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 art solely for the cure of my disease.
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.
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 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, wait a second, Jimmy.
Here's the Gotham Bookshop.
Come on, I want to show you something.
Well, I'm due back at the hospital at six. I have a date with Diana.
Oh, it won't take a second.
They had it here last week. I hope they still got it.
Got what?
Good afternoon, gentlemen. Could I have your...
Oh, Dr. Gillespie. I bet I know what you want to see.
That's right. I wanted to show it to Dr. Kildare.
I haven't sold it.
Oh, no, no, no. I have it right here in the case.
I know you'll be back for it.
I merely want to look at it.
There you are.
Fine, only I still don't know what...
Well...
Precisely.
Ad Copore Sono.
Being a repository of ancient wisdom and the art of healing.
Compiled by Sir Douglas Harkley, physician at large.
Look at the date. 1721.
I mean, I've heard of this, but I never thought I'd see a copy of it.
And the price isn't bad either, but considering.
350 bucks.
Not bad for anyone but a staff doctor, you mean.
I'd give my left arm for this book.
What a tarnation.
No, somebody just went through a red light. That's all.
Here, listen to this.
It be claimed by certain practitioners in Venice that maladies of the brain
be oft times alleviated by boring with an auger
several apertures of goodly size through the bone of the skull.
Yes, I imagine it alleviated it all right through permanent cure.
And without anesthetics.
You have a telephone here.
Why, yes, madam, there's one in the back.
My husband just hit my car.
I think he's killed.
Grab her, do you mean?
Here.
Put her on the chair.
She isn't the one who needs help.
Clerk, yes?
Will you call Blair Hospital and have them send an ambulance?
Certainly, doctor.
Come on, Dr. Gillespie, let's have a look.
His heart's holding up pretty well.
He's got at least one broken rib and arms and legs seem to be okay, though.
The car must have thrown him 30 feet.
Why don't you move him off the street?
Because he may have spinal injuries, that's why.
We'll move him when the ambulance gets here.
There's always some well-meaning fool who wants to grab up the victim and move him someplace.
The worst injury is this one on his head.
It must have hit the curb.
That, that compress stopped the bleeding.
Well, it's not the cuts on the outside of his head that bother me.
It's what may have happened inside.
Doctor, is he going to be all right?
I'm Mrs. Morgan, his wife.
Is he going to be all right?
I just can't believe it.
We'll have him in the hospital in a few minutes, Mrs. Morgan.
Would you take care of her, Dr. Gillespie?
All right, Jimmy, all right, all right.
Now, don't you worry, Mrs. Morgan.
He's getting the best medical attention possible.
Here's the ambulance.
Good, good.
Jimmy, I'll take her over in a taxi.
You have your hands full as it is.
Thanks. I'll see you at the hospital.
Dr. McDonald, check with the reception desk, please.
They're taking him straight on up to surgery, Diana, operating theater seven.
Oh, I'd like you a surgical nurse.
All right, Jimmy.
He has lots of cuts and bruises, but I doubt if they're serious.
But there is concussion.
How bad, I don't know yet.
Then you want intravenous glucose.
Yes, and plasma.
I've already given him one plasma concentrate to hold down intracranial pressure,
but you'd better have a rax at him.
All right, Jimmy, I'll go on up and start things moving.
Be there in a couple of minutes.
Oh, I'm sorry about the date.
This is a date, Jimmy, an important one.
I just heard about the emergency, Dr. Kildare.
Is there anything I can do?
Oh, yes, Parker, I may need an anesthetist.
Who's on duty?
Ramsey, I'll have to find him.
He's somewhere in the building.
Good.
What happened to Dr. Gillespie? I thought he was with you.
He's coming over in a taxi with the patient's wife.
She's edging on hysterics, you know, so he'll probably want you to help with her.
Oh, all right, Dr. Kildare.
Dear, dear, dear, dear, dear, Dr. Kildare, why didn't someone tell me sooner?
Had you what, Dr. Kildare?
About the accident.
Oh, I do hope we're adequate to the crisis.
Crisis? Well, that sort of thing happens every day.
It does?
Oh, of course it does.
Well, it's just that Dr. Gillespie and I were in on this one, as you might say.
That's Blair Hospital. Always right in the thick of it.
Well, now I hardly think...
Oh, here's Dr. Gillespie with her now.
She seems to be holding up fairly well.
How's it look, Jimmy?
Just going up there. Everything's set.
Good, good. Mrs. Morgan, this is Dr. Carew, hospital superintendent.
How's he doing?
Dr. Kildare. How is he?
Holding his own so far. He'll be all right.
Mr. Ramsey, report to Dr. Kildare in surgery at one.
Surgery? Dr. Kildare, you're not going on operations?
No, we always use an operating room for accident cases.
It reduces the chance of infection.
But he'll die if you operate. I know he will.
Operations are horrible, always. They're worse than not doing anything.
Now, Mrs. Morgan, Dr. Gillespie, will you take care of her, please?
I'm going with you, Jimmy. You look after Dr. Carew.
Oh, dear. Well, I'm not sure that...
Parker will be here in a couple of minutes, Dr. Carew.
Oh, all right. Tell me, Mrs. Morgan, have you read any good books with him yet?
Oh, no.
Someday I still hope to find one thing that idiot can do right.
Will you want another hypo of Novocaine, Dr. Kildare?
No, we've finished the sutures. It's just a matter of bandaging now.
I don't like this prolonged unconsciousness, Jimmy.
I don't either. Take these sponges, please.
Yes, doctor.
He's only awakened once, and then just for a few minutes, he'll be fine.
I'll have to take care of him.
Yes, doctor.
I'm going to go to the hospital.
I'll be back in a minute.
He's only awakened once, and then just for a few seconds.
Well, we have used fairly heavy medication.
No, I'm press, doctor.
Thanks. Tape, please.
Bleeding seems to be pretty well controlled now, as far as the rest of the cuts are concerned.
Well, they didn't amount to much. The rib was easy, clean break.
I guess that does it.
Oh, Diana, would you check his blood pressure again?
All right, doctor.
We'll X-ray first thing in the morning, but I'm certain it's a closed fracture.
There are radiating cracks into both the temporal and occipital.
As far as I could tell, there's no fragmentation.
Well, then he's lucky, because he must have hit that kerbstone on awful solid wallop.
Another thing that bothers me, the chance of contracool on the opposite side of the head.
Pressure's still rising.
Let's see.
First transfusion isn't holding him.
All right, I'd better give him another IV. In Duluth, the plasma ampoule only one half.
Yes, doctor.
I don't know, Jimmy, with this blood pressure trying to come up on this unconsciousness.
Let's still doubt he could last be there. No other signs.
Unless...
Well, let's have another look.
Right eye looks okay. Left eye...
What is this?
Look.
Left eye dilated, right one normal. Oh, we got trouble.
Extradural hemorrhage.
That means an operation. Yes, immediately, if possible.
But I don't understand, Dr. Kildare. I don't understand at all.
You said it wasn't really a skull fracture.
Then why must you operate?
Well, Mrs. Morgan, sometimes a concussion can be worse than a fracture.
You see, the skull surrounds the brain like a closed box.
And a severe blow can damage arteries and tissue inside even when the bone isn't broken.
That's what's happened in your husband's case.
But why an operation? What good does that do?
Well, it's the only thing that does any good, Mrs. Morgan.
It gives the doctor a chance to repair the damage, tie off ruptured arteries if necessary, and so on.
It isn't dangerous if it's done at once, but with your husband unconscious, I need your permission to go ahead.
That's absolutely true, Mrs. Morgan.
I agree with Dr. Kildare's diagnosis and with his proposal.
And I'm quite sure Dr. Caroux will tell you the same thing.
Oh, yes, yes indeed, yes indeed. There's really no question about it at all.
Doctors, you're all alike, every one of you.
The first thing you want to do is operate.
I'm not advising this because of some personal whim.
Believe me, it's the only thing to do, that's all.
Well, it's not going to be done, and that's final.
Oh, please, Mrs. Morgan.
My husband is alive now and he isn't going to be killed by an operation.
But the purpose of the operation is just the opposite. It's to save his life.
I know about operations and I won't give you permission.
I won't sign anything, that's all there is to it.
Well, Dr. Caroux, as superintendent of the hospital, will you authorize an emergency operation without consent?
Well, now, Dr. Kildare, I really couldn't.
After all, there are strict rules about these things.
But I do advise you to reconsider, Mrs. Morgan. That's my professional opinion, you know.
I'm sorry, but I can't see it.
Ah, compounded tarnation.
Kildare, speed.
Dr. Kildare, this is Parker. I think you'd better come up here right away.
What's wrong?
His blood pressure's still rising. It's up to 220 now.
All right, Parker, be right there. And have Diana set up equipment to make a spinal tap.
All right, Dr. Kildare, goodbye.
Morgan case?
Yeah. Plasma concentrate isn't holding it. I'm going to tap his spine.
Is that a... is that an operation?
No, Mrs. Morgan, it's a fairly simple procedure that we have to use very often in concussion cases.
The injured brain swells and raises the fluid pressure in the skull.
That ups the blood pressure and is dangerous unless something's done about it.
But there is something you can do.
Yes, tap the spine and relieve the pressure. So, if you'll excuse me.
Just a second, Jimmy, I'll go with you.
Now, look, Jimmy.
After you make this tap, go ahead and get ready for the operation.
I'll get a permission some way.
How?
I don't know. I don't know. It might even be a little unethical, but I'll get it somehow.
He's got to be operated on within a couple of hours at the most.
If he isn't, he'll be dead before morning.
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
Barabour as Dr. Gillisby.
Blood pressure's 230, Jimmy.
All right. Let's have the second spinal needle.
Here you are.
Now, we'll just... two of them ought to do it.
What about her refusing to permit an operation? What are you going to do?
I don't know. Dr. Gillisby thinks he can manage somehow to change her mind.
He'd better. Otherwise, we're just wasting time with this.
I can't understand her reasoning.
That's it. She's not reasoning.
We're running into one like her now and then when the morbid fear of surgery,
even when there's no cause to justify it.
I hope she changes her mind.
The irony is that even if it were a serious operation,
with odds 10 to 1 against pulling through, it would still offer a better chance than just doing nothing.
Check his blood pressure, will you, while I get the needles out?
All right.
Down to 220 already.
Good, good. We may have to make another tap a little later, but this ought to do for now.
There.
I'm always amazed the way a spinal tap shows an effect so quickly.
Yeah, yeah. Come in.
Oh, Ramsey.
Hi, Dr. I understand something's cooking.
Yes, I want an operating theater set up. Is six ready?
Will be in five minutes. What is it?
Intracranial, extradural hemorrhage.
Is this a patient?
Yeah.
The anesthetic's no problem. Use local blocks, I suppose.
Yes, and standard cranial instruments plus a Hudson burr.
Just set up and stand by.
All right.
But Jimmy, suppose Dr. Gillisby doesn't get permission?
Well, at least we'll be ready if he does.
Of course you could go ahead without him, as long as you're sure.
I know.
Now, it's a risk, though. There's always that one chance of something going wrong.
Well, we can't do anything else here for the next five or ten minutes.
Do you, uh, suppose there's any hot coffee in the ward room?
I betcha.
You gotta bet.
Oh, Dr. Gillisby. I didn't know you were in here.
Well, now you know it, Parker.
I thought you were down the laundry that Mrs. Morgan, trying to change your mind for her.
Parker, when it comes to bullheaded, bigoted stubbornness, she's even worse than you are.
Well, I like that.
I thought you would. Confounded, I've weakened her a little, but that's as far as she'll go.
Well, seems like there ought to be some way.
For instance?
Well, I don't know.
Of course you don't know. How could you think of anything when I can?
Well, at least I wouldn't give up and walk out on it.
Nor have I. I've tried every single argument I could think of.
And some of them that didn't even make sense.
Oh, that I can believe.
The only three things I have not used are drugs, hypnotism, and torture.
And I'm considering all three at the moment.
Well, I still think if I put my mind to it, I could come up with something.
After all, she's only a woman.
Precisely, Parker. Only a concentrated bundle of sheer cussedness, that's all.
When you say she's weakening, such as some little thing ought to do it.
By the tarnation, Parker.
Sometimes I think you must have a permanent concussion.
Well...
It's the only way to account for some of the stupid remarks that you...
Eh...
Wait a second.
Hmm?
Parker?
Oh, no, you don't. Whatever it is, no. Absolutely not.
Parker, Parker. Do you happen to have any civilian clothes here at the hospital?
Yes, I do. But I'm telling you now, Dr. Blessy, I...
Shut up, shut up! Has Mrs. Morgan seen you in your uniform?
Why, no, but I'm not trying to get mixed up in anything to do...
Parker, hand me that roll of Gaw's bandage and the tape.
Here, what are you going to do?
Eh, let me see now. I used to wind a pretty mean cranial bandage in my day.
Huh?
We are about to present a little drama, Parker, in which you play the role of a patient.
Your name is, uh, Miss Busterly.
Busterly? Here, now? What are you doing?
Don't help me, Parker. If you don't sit still, I'll shave your head before I put this...
Dr. Bless!
Ah, stop!
Oh!
Now, just a moment, Dr. Gillespie.
Are you trying to tell me that this same operation was performed on a woman just this morning...
and now she's up walking around?
That's right, Miss Morgan. That's right. A patient of Dr. Kildare's.
I saw her out in the hall just a few minutes ago.
I don't believe it.
Well, no. It's a question of establishing my veracity.
I'll just say if she may still be around.
Parker speaking.
Oh, Miss Parker. This is Dr. Gillespie.
Yes.
I wonder if you'd see if Miss Busterly is out in the hall and ask you to step in here.
Oh, I'll step in there all right, but I'll get even some day. This bandage is killing me.
Yes, yes, yes. She was there a moment ago, Miss Parker. Yes, thank you.
I just can't believe it. It couldn't have been as serious an operation as this one that you're...
Yes, yes, yes, yes. Just exactly the same.
Concussion and extradural hemorrhage.
If you'd fallen out of a second-story window, or was it a third story...
Oh, well, it was Kildare's case anyway, you understand?
That's fantastic.
Oh, happens all the time. All the time.
Brain surgery has come a long way since the days of Sir Douglas Harkley.
Harkley?
English doctor. He published a book back in the early part of the...
Come in.
Oh, why, it's Miss Bustleley. Come right in. Come in.
This is Mrs. Morgan.
How do you do? Dr. Gillespie, I want to go home tonight.
I've got a dozen things to do, and Dr. Kildare says I have to stay here until nine o'clock in the morning.
Well, now it's a good idea not to be too hasty, Park. Hey, Miss Bustleley. How do you feel?
Wonderful. I could lick my weight in tomcats.
Wildcats.
Wildcats. I've never felt better in my life.
Bustleley. Do you mean to say that you underwent brain surgery just this morning?
Oh, yes. Yes. They made a little hole here in my head and did something, rather, but it was nothing.
Nothing at all.
I always thought that...
Well...
Mrs. Morgan, you're basing your ideas on medicine as it was years ago. It's quite different today.
Well, I had heard there'd been amazing advances.
And you say my husband is in serious danger if this operation isn't performed immediately.
Oh, there's no doubt of that.
Oh, I guess maybe I've... I've been acting like a fool.
Here's the release form, Mrs. Morgan. You sign on the bottom line. Found pen?
On the bottom line?
Net.
Oh, yes. There.
Thank you. Thank you.
Oh, run along, Miss Bustleley. Run along now.
Where?
Let me have that phone. I've got to call Kildare right away.
May I see you out here, Doctor?
Oh, Jimmy.
Here is the release. Signed, sealed and delivered.
Good. I guess I'm lucky.
You are, Jimmy. Go on up and operate.
Operate? Oh, I already did that.
What?
Twenty minutes ago. Patient's doing fine.
Oh, dear. Oh, dear, dear, dear, dear, dear, dear.
Aha, aha. There you are.
The rule? That is the first statement of yours in weeks that I can't argue about.
Here we are. Well, what about it?
Now, don't you start baiting me, Dr. Lesby. It is you I came here to talk to.
What's the trouble, Dr. Carew?
Well, you should certainly know, Dr. Kildare, after all.
After all of what?
Well, not to mention names. Suppose we put it this way.
A little bird just told me.
Those birds seem to be following me all over the hospital.
I want it clearly understood that I have no responsibility in the matter.
You did it entirely without my knowledge.
Did what?
You know very well what. You operated without permission.
Well, Jimmy, the nasty rumour is apparently circulating.
So it seems. By the way, Dr. Carew, will you take a look at this?
Thank you. Now, I'll grant you, Dr. Kildare, that the operation was necessary.
This is to certify. But nonetheless, your action was highly unethical,
and we, the Blair General Hospital, simply cannot on this date tolerate...
Well, release. What's this?
Release? Signed by Mrs. Morgan.
She went on up to see her husband. He's conscious now, you know.
Oh, dear.
Good night, Carew.
But I thought that... I mean, I heard that...
That is, they said that...
Good night, gentlemen.
Oh, dear. Dear, dear, dear, dear.
Dear.
Well, there goes nothing but a gardenia in its lapel.
By the way, Jimmy, I found out the reason for Mrs. Morgan's attitude.
Her mother, it died in 1919 from an infection following an operation of a brain tumor.
1919, the year 20 B.A.
Before antibiotics.
We've come a long way since then.
An even longer way since Hartley.
I wonder where we're going from here.
Well, I don't know where you're going.
But I'm going to bed.
Good night, Dr. G.
In just a moment, we will return to the story of Dr. Kildare.
And now, once again, the story of Dr. Kildare, starring Lou Ayres as Dr. Kildare
and Lionel Barrymore as Dr. Gillespie.
Look at it, Jimmy.
Registered.
Return receipt requested.
Special delivery.
What in the tarnation could that be?
I don't know.
Why don't you open it up and find out?
A very sensible suggestion.
From Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Morgan.
I don't know any Morgan.
Of course you do.
He's the accident victim who was in here last week.
Hit by a car.
Brain concussion.
Oh, that's right.
Sure.
I forgot all about him.
Confound it.
They got this packed as if it was a dozen eggs.
Must be something valuable.
Well, I don't know why they'd be sending me a...
By the great hornspool.
Ad corpore sono.
Being a repository of ancient wisdom and the art of healing
compiled by Sir Douglas Harkley.
By the...
Oh, thank you, Jimmy.
Thank me?
The Morgan sent it.
A gesture of appreciation.
Thank them for it.
But confound it.
It wasn't even my case.
And who told him I wanted this?
You did.
Ah, cut it out.
You're talking like a man with a hole in his head.
Well, anyway, thanks, Jimmy.
You like it?
I don't know when I ever wanted anything in my whole life
as bad as I wanted that book.
Well, now you've got it.
So everything's fine.
Oh, good morning, Dr. Gillespie.
Dr. Gilder.
Well, Parker, how come all the bandages?
All confounded, Miss Bustley.
You can drop the act now.
That was last week.
And what makes you think that this is an act?
Parker, you don't mean it.
Yes.
Last night, I slipped in the bathtub and...
Well?
Oh, no.
Operating room seven.
Here we come.
You have just heard the story of Dr. Gilder,
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,
Georgia Ellis, Vic Perrin, and Lorraine Tuttle.
Nick Joy speaking.