The story of Dr. Kildare.
Whatsoever house I enter, there will I go for the benefit of the sick.
And 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 my...
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.
But first, your announcer.
Music
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.
Plump and gray-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.
Oh, good morning, Dr. Gillespie.
Doctor, did I or did I not have an appointment to assist the Red Cross
in the opening of their new East Side Blood Donors Center?
Oh, yes. Now let me see, I have it right here.
Here it is.
Oh, yes, you're due there at 10 o'clock Wednesday...
Oh, good heavens.
Exactly. 10 o'clock yesterday morning.
It just happened to slip my mind. I can explain the whole thing.
You idiot, with accident victims dying every day
because of the shortage of blood for transfusions,
you'll forget what day it is.
It could happen to anybody, Dr. Gillespie.
I've just been so busy that I haven't...
With the Red Cross trying every way it can to get private citizens to donate blood,
you can't bother to remember what day the center opened.
Well, when you come right down to it,
I imagine they got it opened all right without you.
Oh, that's quite beside the point.
At the moment, I am dealing with the fact that you are an incompetent,
scatterbrained, unornamental, and utterly useless nincompoop.
Well, now give me my hat.
Here, take it.
I've got to go over there and apologize for a fault that wasn't even mine
because I can't tell them that my dull-witted nurse
is simply not interested in their efforts.
I'd like you to know that I have an appointment over there Saturday myself
to donate a pint of blood, sir, there.
Parker, I wish you'd donate ten pints.
And I'd like to replace them with a transfusion of boiling oil.
Hey, what's going on here?
Oh, good morning, Jimmy, good morning. See you later, goodbye.
Good morning, see you later, goodbye. Where's he going, your fire?
Oh, I don't care where he's going, Dr. Kildare.
Now what's going on there?
I've given the best years of my life to that man.
I've worked in slaves for him, and does he care?
Of course he doesn't.
Of course he doesn't. He's mean and nasty and insulting.
I know.
And I've stood it as long as I can.
You know he doesn't mean half of what he says.
When he's talking to me, he does.
And anybody could make a little mistake like that.
Like what?
He hates me, Dr. Kildare. And he always has.
No, he doesn't. Now you know that isn't true.
And another thing, Parker. I think your mind is slipping.
You ought to do something about it.
Knock treatments or occupational therapy.
Oh!
Goodbye.
You see what I mean? I've never been so insolent in my life.
Now wait a second, wait a second. You know he may have something there.
Dr. Kildare.
No, I don't mean that your mind is slipping, but the occupational therapy part,
a hobby in other words, might be a good idea.
After all, you give too much of your life to this hospital and to Dr. Gillespie.
Well, I'm only trying to do my duty.
You need an outside interest. Anybody would, working around him all the time.
Well, I did used to enjoy corresponding with Lonely Hearts Club.
That's good. Maybe there's some field of art or music.
I've always wanted to take up folk dancing.
Folk dancing, huh?
Of course, I have heard that bird watching is nice.
There's no doubt of that. Highly entertaining.
I really think the Lonely Hearts Club's the most fun, though.
Yes, I imagine. Well, I guess hobbies are always a matter of personal preference.
Just don't be hasty, Parker. Just think it over.
Of course, I've had these pains, this entoritis as you call it, for years, Dr. Kildare.
Doubles me up sometimes, but lately they've got really bad.
That's why I decided to enter the hospital for an examination.
I see. Well, in a few days we ought to have a good idea of what's wrong with you, Mr. Kramer.
What's his temperature, Miss Berner?
98.1.
And I seem to have lost my appetite, too.
Last couple of months I haven't eaten one square meal a day.
No wonder you have a slight anemia along with the other symptoms.
I think that's all for now, Miss Berner, if you want to straighten up the examination card.
All right, Doctor.
Mr. Kramer, we'll make some lab tests today and tomorrow and possibly run a fluoroscope.
Meanwhile, you just stay there in bed and take care of yourself.
Yes, Doctor.
You ready, Miss Berner?
Yes, Doctor.
See you later this afternoon, Mr. Kramer. Bye.
What do you think, Jimmy? Chronic entoritis?
On the face of it, yes, but there are some odd angles.
Subnormal temperature, anemia. I don't know.
Malignancy?
Could be. And yet...
Here, let me help you with that cord.
Oh, no, the elevator's right here. I'm going down to the supply room.
Oh, stop at the 10th floor.
Guess we wait.
Good. Gives me two minutes more to talk to you.
You mean alone at last?
If you call a hospital corridor being alone.
Say, the 10th floor reminds me.
Do you have any idea what Parker's doing up there?
Doing? No. What do you mean?
Well, she took over one of the empty storerooms about a week ago,
put a lock on the door and won't let a soul in.
Spends all of her spare time, lunch hour and everything, locked inside.
She had one of her usual run-ins with Dr. Gillespie last week.
I suggested she take up a hobby.
Well, what kind of a hobby involves locking yourself in a storeroom?
I don't know. She mentioned bird watching.
Maybe she looks out the window at the pigeons.
That I can almost buy.
Then, too, she mentioned lonely hearts clubs.
No. No, I don't think so.
You've got me, baby.
I'll ask Dr. Gillespie if it'll make you feel any better.
No, Con Founder Jimmy, I wish I did know.
She's up to something all right, but I can't find out what it is.
But you have been trying.
Well, naturally, I'm concerned with the activities of my assistants
and feel responsible for them.
To be sure.
But I can't find out a thing.
Tried asking her?
Certainly not. That's precisely what she wants.
Then just how have you gone about it?
Ooh, very well.
I've been trying to get her to do something.
But I can't find out a thing.
And curiosity does, too. Is that it?
Well, Con Founder, she comes in here with packages and bundles
all wrapped up and then hides them up there in that store room.
Well, who wouldn't be curious?
I still think you ought to try asking her.
I couldn't ask her.
I've been trying to get her to do something.
But I can't find out a thing.
And I still think you ought to try asking her.
I couldn't ask her if I wanted to.
All right, then. How about taking a look at this case report
on a patient of mine?
All right, let's see it.
Oh, it's Kramer, huh?
I've already seen it, Jimmy.
It's a case of chronic endoritis.
No doubt about it.
But what about these symptoms I've underlined?
They don't fit.
Psychosomatic complications, that's all.
He's had the same trouble for years.
Not quite the same.
Some of these symptoms only started a couple of months ago.
Now you're on that hobby of yours.
Obscure symptoms, things other doctors overlook.
Come in, come in.
Miss Parker.
Inasmuch as you're employed in this office,
knocking before you enter is quite unnecessary.
I'd prefer it that way, Dr. Gillespie.
The keys you ordered were just delivered.
Here they are.
Keys?
I don't know what you're talking about.
You know very well what I'm talking about.
You had them made from a wax impression
of my storeroom keys.
Ridiculous.
It certainly is.
Because I put a new lock on the door last night.
Are you actually implying that I might go
snooping up there behind your back?
I am.
By the great horned spoon.
I wish you'd find some new expression, Dr. Gillespie.
That one gets so monotonous.
Parker.
You're dealing with a new woman, you know.
It's my hobby that did it.
And you, Dr. Kildare, you're responsible.
I am?
That's why I want you to be here, too,
when I reveal it to Dr. Gillespie in the morning.
Reveal what?
My hobby.
You will be here, Dr. Kildare.
Oh, yes, Parker.
Thank you very much.
After all, I've got to know what it is
that I'm responsible for.
Ten o'clock.
Confound it, she said ten o'clock.
Why isn't she here?
Relax, relax.
She'll be here.
She's due any minute, Dr. Gillespie.
She had to wait for the freight elevator,
so I came on ahead.
Come in.
Good morning, Ralph.
Well, Miss Parker, I'm glad you...
What's the hammer for?
Hey, now, wait.
Oh, don't be silly, Dr. Gillespie.
I'm just going to drive an ale on the wall.
Here, in front of your desk.
There.
Well, by the...
Don't you dare say, by the great horned spoon.
Tarnation.
Wait just a second now, everybody.
I have it right outside the door.
You've got to brace yourself, Jimmy.
I've been braced since yesterday.
Now, don't anybody look till I get it hung up.
Yes.
Bow.
Yeah.
Well, there it is.
There what is?
My hobby, my first oil painting.
It's called The Operation.
Like it?
By the funderation.
Mr. Cuddlepox was absolutely amazed.
Cuddlepox?
My instructor.
Cuddlepox.
Is that thing supposed to be regarded as a painting?
Why, of course.
You see, it's my impression of an operation.
This blob down here is a kidney.
And these are scalpels.
And this is an ether mask.
It's all sort of modern.
Modern, yes, yes, to be sure.
Yes, yes.
And is it your intention to hang this painting here in my office?
Oh, yes.
Yes, I did it for you.
And I'm expected to sit here and face it seven days a week, week after week?
I guess that's right.
Do you really like it?
Like it?
Parker, I have never before seen a more hideous monstrosity in my whole life.
Dr. Gillespie.
I have never before realized the full extent of your hatred for me to do a thing like this.
It goes.
It's got to go.
Oh.
Well, I guess I'd better get back to work.
Yeah, I'll go with you.
Now, wait a minute, you two.
Yes?
Well, what are you looking at me like that for?
I didn't mean...
Well, confound it.
It's not my fault.
Dr. Gillespie.
Dr. Gillespie, are you awake?
Who is it?
It's Gildare.
Come on, open up.
If you wake me up in the middle of the night merely to continue the discussion of my crude
and unpleasant disposition, then to help me have a...
Now, wait a minute, wait a minute.
It's nothing like that.
I've talked to Parker that way for years.
And if she suddenly decided to get injured feelings over it, it's not my fault.
Not your fault.
And I absolutely refuse to go the rest of the night lying here awake and feeling like
a heel.
So that's what you've been doing.
I have not.
A guilty conscience.
Ah, poppycock.
You're not concerned about her at all, I suppose.
Not even slightly.
Then I guess I'd better go on over by myself.
Over where?
Nurses dormitory.
Diana just phoned and said Parker's been taken suddenly ill.
Sounds fairly serious.
Well, wait a minute, Jimmy.
Wait till I get my pants.
All right, but hurry up, you heel.
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 Lionel
Moore as Dr. Gillespie.
Now take it easy, Parker.
It's going to be all right.
Parker, how long has it been since these abdominal pains started?
I don't know.
It's been nearly an hour, Jimmy.
She held up quite well before she called me.
Transverse muscles of the abdomen is hard as a rock.
I've got some belergil here in the kit.
It might help.
I'll get it.
What do you think is wrong with me?
It's a little hard to tell, Justyana.
Oh, you're just being kind.
You don't want me to know.
Confound it, Parker.
I've warned you for years to stop eating marinated herring and Boston cream pie before you go
to bed.
Oh, it's not indigestion.
I know it's not.
It's something worse.
Well, whatever it is, we'll find out and take care of it, so don't worry.
Oh, Diana, will you call Wayman and Ed and bring a stretcher?
All right, Jimmy.
Well, I suppose we may as well go with...
All right.
Dr. Gillespie, can I ask just one favor?
Oh, just so.
What is it?
If I...
Yes, yes, yes, just...
If I don't pull through, can the painting stay?
Oh, Parker, you're not going to die of a belly ache.
But if I do, will you keep it to remember me by?
Oh, well, I...
I...
Yes, confound it.
I look at it all day and keep it in my room all night.
I'll...
Come on, Jimmy.
Okay.
She's faking it.
Including abdominal spasms, cramps in the legs, peripheral neuritis.
And it's nothing but a simple case of acute indigestion.
You know better than that.
Are you by any chance implying that this whole thing is my fault?
A nervous reaction caused by your brutality, Doctor?
Yeah.
No, I don't think so.
That's only your guilty conscience implying it.
Yeah.
There's something vaguely familiar about those symptoms of hers.
This is no time for a hobby.
I think maybe it is.
Look, why don't you take over for a half hour?
I want to do some quick reading.
Reading about what?
Symptoms.
Well, I hope you come up with something.
We can't have anything happen to her, you know.
Softening up a little, eh?
Well, I've always been fond of Parker, you know.
But also I'm thinking of the promise I made about that painting.
No.
How's my pulse now, Dr. Gillespie?
Weaker?
That is not weak.
It's exactly the same.
And furthermore, those cramped muscles have loosened up a little.
That's only because I'm drugged.
Parker, you are not drugged.
You're so kind, Dr. Gillespie.
Kind.
Trying to keep it from me, isn't it?
Oh, Jimmy.
Oh, it's about time.
How are you feeling, Parker?
Calm and peaceful, Dr. Kildare.
It's the lull before the end.
Oh, tarnish.
Well, before you cross the bar,
suppose we have a little talk about painting.
Yes.
I might have been a great artist had I lived.
And now, as I understand it, you've been working on this painting
during your lunch hours, is that right?
Breakfast and dinner, too.
Oh, I got so caught up in it.
Then you've been painting and eating at the same time.
Oh, yes.
And last night when I was hurrying to finish,
I kept dipping my brush in my coffee cup and everything was so confused.
That's it.
I had paint all over everything.
Well, I guess that's enough for a diagnosis.
Diagnosis? What?
Diana, would you go down to the dispensary
and get a gram bottle of sodium sulfate and one of potassium iodide?
Right, Jimmy.
Lead poisoning.
That's right.
Lead poisoning who?
You.
Hmm?
You've got a mild case of lead poisoning from those oil paints.
You'll be all right in a day or two.
Lead poisoning.
And something else, Dr. Gillespie,
I think this gives us a tip on that Kramer case.
Well, by the... by the...
You want to say it, Dr. Gillespie?
Yes.
Then go ahead. Say it.
By the great horn's fool.
Why, yes, Dr. Kildare, I have noticed peculiar cramps in my legs
during the last two months, but I assumed it was just a new pain
from the same old trouble.
Mr. Kramer, did you change occupations by any chance
a couple of months ago?
Hmm?
Take up a new hobby or anything of that sort.
Oh, I know. The only new thing I did two months ago
was to install a processing furnace to treat floor sweepings.
Oh?
Yes, from the different jewelry plants around the city.
There's always a lot of gold and silver filings in the stuff,
but still not enough to pay the individual plant to process its own.
Just what is this process, Mr. Kramer?
I mean, how do you go about recovering the metal?
Well, I burn the sweepings first to get rid of the combustible stuff,
and then I mix the ashes with litharge and charge it in...
Litharge? Red lead oxide.
That's right.
The melted lead picks up the filings and it dissolves them.
All right, Jimmy. You win.
Mm-hmm. Chronic lead poisoning.
You mean that's what's the matter with me?
That's right, Mr. Kramer.
The symptoms were hidden by this long-standing enteritis of yours,
and that's your trouble. There's no doubt of it.
Well, can you cure it?
Yes, we can take care of the poisoning by a few days' treatment
with sodium sulfate and potassium iodide.
Then I think we can break down that enteritis.
All of which leads us to one conclusion, Mr. Kramer.
What conclusion, Dr. Gillespie?
That you and I ought to take up a hobby.
Hmm.
Morning, Dr. Gillespie.
Oh, oh, come in, Jimmy. Come on in, come on.
Any, uh, new case of lead poisoning this morning?
All right, all right. Rub it in, and I got it coming to me.
Should have recognized those symptoms right away.
Both of us should have, so I guess we're even.
How's Parker?
I don't know. I haven't been up to see her yet this morning.
Probably just couldn't tear yourself away
from contemplating that little token of her affection.
Jimmy, if I have to sit here and look at that confounded painting
one more day, I'll have lead poisoning.
That's a fine attitude when she risked her life to paint it for you.
She could have died, you know.
All right. I have treated her with a certain lack of consideration...
...in the past.
That's an understatement.
And I felt guilty thinking about it the last couple of days.
So?
So I'm going to change all that when she comes back to work.
I'm going to be kind to her, courteous, friendly, and considerate.
Dr. G of the Beaver Patrol.
Yes.
Good morning, Dr. Gillespie.
Parker.
Dr. Killian.
Why, Parker, you shouldn't be out of bed this soon.
I didn't expect you back before the end of the week.
Well, that's awfully kind of you, Dr. Gillespie.
But duty calls, you know.
Ah, ah, nonsense.
There's no duty as important as your health and well-being.
Oh, you're so considerate.
Isn't that the truth, Parker?
I've often noticed it myself.
Jimmy.
Sometimes when I've said things to you that I didn't mean...
...when I could just bite my tongue off.
I know exactly how you feel, Parker.
I've done it too.
To one of the most competent, charming, and intelligent women I've ever known.
Thank you, Dr. Gillespie.
Would anyone mind if I opened a window?
Aunt Parker, I insist that you go back to bed and take care of yourself.
Well, I still feel a little shaky.
So if you're really doing since...
I do, I do.
All right, then.
And I'll arrange to have the painting taken out this afternoon sometime.
Well...
I know you don't like it.
Oh, no, no, Parker.
Why, I think it's the most amazing piece of work.
Marvelous technique and delicate sensitivity.
Here you go, Dr. Gillespie.
Are you sure you're not just saying that?
Of course I am sure. Personally, I love it.
I'd hate to see it go, but...
Then it doesn't go.
Huh?
Since you like it that much, it stays no matter what anybody says.
Yes, but...
Are you with us, Dr. Kildare?
With you. I'm way ahead of you, Parker.
We'll all stick together like the three musketeers.
Now, when a man loves a work of art as much as Dr. Gillespie loves that painting,
why, it would be criminal to tear it away from him.
Kildare!
In fact, Parker, you might paint another one for the wall opposite there.
Jimmy!
I've even got an impressionistic title for it.
Oh, good. What is it, Dr. Kildare?
It's called By the Great Horn Spoon.
In a moment, we will return to the story of Dr. Kildare.
Oh, good.
And now, once again, the story of Dr. Kildare, starring Lou Ayres as Dr. Kildare and Lionel
Moore as Dr. Gillespie.
Now, wait a second, Dr. Gillespie.
Are you trying to tell me that she still hasn't said a word about it?
That's right, Jimmy.
She hasn't mentioned it once.
And it's been four days now.
That's amazing.
Unless, of course, she had the painting taken down herself.
Could be, but I'm not going to ask her.
Just let it woken up alone.
That blank wall never looks so good.
Oh, I don't know.
I was getting used to it.
Scarcely noticed it anymore.
Oh, I noticed it.
I couldn't get used to that nightmare of variegated delirium treatments in 50 years.
It looked like a busted tamale.
All I hope is that it ended up in the incinerator.
Come in.
Good morning, gentlemen.
My name is Cuddlepops.
Cuddlepops?
Parker's art teacher.
I'm looking for Evangeline Parker, and someone said she just might be here.
Well, she's working on some reports down in the next office.
Is there something we could...
Well, it's just that I've got some excruciatingly good news for her.
Of course, you knew her painting, The Operation, was entered in the annual competition
of the Brooklyn Heights Institute of Advanced Art and Culture.
No, I didn't even know they had an institute of it yet.
Wait a minute now.
Don't get up.
It won first prize in the primitive division.
By the great horn spoons.
Why don't you take up a hobby, Dr. Gillespie?
I am, Jimmy, I am.
So help me heaven, next week I'm starting in on folk dancing.
You have just heard the story of Dr. Kildare starring Lou Ayres and Lionel Baramore.
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, Georgia Ellis, and Ben Wright.
Dick Joy speaking.
Thank you.