Hello, my friends, old and new! As many of you know (and many of you don't) I am a doctor of medicine. I was toying with the idea of preparing a story on the subject - I was wondering, however, if there was enough material for it. What do you know - there was actually material for four stories - and I actually left a lot out! So, without further ado, let's get on with the second part.
Here are two more TV shows concerning doctors: first off, Dr. Kildare (1961-1966), one of the most successful TV shows ever that made a star of Richard Chamberlain (photo). This is a video of the opening and closing theme:
This is a scene from Season 1/Episode 9:
This is Richard Chamberlain singing the Theme From Dr. Kildare (Three Stars Will Shine Tonight), which was a hit in 1962:
The other show we're presenting today is The Bold Ones: The New Doctors (1969–1973). Among its creators was Steven Bochco, the man who later gave us the seminal Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law. This is a trailer for the DVD set:
Doctor in the House (1954), the story of Simon Sparrow (a young Dirk Bogarde), a newly arrived medical student at St Swithin's hospital in London, became the most popular film of its year at the UK box office. Many sequels followed - the last one in 1970, as well as a TV series. The real star of this series of films, however, was James Robertson Justice, as the looming and formidable chief surgeon, Sir Lancelot Spratt, who put the fear of God into the younger doctors. Here's a scene from the film:
Another hugely successful series of comedy films in the UK was the Carry On movies. There were 31 movies in all! Carry On Nurse (1959) was the second of the lot, being the top-grossing film of 1959 in the UK and, with an audience of 10.4 million, having the highest cinema viewing of any of the "Carry On" films. Perhaps surprisingly, it was also highly successful in the US, where it was reported that it played at some cinemas for three years.
This is the 60th Anniversary Trailer of Carry On Nurse:
Carry On Doctor (1967) was the third biggest general release hit at the British box office in 1968, after The Jungle Book and Barbarella. It was also the first "Carry On" film that I've ever seen. Two years later, Carry On Again Doctor would be released. This is a scene from Carry On Doctor with the inimitable Kenneth Williams:
Everybody knows James Bond - and almost everybody knows that it all began with Dr. No (1962). This is the trailer:
Dr. Strangelove (1964) was Kubrick's take on dark comedy - and as with most of his work - it was a masterpiece. It's not actually about a medical doctor but never mind. Here's a great scene:
David Lean's Dr. Zhivago (1965) was one of the most successful movies of the 60s - and this one involves a real physician, even though the film focuses on his love life and on the surrounding political situation rather than his profession. Here it is:
Finally, Doctor Dolittle (1967) was about a doctor for animals:
These are the actors and actresses who were nominated or won an Oscar for portraying a doctor or a nurse in the 50s and 60s:
Jennifer Jones (nominated: 1955) for Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing. This is the trailer:
Gig Young (nominated: 1958) for Teacher's Pet. This is the trailer:
Paul Muni (nominated: 1959) for The Last Angry Man.
Oskar Werner (nominated: 1965) for Ship of Fools. In this scene, we see Werner and the (also nominated) Simone Signoret:
Now, it's time for the songs: in 1973, a favorite of mine, Don McLean, sang an older song called On The Amazon. The lyrics are really surreal (listen closely). Medical words that appear in the song are hypodermics, vertebrae, laryngitis, parasites, duodenum, the epiglottis, menopause, adenoids, and deadly stethoscopes. Here it is:
Now, let's meet a few of the acts that have a "medical" name. Spin Doctors gave us the classic Two Princes:
... Also from the Spin Doctors, this is Jimmy Olsen's Blues:
This is a glam rock act from the 80s, Doctor and the Medics. Their cover of Spirit in the Sky went all the way to #1 in the UK:
Their cover of Abba's Waterloo made the UK top 50. It featured a great musician, Roy Wood, the co-founder of the Move, ELO, and Wizzard. Here it is:
Medicine Head was a British blues-rock band – initially a duo – active in the 1970s. Their biggest single success was in 1973, with One and One Is One, a #3 hit in the UK:
.... Their follow-up, Rising Sun, peaked at #11 in the UK:
Now, let's listen to a few songs with medical titles. Here's the legendary supergroup of the 60s, Cream, (Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker) and their hit N.S.U.
N.S.U. stands for Non-Specific Urethritis, which describes any inflammation of a man's urethra that is not caused by gonorrhea. Now you know!
The great Scott Walker had two "medical" songs. This is The Plague - and I dedicate it to our friend Alan, who is a great fan:
... And this is one of his recent songs, definitely a more difficult listen, but worth it. It's called Psoriatic:
A favorite of ours, Paul Simon, gave us Allergies:
The Scissor Sisters said, Doctor (I'm Only Seeing Dark):
T.B. Sheets, by the great Van Morrison, is about tuberculosis:
Echo & The Bunnymen gave us The disease:
... While Depeche Mode helped us Shake The Disease:
Matchbox Twenty were feeling Unwell:
St. James Infirmary was visited by many; the grand master, Louis Armstrong, was one of its visitors:
... So was the voice of the Animals, Eric Burdon:
The Pink Floyd commanded, Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk:
The Velvet Underground described Lady Godiva's Operation:
... While the group's leader, Lou Reed, talked (much later) about Harry's Circumcision:
The Avalanches definitely need a Frontier Psychiatrist:
... While Napoleon XIV secured a place in a psychiatric clinic in They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!:
David Seville spoke of another kind of doctor, the Witch Doctor:
Carol Douglas had a hit with Doctor’s Orders in the US:
... While Sunny had a hit with the same song in the UK:
More of this next time, maybe even tomorrow. Later, babies!
