 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'll exercise my arts only for the good. The story of Dr. Kildare, starring Lou Ayers and Lionel Barabour. 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. First, your announcer. One of the great citadels of American medicine. A clump of gray-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. Mr. Beauregard? Colonel. I remind you repeatedly, Dr. Kildare, I have the honor to be a full colonel of the Virginia Volunteers. 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 new-fangled 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. Yeah, 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 better go on in and talk to him. Seems like he just can't feel content of 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. A syndromy, eh? 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 the progressive atrophy of neural function, possibly degenerative in nature, and your... 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. Oh, 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, though. 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. Femilial periodic paralysis. Confounded tarnation. Why didn't I think of that? He's 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. Full quartet. 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 border guards 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. Dr. Kildale, no more blood, sir. I really hope you don't mind me hanging around, peering over your shoulder like this. In the least, Emilio, you're as much concerned about this as I am. Now, 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. Kildale, I guess maybe I talk sometimes like I got Magnolia blessings 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. Dr. Kildale, 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'd you do? I got married. Congratulations. Papa'd be mad in a well 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 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. Well, let me know if I'm wrong on this diagnosis. We'll both have something to worry about. I start the test. From these results is the fact the patient has a potassium deficiency and that can happen from other causes. Name one, Dr. Gillespie. Well, a meabit dictionary 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. You'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 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 psycho-neurotic. Oh, dear. Dr. Gillespie, do you know what's happened? No, what? That patient, that Mr. Beauregard in 720. His colonel Beauregard, sir. Well, whatever he is, he's going to sue player hospital. Good. 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 of a personal whimsy. Why, you've no idea how insent 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 man. Gentlemen, this crisis must be met. Colonel Beauregard's case must be diagnosed without further delay. Well, fortunately, Dr. Carull, 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. 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, I want to kill there. I've made certain tests which seem to indicate that confounded we've decided the Colonel is afflicted with familial periodic paralysis. Thank you, doctor. We should have definite results within a couple of days, Dr. Carull. Oh, dear me, I must run up and tell the legal department. They'll be so happy about it. Yes, undoubtedly. Well, gentlemen, as they say in England, you've got yourself out on. Yes, doctor. Move over, will you? You've had me drinking that concoction for two days now and I'll not imbibe any more of it. Enrichment, sir, we do not drink salt water. Now, Papa, don't you go getting obstreperous again. Oh, maybe you won't have to drink any more of it, Colonel. For a 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, little faddle. Amy Lou, throw those bedclothes back on. Better put this robe around you, Colonel. It'll be a bad time to catch cold. You're merely wasting your time to salt water. Now, go ahead. You can bend your knees and draw your feet up. Well, of course I can. But I need to north-right a shot. Oh, please try, Papa. You just gotta try. Amy Lou, I am trying, but I... Millial periodic, doctor. Well, let's try standing up, Colonel. I can barely move. My righty shot is what I... Feet on the floor. Well, I... I don't think I can... Well, about Jefferson Davis. You're a stem. Colonel, a few days' massage are 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, you're gonna be old... I'm married. I've been married for six months and I've been scared to tell you about it. Amy Lou. 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! Cajun Jimmy. Easy now, Colonel. There. Just like they were before. We'll be outside. It looks as if that's that. Familiar, huh, Jimmy? All right, Doctor. It must have been a limb broke. Now, come down to your office in half hour. Guess we'd better plan some kind of... psychiatric treatment, eh? Doctor killed the air in just a moment. But it was the right answer. He was cured. Trouble now is an entirely different cause. And might I inquire... Paralysis to quote an old medical... Colonel Boregaard is an abnormally possessive father. A knowledge that his daughter was married and was planning to leave him was quite a shock. So is mine fast enough, 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 Karoo. Stop that! He's got a chronic paralysis himself from the neck up. Just when he had the legal department all quieted down. Pardon me, but... What is it, Parker? Well, Doctor Karoo was out here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, stand a man. You're the devil. What's about the devil? We've just decided Colonel Boregaard is possessed of a devil. Really? Is there anything to be... Besides, a little bird told me that you had the Colonel up and walking. What a precocious little bird. In fact, I've just on my way now to see the miracle for myself as you might put it. Yeah, sure. 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. 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. Rest of my natural life in this unfortunate condition, sir. A useless burden to my loved one. 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. Now, 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 Beauregards have always been men of action, sir. Why, you're in the war between the states when that black-eyed Grant, by a piece of low chicanery, managed to enter the city of Richmond. My family was the last in town to surrender, sir. My father, who was 15 at the time, was behind the well curve. I run a horse pistol. My grandfather was at the basement window firing a squirrel rifle. I see. And my grandmother was on her second floor piassa throwing down rocks. I'm a man of action, sir. And that gays, Colonel, fighting a simple thing like a mere case of paralysis ought to be a cinch. Well, 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. Emily Lu is free to choose any course she desires, Dr. Gillian. 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. 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 clearcut, 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 it. That avoids any chance of a cure. Paralysis and preference to losing his daughter. 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? Well, I'll read up on some case histories this evening. Try to find some weak spot on the colonel's fortification. A psychiatric blockbuster. Well, see you later. Hmm? Oh, Emmy Lou. I've been waiting here to talk to you. Dr. Kilday, 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. That's not all, Dr. Kilday. It's not merely a simple matter, 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. Oh, I know I should have, but everything was so mixed up. Does your father know about it? Good heavens, Dr. Kilday. I wouldn't dare tell him about this. I guess he would really blow his... Wait a second. A 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. Now, with the risk of a piranun cooperative, I might inform you all that I am not getting ready to die. Oh, 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 to, Dr. Kilday. 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 now. Yes, sir. I... Well, speak up, daughter. What are you trying to say? Papa, I'm going to leave you. I'm going away with Richard, with my husband. Emmy Lou... I've talked it all over with Dr. Gillespie and Dr. Kilday, and they think I'm doing the right thing. 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 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 your grandfather? No, I'm going to be a mother. Here, now, you come back here. I'm sorry you'll never see the baby. Emmy Lou! Goodbye, Papa. Somebody don't let it get away. Well, take it easy, Colonel. She's made her choice. Well, I've got to stop her, sir. The phone. Colonel, I had the phone disconnected. Yanky conspiracy, sir. 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 border guard is 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. Get out of my way. I warn you, don't lay a hand on me. Feet on spoon. Jimmy, work. You'll get down to that lounge if he has 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? We will return to the story of Dr. Kildare. Stop! He was walking! I tell you, I ain't selling! You see, he just found out something that gave him a terrible shock. Well, I introduced him to my husband, and you see Richard's a nose and boy, his last name is Grant. You better bring some smell and salt. Grant? Never mind. The only thing that'll help the Colonel after that is a strong whiff to him. This program was written by Les Crutchfield and directed by William P. Russo. Original music was composed and conducted by Walter Schumann. Supporting cast included Virginia Gregg, Ted Osburn, Bill Conrad and Jane Weth. Dick Joy speaking.