 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... The story of Dr. Kildare, starring Lou Ayers and Lionel Barrymore. Metro-Goldman Mayor brought you those famous motion pictures. Now this exciting, heartwarming series is heard on radio. Just a moment, the story of Dr. Kildare. But first, your announcer. One of the great citadels of American medicine. The 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. Player General Hospital. Where life begins, where life ends, where life goes on. Mr. Breed, did you bring the doctor with you, officer? No. You're the owner of this lunchroom? Yeah, Hurley's my name. She should have brought a doctor. She's in bad shape. Yeah, she looks at what happened. We walked in here about five minutes before midnight, stood there by the door a second, and she felt flat on her face. Out cold. Ever seen her before? No. Don't get any wrong ideas. She didn't buy it in here. Didn't buy what? Smell her breath. So that's it. She's drunk. Boy, this younger generation. Just a kid. Seventeen at the most. Well, give me a hand here. We'll get her out to the car. Can you take her down in Booker? Planning to follow charges? Just get her out of here. That's all I care. I think I'll take her over to Blair Hospital. Come on. Give me a hand. Yeah, she seems to be responding to the caffeine a little now, Dr. Gillespie. Good, Jimmy. At least that fluttery pulse is beginning to straighten out. I think you can start giving her the oxygen now. Keep her on it for a couple of hours, so she'll pull out of it all right. Yes, Doctor. Oh, Sergeant, it's a good thing you brought her here. That's alcohol and her bloodstream running over three parts in a thousand. Well, she really needed a doctor. I didn't have the heart to run her in, Doc. She looked too young, I guess. Very too pretty. Find anything in her purse? Uh, yeah. Matchfolders and three different bars, one thing. I'll pay her a little visit in the morning. She's an obvious minor. Any identification, Blaine? Marion Lewis, according to the card here. A dress on the upper west side. Nearest relatives or mother, Mrs. Clyde. The same address. Well, she certainly had one too many to find her way there at night. This girl's had a dozen too many, so it wasn't any accident. She did it on purpose. I wonder why. Uh-uh, Jimmy. Stop right there. You're going out on a limb again. Why should she deliberately set out to knock herself silly? What's behind it? I don't know. And if you're planning to butt in and try and find out, you can do it alone. Count you out. Is that it? Yeah, confound it. Yeah, sure. I'm getting too old for this probing in the patient's life. I see. It's a case of acute alcoholic poisoning. So, let's leave it that way. You can just treat her and release her. All right. Nobody's pushing you. Dr. Kildare, the oxygen equipment is coming up in the freight elevator. Good, Barker. Oh, Dr. Gillespie, do you mind if your Able assistant stays here and helps me? Of course I don't mind. Glad to get rid of old Snoopy for a while. Well... I guess I better get going, Jimmy. Want to check with the precinct desk and notify the girl's parents. All right, Blaine. I'll let you know how she gets along. I'll walk out with you, Blaine. I never like to end up there with Kildare's cases. Thank you, doctor. Oh, there is one thing, Jimmy, though. Just for the report, of course. Oh? As soon as she's conscious, let me know what you find out about her. Yeah, now it's all right, Marion. You're in Blair Hospital. I'm Dr. Kildare. Hospital? Barker, you can have this inhaler taken out and bring some hot coffee. I think that'll be better now than the caffeine shot. All right, Dr. Kildare, I'll be right back. I wish I could die. Oh, is that what you were trying to do? No, but... I didn't care whether I did. 17 years old and didn't care whether you lived or not? I suppose you're like everybody else. You think it's just great to be young, but everything's perfect. Simple and easy. No, I think it's a fairly confusing world at any age, Marion, but it's a lot worse when you're just finding it out. No, I've found it out all right. How did I get here? The police brought you. The police? Sergeant Blaine, friend of mine. He passed out in an all-night lunchroom. What are they going to do to me? Nothing. There are no charges against you. Matthew, you're released in the morning. You can go right out and do the same thing again if you like. Yes. What of it? Oh, one night you won't get to a doctor soon enough, or a car will run you down or something. I know. I don't care. Marion, how long has this been going on? Drinking? The last few months. Tonight was the worst yet. Like to tell me the reason? You wouldn't understand. You just think it was silly. Even my father and mother don't understand. Unfortunately, parents are the last to understand sometimes. It's a mixed-up world for them too, you know. Not for mine. They got it all figured out. And they despise me. They hate me. Oh, come in, Parker. Here's the coffee, Dr. Kildare. The night supervisor had some already made. Good. Put it here on the table by the bench. All right, Dr. You probably don't want this, Marion, but let's try to get a cup or two down anyway. Dr. Kildare? You can have a little cream if you like, but it's better if you drink it black. Dr. Kildare? There's a full report as soon as she was conscious enough to... Oh, Kildare. This is Mr. and Mrs. Lewis, Marion's parents. Oh, how do you do? I've just been talking to your daughter. How is she? I've already found out she's dead drunk. She's going to be all right, Mrs. Lewis. Oh, thank you. Elizabeth, you take up for that kid no matter what she did. She's no good, and that's all there is to it. I'm afraid I don't agree with you, Mr. Lewis. I suppose you think you know more about her than I do. Strangely enough, I think I do. Uh-uh, Jimmy. Excuse me, Dr. Gillespie. Mr. Lewis, I'd like to talk to you in the outer office for just a minute. All right. Oh, Dr. Gillespie, I knew something like this was going to happen. Mr. Lewis, I've just been talking to your daughter, as you know, and if I may take the liberty of advising you, I'd like to say that she has a good many problems. Problems? The girl her age has problems? Not to you, maybe, but enough to put her in a hospital. The reason I wanted to talk to you out here away from your wife is that in time, they might become big enough to kill her if you're not worked out. And what are all these problems? Oh, that's little ones. Silly ones, in fact. Like, well, you wanting her to wear clothes too young for her and that she's not allowed to have dates with other girls of her age are, things like that. No, that's it. That's what started it all. Mmm? One night I caught her sneaking out and meeting some fellow at the corner drug store. Lock her up in her room for a month. Don't you realize you just can't lock a person up and expect them to understand? You've got to talk things over with them. Talk it over with them? You act like she's already a grown-up woman. Well, at 17, if she's not well along to being grown up, she never will be. You see, Mr. Lewis, a girl her age is... All right, all right. Everybody to their own opinion. She'll be ready to leave here in about 10 minutes? Um, she won't be ready to leave here tonight. Why not? Because, Mr. Lewis, I'm not ready to release her. Well, no. We will just have to see about that young fellow. I think you've got a few things to learn. Maybe so, but in my opinion, there are a whole lot of things you ought to learn, Mr. Lewis, and for the sake of that girl, you'd better learn them fast. I mean, I agree with you. You're absolutely right. But confound, relax, calm down. Okay, Dr. Gillespie, I'm sorry. I lost my temper, but... Oh, well, I know. Righteous smugness of his would make anybody. Yeah, he can't see any side of it, but his own. Just it. There's nothing really bad about that girl. Well, all she needs is someone who will treat her as a person who will listen to her ideas and try to understand it. Well, I guess her father's given her very little of that. You know, Jimmy, it's the same old business. Nine times out of ten, alcoholism is a secondary problem. There's always something behind it. Usually, the reason isn't as clear-cut as this one. Come in. Well, if it isn't Dr. Karoo. Gentlemen, just step right in, Mrs. Lewis, Mr. Lewis. Thank you. By the Great Hornspoon. Karoo, do you sleep in that gardenia? Certainly not, Dr. Blaster. But merely because it's three o'clock in the morning is no reason not to make oneself presentable when one is called out who appear in public, that is. Presentable. That's killed air. These people tell me you precipitated a little crisis. Well, I... Karoo, inasmuch as killed air and I have similar opinions in this matter, you may address us collectively. Oh, dear. Why, Dr. Gillespie, I thought you were too old for this sort of thing. Very ridiculous. Well, Karoo, fire and will. Now, Dr. Gillespie. Look, I don't know what this is all about, but I'm only concerned with one thing. Dr. Karoo, suppose you'll give this young man his orders. Now, Mr. Lewis, just leave this to me. Karoo, the answer is no. Dr. Gillespie, please. Now, Dr. Gildare, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to release the young lady to the custody of her parents at once. Sorry, but I'm holding her for observation. Observation? She's able to talk. She's able to go home where she belongs. I'm not so sure that is where she belongs. Now, Dr. Gildare, we can't let our personal opinions enter into our cases, you know. Then call it a professional opinion. Dr. Karoo, she's under my care, and according to law, she stays there until I release her. Oh, I'm sure you wouldn't take such an unfortunate attitude as... No, I'll get it. Gildare speaking. Sergeant Blaine, Jimmy. Oh, yes, yes. Sorry to have to tell you this, but there's just been a complaint filed against the Lewis girl who's shoplifting. What? Are you sure it's her? Can't be any doubt, since the description filed fits both her and the clothes she was wearing. Look, Blaine, can you stall until the morning and I'll call the shop and try to fix it up or something? I'll do it, I can, Doc. Call me in the morning. Oh, thanks. Thanks. Goodbye. Well, there's no use having any further discussion about this tonight. I've got a patient who's in trouble, and if I can, I'm going to help her out of it. Regardless of what anyone says, I'm not going to release her until I'm ready. That's final. The story of Dr. Kildare in just a moment. 4 a.m., Dr. Gillespie. With all the irate parents and our fat-headed superintendent cleared out now, maybe we can finally get him to sleep. Yeah, could be, Jimmy. Of course we still haven't done much toward clearing up the problem, though. I know. I can hold them off for the moment by refusing a release for Marion, but that's only temporary. Something has to be done tomorrow. What about this shoplifting business? It's pretty serious, isn't it? Serious enough. Apparently, Marion tried on some clothes and a dress shop, then left wearing them while the sales girl was busy at something else. Ah, the crazy young fool. Now, Blaine's going to stall the warrant as long as he can. I'll call the shop in the morning, see if I can get them to drop the charges if I guarantee the cost of the clothes. Getting in pretty deep, aren't you, Jimmy? Oh, what can you do? Well, I noticed you were right there with me. Ah, that was merely a personal attitude toward Karoo. Feet said black was black. I just said it was green. Oh, all right. So it was entirely personal. It still doesn't answer the question, how are we going to help her? The girl needs understanding. Problems as simple as that. Only the answer's not quite as simple. You know, because the only logical answer is to bring her and her parents together. Right now, they're a thousand miles apart. They need some common basis to work from. By the tarnation aside from the fact that they're distantly related by birth, I don't see one. Neither do I. Now I'm going to talk to both sides again in the morning. Do that, Jimmy. Do that. Now we'd better both get some sleep, or tomorrow you'll look as well as Karoo's gardenia. Dr. Kildare, I only meant to look at the clothes and try them on. And they were so beautiful and so... So they made you look grown up, huh? And they were clothes you'd picked out yourself? Yes. And I was so miserable I didn't care what happened. So I took them. Took them? You know, we never get anywhere by kidding ourselves, Mary, and is that really what you mean? I stole them. Dr. Kildare, will they send me to jail? No, they gotta check this morning. They've withdrawn the charges. You... But why? I can't pay you back. I don't have a job. My parents think I'm too young to work. Well, forget that for the moment. We'll worry about it later. Mary, and how did all this start? My folks wouldn't let me have friends at home. Not any at all. And finally I got so I'd slip off to the corner drugstore and talk to people. Boys. It wasn't anything. You just laughed and talked. I see. And Dad found out about it and locked me in my room at night for a month. So finally it all led up to, uh, July's night, huh? Yes. And a dead end, too, because that isn't a solution, you know? Dr. Kildare, there isn't any solution. I won't go back home again and have them tell me how low I am, how ungrateful, and how I failed them. And there's nothing else. Nothing. As wrong as you think he is. Of course he's wrong. Now, wait a minute. You and I come from what they call the older generation, and the world's changed a lot since we came into it. Well, maybe the world has, but right and wrong never change. Oh, that could be. I sometimes wonder, though, if we don't use these words right and wrong pretty loosely. Anything that we're familiar with, that is, that we learned before we were 21 years old, we call it right. And anything new that's come along since we call it wrong. Well, no basis for it either way. I can't agree with you, Dr. Gillespie. Everybody knows the things this modern generation does, and I won't have Mary enacting the same way. Well, it seems to me that people have been selling the younger generation short for about 20 centuries or more. But each time they've managed to come through it all right. No, sir, things were different when we were young. Ah, different, yes, but not necessarily any better. And you know we didn't do such a hard job of building a new world, Mr. Lewis? Well, nevertheless, I feel that... Oh, come on in, Jimmy. Mr. Lewis. Good morning, Dr. Kildare. I guess I owe you an apology. Sorry I lost my temper last night. Well, I did a little of that myself, as I remember. But I think we can be more reasonable about it this morning. Oh, I hope so. And my wife's waiting downstairs or if you'll fix up that release, we'll just take Mary in right along with us. Well, she's a very hurt girl, Mr. Lewis, or a very sick one, if you want to put it that way. Well, hangover can get... Oh, no, no, no. It's a lot deeper than that. I do hope you'll be gentle with her, trying to talk to her and reason with her. Look, Kildare, when I was a kid and did anything wrong, my father didn't talk to me. He used the back of a hairbrush. That's reason enough for me. Now, yes, Jimmy, I tried every argument I could think of. Well, Dr. Kildare, are you going to sign that release or not? No, I'm not, Mr. Lewis. In that opinion, Marion still needs medical care. In that case, I'd better see a lawyer. Whatever you like. Oh, one other thing, Kildare. I understand you paid off that dress shop for the clothes Marion stole. Of course, I want to make good... I'll save it for the funeral. I see. Well, I'll find out from the police and may you check. I pay my debts. I can tell you, one, you'll never be able to pay. I think that's a matter of opinion. Good day, gentlemen. He goes nothing. He's hard headed all right. The worst of it is, he loves his daughter. He's just as hurt as she is. Sure he is, but he's too confounded, stubborn to tolerate any idea but his own. And there's nothing we can do. If he sees a lawyer, he'll have her back in his custody within 24 hours. I can't support any claim that she needs further medical care. Well, we did all we could. Now, come in, Parker. Dr. Kildare, have you forgotten you're supposed to make the rounds in the Cripple Children's Ward at 11 o'clock? No, Parker. I was just about to... to say, you know something? What? A long shot. Parker. Huh? Go stop Mr. Lewis and bring him back here. His wife, too. Hurry. We've seen about enough of this now, Dr. Kildare. Oh, there's only one more section, Mr. Lewis. It's right ahead of us. Well, it can't be much different than the others. Now, here we are. Now, we won't go inside. We can look through these windows along the corridor. These children are all under five years old. Oh. And all of them are handicapped in some way. Mm-hmm, in various ways. And furthermore, most of them are charity patients. Wards of either the hospital or some charitable organization. Dr. Kildare, I assume you had some point in mind when you insisted we come here with you. I wonder if you'd explain just what it was. I'm not sure whether I can explain it, Mr. Lewis. I guess I wanted to show you some of the differences in handicaps. And to point out that physical handicaps aren't the only kinds. Look, Mr. Lewis, that curly-headed little boy there by the window. The one with braces on both legs. Yes, I see. Suppose he was yours. And you didn't happen to like the way he was forced to walk. Now, what would you do? Try to help him to learn to walk his way? Or beat him with a hairbrush because he couldn't walk your way? Well, I... Can you imagine a child like that being no good? Oh, Clyde, we have been wrong sometimes, you know. We've failed her as much as she could ever fail us. I wonder if maybe you aren't right. So many things we could have done and didn't. So many things we thought were important. Perhaps they're not. Elizabeth, I... I think maybe we'd better talk this over. You'll find a conference room at the end of the corridor. You won't be disturbed. Well, thanks. I'll start to compare. Come on, dear. I'll be done. You're the luckiest man I ever saw. Oh, I didn't hear you come up. Long shot paid off, huh? Well, that's the way it seems. And I'm glad I did, but... But why? Jenny, would you mind explaining the logic of your plan? Well, I don't know. I just had a hunch, I guess, feeling. But confounded, Jimmy, it doesn't even make good sense. Only there's one thing about it, Dr. Gillespie. What? It worked. In just a moment, we will return to the story of Dr. Kildare. I think I know what he wants. I doubt if he's heard of it. Yes, I believe it is at that. Gentlemen, please step into our parlor carous, speak up what's on your mind. Gentlemen, I refrain from exercising my authority, but there can be no more crippling now, no more dilly-dallying. Isn't that word dilly-ing, dallying, Dr. Gillespie? Jimmy, I think you're right. Gentlemen, that girl, I want her released at once. I guess he means you, Jimmy. I'm not holding any girl. Dr. Gillespie, you know very well who I mean. It's that, that Marion Lewis girl. Lewis? Marion Lewis? Well, there is something familiar about that name. Oh, I remember Dr. Gillespie. The girl who left with her parents right after lunch. Dr. Kildare, I won't listen to any of... She what? You know, I don't think Dr. Karoo really knows what's going on around here. Oh, dear. But I thought, I mean, you said that, but last night you... Oh, dear. Open the door for Dr. Karoo. He's trying to walk through the back of the closet. I've just heard the story of Dr. Kildare, starring Lou Ayers and Lionel Barrymore. 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, Lorine Tuttle, Tal Avery, Barbara Rueck and Jack Krushen. Dick Joy speaking.