Dr. Kildare: Interns Can't Take Money

Dr. Kildare #1

by Max Brand

Max Brand created one of his most popular characters, Dr. Kildare, in this work.

Genres: Fiction

Audio Cassette

First published March 1, 1995

About the author

Frederick Schiller Faust (see also Frederick Faust), aka Frank Austin, George Owen Baxter, Walter C. Butler, George Challis, Evin Evan, Evan Evans, Frederick Faust, John Frederick, Frederick Frost, David Manning, Peter Henry Morland, Lee Bolt, Peter Dawson, Martin Dexter, Dennis Lawson, M.B., Hugh Owen, Nicholas Silver

Max Brand, one of America's most popular and prolific novelists and author of such enduring works as Destry Rides Again and the Doctor Kildare stories, died on the Italian front in 1944.

Reviews

[Classic reverie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have seen a couple of Dr. Kildare movies and have heard the Old Time Radio program, so I was interested in reading Max Brand's first Doctor Kildare short story, "Internes Can't Take Money." I am not reading this edition but from a Delphi Collection of his works which included the below. It seems more like "Gang Busters" radio program but a light, not too harden criminals. LOL, kind of scary to think a doctor drinks before surgery, but he says it does not hurt him. I suppose it depends how much and what kind!


"New York City, c. 1900 — after failing to graduate at Berkeley and having had his request to fight in the First World War denied, Brand was working in New York City as a labourer when a letter to the New York Times in 1917 led to a meeting with Robert Davis, an editor of Munsey’s pulp magazines. The meeting led to his employment as a writer on All-Story Weekly."

"Max Brand, created the character of Dr. James Kildare as a fictionalised version of his college friend, Dr. George Winthrop “Dixie” Fish, a New York surgeon. He first introduced the character in a short story, “Internes Can’t Take Money”, first published in the March 1936 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. A second Kildare story, “Whiskey Sour”, appeared in Cosmopolitan in April 1938."


"In 1938, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) contracted with Brand to acquire the rights to the Kildare character along with Brand’s services as a film story writer. Brand then made major changes to the character to fit MGM’s idea for a new movie series, including changing Kildare’s specialty to diagnostics rather than surgery, introducing the character of Kildare’s superior Dr. Leonard Gillespie, minimisng the criminal elements and restarting the story from Kildare’s first arrival at the city hospital."

Short story in short- Dr. Kildare likes to have a couple beers over at McGuire's saloon and runs into trouble.

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Doctor Jimmy Kildare has a rough time because he is not one of the richer young doctors. He has had a couple of loans from Doctor Fearson. Kildare is known to be very competent and respected. While having a couple beers at McGuire's saloon, a young man Hanlon comes into the bar with a badly bleeding arm being cut from forearm to wrist. Hanlon can not go to the hospital, it is uncertain if he is truly a criminal or not, if he is not operated on he will lose of his arm, so Kildare operates in the saloon. McGuire offers to pay him but Kildare tells them that internes can't take money and refuses. Kildare then delivers Hanlon's baby and wins a devout follower in Hanlon's wife. After Jimmy finds out that his friend, Fearson has to pay $4000 in gambling debts, and has I until midnight, Jimmy decides to help the man that Hanlon shot, Dennis Innis, who has a bad chest wound and will not survive but with the help of Kildare who learned a special technique, saves him for $4000. Kildare decides to take the money for his friend but the criminals refuse him to take it, so he can be honest. Kildare is told his friend is okay because he is a friend of Kildare.

[smokeandmirrors · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short which got adapted into a film with Barbara Stanwyck -- but this version doesn't have the Barbara character! So obviously it's pretty inferior. I guess I do like these power fantasy stories about being THEEEE most moral doctor in the world, SO moral that gangsters love you. That's pretty good value

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first "Dr. Kildare" tale. Very brief. Audio tape on a road trip.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't normally record short stories as books read, but this is the first introduction to Dr Kildare. An average read but interesting enough to encourage me to read more.