Original subtitles

How many fingers do you see, honey?

Three, I think.

Or four.

I can't tell.

Have you taken a spinal tap yet? Oh, no, Dr. Treadman. I called you as soon as I

noticed the eye signs.

Ticklish, eh?

Dr.

Kildare, ambulance call.

Am I up?

You're so popular.

There's no perceptible loss of sensation, Doctor.

Okay, Laura.

Swallow a little sip, please, if you can.

It hurts.

We'd better get her up to pediatrics with us right away.

Shake a leg, Doc. Where you been?

I'll stop for a shoe shine. Let's get going.

Are you Laura's mother?

Yes, Mrs. Parlin. When did she have her last polio shot?

Polio?

A couple of years ago, I think.

You think?

Doctor. But polio, that's cured.

Cured, huh?

You think that... Tony.

Mrs. Prowling, you may sit low enough, if you'd like, if you'd come with me.

Oh, Dr. Shea.

Gentlemen, what do you make of the girl? Come in here.

Why didn't you give that kid her polio shots?

Oh, is that why you dragged me in here? I'm asking you why you didn't. Because

she didn't come in for them, that's why. Okay, doctor?

Okay? You're her doctor. Don't you care about your patients?

Oh, so now nobody else cares.

Nobody but you.

Well, listen, doctor, one of these days you're going to have to leave this nice

antiseptic womb of a hospital, and when you do, you're going to find certain

things in medical practice that you've missed. I'm getting very tired of

evasions and excuses about how tough medicine is every time I ask why a

is brought into this hospital who shouldn't be here in the first place.

wise guy.

All you've got are two interns and a floor full of nurses on duty 24 hours a

day. Well, when I do get out of here, I hope I never learn to practice medicine

from 10 to 4.

And to turn it off when it's inconvenient.

I am tired of listening to you blowing off.

And I'm going to see to it that nobody else has to.

And for your information, I scheduled that girl for her polio shots. Her

never even bothered to call in and cancel the appointment.

Well, then why didn't you call back?

Again and again and again.

Doctor!

Suspected paralytic polio, Bobar. Oh?

P -A -R -L -I -N.

You ought to see him when he's angry.

Well, I saved my bedside manner for patience.

And, uh, a certain lady intern. But I don't have her address.

Um, 1427 Venata Street.

You won't have long to wait.

Another baby saved from a metered birth. We'll have to license taxi drivers.

This isn't the first day of spring or something, is it? Nope.

What did you bring in?

Right behind me.

Something interesting?

You're not even going to get a beep at this one. I'm sending you straight to

neurology. Call this into public health for me, will you please? Suspected

paralytic polio. Bulbar.

And what'd I get?

belly aches, nose bleeds, and impatient babies.

Squeeze my fingers as hard as you can.

Hard as you can.

That's good.

Now, you see this buzzer?

If you can't swallow or you start to choke, don't be afraid.

You just press this buzzer real hard. Do you hear?

Don't let go of that till the nurse comes.

Okay.

We almost got complete ophthalmoplegia in Miss Elstead. Now, what about the

girl?

Diplopia noticeable from the preliminary exam.

Sorry, I'm late.

Dr. Willard Wright with the U .S. Public Health Service. Dr. Treadman. Doctor.

Hi. You're the resident on pediatrics? Yes.

I'm with medical intelligence.

The local boys asked me to fly down here when they got word of your two cases.

I had a call from Dr. Shea. I want to talk to you this afternoon in my office.

I expected you would.

Now, what do you think?

Doesn't look like polio anymore, does it?

We should get a history of what they ate yesterday.

The woman's been semi -comatose ever since I brought her in.

The normal spinal fluid militates against polio or encephalitis.

The eye signs might suggest encephalitis, but both these patients

No sensory loss, no meningeal signs, no mental clouding in the girl. Everything

points to a toxin rather than an infection as the cause of this muscle

Doctor, I believe we are dealing with botulism food poisoning.

Never seen a case of that outside the books.

I have.

Outbreak back east ran me ragged. Twenty -two people at a neighborhood block

party. We got an antitoxin into four of them the first day.

All the rest died.

Do we have antitoxin?

Not at hand. There may be a supply in Denver.

No. Fable Pharmaceutical and Drug Chicago.

That's the nearest. Has enough.

Enough?

There's seldom one or two isolated cases of botulism. That bacteria is growing

right now in some kind of canned food.

Almost certainly home canned or processed by amateurs.

The regular commercial canners take such precautions, it's almost impossible it

came from them. But the stuff's somewhere.

Maybe plenty of it. People eat three times a day. And one teaspoon is all it

takes to kill. Get the picture?

Yes, we get the picture.

I'll call the laboratory.

A suggestion, Doctor?

Yes.

Have them run it to the CO of the naval air station there. I'll call them and

tell them to fly it here.

All right.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.

You, uh...

You got pulled with the Navy?

The commanding officer over there was my commanding officer during the war. He

caught some shrapnel. I'm the only one who knows where the wound is.

That's handy.

Hey, we need a food history badly.

Would you try to find out everything you can from the girl I've got around?

Yeah.

I told you to have lunch with me.

Just like Mother used to make.

Listen, by the way, your personal nutrition stinks, even for a doctor. I

you, too.

I'm serious. You'd still be on rounds if I hadn't dragged you away with the

sheer power of my feminine wiles.

Well, at the moment, I'm only interested in what those two patients ate that

poisoned them.

Laura Parlin's your patient.

Now, let the public health people take over the rest. It's not your worry.

You mind if I disagree?

I mind. I got a right to.

Lay off, will you?

Tony, I love you.

Can't you tell me what's wrong?

Too many Humpty Dumpties I can't put back together again, I guess.

Too many people who shouldn't be sick in the first place.

Coffee party?

No, pull up a chair, Jim.

You hear about our angry young man this morning? There were rumors.

Good news travels fast.

Two months of residency to go. You think we can pull him through in one piece?

He'll last.

I don't know about Blair.

Assuming he and Gillespie sign a mutual non -aggression pact.

That'll be the day.

Think of the problems of setting him up in private practice.

Stagnant.

Maybe he should be kept in a cage the first year or so.

Treat patients through iron bars. With a sign, danger highly inflammable.

Well, I was thinking more in the lines of, please don't feed the bears.

You'll have a suite of offices with three rooms for the patients to wait in

they can get nervous. Yes, and they should be furnished in that early

Gothic. Two homespun. He's a modern doctor.

Chinese? No, catches the dust.

I know.

Danish, modern.

No, but not so posh that he'll be accused of overcharging.

Yeah, but fancy enough to keep the kid's feet off.

Well, I can see him now.

Golf on his afternoon off, OB cases permitting.

Eight o 'clock sharp at the hospital.

Ten o 'clock sharp, he turns the knob of his office door.

No miserable hours.

Just the healthy routine of day in, day out medicine.

Ten, fifteen years, it might make a human being out of him. If you're lucky.

Ten or fifteen years.

Ten or fifteen years digging the ruts deeper and deeper.

Trying to turn it off when it's inconvenient.

Darling Tony, we were only joking.

I know, Liz.

I guess I'm just not in a joking mood.

It's just an occupational hazard, Liz.

personal relationships are rough for doctors completing residencies.

Yes.

That goes for both sides of the relationship.

Yes.

Yes, it is true that an official of the United States Department of Public

Health is Ed Blair General.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, I'm perfectly willing to discuss the reason for his

being here and provide you with the facts, if you will use your discretion

reporting them to your newspapers.

Dr. Rison of Medical Intelligence is at Blair because we have two patients

suffering from botulism poisoning.

Botulism? That comes from poisoned food?

Yes, it is a form of food poisoning.

Can it be fatal, sir? It can be.

However, antitoxin is being flown here in sufficient quantities to meet any

emergency. Sufficient quantities?

You mean there might be many more cases in the city?

It's possible, but it is not probable.

The botulism toxin is usually traceable to home canning.

We have two cases here, a child and a young woman.

When or if the young woman recovers sufficiently to be questioned, we can

the suspected food and treat other persons who may have eaten any of it.

Meanwhile? There is no cause for general alarm.

Please reflect that in anything you may print.

Both patients are under treatment.

And as soon as the young woman can communicate, we'll be able to go into

Hi. Did you fall through?

Come up with anything?

Nothing. The girl can't control her throat muscles enough to even whisper.

Pharyngeal paralysis.

She well enough to try writing down what she ate? Well enough, not old enough.

The landlady told me the girl ate at a party the music teacher gave. That's all

she knew.

Nuts.

We'll have to find out who else was there and every single thing they ate.

I'd better call neurology. Tell them to let us know as soon as this elephant can

talk. The only hope we have left.

Stop there already.

This elephant is dead.

show up, put them on a 5 % glucose solution until the antitoxin arrives.

Come in.

Yes.

Sit down.

Well, notify me personally if any admittance shows a remotest sign of

Right.

Time for my bi -monthly chewing out?

This complaint of Dr. Shays isn't the first, as we all well know.

Mayor Cooper?

Where do you intend to go if you complete your residency here?

I hadn't decided.

Since the first day you entered this hospital, there have been complaints

you.

From the administrative staff, from the doctors, the nurses, and the patients.

This is one too many.

Because I had the effrontery to tell off a doctor who doesn't care a rap about

his patients?

You're not the only man in the world who's aware of human misery.

A doctor has to adjust to the reality that he cannot administer personally to

the entire human race. I'm aware of that.

I don't think you are.

Dr. Gillespie, I... We'll put off this discussion until we're out of the woods

on this botulism situation.

Until then, I'm going to turn over your awards to other doctors on the staff.

Oh, the girl said to barge right in. All right.

Any progress?

Not from here.

Every angle we've come up with so far has drawn a blank.

Until someone tells us what was eaten and who else ate it, we're helpless.

I'm going over to Miss Elstead's apartment, nose around.

That's all I've got.

Could you use another body?

Sure.

I assume that's permissible, Dr. Gillespie, since I can be spared from

pediatrics?

Good luck.

You know where this is?

Come on.

Up on. Up on where?

On the back.

What do you mind?

This thing would shake me up and down like a cocktail shaker.

Taxi. You could use it.

Muscle. Solid muscle, Doctor.

1427 Banana Street.

Do you have a duplicate key for this apartment?

You can keep this one. Thanks.

Reminder for the milkman.

Laundry ticket.

Recipe for lasagna.

Lasagna, huh?

Hungry, Tony?

Not very, thanks.

Looks like home -jarred string beans.

That's it.

Can't tell except from a lab test.

Botulinus bacteria only grows after improper canning, right?

Almost always homemade stuff, but the lab will tell us.

Don't take chances, huh?

Can't. I've got a soft spot in my heart for neat housewives.

I don't care if her living room looks like an antique shop with a fire sale,

just so long as she keeps nice, neat leftovers.

Hey, look.

The party menu.

Bless her.

There's got to be something on there, because that's the only time they ever

together. Lasagna, asparagus, garbanzos. String beans.

Hey, the names of the guests there?

I don't see any.

How about the list of her pupils?

No.

Why those?

Specialty items.

Not the work of regular commercial canners. For a start... We'll grab all

like these off the shelves, wherever she bought them.

They look harmless.

Maybe they are.

Something wasn't.

Excuse me, but what did I do?

Nothing, Mr. Maffio, nothing.

You know, three weeks ago, the inspector was there, eh?

No, two semanas.

No, three.

Three.

Excuse me. Can I see your identification card once more, please?

I'm not a health inspector, Mr. Maffeo.

Oh.

What do you think you pull around here, huh?

Some specialty items on your shelves might contain botulinus toxin.

No, everything is Italian over here. No,

no, no, you don't understand.

It's poison.

Poison?

Here's a mushroom spaghetti sauce.

And I got a couple of others up here.

Mushroom and spaghetti sauce.

He's got a plum tomato. And you call this a poison? You call this a poison?

Look, Mr. Matthew, I want you to listen carefully to what I'm going to tell you.

I want you to keep these off the shelves until you hear from me.

Well, excuse me, but sometimes the customers come here to ask who I am. I'm

sorry I have to do this.

But I'll get them to the lab and I'll get a report back in the morning if I

get these samples to them.

Just tell them the truth. Tell them you're only trying to protect them.

Do you have any trouble swallowing?

I can't hardly at all.

Antitoxin.

I want to have a respirator standing by.

Did you go to a party yesterday at a woman's apartment named Elstead?

I ate my kid there.

You mind reading that?

No, but I'm glad I guessed right.

Do you know the names of the other guests?

All of them?

may be able to save their lives.

On the local scene, an outbreak of dreaded botulism food poisoning

the city today when two cases, one fatal, were reported by Blair General

Hospital.

While a massive supply of antitoxin was made available, Dr. Willard Rison of the

United States Public Health Service pointed out there is no cause for panic.

The contaminated food was found to have been served at a small party, said Dr.

Rison. All the other people present have already been contacted and given the

antitoxin. While a jar of home -canned string beans is suspected to be the

specific cause of poison, all other food items served at the party will be kept

off grocery shelves for 18 hours, needed for conclusive laboratory tests.

A near tragedy of major proportions, hopefully averted.

Long distance.

Relax.

The operator will let me know when the three minutes are up.

Yeah. The local office.

Huh?

Aunt Bush, dear.

Yeah, I miss you, too.

Okay, operator. Okay.

Yeah. Goodbye.

I'm getting too old. for all this running around.

While you were guessing, I called the hospital. No new cases.

Good. I think we've got it left.

Everybody at the parties had the antitoxin.

The lab is testing all the food that was on the party menu.

When are they going to give us a report?

Oh, any time now. I left this number.

Oh, that wife of mine.

If I take a plane, it's going to crash.

A train, it's going to be a collision.

A boat, It's kind of sinking.

Well, they tell me that's one of the joys of wedded bliss.

I figured you for a bachelor.

Too independent.

I miss her, too.

Why don't you... Why don't you just settle down in a local office like this?

Medical intelligence too much fun?

remember 10 years ago when old doc norson lined up the bunch of young

that volunteered for his special unit of public health service he spotted me

pointed his bony finger at me and said you got all fat one this is work for

young men not easy no fun you ready for that i said what are we gonna do

everything autumn fallout Dope, rabies, tuberculosis, everything.

You're gonna be part doctor, part bloodhound, part cop, part garbage man.

Do you know something?

I think he was wrong, Tony.

And you were right just now.

For me, it's... It's always been fun.

And you know something?

You're a born public servant.

Why do you say public servant as if it was in quotes?

As my public.

Protected by cops.

Victims of crooks.

Wooed by politicians.

Just people.

Well, every doctor serves people.

One way or another.

It's not the same.

Too many lollipops.

Scarred faces from an auto wreck.

That's when they need you, doctor.

Holding their hands, patching them up after they're sick.

That's not my kind of medicine.

Counsel prevention, huh?

My work takes me all over the world.

Not many people shake my hand and say thanks, doc.

No proud mamas, pointed kids say.

Old Doc Rison patched them up.

But I got better money.

Down there.

Everywhere.

Unknowing, uncaring men.

Women and kids that never got sick.

Because of me.

That takes me off the soapbox.

Doc Rison.

Yeah, shoot.

What? You sure?

I'll be right over.

Lab? We've had it.

Right back where we started from.

They tested every item we brought in for botulism. None of them poisonous.

luckier than Miss Elstead. Which one got the string beans?

This one over here.

Looked like a vegetarian to me.

Impossible.

You must have forgotten one of the samples we gave you.

Do your patients question your work, doctor?

I don't laugh it up while I'm trying to find out what's wrong with them. Relax,

Treadman. Thanks.

Jump out of your shining armor for a minute and cool off. What do you

We're stuck.

I suggest we get some sleep.

You just gave me a big pitch about how much you care for people. Is that how

care?

What do you recommend, wise guy?

That we go running around the city half -cocked looking for some kind of food we

don't know?

Or ask anybody we bump into on the street if they ate any botulinus toxin

lately? Okay, we mark time.

We go to sleep.

What miracle happens in the morning?

None.

We start from scratch.

And we beat the bushes until something turns up.

That's a lot better than two quack doctors yelling at each other because

too pooped to think straight.

Want to help or not?

What time?

Call me at 7, LaSalle Hotel.

I'll be there at 7.

Threadman.

You're not a bad guy.

But when I was your age, anyone, anyone talked to me the way you just did, and

I'd have belted them right in the kisser.

Lizzie? Hi.

I thought you'd be coming off now. Hello, Tony.

How's the Portland girl?

She's out of the respirator, holding her own.

Any new cases?

How'd you do?

Batting zero.

You hungry?

Is that an invitation?

Well, hop on. I'll fix you something.

Free?

Well, there might be some strings attached.

Eggs okay?

Sure, let me do them. No, don't bother.

Now, didn't you know that the man is supposed to sit with his feet up while

woman slaves over the hot stove?

Female propaganda.

The soup du jour is chicken noodle.

Cream of chicken.

You sure are the most untidy man I know. Now, how can you live this way?

Work.

A place to eat and sleep.

Luxuries are only needed from habit.

Oh, I'm afraid work doesn't satisfy my female instincts for luxury.

Are you satisfied otherwise, Liz?

Hospital's no vine -covered cottage.

Unappreciative residents aren't exactly the patter of little feet, but

otherwise, yes.

And you?

Afraid not.

I thought medicine was supposed to be like virtue, its own reward.

But no reward?

Not from treating wards full of kids after the damage is done.

Sympathy's a lousy anesthetic for pain, Liz.

What? Tony, maybe it's that there are other things besides work.

Besides, sure.

But not in place of.

Soup's hot.

You're the guest.

Don't throw that out.

What am I going to do with it? Well, they're perfectly good leftovers.

Better than the doctor's dining room.

Here. Well, maybe. It's better than half a portion of this and two teaspoons of

that. You really do need somebody to look after you.

Do you need a wipe?

Well,

I never was very subtle with you, was I, Tony?

leftovers. Leftovers!

Yeah, I'll be there as soon as I can.

No, no.

Tell me at Blair.

I might be awake by then.

Goodbye.

Did I say this business was fun?

I ought to have my head examined.

Liz, uh... I'm sorry.

Elizabeth gave me the idea he might have suffered.

He poured some leftover soup into a messy jar and found it on the shelf.

wait a minute. Let me get this straight.

Something else was in the jar before the string beans. Right.

The beans tested non -toxic, but something originally in that jar was

consumed at the party, leaving a handy container for leftovers.

Not much of whatever it was. Not enough for anybody to remember, even. No, it's

probably not even on the menu.

But that party was the only time all those people ate the same food.

After you, Sherlock.

Do I get a prize, Doctor?

You bet, if you give us the answers.

Oh, boy.

Now, I'll read you a list of all the food at the party, and you tell me

I leave out, okay?

Fruit salad.

Olives.

Lasagna.

With sausage.

Lasagna with sausage.

Attagirl, you catch him if he misses anything at all.

Gabonzos.

String beans.

Asparagus.

Pickles.

Salad with mayonnaise dressing.

Angel food cake.

What did he miss, Laura?

Nothing. That was easy.

He gave me all the answers.

You sure, honey?

It's very important that we know.

I'm sure.

Miss Elstead gave me a prize for helping.

She did?

She let me have another piece of cake.

Oh.

Well, I won't forget.

As soon as you're well again.

It was good.

Especially the icing.

She even let me eat the decor... You know, on top.

The decoration?

The decoration on top?

It was apricot.

Half apricot.

Apricot halves?

On top of the cake?

Sure. I got the last one.

How many apricot halves in a small mason jar?

Just enough to decorate a cake.

But where did she get them?

And how many more jars are there?

I must be back at the hotel. That's a fine place to leave a key.

How did I know we'd need it? Stop bellyaching and let's get over there.

on. Break it in?

Well, if your public health service won't pay for it, I will. Let's go.

Can't you remember what it said? No! Some kind of note about apricots, I

and it had an address on it.

Here it is. I've got it.

Well, come on, come on, read it.

See, apartment 320 West 3rd Avenue.

Thank Anna Apricot.

You know where it is? Yeah.

Come on, let's go.

How did I manna?

How do you know me? They told us downstairs.

You knew Miss Elstead?

Sure I know her.

Come in, please.

Thank you.

She come, we talk all the time, and she go downstairs to my door shop.

Did you give her some apricots?

Let me see.

She came last Thursday.

No, it was Wednesday.

Or Monday.

I cannot remember.

But I think it was Wednesday because that's the time when I make biscotti for

the church.

You know, they have a thing every year to raise money for the school.

But you did give her some apricots.

Sure, like I tell you.

It was Wednesday, I think.

We talk and she say she's going to have a party for some children she teach.

So I say, what can I give you myself that she's so nice?

And then I tell her there is an apartment empty just around the corner.

You canned them yourself, the apricots?

You can get no fruit like that in those four.

I picked them all myself at my son's. He got a place in the country.

Do you have... Beautiful, nice, big fruit for on top of the cake, you know?

Do you have any jars left?

You want some?

We'll look.

I got here in the closet.

I got, um...

Seven, eight left.

How many did you make?

Twelve. They nice?

Yeah. Where are the other jars?

I gave away.

To who?

What do you mean, to who?

Look, it's very important that we know who you gave the other jars to.

Well, to Miss Elstead, one.

That's nine.

Lady next door.

Now, who did you give the other two to?

To my son.

It was his apricot.

I'll check next door.

Anna, we're going to have to take these jars. Do you have a box I can put them

in? Why?

Who said you can take my epica? I'll explain later.

Did your son have a telephone in the country?

Sure, I get it. But first you tell me why you won't take my fruit.

This fruit wasn't canned properly, Anna.

It's deadly poison.

For a dozen jars of apricots.

Yeah, all right.

You know something, Tony?

I'm beat.

You know something?

I'm wide awake.

I feel like I've had a shot of adrenaline.

That's not adrenaline, doctor.

Actually, that's pure, unadulterated satisfaction.

Hop in.

Uh -huh.

Yes, Laura's in good shape.

They did, huh? Is that Dr. Rice?

Six kids.

Hold on just a second, will you, Doc?

I just thought you might like to let him know that you were right. The lab

report shows those apricots were loaded.

Did you hear that?

Yeah, Kildare just got the lab report.

Okay.

Same to you.

I'll see you soon.

Oh, did he find those other two jars?

Yeah, and he had to go all the way out to the farm to do it.

Anna's son has six kids.

Can you imagine what would have happened if they'd eaten that stuff?

Six kids.

They wouldn't have had Blair Hospital handy.

Well, probably would have taken castor oil.

But they didn't.

Well, good old Dr. Rison came through again.

Would you like some coffee?

You think you can smuggle a resident on suspension into the cafeteria?

Well, we'll bash you off as an intern, and then you'll be completely anonymous.

What about your suspension?

Have you seen Gillespie?

My appointment's for four o 'clock this afternoon.

You don't seem worried.

You know something, Doctor?

I'm looking forward to it.

You expect me to endorse this application?

I'd appreciate it, yes, sir.

You want to join this medical intelligence unit or you just can't take

Blair, which?

I can take anything, doctor.

I'm not giving enough at Blair. There's nothing wrong with your medicine. It's

only the way you practice it. What is it you're not giving us here?

Myself. I can't do anything halfway and I can never totally commit myself to

pediatrics at Blair or any place else.

It seems you're like a round peg bouncing from one square hole to

You're wrong, Doctor.

I finally found something I want to do the rest of my life.

I not only want to do it, I have to do it. I was under the impression that a

residency here was something you wanted and had to do.

I thought so, but I was a fraud.

I kept seeing kids staring up at me, trusting in me to make the hurt go away

when all I could do was try to repair the damage after it was done.

I'm tired of treating people with a couple of feces of medicine and a gallon

regret when they never should have been sick in the first place.

I'm not going to treat the same illnesses with different faces every

going to go out of here and I'm going to do something about it.

You know, preventing suffering and alleviating it are like the chicken and

egg. They're both vital.

But I'd have been a lousy pediatrician.

I'm glad you found something that you wanted.

Thanks, Dr. Gillespie.

Good luck, Tony.

Thanks again.

It's a good thing there are a lot of Gillespies around to take care of the

that'll slip through these fumbling fingers.

What else can I say, Lizzie?

I'm not going to tell you that there's been a lot of laughs. I'll see you

around.

No Danish modern, Tony?

Not for me.

No sign, please, don't feed the bears? No.

No turning the same doorknob at the same time... At the same place every day.

I couldn't, Liz.

Well, I'm not the first woman who's had work for a rival.

But it's a question of degree.

Unfortunately for me, my work doesn't come first.

Well, that's the way it should be for most people.

Not you.

Dr. Kildare.

His motorcycle will come in handy. Those medical intelligence guys really get

around.

You'll like that.

Can I buy you a cup of coffee?

Make that a drink?