Appropriately, a story about both a pandemic and anti-Asian prejudice...
...in this time when CoronaVirus is experiencing another uptick and violence against those of Asian descent is hitting levels unseen in decades!
To Be Continued...
If you're under the age of 60 or so, you're probably asking...
WHO THE HECK IS DR KILDARE???
Created in the 1930s by author Frederick Schiller Faust using his "Max Brand" pen-name (which he also used on his better-known Old West tales), the Dr Kildare stories inspired popular simultaneous B-movie and dramatic radio series in the 1940s starring hunky newcomer Lew Ayres as the handsome, witty, intelligent, but fallible, intern James Kildare mentored by crusty department head Leonard Gillespie, played by noted actor Lionel Barrymore!
In 1961, noting reruns of both the movie series (syndicated on local TV) and the radio show (playing on college radio stations) were doing amazingly-well with the 18-45 female audience, MGM went ahead with an updated TV version starring hunky newcomer Richard Chamberlain...
...as the young intern learning the ropes under crusty department head Gillespie...
...played by noted actor Raymond Massey!
(See a pattern?)
The socially-relevant series tackled a number of controversial topics including sickle cell anemia, drug addiction, epilepsy, and racism!
Stories about birth control and venereal disease were "killed" by NBC censors before they could be filmed!
The immediate success of the series inspired both a popular copycat (Ben Casey) as well as reformatting of other ongoing medical dramas to play up their existing young male doctors or create new young male doctor characters to help them compete with Kildare!
The immediate success of the series inspired both a popular copycat (Ben Casey) as well as reformatting of other ongoing medical dramas to play up their existing young male doctors or create new young male doctor characters to help them compete with Kildare!
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