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 trust.
I will exercise my art solely for the cure of...
The story of Dr. Kildare, starring Lou Ayres and Lionel Barrymore.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer brought you those famous motion pictures.
Now this exciting, heartwarming series is heard on radio.
In just a moment, the story of Dr. Kildare.
Now the story of Dr. Kildare, starring Lou Ayres as Dr. Kildare and Lionel Barrymore 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.
The 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.
The story of Dr. Kildare
Mr. Craig?
Yes.
My name is Kildare. I'm a staff doctor here.
Eddie Jenkins is one of my patients.
I see. Well, do you think he can answer a few questions, Doctor?
Yes, only take it easy. There's still danger of shock. He's had some bad burns on his legs and body.
He's lucky he's alive. There were 5,000 gallons of gasoline in that warehouse where the fire started.
It was more of an explosion than a blaze. Burned out three piers, 85, 6, and 7.
I know. I understand a man died in the fire.
Yes, the watchman at Maxson & Porter's next door to the gasoline warehouse, Pier 86.
Maxson was insured with my company, so we're out for half a million dollars.
Well now, where does Eddie fit into this?
I don't know, Dr. Kildare, but he was there and I want to know why.
I'm working pretty closely with the police on this. They want to know why too.
I see. All right, come on.
If he starts getting excited, I may have to ask you to leave.
I understand.
Here we are.
Eddie? Eddie, this is Mr. Craig. He wants to ask you a few questions.
Hello, Eddie.
Hello.
How do you feel?
Okay, I guess.
Good. Eddie, I have to ask you some questions and I don't want to tire you out any more than necessary, so let's get right to the point.
Well, I'll tell you anything I can, Mr. Craig.
Fine. Then suppose you tell me how that fire got started.
Gosh, I don't know. I was asleep under the pier next door.
There's a kind of space between the floor and the bank of the river.
Anyway, I woke up and there was fire all around.
Then I started yelling and trying to get out.
And that's about all I know.
I see. Why weren't you in school?
Well, I was playing hooky.
Your teachers tell me you have a bad habit of doing that.
Well, I get headaches when I go to school.
If I stay out, they go away.
It's true. I'm not lying. It's true.
Easy now, Eddie. No one said you were lying. I believe you.
But he don't, Dr. Kildare, and it's true. Honest, it is.
Well, let's leave that for the moment. You were hiding out under the pier.
You went to sleep and that's all you know.
You didn't see anything or hear anything, right?
Well, I heard something earlier.
Two or three guys were talking up in the warehouse.
But I don't know exactly when.
Recognize any of them?
No, but one of them I know if I heard him again.
He talked with a kind of...
Well, a kind of funny-like voice.
Did you hear anything they were saying?
I think one of them said, what about the watchman?
Somebody else said, he's still out and he'll stay out.
I didn't pay much attention. I see.
Do you smoke? No, sir.
Then why do you carry matches?
Well, I don't know. All the guys do.
Did you start that fire?
No, I told you what happened.
And it's the truth. Honest, it is.
Honest, it is.
I said, all right now, idiots. All right. Now, take it easy.
Mr. Craig, would you come out here a second?
Yes.
I thought he gave you a rather straight story.
Yes, he has a good imagination.
Oh? Well, I'm inclined to believe him.
I am not.
I see.
Well, Mr. Craig, the patient's in no condition to talk any more today.
Well, I don't know.
Jamaican sounds very much to me as though you've stuck your neck out again
and threw sheer stubbornness.
Well, I might have started that way, all right, Dr. Gillespie,
but I talked to Eddie Jenkins a half hour or more after Craig left.
I'm certain he's telling the truth.
Well, it's quite a story, all right, if it is the truth.
Sure. It means that fire was started deliberately.
Arson. That's what Craig ought to be investigating.
Well, maybe so.
But in view of the fact that Jenkins' boys record for truancy and so on,
I'm afraid he's in a jam.
I doubt if there's much you can do for him.
I know. As soon as Craig talks to the police, they'll have the same idea.
Not to be something we could...
Wayman, you can't go in there now.
Let go of my coat, Miss Parker.
Hey, hey, hey, what's going on?
Dr. Gillespie, I told him to stay out.
Wayman, you're an ambulance driver. What are you doing up here?
Oh, now you'll catch him.
Oh, dry up with her.
What? No, no, no. Not you, Doc. No, no, no. I mean, sir.
Wayman, what's the idea of the monkey wrench?
Well, Doc, I'm looking for a character named Craig.
Maybe after I tap him one, real gentle-like,
he won't be so anxious to shoot off his big mouth.
Big mouth? Hock, look who's talking.
Parker, shut up and get out of here.
I don't see why you have to pick on me.
Out.
Oh!
Wayman, what's the trouble? What's this all about?
Well, Doc, I've just been talking to my pal, Eddie Jenkins.
The kid's up there crying. Says is he a Craig guy?
Talk tricky to him and call him a liar.
Oh, it wasn't really Craig's fault, Wayman.
He has a job to do.
Well, he ain't got no right to talk like he done.
Well, Jimmy, looks as though you've acquired a supporter.
Oh, it does, only, uh...
Wayman, I don't think the situation calls for using a monkey wrench.
At least not right at present.
It don't? Oh, I wanted to tap that guy one.
Well, if that should seem to be the only solution, I'll let you know.
Oh, gee, thanks, Doc.
And meanwhile, Wayman, get down to the basement where you belong.
Okay, Doc. No, no, that is, I mean, yes, sir.
There goes a perennial juvenile delinquent if ever there was one.
Tap somebody with a monkey wrench.
Well, I know how he feels.
Well, you better forget it, Jimmy.
If the boy is telling the truth, it's just too bad.
But I don't see anything to do about it.
Oh, one thing I think I can do,
prove he wasn't lying about those headaches.
Well, what are they? It's got nothing to do with the fire.
Well, but it'll show that one unbelievable part of his story is true,
and that may influence Craig a little.
There are other ways of using a monkey wrench, you know.
You can throw it in the machinery.
Well, sure, it's the same story, Dr. Kildare.
It's true, so why would I change it?
Oh, no, Eddie, I didn't expect you to change it,
but I thought by telling me again you might remember something more.
No, I guess I've already told everything I know.
I was kind of sleepy, and I didn't notice very much.
Then we'll just have to try working it out with what we've got.
What'll they do to me, Dr. Kildare?
I can help with nothing as far as the fire's concerned.
Of course, the truancy is something that was wrong, Eddie.
Yeah, I know, but it was them headaches all the time that...
I found one, Dr. Kildare. Here you are.
Oh, fine, Parker.
Hang it there on the far wall by the light, will you?
All right.
What's that she's got?
Oh, it's called a Snellen chart.
Oh, I see now.
It's one of them things with letters on it to test your eyes.
That's right.
Oh, Parker, will you point out the letters, start about the third line?
Yes.
Now, Eddie, I'll put this card over your right eye,
and we'll try the left eye first.
Oh, I don't know if...
First letter.
B.
Next.
D.
Go right ahead, whatever Miss Parker points out.
P.
M.
G.
Next line.
O.
E.
No, F.
Maybe it's R.
All right, Parker. Hold it.
All right.
Eddie, haven't you ever been given an eye examination in school?
Yes. Well, they had a chart down in the gym,
but I'd always memorize it ahead of time.
I see.
I suppose you didn't want to wear glasses, is that it?
They're a nuisance.
And those headaches weren't a nuisance?
Well, I'd only get them whenever I'd read.
Oh, you played hooky.
That led to some serious trouble.
Well, at least you know I was telling the truth about the headaches.
Yes, but I knew that anyway.
Question is now whether Craig can be convinced.
All right, gentlemen, I believe your clinic's report and your own opinion.
The boy is suffering from hyperopia and astigmatism.
So, where does that put us?
Well, for one thing, Mr. Craig, it means he did have headaches in school.
And it means he was telling the truth about his reason for playing hooky.
All right, I'll buy that too, but I'm not the truant officer, gentlemen.
I'm investigating a fire that caused a man's death and a half million dollars loss,
and that's something else again.
Well, the rest of Eddie's story could be true, you know.
A lot of things could be, Dr. Kildare, but I work on probabilities.
Now, if the boy hadn't been present, the number one probability would be accidental cause.
So far, we found nothing to back that up with.
And furthermore, Eddie was present.
So the first probability is that he said it accidentally.
Second, he may have said it deliberately.
Pyromaniac.
Ah, ridiculous. He doesn't show one symptom of it.
Now, if I accept the Jenkins boy's story, I'm forced into a line of investigation
I don't believe at the moment.
Arsenal.
Criminal intent by persons unknown.
Probably the collection of insurance.
It's been done before.
In this case, it doesn't make sense.
The gasoline warehouse wasn't insured for enough to pay for the pier in the building.
But the Maxon importing company next door was.
Only that isn't where the fire started.
It's where Eddie heard those voices.
Dr. Kildare, you're a stubborn man.
All right. Suppose I say I'll give some thought to that angle.
That's a start, at least.
I don't know whether you've thought of this.
If the boy's on the level, he's the only witness,
and the arsonist, if there is one, has already committed one murder.
You're right. I should have thought of that.
The boy's room ought to be guarded, just in case.
It will be.
Ambulance garage, Joe Wayman, talk.
Oh, Wayman.
Get someone to relieve you and meet me up in 421,
Eddie Jenkins' room, right away.
Gotcha, boss. What's up?
I'll explain when you get there.
Okay.
Oh, yes, yes. Bring that monkey wrench.
Dr. Gillespie, thanks for backing me up with Craig this afternoon.
Well, you'd already stuck your neck out, and I'm responsible for you.
So what else could I do?
Okay, no sentiment then, but thanks anyway.
Well, confounder, it still doesn't mean that I'm sold on that theory of yours about the fire.
Well, my only theory is that Eddie Jenkins is telling the truth.
The fire is Craig's business. I'm the doctor, not a detective.
Now get it.
Dr. Duck, this is Wayman. You've got to get up here fast.
The kid's had a relapse.
What do you mean?
He's having convulsions, and for no reason. Hurry, boys.
Right, Wayman.
What is it you mean?
It's Eddie. Now I know he was telling the truth.
Someone just tried to kill him.
We return to the story of Dr. Kildare in just a moment.
Now we continue with the story of Dr. Kildare, starring Lou Ayres as Dr. Kildare and Lianel
Barrymore as Dr. Gillespie.
Here's some more hot tea, Dr. Kildare.
Thanks, Parker. I'll set it there about a bit.
Shall I see if he'll drink any more?
Yes, the more the better.
Jimmy, we can discontinue the chloroform now. Muscular spasms seem to be over.
Good.
I'm not sure what's going on right now. Come on, Eddie.
Let's try just a little more now.
What is it?
Hot tea, Eddie. Good for you. Come on, have a try at it.
All right.
I think we caught it in time, Dr. Gillespie.
Yeah, but none too soon.
Wayman.
Yes, sir?
Where did this box of chocolates come from?
Well, Jeepers, Doc, I don't know.
Some messenger delivered it at the desk down in the lobby, and they sent it up.
I didn't know he wasn't supposed to have candy. Nobody said nothing.
I didn't know it was going to affect him like this.
That's all right, Wayman. Nobody else would have suspected it here.
No name on the box, of course. No card or anything.
How many chocolates did he eat?
Well, three, I guess, if that's how many he's gone.
So help me. I didn't touch a one myself.
Which is lucky for you.
Oh, that wouldn't hurt me none. I ain't sick.
You would have been if you'd eaten any of these. Want to take them down for analysis, Jimmy?
Yeah, I imagine Craig will want to see them, too.
You phoned him, didn't you, Parker?
Yes, yes, yes. He said he'd be right over, Dr. Gillespie.
Well, I guess we've done about all we can up here for the moment.
Stay here with him, will you, Parker, until I can get a relief nurse?
All right, Dr. Gillespie.
You stay, too, Wayman, and keep your eyes open.
Got you, boss.
Only if it's none of my business, what's this all about?
I never heard of no candy making no patient that sick.
No, probably not.
Because it's very seldom that you find candy loaded with Strickland.
No wrapper, no card, not a single identifying mark of any kind on the box.
It's a common brand. Can be bought in any store in New York City.
Gentlemen, there are no fingerprints. Gentlemen, there isn't much to work on.
What about the messenger, Mr. Craig, the boy who delivered the candy to the hospital?
Oh, there's a chance there, of course, but a slim one.
He wasn't in uniform, wasn't a regular messenger, in other words.
So...
You know, Mr. Craig, being a diagnostician has certain points of similarity to being a detective.
You may be right, Dr. Gillespie.
I take a set of symptoms, clues, you'd call them,
and I try to find some logical explanation for the cause behind them.
Yes, that's pretty much the way I work, too.
Oh, there's another similarity, Mr. Craig.
Medicine, we also use your theory of probabilities, you know.
Start with the most probable cause and eliminate possibilities one by one.
All right, gentlemen, all right.
There's no need to pin me against the wall. I see what you're driving at.
Good.
I'm ready to accept the Jenkins boy's story.
All of it. After what's happened now, I'd be a fool not to.
I agree with you.
In fact, I guess I owe him an apology.
All right, then.
I think we can safely assume that whoever tried to poison the boy also started the fire.
Yes, the probabilities seem fairly strong on that assumption.
We don't have any leads on the poisoning, and I doubt if we will have.
But we do have an angle on the fire.
Now that Eddie's story is admitted as evidence...
You mean that funny voice he thinks he can identify?
That's right, Dr. Keldare.
I should be able to supply that voice for identification by tomorrow afternoon.
Gosh, I'm kind of scared, Dr. Keldare.
If that guy done all you said he did, I don't want to try and identify his voice.
Ah, there's nothing to be scared of, Eddie.
And the sooner he's put where he belongs, the sooner you'll be safe.
Yeah, but meeting him face to face.
Maybe he'll do it again, try to kill me again.
Don't worry, he won't.
In fact, I doubt that you'll really meet him face to face.
But you said Mr. Craig was bringing him here.
Not him, his voice.
Yeah, but how can you do that? You can't just bring him.
Come in.
Here we are.
Oh, come in, Dr. Gillespie, Mr. Craig.
Let me get this thing through the door.
Here we are.
What's that thing?
A portable tape recorder, Eddie.
I told you he was probably bringing a voice instead of a man.
Yes, and I'm not even sure it's the right voice.
I guess I can plug this in here.
Take a second to warm up.
Of all the confounded fiddle-faddle, I'll be glad when this thing is straightened out...
so I can go back to the simple business of practicing medicine.
I'm with you there, Dr. Gillespie.
Now, Eddie, there are several voices recorded on this tape.
One of them may be the man you heard in the warehouse just before the fire.
Or maybe not.
But listen carefully and tell me what you think.
You understand?
Yes, sir.
Okay, let's go.
I haven't spent reasonable enough, in my opinion.
I think it's time now that your company began negotiations for someone with my client.
Well, that really isn't my function, Mr. Everett.
I'm an investigator, not a claim adjuster.
My primary function is to determine what caused my own...
Have Mr. Craig. I know his voice.
I don't know, Eddie, but I try to find a way we can help you in that, Mr. Craig.
My client was unfortunate enough to occupy the building next to somebody who was cameras and so on.
Well, I understand that, but still...
I think I see Mr. Craig's position, Everett.
That's him.
If I were faced with paying out half a million dollars, I would check all the blind alleys, too.
It's the same one.
Now, let's just say...
You're sure, Eddie?
Yes.
I'm in no hurry to start a big uproar about...
Well, that's that.
Whose voice was it?
The man who's insured with us.
Maxson of the Maxson Importing Company.
Hmm.
So what's the next move? Call in the police.
And then go pick him up.
As simple as that.
Killed Air speaking.
This is Craig.
Oh, how are you, Mr. Craig? Any luck yet?
No, the police have had Maxson's usual heart staked out since four o'clock this afternoon.
No sign of him.
I think that conference this afternoon or something else maybe has made him suspicious.
Well, I wish I could help you, but I'm afraid it's your job from here on out.
Oh, we'll get him all right sooner or later.
But why are you cold? I'm a little worried about the Jenkins boy.
Well, Wayman's still on guard in his room.
I think it's time now for a professional guard.
I'm going to have the police send a man over.
I'm all right.
If you think that's the best, go on, talk to him.
But don't tip him off.
What did you say, Dr. Killed Air?
Nothing. Not a thing.
Well, that'll be fine.
Well, I'll see you around, Craig.
I hope you know how grateful I am for...
Yeah, sure. Goodbye.
I suppose you're Maxson.
That's right.
Now, what's the idea of the gun?
Right now it's to make sure you do as you're told.
So somebody's guarding the boy's room, huh?
All right, call him up and get rid of him.
Why?
I'm holding the why here in my hand.
Call him up.
All right.
Don't try anything or it will be too bad.
Joe, Wayman, Perkins.
Wayman, this is Killed Air.
Yeah, what's up, Doc?
Wayman, Dr. Parker is going to relieve you for the next hour...
so you can get something to eat.
Dr. Parker? Do you mean Dr. Parker here?
Yes, that's right.
He'll be up there to 521 in a few minutes...
or you may as well leave now.
He'll be?
Yes.
And this ain't 521, it's 421.
What's wrong with you, Doc?
Yes, I agree with you, Wayman.
I think you have the solution to that problem right in your hand.
Never mind the talk, hang up.
Huh? The only thing I got in my hand is a monkey wrench.
Yes.
Oh, hey, wait a sec. Solution?
Now that's right, Wayman. Well, good-bye.
All right, let's go.
Where?
Up to the boys' room.
521, I heard you say.
I'll look here, Max.
You'll look.
Walk ahead of me.
521 is just around the corner there.
Third door along the side corridor.
Keep walking.
Now, you see it's the third...
Well, Jimmy, what are you doing up here in the...
Good evening, Dr. Metchnikoff.
Metchnikoff?
You'll have to excuse me, Doctor.
I have a serious emergency here in 521.
Jimmy, what the tarnation is this?
All right, whoever you are, get in there with him.
What?
He's got a gun, Dr. Gillespie. You better come on.
It's Maxon.
Get inside, both of you.
Well, apparently there isn't much choice.
It's dark in here. I'll get a light on.
It's over by the bed.
Well, hurry it up and don't try anything.
I'll wait here...
I got him, boy.
Nice going, Wayman.
And let me turn the light on.
There.
Get his gun.
I got it.
Would somebody mind explaining what this means?
Well, for one thing, I think Wayman ought to be given an honorary medical title.
What are you talking about?
I've been treating a patient for four days without improving his chances very much.
Wayman takes one swing with a monkey wrench and my patient is out of danger.
It's amazing.
In just a moment, we will return to the story of Dr. Kildare.
And now, once again, the story of Dr. Kildare, starring Lou Ayers as Dr. Kildare and Lionel
Barrymore as Dr. Gillespie.
Here are those glasses for the Jenkins boys, Dr. Kildare.
They just sent them up.
Oh, fine, Parker.
It's going to be a job getting him to wear them, though.
Oh, it's only for reading, Jimmy.
And after what he got himself into, maybe he'll listen to reason.
Yeah, I suppose.
He's ready to check out, by the way.
Better send him home in an ambulance, I guess.
He'll get a kick out of it even if he doesn't need it.
Ambulance garage, Dr. Wayman talking.
Oh, it's Dr. Wayman now.
You don't say.
Dr. Wayman, this is Dr. Metchnikoff, head of the medical board.
Gosh, how do you do it, Dr. Sir?
Dr. Wayman, we were wondering if you could deliver a lecture for the board meeting Tuesday night.
Well, I'm pretty busy, sir.
A lot of operations, stuff like that.
You understand?
Oh, that's too bad.
We hoped you'd talk on cardiac tamponade.
You're especially, I believe.
Cardiac tamponade?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course.
I suppose you read my book about that.
Your book?
By the Great Horn Spoon.
By the Great Horn Spoon?
Hey, that's what, that's what, is this Dr. Gillespie?
Yes, confounder.
Oh, brother, oh, brother.
Jimmy, I think Dr. Wayman just resigned from the medical association.
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, Ed Max, Raymond Burr, Whitfield Connor, and Jerry Farber.
Dick Joy speaking.