Original subtitles

I'll tip you a dollar. I'll pay you later.

Hey!

Hey, where is anybody?

Ross is here.

Ross has arrived.

Don't panic. I'm here.

Lester?

Maureen?

Somebody.

Joe? Bill.

Joe went home with his wife.

What am I going to do?

25 minutes to curtain and the cast isn't even here yet.

Well, neither is the audience.

You don't understand.

Friday is a big night when everybody comes if they come.

Friday? Yeah.

What happens on Thursday?

Thursday we're dark, no performance.

Unless someone leaves a cocktail party to come over here and turn on the

Today's Thursday, isn't it?

Ever since midnight.

Oh,

what a gas.

I am sorry.

Forgive me.

I really thought it was Friday.

Well, let's stick around until it is.

What do you do around here?

Oh, props.

Just for fun.

I'm for that.

All right.

Fun.

Wait a minute.

I can't catch my breath.

No offense, huh?

What's the matter?

I don't know.

Is it your heart?

I don't know.

You want a doctor?

I don't have one.

Oh, yes, I do.

My brother does.

It's in my wallet.

Dr. Gillis or something.

It's written on the back of his business card.

Arthur Penmore.

I thought you said your name was Lawler. It is.

He's my half -brother.

Dr. Gillespie.

Blair General Hospital?

There's a phone backstage.

I'm sorry, sir. I'm afraid you can't park your car here.

Doctor, I've been trying to find a parking space for 15 minutes, so I've

time to consider this. Now, the key is in the ignition.

If the police come along and move the car, I'll be glad to pay the fine.

If somebody else comes along and steals the car, then I'll just take a cab to

the office and let the insurance company do the worrying.

I believe that exhausts all the possibility.

How much weight would you say you've lost in the past two weeks?

About four or five pounds, all in the wrong places.

How's your appetite?

Is that an invitation for lunch?

No, seriously.

About the same. I never had a big one.

Did you tire easily?

Lately.

But then I'm a sort of lily of the field, just swaying in the breeze, wears

out.

You bruise easily.

How'd you know that?

It doesn't hurt, but it's bad on the morale.

How long ago did it happen?

A week, ten days.

You should see the other guy.

No, how did it happen?

That's better.

I thought maybe you didn't have any teeth. The bruise.

I walked into a coffee table.

Good morning.

That's an opinion.

Most likely.

I'm Dr. Liebman, Dr.

Gillespie's resident.

Hi, I'm Julie Lawler.

How's everything going?

Just fine, Doctor.

Well, if you wanted... Can I see you for a minute?

Don't tell me school's out.

Not quite.

ought to do a bone marrow on him. Oh?

Where are the petechiae?

Left forearm.

The bruise on her knee is a week or ten days old.

Go ahead and set it up.

Hi. Welcome.

Dr. Kildare, my brother, Arthur Penmore.

Mr. Penmore, glad to meet you. How do you do?

Oh, I understood that Dr.

Gillespie was going to handle this case personally. Oh, he is, sir. I'm an

intern on this ward. Oh, I see, I see.

Julie, what seems to be the trouble?

Well, you see, I was drinking this martini. It was my 15th or 20th, I

when all of a sudden I realized I'd swallowed the olive without removing the

toothpick.

Well, usually that doesn't bother me, but I guess it went down the wrong way

because I started to hiccup.

You see, my sister makes the jokes in the family.

If I knew it was wrong with me, I would have cured myself last night and gone

home. You would have saved a fortune.

Now, who said anything about that? The first thing you ask is, where's your

-priced dealer?

But he's goofing off in some operating room.

Julie.

I'm sorry. I'm a skunk.

Sometimes.

I couldn't catch my breath, that's all. I got scared. It went away in 15

minutes. What could have caused that?

Overexertion. Any number of things. We'll know better when we finish your

All right, now.

You stay in bed.

And hang the expense.

I thought you said you were sorry.

I was. I got over it.

Give my love to Muriel and the boys.

Think I'm an ingrate?

I wouldn't know.

I am.

Artie needs one.

Rush, the family breadline's always scratching his back and calling him Mr.

He's loaded.

You like him?

He's all right, I guess.

He is.

But I love to make him sweat about money. It's the only exercise he gets.

What was the differential, doctor?

Now, 79 blasts. Two promyelocytes, six metamyelocytes, four lymphs, and four

neutrophils.

Dr. Liebman.

Mr. and Mrs. Penmore are here.

Have them wait in my office.

Would you show them to Dr. Gillespie's office, please?

Thank you.

Did you get a plate that come?

I picked it up just before the lab closed.

28 ,000.

No question.

She's got it.

Look, Harry, why don't you just go right ahead and talk to him? He knows exactly

where I stand.

Harry, I think Ed is a fine fellow.

I'm happy to eat his oysters Rockefeller and play golf with him anytime he

wants.

Leonard, how are you? Just fine, Muriel. And you?

Late for dinner, now that you ask.

Well, I'm sorry to inconvenience you, but this won't take long. I know, I

He's got a very large mutual fund. Ah, that.

I'll be right with you, Leonard.

Look, Harry, we'll get there as soon as we can. You just hold the fort, huh?

Right.

I'm sorry, Leonard.

Well, what seems to be the problem?

Are either of Julie's parents still alive?

No. You and she have the same mother, isn't it?

Yes.

Is she engaged or any special friend?

Well, no, no, not that I know of.

Leonard, what is it?

Peter, what's the matter with her?

She's seriously ill.

I wish you'd sit down, Muriel.

I'm out of time.

Julie has a disorder of the blood.

We don't understand this disease too well.

We know how it starts, and we can work back and figure out more or less when it

started, but not why.

She is suffering from what we call acute stem cell leukemia.

The cause of the disease is unknown, as yet there is no cure.

Customary treatment includes blood transfusion, steroids, chemotherapy,

sometimes a combination of all three.

In the terminal phase of the disease, the patient shows complete resistance to

all treatment.

The cause of death may be hemorrhage or an overwhelming infection, very often

one of the forms of pneumonia.

The majority of these cases succumb within a few weeks.

When not enough folks were getting sick, that a starving young physician tried

to better his position by discovering what made his patients tick.

Oh, Dr. Freud.

Ah, Dr. Freud.

How I wish that you'd been otherwise employed.

For this set of circumstances sure enhances the finances of the followers

Sigmund Freud.

He forgot about sclerosis and invented the psychosis.

And a thousand ways, don't you think we've had enough of that one? This car's

14. Well, uh, what else would you like to hear? A pin drop.

Good evening, Dr. Hill.

Hi, Jim. Freud again?

Yeah, we played a little something here. How are you?

How are things at the barbershop?

Ah, booming.

Do you still like the last week's service?

Yeah.

I'm coming up for that in a couple of weeks.

You will find that very stimulating.

Like being shot out of a cannon every hour on the hour.

He just learned one of his patients has leukemia, an acute stem cell.

A young girl in her 20s, you look at her and you can't believe it.

You think she's anemic.

What are you doing?

Started a unit of fresh -backed cells.

She'll probably need four or five.

What are you going to treat her with?

Amethyloctrin. And steroids?

You think you'll be able to send her home?

As soon as she's up to it.

One place is as good as another.

You had a leukemia case about two months ago, didn't you?

Little boy.

Did chemotherapy do any good?

Up to a point.

At this stage of the game, all we can hope to do is help him beat the calendar

by a few laps.

I know where it is.

Gotcha.

Hey, Mac, a young lady called me for me.

She's helping my chef.

Hi.

What's the matter?

I don't feel so hot.

I thought you were going home.

When I started to, then I decided I wanted a sandwich.

What's Artie making such a big thing about this for?

I went to check out. There was his chauffeur and his limousine.

He wants me to come to his house for a week so I can rest till I get my

back. What's wrong with that? You could use a rest.

You don't know, Artie.

That treatment is reserved for the Secretary of Defense.

Look, Miss Lawler. Will you please call me, Julie, so I know who you're talking

to? You just said you don't feel good.

I've got to take my pill. Is it time?

You can take it.

Now, what's all this got to do with Artie?

The reason you don't feel good is because you run down.

Now, Dr. Gillespie wants you to get on a regular program.

Three meals a day, eight hours sleep.

And 16 more of crashing boredom.

Artie's house is like an upholstered tomb.

Julie.

You want to get better, don't you?

Yeah.

But it's a three -act play.

I have to go home and pack. Half my things are at the cleaners. All right,

help you.

He took the bait.

Was that the idea?

I take doctors. They're antiseptic.

Club sandwich?

No, thanks.

Listen, how do you feel?

Better. There must have been some medicine in that pill.

I don't get off for another two hours.

Well, I'll take a cab home and pack. You can pick me up there.

Hospitalize my address.

Enter. Hi.

You know, I hate everything I own.

If this place caught fire, it would be a blessing.

Need any help?

You don't happen to have some kerosene?

No. Seat yourself. I'm almost through.

What kind of talk is that, anyway?

Is what?

Seat yourself.

It's a translation.

Last summer, I took some courses at one of those picky language schools. You

know, instant French.

All I learned was how everything would sound if you put it straight into

English. Assez vous, seat yourself.

So you're writing a play?

What you see is that I started a play.

What's the second page?

I'm a great starter.

Witness, Pandit Nehru.

Uh -oh.

Looks more like a horse.

That part is supposed to be a bull.

A Brahma bull.

Pandit Nehru sitting on a Brahma bull is a sort of political idea.

Why didn't you finish it?

I don't know.

I guess I didn't need to.

Same with the play?

And the pictures.

I still like some of them, though.

Where's Pete?

Isn't that nice?

I still love him a little.

Who's Pete?

Oh, he was the boy.

We were engaged for a while, then we got disengaged. He married somebody else

about two years ago. Two and a half.

I still see them now and then. In restaurants, mostly.

Always around Easter. Twice now it's been around Easter.

What happened?

Oh, don't you know?

Oh, I know.

Everyone knows, don't let them kid you.

Pete was an actor.

He's in surplus now, doing very well.

We always used to argue about two things.

First, he wanted me to want something.

I suppose what he wanted was for me to want him, and I did.

But not in the way he wanted to be wanted.

Second, he wanted me to be a rebel like he thought he was. You know, turtleneck

sweaters, tight capris, well...

I don't look good in that stuff. I like hats.

If it wasn't enough, I wouldn't do it. I had to tell him why, and that really

ripped it.

Just because you didn't like turtleneck sweaters?

Oh, I didn't stop there.

I told him as far as I could see, everybody went around with turtleneck

sweaters. Now, what kind of rebellion is that? I mean, a maverick's a maverick,

but there's no such thing as a herd of mavericks.

That's like a flock of shepherds.

What did he say to that?

He didn't even slam the door on his way out.

Oh, Pete's sweet, but he was always after me to do things, finish things.

Can give you a pretty good feeling.

I don't feel so bad.

Have you ever finished anything?

Once, when I was about nine.

What?

A bowl of cornflakes. Does that count?

Well, it's a beginning.

You like me, don't you?

You know, you're ugly.

Thank you.

That was the right answer, Doc.

Well, how long do I have to stay at Artie's?

Oh, until you get your strength back.

I'll give it a week anyhow. A week.

I'll be ready for the squirrel cage.

All right.

Let's dust this joint.

Big Brother is waiting.

Join the party.

We just left one.

All right, fellas. It's almost midnight.

Let's wrap it up. Aw, Pop.

Right now. You were supposed to be in bed at 11 o 'clock.

But, man, it's Saturday night.

And by Sunday morning, man, everybody's going to be in the kip. That gives you

exactly ten minutes.

Oh, boy, I'm telling you. And I'm telling you to hit the sack.

Your Aunt Julie's supposed to rest.

Well, you act like she ought to be in a wheelchair.

Go to bed.

See if they want a sandwich or something.

I tell you, that boy is going to put me right into a sanitary.

Artie, what's wrong?

Artie?

What's wrong?

Oh, he's just lazy, that's all.

I got a call from his headmaster this afternoon. They're not going to take him

back. His idea of cracking a book is to tear it in half.

I'm not talking about Ev.

I'm talking about me.

Then what's the matter?

That's what I'm asking you.

I've done nothing but rest for four days and I'm still tired all the time.

There you are. That just shows you how much rest you need.

You're supposed to be in bed at ten o 'clock.

Honey, you're anemic.

You're a liar.

Julie, I've had a very hard day. Will you please go to bed?

And what's more, you're a lousy liar.

You ready?

Your brother called the hospital.

He's pretty worried about you.

Listen, what's wrong with me?

I told you before, it's a blood disorder.

And if you don't take care of yourself, it can be serious. Oh, you bet your

little white suit it can be serious.

So you give me this?

Sugar candy.

It doesn't do any good. You ought to be sued or something.

Take it easy.

Come on, sit down.

Jimmy, you know how I feel sometimes.

Like I'm going to die.

Isn't that stinking?

I wish you'd been here, Leonard.

So do I, but if I had, things wouldn't have gone much differently.

When a patient becomes hysterical, you either hold them down or you calm them

down. I infinitely prefer the latter method, which is the one Dr. Kildare

But you never came right out and told her what it is that she has.

Oh, of course not.

She didn't really want me to. Well, then what does she want?

When I said that she was just anemic, she called me a lousy liar and ran out

the house.

Because, Arthur, in terms of competence, you were being a very lousy liar, and

she knew it.

Dr. Kildare simply confirmed something it would have been ridiculous to deny,

that she's ill.

This is the threshold at which a doctor stops, unless the patient absolutely

insists on his crossing it. After all, they know you've been candid, that

not lying, but you haven't made it impossible for them to do a little lying

themselves. You haven't killed hope, and not just for sentimental reasons.

Killing things doesn't happen to be part of our job.

I still think it was a mistake.

And it's a mistake I would have made.

I don't quarrel with the theory, Leonard.

It's just that in this case, in Julie's case, I think it's going to backfire on

us. She's never faced reality in her life. She's never had to.

I'm not criticizing her. I'm just trying to make you see something.

When I was 19, my mother remarried. I was working my way through college. I

completely on my own.

And from the moment that Julie was born, she was protected.

I might say pampered, except they weren't that rich, but they were well

comfortable.

Whatever Julie wanted, she got.

And then when the folks died, I took over.

Oh, no, I'm not trying to pin any medals on myself.

It's $500 a month. I don't even feel it.

And I love her.

Everybody loves her.

But Julie's never had to take a hard knock in her life.

And if you think she's going to be able to take this one, you're just kidding

yourselves.

I don't think you should have told her anything.

Arthur, I hope you won't think this is harsh of me, but I say it because you

a realistic man.

And after you stop being annoyed, the information may prove helpful to you.

It's been my experience.

That most relatives of a dying patient who insist on that patient being kept

completely in the dark concerning the gravity of the illness are protecting

their own feelings rather than the feelings of the sick person. It's quite

natural.

None of us want to face someone who senses that he is facing death.

There's always the chance that he may see the look of relief in our eyes that

was chosen before we were.

I...

Don't deny it.

Then stop feeling guilty about it.

Everybody wants to be last.

Should Julie be in the hospital?

There's no need for it yet, unless she wants to be. She doesn't.

Then she can go on as she has, just office calls.

Business as usual, eh?

Oh, come on in.

Dr.

Kildare.

Hippocrates? Florence Nightingale.

Who? So, a rose by any other name. It's me, Julie.

What's the trouble?

We're having a party. We're at Max.

Well, you told the desk it's an emergency.

It is. I'm lonesome.

For Pete's sake, Julie, I'm on duty.

All right, Louie, drop the pastore.

I happen to know that in exactly 12 minutes you're off duty.

Add five more to get out of that sailor suit and into something presentable.

Well, I really shouldn't. Oh, Doc, don't be such a stick.

The show closed tonight. Just some members of the cast and a few authority

schnurrers. What do you think we're giving it at max for?

Hey, that was forward, wasn't it?

Okay, I'll be over as soon as I can.

Sooner.

I was hoping I'd bump into you. Well, hello.

Bill. I was going to say, Bill.

Can I buy you a drink?

Well, you can order me one. Everything's free tonight.

In case you can have a double.

Bartender? What will it be?

Scotch single.

Uh, an old -fashioned without the fruit and scotch for the lady.

Are you 21?

Oh, you dear boy.

I have a message for you from the Department of Motor Vehicles.

I'm 24.

We have to be careful, you know. Oh, don't apologize. You made my day.

How are you feeling?

Well, how do I look?

Great.

Did they ever find out what caused that attack?

Asthma.

I had an older brother that had asthma.

Kept him out of the army.

What are you doing for it?

I decided to give up breathing.

Excuse me. I see some friends.

Hi, Doc.

You're too late. The caviar is all gone. That's all right. I have some for

breakfast. Hi.

Drink, eat, and be merry, etc.

Don't tell me all these people are actors.

All right, I won't tell you all these people are actors.

Let's sit down.

Well, why don't you ask me how I'm getting along?

How are you getting along?

Lousy.

You know what occurred to me tonight when I was taking a shower?

What? That I might not be around if I had won the World Series.

Don't be silly.

I won't.

I didn't know you were interested in baseball.

I'm not.

But I could start to be. I'm a great starter.

I'm an even better stopper.

You know, when I was, what, 16 years old, you know what I stopped?

Biting my nails.

It was a full -time job.

For weeks, I wasn't a high school student or a cheerleader or a member of

glee club. I was a non -nail -biter.

Whatever made you stop?

Money.

My father offered me $10 if I'd stop for a month.

And my mother offered me $10 if I'd stop for another.

I almost put him in the poorhouse.

You like your parents?

Two of the greatest patsies ever born.

I had decided to quit when they made their offer anyhow.

If you've bitten one, you've bitten them all.

I love my parents.

They spoiled me rotten.

I'm ready.

Do you ever think of quitting this?

Sure.

What's the attitude?

Liberal.

I think it's perfectly all right if a girl doesn't want to take a drink once

a while.

Hey,

Julie.

Oh, that's all I need.

Take it easy.

How are you, Julie? Oh, great, just great.

Oh, you remember Arlene.

Yes.

I see you're expecting.

He said Dr. Kildare.

How you doing?

But you're out of luck, honey. He's not an obstetrician.

No.

Turn it off.

Like the poet said, the dark is light enough.

Besides, my makeup's all over the place.

It's not her fault she's having a baby.

Well, who would you blame?

Still making your jokes.

I used to be so in love with that fathead it made my stomach... What?

I said I used to be so in love with that fathead it made my stomach ache.

I'm getting out just in time. Hey, what are you talking about? You know exactly

what I'm talking about.

Stop taking my temperature.

Oh, please.

Listen to me. No. This isn't going to do any good. I'm not Pete. You shut up!

Julie, nobody knows when anybody's going to die.

I could walk out of here tonight and get hit by a truck. Promise.

Will you listen to this?

But no matter what happens, I've got to make some sense out of my life.

So I work in a hospital.

Now, you've got to make some sense out of your life.

I don't care what it is, but believe me, you've got to find something or do

something or finish something.

A painting or that sculpture or maybe your play.

But something.

Because I give you my word, the only real pleasure in life is to do, to

function, or at least to try.

All right, dear.

I'll try.

Julie Junkyard.

What?

James, are you between sutures or something?

Sort of.

Thought I'd check in and see how the work was coming.

That Brahma bull beginning to look like one?

Oh, he's on the verge.

The play's going well, too.

What did I tell you? A little application?

You were right.

Sweet of you to bother.

Well, I gotta run.

Keep in touch, huh?

I will. Thanks for calling, Jimmy.

Three dresses and a cashmere sweater. Anything to go? Not today.

See you next week.

You're feeling pretty chipper, aren't you?

Yeah, I guess I am. That's peachy.

That was very good, Wally. You want to play another?

No, thanks, Father. I don't think you'd laugh.

I might not at that.

Maybe tomorrow?

Sure.

You're very good, Wally. Very good. Thanks, Father.

Hello.

Oh, good afternoon.

You talk to people who aren't Catholic?

Certainly. How can I help you?

I'm going to die, and I want to know what to do.

You mean you're going to kill yourself?

No, I'm sick.

Come on into the rectory.

This is a terrible thing.

But you seem to be taking it well.

I wouldn't be here if I were taking it well.

I suppose not.

Does that kid always beat you in handball?

What?

Oh.

Oh, no, we never played before.

I'm new at the parish. I want to get to know the boys.

There must be a less strenuous way.

Are you religious?

Oh, that's too bad.

Do you want me to leave?

Oh, no, no. Good heavens, no, please.

Just make it more difficult.

I don't give very good sermons.

I was a chaplain for a while during the war with the Navy.

Only a year, I was recalled.

I didn't seem to be able to talk to the men when they needed it.

Oh, I talked, but they weren't interested.

I was at Okinawa.

A boy died while I was talking to him.

A Marine.

I don't think he heard me.

I mean, you just tell him the same things, that dying is the door to

salvation, that life is a phase, that God is waiting for us, and death is the

road we must travel to reach him.

But if you aren't religious, it won't mean much.

You know the hottest part.

Not just being frightened or knowing I'll never see snow again or so many

things.

The hardest part is that I just can't believe it's going to happen.

That I'm really going to die.

I know.

Children have that feeling, and I've seen it in old people.

I think it has something to do with their closeness to God.

What do you mean?

The young ones are fresh from his hands, so to speak.

And the old ones are on their way back to him.

Almost there.

I think their being near God makes them feel deathless.

Immortal.

Well, then why have I got that feeling?

I'm not an infant, but I'm not that old either.

No, but you seem to think that you're almost through living.

What can I do?

Well, it depends.

Is there something in your life that you want to atone for?

Some terrible wrong that you've done?

No.

Oh.

What would you call that?

Pride?

Maybe.

Then again, it could be humility.

You know that Marine you spoke to on Okinawa?

Yes. Well, I don't know if he heard you or not, but if he didn't, you really

missed something.

Humility.

If you can't cut the mustard, don't pick up the knife.

Okay?

Hello, Sybil?

What's the name of that bill who keeps showing up every time there's free food?

Olsen?

What's his number?

Oh, he's been asking me for a date. I thought I'd accept.

Oh, nothing.

I just decided to drop my halo.

So I called him up and I told him, listen, Doc, who do you think I am? E .B

E .B .B.? Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Who's Elizabeth Barrett Browning? Oh, come on.

Oh, Mrs. Pablo Picasso or something like that. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I've heard of

her. You've heard of him? I just couldn't think of a good lady painter.

So then I... Julie.

What's the matter?

What is it? It's not asthma.

Call a cab.

to sedation.

She's still conscious and she wants to see you.

She seems to think she has something to apologize for.

I told her she had nothing to apologize for.

Now I'm telling you.

From the first time you learned that Julie's illness was fatal, the doctor in

you was frustrated.

You couldn't cure her and it made you feel helpless.

So to offset that feeling, you kept right on diagnosing her until you could

something that looked as if it could be cured.

She was unhappy.

And you drew the conclusion that the reason she was unhappy might have

to do with how she was living.

She was living her way, not yours.

Somehow it escaped you entirely that she might be unhappy because she was afraid

she was going to die.

That'll do it, Doctor. It's surefire.

The minute a patient suspects he's dying, it makes him unhappy.

But, Doctor, she... I'm not finished.

My concern is not so much with your misguided good intentions.

It's that, as a doctor, you fail to recognize Julie for what she is, a well

-adjusted person.

Oh, I admit there are precious few like her around, but it's our job to be on

the lookout for them.

The medical profession can learn a great deal from the study of normality.

But she never seemed to accomplish anything.

She... Her whole life was one big giggle.

You mean she was happy?

Right.

Very few of us are really happy, at least with ourselves.

So we go on doing things to make us feel better.

If we happen to be doctors, we may save a few lives in the process.

But what we're really looking for is self -respect.

What's wrong with that?

Nothing.

But supposing, from an early age, we had self -respect, just like Julie.

Her parents loved her, and she knew it.

When you're a child, your parents are the whole world.

So if you grow up liking yourself and the world, who's there to prove it to?

go on living your own way, and you feel fine about it.

Don't you understand?

That the very things you love about Julie are the things you try to change.

That's not our work.

It's to keep people alive.

We can't tell them how to live any more than how to die.

Remember this girl.

She's a special case.

And I think if she lived, her children might have been very special too.

The human race needs ornaments, Doctor.

It needs them badly.

I'm sleepy.

How are you?

I'm fine.

I told you I wouldn't be around for the World Series.

Do you want to bet?

I'm sorry about the statue.

Didn't seem important.

It wasn't.

You still like me.

I just would have grown up to be an old kook.

Gee, I'm asleep.

Sleep tight, Julie.