.
Mind if I take another blood sample and run it for a potassium deficiency?
No, go ahead. Waste your time if you want to.
All right, let's see. I'll need a centrifuge and a flame photometer.
I guess I'd better set up one of the labs.
When you get this out of your system, Jimmy,
we better plan the kind of psychiatric treatment we're going to use.
Maybe it won't be necessary. See you later.
Hmm. Familial periodic paralysis.
Confounded tarnation.
Now, why didn't I think of that?
Dr. Kildare, since I came up to this northern hospital,
I've been punctured by needles in 47 different places.
Another week and I won't even have any blood left.
Easy now, Colonel. There we are.
That's a full quart, sir. You've drawn out a full quart, sir.
Oh, it's only a quarter.
I'm sorry, sir.
You've drawn out a full quart, sir. You've drawn out a full quart, sir.
Oh, it's only 20 cc's, and this may be the last sample we'll have to take.
Well, it's the last one you're going to get, sir.
Of course, if this doesn't separate properly,
I'll have to run a second specimen.
I won't hear of it, sir.
We, Boregards, have always stood ready to shed our last drop of blood
for the honor of the South, sir.
But I must say, my feelings toward Blair Hospital are not quite so generous.
I feel there's no more blood, sir.
Dr. Kildare, I surely hope you don't mind me hanging around
peeing over your shoulder like this.
I'm the least, Amylo. You're as much concerned about this as I am.
Now, let's get this sample out of the centrifuge.
At least the vial didn't break.
Oh, I'm glad. Papa'd have a conniption fit if you tried to take another specimen.
Good clean separation, too.
Well, we'll load it in the atomizer and see what we've got.
Dr. Kildare, I guess maybe I talk sometimes like I got magnolia blossoms
where my brains ought to be.
No, you talk like a girl who's devoted to her father
and who's pretty worried about his condition right now.
Well, I've always kind of looked after him since Mama died.
Let me get this burner lit.
There we are.
Dr. Kildare, I guess I got even more than you know to worry about.
You see, I've never had the nerve to tell Papa what I did about six months ago.
Well, what did you do?
I got married.
Congratulations.
Papa'd be mad in a wet hand if he knew.
He'd never even let me go out with boys.
What did you marry, a horse?
No, a boy. I met him secretly, you see.
He was on the newspaper in Richmond at the time,
but now he's working for a magazine here in New York
and he wants us to get an apartment and, well, live together.
He's getting mighty impatient.
Yes, I imagine.
I guess you can see I've got something to worry about, all right.
Let me know if I'm wrong on this diagnosis.
We'll both have something to worry about.
I'll start the test.
All right, Jimmy. All right, all right.
But the only thing certain from these results
is the fact the patient has a potassium deficiency.
And that can happen from other causes.
Name one, Dr. Gillespie.
Well, amoeba dysentery, for one.
Now, is that your diagnosis in the Beauregard case?
No, no, no, no, no, no. I didn't say that.
I was merely giving you one example.
I've also been doing some research on the subject.
Confounded? I'm responsible for you.
If you're going to put yourself out on a limb,
I've got to know something about the structure of the tree.
Well, just three or four doses of KCL solution ought to settle the question.
Yeah, make the Colonel a pretty sick man
if he doesn't have a tolerance for it.
Don't worry, he will.
Confounded, Jimmy?
I still think it's psychoneurotic.
Oh, dear, there you are. Oh, dear, dear, dear, dear, dear.
Oh, carol, lower your flaps and come in for a landing.
Dr. Gillespie, do you know what's happened?
Know what?
That patient, that, that, that, that, that, Mr. Beauregard in 720...
It's Colonel Beauregard, sir.
Well, whatever he is, he's going to sue Blair Hospital.
Good.
Dr. Gillespie, please.
I mean it, carol.
I'm tired of watching that lawyer of yours
sit back on his big fat retaining fee
without doing any work for it.
Do him good to fight a case once in a while.
This is hardly a matter for personal whimsy.
Ah.
Why, you've no idea how incensed this man is.
You think not?
By most of the things he said to me,
I simply wouldn't sully myself by repeating.
Oh, that bad.
Gentlemen, this crisis must be met.
Colonel Beauregard's case must be diagnosed without further delay.
Well, fortunately, Dr. Caroux, we've just done that.
Our sacred honor demands that we...
What did you say?
I said we've diagnosed the case
and we're ready to start treatment.
Kildare?
Well, then there's nothing to worry about us.
No, no, no, no. Not a thing in the world.
Dr. Gillespie, what is the diagnosis?
Well, it's a matter of, uh, that is, uh...
Dr. Kildare made certain tests which seem to indicate that, uh...
Well, confounded, we've decided the colonel is afflicted
with familial periodic paralysis.
Thank you, doctor.
Can you imagine that?
Only with great difficulty.
We should have definite results within a couple of days, Dr. Caroux.
Excellent. Oh, dear me,
I must run up and tell the legal department.
They'll be so happy about...
Yes, undoubtedly.
Well, then, as they say in England, carry on.
Ah.
Jimmy, about that limb you got yourself out on.
Yes, doctor?
Move over, will you?
It's nothing but salt water, Dr. Kildare.
You've had me drinking that concoction for two days now
and I'll not impart any more of it.
In Richmond, sir, we do not drink salt water.
Now, Papa, don't you go getting obstreperous again.
Well, maybe you won't have to drink any more of it, colonel.
If we're right, you've had enough now for a cure.
A cure, sir?
Well, may I point out to you, sir,
that I am still flat on my back in this bed paralyzed?
How do you know whether you're paralyzed
until you try to get up and walk?
Dr. Gillespie, I'll not stand for any bullying, sir.
Oh, fiddle-faddle.
Amilou, throw those bed clothes back out of the way.
Yes, sir.
Here, better put this robe around you, colonel,
and it'll be a bad time to catch cold.
You're merely wasting your time to... salt.
Now, go ahead.
See if you can bend your knees and draw your feet up.
Well, of course I can.
But I needs an arthritis shot.
Oh, please try, Papa. You just gotta try.
Amilou, I am trying, but I...
Look, they're moving, Papa. You're moving your legs.
By the great horns, boom.
Amelio periodic, doctor?
Now, let's try standing up, colonel.
Well, I... I doubt if I can, sir, I can barely move them.
I... I still think an arthritis shot is what I...
Feet on the floor. That's it.
Now, hold on to my arm.
Try to stand. Easy now.
Well, I... I don't think I can...
Oh, Papa.
Well... well, about Jefferson Davis...
You're standing up!
Colonel, a few days' massage of those muscles
and you'll be as good as new.
Well, I... I'd never have believed it, sir.
And from salt water.
Oh, Papa, I'm so happy and it's all so wonderful.
Sure. Don't carry on, Amilou.
But it is. You're gonna be all right.
I'm so happy.
And now I can leave home and go live with Richard.
What did you say, Amilou?
I'm married. I've been married for six months
and I've been scared to tell you about it.
Amilou?
His name's Richard and he's wonderful.
And we're gonna live right here in New York
and you can come see us every... Papa!
Catch him, Jimmy! Easy now, Colonel.
There.
My legs.
My legs, sir.
I can't move them.
It's all right.
Here, let's get you back into bed.
There you are.
They're paralyzed, sir.
Just like they were before.
Oh, Papa.
Amilou, we'll be outside.
Well, it...
it looks as if that's that.
Amilou, huh, Jimmy?
All right, now,
it must be the limb broke.
I'll come down to your office in half hour.
Guess we'd better plan some kind of
psychiatric treatment.
Eh?
We will return to the story of Dr. Kildare in just a moment.
Now we continue with the story of Dr. Kildare.
Now we continue with the story of Dr. Kildare,
starring Lou Ayers as Dr. Kildare
and Lionel Barrymore as Dr. Gillespie.
Oh, Jimmy, Jimmy, come on in.
Come in, come in.
How's the colonel?
Oh, he's all right, Dr. Gillespie.
Amilou, stay with him.
Well, what do we do now?
Do?
Why, we just put all our faith in potassium
salt solution.
Can't possibly go wrong.
He just ran a photometer test.
The concentration of potassium in his blood
is essentially normal now.
And yet the patient is still paralyzed.
Amazing, Dr. Kildare.
All right, but it was the right answer.
He was cured.
Trouble now is an entirely different cause.
And might I inquire as to the nature of that cause?
Psychoneurotic, hysterical paralysis,
to quote an old medical friend of mine.
Hehehehehe.
Colonel Beauregard
is an abnormally possessive father.
The knowledge that his daughter was married
and was planning to leave him was quite a shock.
Though his mind has not one sure way
of holding her.
A way in which he was already conditioned.
Paralysis.
Well, that's quite a coincidence, though, Jimmy.
Patient paralyzed twice in the same day
from two different causes.
Now, you're just trying to start an argument.
That's the only logical explanation
of his trouble, and you know it as well as I do.
Yes, sure, but still
it's a coincidence.
We'll have a hard time convincing anybody else of it.
Yeah, especially Garou.
Ah, that nincompoop.
He's got a chronic paralysis himself from the neck up.
It's too bad.
Just when he had the legal department
all quieted down.
Pardon me, ma'am.
What is it, Parker?
Well, Dr. Garou was out here, shall I?
Yes, yes, yes, send him in.
Confounded, Jimmy.
I'm going to stop speaking of the devil.
Now, now, now, now, now, what's all this about the devil?
We've just decided
Colonel Boregaard is possessed of a devil.
Really?
Is there anything to be...
Oh, you're twitting me.
Ah.
Besides, a little bird told me that you had the Colonel up and walking.
What a precocious little bird.
In fact, I'm just on my way now to see the miracles
for myself, as you might put it.
Yeah, so why don't you put it that way?
And I'm going to remind the Colonel
in a subtle way, of course, about those nasty accusations he made.
Excellent.
Maybe you'd better hurry up.
He might decide to go for a stroll, you know.
Oh, dear, that's right.
I'll go right on up there.
Well, as they say in the...
Yes, yes, carry on.
Quite.
No, Dr. Kildare,
I fear I'm doomed to spend the rest of my natural life
in this unfortunate condition, sir.
A useless burden to my local.
Oh, now, let's not give up
and decide that so quickly, Colonel.
We had you on your feet once, we can do it again.
I might say that I do not share your confidence.
You've got to learn to share it.
I can't expect any results until you do.
Don't you want to walk again?
Well, that's a preposterous question, sir.
Do you believe that I would deliberately choose
the life of a helpless invalid?
No, Colonel, not deliberately.
We Beauregardes have always been men of action, sir.
Why, during the war between the states
when that blackguard Grant
by a piece of low chicanery managed to enter the city,
I was a little bit worried.
I thought that you were a good man,
but low chicanery managed to enter the city of Richmond.
Yes, sir.
My family was the last in town to surrender, sir.
Well, in that...
My father, who was 15 at the time, was behind the well curb
firing a horse pistol.
My grandfather was at the basement window firing a squirrel rifle.
I see.
And my grandmother was on her second floor piazza throwing down rocks.
I am a man of action, sir.
In that case, Colonel,
fighting a simple thing like a mere case of paralysis
ought to be a cinch.
Well, that's different, sir.
It's not something a man can see or get a hold of.
It's something that can be fought.
That is, if you want to fight it.
Well, of course I want to, sir.
I can't bear to think that I might be this way all my life.
Oh, it's hard on you.
And on your daughter as well.
Emmylou is free to choose any course she desires, Dr. Gilder.
She'll never leave you in this condition.
I shall insist that she live her own life, sir.
Have you met her new husband?
I have not, sir.
I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to.
I have not, sir.
That violator of the home
sneaking around to steal her away from me
like a thief in the night.
I see.
Well, Colonel, the problem seems to be fairly clear-cut.
But the treatment depends entirely on you.
I can't do a thing until you decide to cooperate.
That is, to fight.
Well, there's no doubt about it, Dr. Gillespie.
You were right.
Some of those statements he made are pretty indicative.
Yeah.
It's a psychoneurotic mechanism. Nothing else.
Any chance he might be faking it, Jimmy?
No. It's legitimate, all right.
He is right at the edge of his consciousness, though.
He can almost sense the reason.
That's why he's so ready to give up now
and accept his fate.
I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to.
He's so ready to give up now and accept it.
That avoids any chance of a cure.
Paralysis in preference to losing his daughter.
Yeah.
Well, it fits the pattern.
Yes, the problem's obvious enough.
So's the treatment.
Provide some kind of shock to wipe out
this solution his mind has created for him.
Change the problem in some way.
Any ideas, Jimmy?
No.
Well, I'll read up on some case histories this evening.
Try to find some weak spot on the Colonel's
fortifications.
A psychiatric blockbuster, Jimmy.
That's what we need.
Well, see you later.
Dr. Kildare?
Oh, Emmy Lou.
I've been waiting here to talk to you.
Dr. Kildare,
is there any hope at all for Papa?
That's pretty hard to tell yet.
In other words, right at present, there isn't.
I suppose that's one way of looking at it.
What am I going to do?
I love Richard and I want to be with him.
But I love Papa, too.
And that's not all, Dr. Kildare.
It's not merely a simple matter
of being married that I got to worry about it.
It's more than that.
Yes, I know.
You do? How did you know?
I'm a doctor, Emmy Lou. Remember?
What am I going to do?
Well, for one thing, you're going to consult
me or some other doctor tomorrow morning.
A mother has to start taking care of her child
before he's born, you know.
I know I should have, but everything was so mixed up.
Did your father know about it?
Good heavens, Dr. Kildare.
I wouldn't dare tell him about this.
I guess he would really blow it.
Wait a second.
Shock, huh?
What do you mean?
Something to upset his solution.
Come on, Emmy Lou, let's talk to Dr. Gillespie.
I think you may be our blockbuster.
Here we are. Go ahead, Mark, Dr. Gillespie.
Thank you.
Good morning, Colonel Boregard.
Emmy Lou.
Good morning, Dr. Gillespie.
Well, two doctors and a nurse at all at the same time.
Now, with the risk of appearing uncooperative,
I must inform you all that I am not getting ready to die.
Of course you're not, Colonel, but
we thought you might want someone with you at a time like this.
At a time like what, sir?
Why, Emmy Lou, haven't you told him yet?
I was scared, you, Dr. Kildare.
I was waiting till you all got here.
Waiting for what, if I may inquire?
I guess you'd better tell him, Emmy Lou.
Richard's probably downstairs in the lounge, no?
Yes, sir.
I... Well, speak up, daughter. What are you trying to say?
Papa, I'm gonna leave you.
I'm going away with Richard, with my husband.
Emmy Lou.
I've talked it all over with Dr. Gillespie and Dr. Kildare,
and they think I'm doing the right thing.
I'm betrayed, stabbed in the back.
No, Papa, they're right.
I'm awful sorry we'll never see each other again, but
after all, I'm a Mary.
I'm a Mary.
I'm a Mary again, but after all, I'm a married woman now,
and my first duty is to my husband,
and even more important, to my child.
But to your what?
To my unborn child.
I'm going to be a grandfather?
No, I'm gonna be a mother.
Well, good-bye, Papa.
Here, now, you come back here.
I'm sorry you'll never see the baby.
Emmy Lou.
Good-bye, Papa. Forever.
Emmy Lou!
Well, stop her, somebody. Don't let her get away.
choice well I've got to stop her sir the phone Colonel I had the phone
disconnected Yankee conspiracies a foul plot I guess there's only one chance of
ever seeing her again and straightening things out that's to catch her before
she leaves the lounge downstairs but that's out of the question now since you
can't walk oh you're beaten Colonel sir sir a poor regard has never beaten sir
why it's no use Colonel you can't walk and she's getting away I can walk and I
will walk sir there you're only standing up you'll never be able to make it to the
elevator I'll need that robe now stand out of my way I warn you don't lay a
hand on me great horn spoon Jimmy work you'll get down to that lounge of years
to walk over broken glass Dr. Gillespie a case like this always leaves me a little
frightened about what we're working with every day human beings I mean where do
you draw the line between mind and body you don't you don't Jimmy you don't it's
the same old problem still with us which comes first the chicken or the egg yes
pretty hard to imagine either one alone maybe they both come together what do you
think
in just a moment we will return to the story of dr. Kildare
Oh
And now, once again, the story of Dr. Kildare, starring Lou Ayres as Dr. Kildare and Lionel
Caramor as Dr. Gillespie. Dr. Gillespie, Kildare, you can't possibly imagine what I just saw
down in the south. A helicopter. Certainly not. It was that southern colonel, whatever
his name is, and he was walking. No. Yes. Did you hear what he said, Kildare? Yes, but,
well I know Dr. Carou has a reputation for sobriety and honesty. Dr. Kildare, I have
not been drinking. Carou, was the colonel by any chance riding a pogo stick? He was not.
He was walking. I tell you, I saw him. Dr. Gillespie, Dr. Kildare, you better come down
to the lounge right away. What's the matter, Amy Lois? It's Papa. Paralyzed again? No,
this time he only fainted. You see, he just found out something that gave him a terrible shock.
What do you mean? Well, I introduced him to my husband, and you see, Richard's a northern boy.
His last name is Grant. You better bring some smelling salts. Grant, never mind the smelling
salts, Jimmy. The only thing that'll help the colonel after that is a strong whiff of mountain mule.
You have just heard the story of Dr. Kildare, starring Lou Ayres and Lionel Barrymore. This
program was written by Les Crutchfield and directed by William P. Russo. Original music
was composed and conducted by Walter Schuman. Supporting cast included Virginia Gregg,
Ted Osborne, Bill Conrad, and Jane Webb. Dick Joy speaking.