Original subtitles

For a while there, my golf game seemed to be coming apart at the seams. So I

went to this pro over at Fairmont, and he went to work on my backswing. The

thing he said is to go right on through. I'll tell you that. I was going to shop

in our neighborhood.

The same fellow who's been doing my hair for years.

Well, it was always the same thing.

The child's an absolute brat.

But you should just see the way he walks in here when she's playing bridge.

But you know something?

It's nobody's fault but hers.

She's entirely too permissive.

You know everybody here. Why don't you get yourself a drink, huh?

Jenny, come here. We'll settle this once and for all. Now, Jenny, what we want

to know is this. Are you going to testify for or against your old man? And

bribing the witness, Harry. What's this all about?

Not Sam.

Sam. Sam, the marlin I caught in the pond last year. Oh, are you still

about that?

Jerry, why are you such a cynic? It sounds avant -garde. You call it avant

-garde. Dr.

Nelson, telephone call for you, sir. Oh, thanks.

Excuse me, it appears that Dr. Nelson is about to turn into a pumpkin.

It happens every time we have a party at Middletown.

Hello.

Dr. Nelson, this is your answering service.

A Miss Joan Prentiss called.

She believes her father has had a heart attack.

She tried to reach him, but the line was busy.

She told me to tell you she's taking Mr. Prentiss to play a hunt.

All right, thank you.

Admitting service 102.

Is Dr. Galdi there?

Dr. Galdi, telephone.

Excuse me.

Yes?

Dr. Goldie, this is Dr. Nelson.

A patient of mine should be arriving in a short while, a Mr. George Prentiss.

George Prentiss.

Could be a coronary, I'm not sure.

I'm leaving now.

Right, we'll take care of it, Doctor.

It is a wonderful view, isn't it? Well, it happens.

George Prentiss is not well, and I've got to get down to the hospital. Oh,

we'll drive you down.

Yeah, let's go down.

All right, Peggy, how goes it? Oh, bubble, bubble, toil and trouble.

Can I help you?

Yeah.

I'll take it.

Hold on. We'll take care of you.

Just lie down, please.

What's your name, sir?

Charlie.

Frank Charlie.

And your age?

Sixty -one.

All right, Mr. Chernick, if you'll just take off your coat and lie down.

Am I going to die, Doctor?

I doubt it.

If you don't get up on the table, we won't be able to find out, will we?

Mr. Prentiss?

Yes, Dr. Nelson. I've been briefed.

I'll have somebody work you up until Dr. Nelson gets here. Take him to number

seven, will you, John?

Dr.

Kildare, speak to you in a minute.

Suspected coronary in number seven. I'd like you to start working him up. I

can't. I've got a patient. Like now, doctor.

Be back as soon as I can.

Where's the attending?

He's on his way here from a party.

Patient's wife and chauffeur?

Daughter and chauffeur.

Object lesson. There's no grease for greasing wheels like a million bucks,

here. Twenty.

It's twenty million dollars, doctor.

As far as we can tell, it looks more like angina than an MI.

Squeezing pressure in the chest, subsiding within half an hour.

Blood pressure slightly elevated.

EKG is normal.

Oh, we also drew an SGOT on him.

In other words, George, you don't have to start drafting codicils to your will.

At the rate I'm going, you'll probably be around to bury me.

Don, this thing ever happen to me?

But you feel better now, do you?

Ah, 100%. 100%.

Well, I'd say you're out of the woods.

We're going to hit you with a few days' bed rest.

Just to make sure you don't pull any more of these shenanigans.

They're probably no muscle damage.

I would agree.

So I suggest we get the blazes out of here and let this poor fellow get some

rest.

So, this little glasshopper, you see, crawling around the bar.

You've got nothing to worry about, sweetie.

You're sure? I'm sure.

We're going to let him rest here for a few days.

And believe me, it won't do him any harm.

You should have brought him a bottle of your champagne, Harry.

The perfect prescription.

It kills you, but you don't worry about it. Why stop with the champagne, Dr.

Nelson? Why not bring your whole party along?

Then you won't have to break up your evening.

I am giving it to you, doctor, straight up and down.

I don't like it here.

I guess I'm scared. I can't help it. I am scared. I want to go home.

You can't go home, Mr. Cheneck.

It's the first time I was in a hospital.

First time.

We haven't missed anything, Mr. Cheneck.

But now that you've honored us, we want to make you as comfortable as possible

and get you better.

Doctor, help me.

Dr. Gillespie wants to see you right away.

I understand that you don't approve of champagne, Doctor.

I don't think it should be mixed with medicine, sir. Are you implying that Dr.

Nelson was potted last night?

No. Then what occasioned this immature outburst of yours in the hospital

corridor?

I felt Dr. Nelson's conduct was, well, you might say lax.

I felt he put his personal convenience ahead of the obligations of being a

doctor. That he couldn't bring himself to break away from his party, arrived

late, demanded preferential treatment for his patient, and when he did arrive,

made unbecoming and cavalier quips in the hospital corridor.

I know all about it. I know all about your biased interpretation of innocent

events. Let me put you straight, Doctor.

Dr. Nelson came as soon as he was called.

He demanded nothing unreasonable for his patient. Dr. Gauldy, the resident, had

quite properly given the Prentiss case top priority.

A coroner is top priority.

As for the quips in the corridor, you must remember, doctor, that this is a

hospital and not a convent school for young girls.

Do you know why you stepped out of line?

Maybe I was tired, sir. I don't know.

Tired? Nonsense. You were vulnerable, that's all.

Sir? You know, Kildare, during medical school, internship, even residency, it's

natural and it's proper for a young doctor to concentrate on the virtues of

professional accomplishment, the dedicated life, to use a rather battered

phrase.

So the profit motive tends to become suspect, or it's lost in the shuffle.

A well -to -do doctor is necessarily a charlatan, and that's not so.

It's easy for you to ignore the truth that it's possible and quite consistent

with the ethics of our profession for a doctor to be profitably, gainfully

engaged in the practice of good medicine.

Dr. Nelson is a good doctor.

I happen to know that he's with his patient now in Suite B.

I think it would be in order for you to go there and apologize to him.

Yes, sir.

One more thing, Kildare.

Sir?

Please grow up.

Right away, sir.

Why not just let things hang for a while?

Your business isn't going to walk away, you know.

No, it's not that, Harry.

It's not my business. It's me.

I can't stand having time on my hands.

It scares me.

realize how lonely I am.

Hello.

I'd like to talk to Dr. Nelson.

Won't you come in?

Hello, Dr. Kildare.

Mr. Prentice, I hear you're doing very well, sir.

That's what they tell me.

Doctor, may I talk to you for a minute?

Yes, certainly. I'll just finish him.

You be a good boy, George. We'll let you out in a couple of days.

On parole, that is.

Do I, Tom?

Bye, Dr. Nelson.

What can I do for you?

I wanted you to know that I'm sorry about last night. I was way off base.

Were you?

I'm not so sure.

I thought so at the moment.

Driving home, I started harking back to my days as an intern.

You know, Kildare, it's the darndest thing the way a man loses touch.

You move out of one stream into another, and you just plain forget.

No, it occurred to me on the drive home that I probably would have acted exactly

as you did in your position.

When I was an intern, we had a resident named Dr.

Redman. And this guy made Simon Legree look like a labor leader.

And I used to dream of dismembering this character.

You're kidding.

So, you guys still pull those 24 -hour tricks?

Oh, yeah. I just had one last week. Somebody ought to get the ASPCA after

for that.

You know what's wrong with you, Dr. Kildare?

You don't get a chance to unwind.

And when you do get a chance, you don't have the wherewithal to do it with.

So you're forgiven on one condition.

You're to present yourself at my house this Saturday night for a lesson in

relaxation.

unwinding and other related subjects with my wife and me presiding.

And that includes you.

Me?

You mean a real party? Yes, sir. You mean a party like with real girls?

I don't mean nurses. I mean like real girls.

I mean girls with real... I really have to go, Jim. I have an operation to

dissect.

Have you ever seen him without his hairpiece?

Okay, so Monday you have a course on early French poets.

Tuesday you have a lecture on stained glass windows.

Wednesday the opera, right? And Thursday night you're going to the International

Club dance.

What about Friday? You want to shoot some pool?

Friday I go roller skating.

And Saturday night you take your bath.

So that about winds up the week.

Here, practice basketball.

You're going to be good.

Very nice of you to invite us, Mrs. Nelson, especially after the other

Well, you don't have to explain, Dr. Kildare. Harry told me the whole story.

I'm so glad he asked you here.

You like it at Blair?

Well, I think I'll like it a lot better when my internship is over.

I shouldn't say that.

At times when it's pretty grueling, when you can't see the forest for the trees,

but... I can't think of any place else I'd rather be.

You remind me so much of him.

Of who?

Harry, my husband.

When he was serving his internship.

Really?

Well, it's nothing you put your finger on.

Lord knows you don't look like him.

It's more of an attitude.

Oh, excuse me, Dr. Kildare. I think we're running out of canopy.

I get my greatest kicks out of the commodity market. But a lot of people I

to seem to make out all right with convertible debentures. Of course.

It offers an opportunity for conversion and a boom market.

On the other hand, you find you're really paying for the privilege.

What were a couple of years ago, George?

Pretty weird, isn't it?

Every time I come to one of these parties, I feel like Alice in

I didn't know you were here.

I creep on little catsies, like the fox.

How's your father?

He's good as new.

He came home yesterday.

Do you like it here?

I do now.

Do you ever... Do you ever like to watch people?

Sometimes.

Most of the time, people frighten me.

Do they, you?

No, I don't suppose they do, or you wouldn't be a doctor.

If I stand and watch them, you know...

The way you watch a puppet show.

Then it's different.

Then you can laugh with them.

Or feel sorry for them.

Or sometimes, even love them.

Why do you look at me that way?

I don't even know your name.

It's Joan.

Yours is Jim.

How'd you know?

I knew.

Never mind.

No, no, tell me how.

Very simple.

I was standing in one of the hospital corridors and you were talking to some

the doctors.

One of them called you Jim.

You're very observant.

But I want to be.

And you wanted to be?

And you're very brave, too.

I don't know. I've never been put to the test.

You like to speak your mind.

Oh, let's not talk about that.

I'm afraid that was more indiscretion than valor.

My ears haven't stopped burning since the night they brought your father in.

Oh, but you were magnificent.

Completely boorish, misguided, and blundering.

But such dash.

You should have seen the way you turned on your heels and stalked off.

In a huff, as they say.

Oh, you were in two or three huffs.

I'm glad you were boorish, misguided, and blundering.

You wouldn't be here otherwise, would you?

Which just goes to show that the wages of sin are sometimes the best wages

going.

Joan, when can I see you?

I feel like I'm on a carousel.

You see me now.

We see each other.

Let's let happen what will happen.

How does it look, doctor?

Looks about the same, Mr. Chernik.

Am I going to get better?

Yes, you are.

Then why can't I hold anything in my stomach?

Mr. Chernik, you have a duodenal ulcer.

You probably had it for years.

Now, you can't blame your stomach too much. You should have brought it to us a

lot sooner.

Doctor, what are you going to do to me?

Same as we've been doing.

Give you medicine.

proper food, see that you rest.

Yeah.

But if they ever have to cut me, I want you to do it.

You understand?

Mr. Cheneck, I'm an intern.

If you need an operation, one of the surgeons will do it.

So do they have to cut me?

No, I didn't say that. I said if.

Don't get yourself worked up.

If you won't be there, I won't let them do it.

I won't.

I'll see you later, Mr. Chernik.

Oh, Dr. Goldie.

Yes, Doctor?

I was just in to see Chernik.

Oh, yes, the obstructed ulcer. There's no improvement in his condition.

I know.

We've had him on a milk drip and nightly aspirations.

Personally, I think he'll have to go to operation. But we'll see.

I've ordered another upper GI. That ought to do the trick.

There may be a problem with surgery.

What do you mean?

We're getting his consent. He's pretty apprehensive.

We'll worry that one when we get there.

You look rested, Doctor.

You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

Dr. Kildare, phone for you. Oh, thank you, Liz.

Hello?

Alice.

Who? From Wanderlust.

I want to speak to the March Hare.

John, what a surprise.

Says he, gasping in horror.

Are you all sterile and dripping blood?

To the navel in gore.

I should have known better.

Tell me, do they ever let you out of that place?

Oh, sometimes, for good behavior.

Like this afternoon at four o 'clock.

Would you like to help me feed the gulls?

Do what?

I often go down to Rocky Point to throw suet at the gulls. It's great fun.

Would you like to help me?

I can be there at five o 'clock.

Do you know the way?

Well, follow the gulls.

You cook.

Goodbye.

Bye.

Look alive, Thompson.

Hello, Jim.

Look at that.

I'd like to live by the sea.

You know, when animals started crawling out of the sea, I think I must have been

one of the last.

You come here often?

Yes.

Alone?

Yes.

Why?

Why alone?

I don't know.

Because I enjoy my own company better than most people I know, I suppose.

But then, I have friends all over the world. Did you know that?

Friends I've never seen.

You see...

Dad's an import -export.

I get him to give me the names and addresses of people he knows, and I

them.

I bet I know some of them lots better than he does.

Do you know they take baths together in Tokyo?

So I've heard.

They're very clean in Tokyo.

Tell me about yourself now.

Are you going to be the most wonderful, wonderful doctor in the world? Oh,

without a doubt.

Tell me about people when they die.

Do you put mirrors over their mouths to make sure they've stopped breathing?

All the time.

I did that once.

When I found my mother.

I found her in a boat we had at the time.

First...

I thought she was asleep.

When I touched her, she was cold.

What did she die of?

An overdose of sleeping pills.

Oh, it was all right.

There were lots of contacts in the newspapers.

So nothing got out.

Not really.

It was all mixed up with a lover and all that.

I thought most exciting at the time.

When I get married, I shan't ever take a lover.

When was it?

We met?

Yeah.

Saturday the 23rd.

Somebody should declare it a national holiday.

Free candy for the children and dancing in the streets.

All traffic tickets fixed by the governor. And hospital residents to tar

feather.

What's a resident?

Doctor attached to the hospital. No outside practice.

They spend most of their time dreaming up tortures to inflict on insurgents.

Will you be a resident?

Do I live that long?

I don't want there to be a next year or a next month.

Why not?

Because.

Well, what's wrong with next month?

No.

You have oriental eyes.

That's great. Just great.

You have half an hour to get to the hospital.

No. Yes.

Bye.

We got Chernick's upper GI yesterday.

There's still a lot of obstruction.

Looks like we're going to have to do a subtotal gastrectomy.

Get a surgical consultation.

Have you told him yet?

I told him.

He's going to be a tough one.

He's scared out of his wits.

But for some strange reason, doctor, which I can't fathom, the man looks to

for security.

Well, maybe it's because you worked him up when he came in.

Or maybe because he likes the color of your eyes.

Who knows?

The fact is...

You're going to be the one who's got to go after him for the consent for

surgery.

Okay, I'll talk to him. It could be an extended campaign.

I wouldn't wait too long.

They've come yesterday about five o 'clock.

This other doctor, what's his name?

Dr. Goldie. Yeah, he says, we have come to have a chat with you.

Mr. Cheney.

They've come to soften me up. That's more like it.

He didn't have to go on after that. He just wasted his breath.

He wanted to cut me open.

It's the only way you'll get better, Mr. Cheney.

And if I don't get any better, then what?

Am I going to die?

Well, Doctor.

There would be a chance, yes.

And what about the chance upstairs in that long white table?

Practically negligible when compared to the other.

I have no one, Doctor, killed.

No one.

I was single all my life. I lived with my sister in a house and

she died a year ago.

You would think it's easier that way.

Nobody to worry about.

Nothing to leave behind.

It is.

I'll think about it.

All right.

When I reach a decision, I'll let you know.

Dr. Kildare.

Could you be there?

Be where?

Take me upstairs.

Yes.

Would you give me your word?

Yes.

Do you like to travel, Jim?

Oh, I don't know.

I've never had much time for it.

Even to think about it.

I'd like to spend my life traveling.

Moving from place to place.

New sights, new people.

It's like being reborn over and over again.

Does that mean I'm mentally deranged or something?

Wonderfully deranged.

And beautifully arranged.

I told my father about you.

He wants to meet you.

Can you come tomorrow?

In the morning?

He'll be home all day.

The next day he's off to Hong Kong for three weeks.

That's funny.

You talk about people frightening you.

People like your father kind of frighten me.

Dad?

That's ridiculous.

Well, it's not the man, actually. It's...

It's the world he represents.

Can you understand that?

I don't know.

But will you?

As a matter of fact, if my memory serves me right, and I think it does, there

was once a time when I toyed with the idea of going into medicine.

I think it was when I was off at... prep school, a month before or after I

decided to become another Jim Corbett.

I don't think he would have made a good doctor, do you, Jim? Why not?

I don't know.

He doesn't look like one.

He looks like a chairman of the board.

Want more coffee, doctor?

Oh, no, no, thank you, sir.

This hallier keeps snapping on me.

Let's take a look at it.

Oh, the band.

It's been threatening to break on me, so there it went.

Well, that's a shame.

That's okay. I can get it fixed. There's a little jeweler around the corner from

the hospital.

Do you mind if I diagnose it, doctor?

It's okay, Mr. Prentiss. I can get it fixed.

Let's have a look at this.

Your doctors never give up, do you?

As long as there's a breath left in something.

Even in an expiring watch band.

Mr. Prentiss.

Hmm.

It'd take me almost a week's salary to buy another watch band.

Oh, come, come. That's a little stringent, isn't it, Doctor?

What does an intern get at Blair?

Sixty dollars a month, sir.

Good grief. Really?

I had no idea.

Well, well.

All that will be changed next year, won't it?

He has three more years to go, Dad.

He explained his whole schedule to me.

First he gets to be an assistant resident, and then a resident, and then

Three years?

Is that right, Doctor?

At least that's her.

He's going to be the most famous doctor in the whole world.

Oh, no doubt.

But it's apt to be a considerable struggle, meanwhile, isn't it? I can't

admiring your courage.

Joanie. What?

Alice Palmer.

Can you imagine what a woman like that could do for a young doctor trying to

make a start?

We're having dinner with her at the club. Of course. I can't imagine a

opportunity for Jim to meet her.

Oh, she's intolerable and ugly as sin, but she does happen to be a social

around here.

I can't think of anybody who would do you more good.

I'm on duty tonight at Blair, sir.

You can get somebody to cover for you, can't you?

You know, shift things around a bit. I'm sure it can be done.

Wouldn't that be a gambit, getting the two of them together?

Could you, Jim?

George!

It's Ginny Nelson.

Oh, George, how are you feeling?

I'm just fine.

What prompts you to come visit an old man?

A cup runneth over with ease. I'm unloading surplus crops.

My, they're lovely, Ginny.

But wait till I tell you my woes. My transmission went kapooey. I got a dash

right back, but I don't know how well I'm going to do it. I could drop you

Mrs. Nelson. I'll be leaving in a little while.

Oh, Dr.

Kildare. So nice to see you again. Hi, Joan.

Hello, Ginny. Could you really?

Certainly. Well, that would be awfully sweet of you.

George, could I use your phone to call the garage?

Why, of course. Joanie, take her into the library.

Or ask Lionel to put those flowers in water, will you?

How do you overgrow them so big, Jimmy? Well, I'll tell you, dear. It's all

according to how much you pay the gardener.

Well, Jim, I wish I could entice you into reconsidering about dinner.

I can't believe that something couldn't be juggled around over at the hospital.

I'm afraid it's out of the question, Mr. Prentiss.

This woman could do you a world of good.

Suppose I telephone the hospital.

I may know half your board of directors over there.

Mr. Prentice, do you know why I have to be back at the hospital?

Because you're a scrupulous young man.

Wrong.

Because an old man who couldn't possibly do anybody any good may be dying.

He's going to be operated on. He thinks he's going to die on the table.

He may be right.

I gave him my word to be present when they take him upstairs.

Aren't you being a little bit sentimental, Dr. Kildare?

I don't think so, Mr. Prentice.

It was so nice of you to offer to do this, Dr. Kildare.

I'm truly grateful.

No trouble at all.

You're so quiet, Doctor.

Is something troubling you?

Oh, no, no. Nothing.

Would you, uh... Would you care to stop off for a cup of coffee?

I'm sorry, I can't.

Oh, yes. Yes, thank you.

Do they work you very hard at Blair?

Oh, yes, that they do.

I'll bet you love it, don't you?

Most of the time I'm not aware of it, but I guess I do.

Harry wasn't aware of it either.

But you know, those early years were the happiest of our lives.

We were married a week after he graduated from medical school.

Wasn't that a little rough on you?

Yes, I know.

Of course, I didn't see very much of him, but...

Life was so full of excitement in those days.

So full of promise.

I remember that we used to drive out to a little restaurant in the mountains.

Or porters, it was called.

And Harry'd bring along some of the interns from the hospital.

And they'd sit around all night long until the place closed.

Jabbering on and on and on. All shopped up.

I never had the foggiest what it was all about.

But that didn't matter.

All that mattered was the joyous, overwhelming enthusiasm.

Yeah, I know what you mean.

Poor boy.

First I make you drive me home, and then I proceed to smother you with my

reminiscences.

But I love to think back on those times.

Days filled with a kind of electricity.

Only they didn't last.

You see, I had money.

Oh, in the beginning it didn't seem to matter, but the erosion was there, the

washing away of his pride.

You see, he felt he had to match my money with his own.

Oh, it isn't that he isn't a fine doctor, because he is, but...

Every once in a while, I can't help but wonder if he'd never met me.

If his life had been clean and free from complications.

If he'd had just a little more time to try his wings.

You have something very precious, Dr. Kildare.

You can call it anything you want to.

Vision, dedication.

Do you have it?

Because it's what you are.

Don't ever lose it.

You're not going to have to do a thing, Mr. Chernick, except sleep.

And when you wake up, you'll be minus some trouble.

We're going to modernize you, Mr. Chernick.

How soon will it be?

Not long.

His doctor killed that he'll be here.

Well, he promised me He gave me his word

Is Dr. Kildare there, please?

When do you expect him?

Thank you.

Glenn? I got your message downstairs.

Sit down.

We had a patient here recently, a George Prentiss. I'm sure you remember him.

Yes, sir.

It appears you've been meeting him socially.

As a matter of fact, sir, I just spent the day.

Yes, I know about that.

He spent the day at his house.

It appears he's taken a considerable interest in you. All the reason for this

didn't divulge to me.

Evidently, my exhortation the other day caused you to broaden your social

horizon.

That's very commendable.

Although you appear to be pursuing the project with a vengeance, what I don't

relish, Doctor, is Mr. George Prentiss calling me on the telephone on your

behalf. He phoned you, sir?

Didn't you know?

I got the impression that you and he were working on me together.

Look, Dr. Gillespie, I swear to you, I had no idea he was going to call you.

George Prentiss called me an hour ago and asked me to release you from your

this evening.

He explained that he thought you were a promising young man and wished to

forward your career and felt that certain introductions would be

think was his word.

He said he was sure that I'd understand.

And what did you tell him, sir?

I told him that I did not understand.

Thank you, Doctor.

Thank you very much.

Someone to see you in the waiting room.

Caucasian, female, age, under 25.

James.

My father called the hospital. I know.

I pleaded with him not to.

I told him you'd be angry.

I called here, but you hadn't checked in yet.

I wanted to explain.

He's so used to controlling things.

He doesn't realize there's some things that can't be controlled.

Please don't be too angry.

Joan, it...

It's not that I'm angry.

I know.

You don't have to tell me.

I saw it in your face this afternoon when you said goodbye.

It's finished, isn't it?

Yes.

That's what I found myself telling myself.

And I wanted to shake my fist at myself in defiance.

I wanted to tell myself that love conquers all.

That you and I could walk into the sunset together.

Et cetera, et cetera.

It just doesn't work, does it?

That's the terrible part of it.

The sudden agony of growing up.

Realizing we don't live in Never Never Land after all.

That we're not the free spirits we think we are.

Because... If I were to be honest with you... I'd have to tell you... I

wanted you to come tonight.

Despite everything.

Tossed duty and dedication to the wind.

I wanted you.

I'd make the most dreadful doctor's wife.

You have no idea.

All those people choosing midnight to get appendicitis.

I... I'd hate every one of them.

Would you... flap your wings to take off for Rome or

Shangri -La?

Maybe just that coffee house down the street.

And I'd be with my stethoscope around my neck.

Bring you down.

We'd devour each other, wouldn't we?

Cat and dog all the way. Yes.

But still.

It is indeed, Jim.

You do have oriental eyes.

I came to say goodbye, Jim.

And give you this.

It's a watch band.

Very sweet, no?

I suppose I'll be getting married someday.

Who knows?

Perhaps I'll come here.

Perhaps I'll come here to have my baby.

Thank you.