Meet Dr. Christian

Getting back to the films of Bernard Vorhaus, I turn to 1939's Meet Dr. Christian, which was based on a radio show, and later became a television series. This was the first of six films about the kindly country doctor who dispenses impeccable wisdom along with medical advice.

Played by Jean Hersholt (who was quite a humanitarian), Dr. Christian is the kind of doctor who accepts bushels of tomatoes as payment. He once wanted to be a hot shot doctor in Chicago, but learned he can be a big success in a small town, even if it's not monetary success.

The conflict in the film centers around the good doctor butting heads with the town's bumptious businessman (Paul Harvey). Hersholt is away on a call when an emergency arises at Harvey's plant, so Harvey fires him as company doctor. Later, Hersholt will lead the movement to get Harvey appointed mayor (this doctor holds no grudges), but Harvey's refusal to listen to a proposal for a new hospital gets the doctor fired as health commissioner.

There are subplots involving the romantic entanglements of Harvey's son (Jackie Moran) and Hersholt's nurse (Dorothy Lovett), and all is settled when Harvey's precocious tomboy daughter, Patsy Parsons, is injured in an automobile accident.

This is not any kind of movie that made any kind of impact. I'm sure it's one of hundreds that existed on double bills, forgotten as soon it was over. It's an interesting piece of nostalgia, the kind of thing that evolved into daytime dramas, especially those that are set in and around hospitals.

Interesting note: one of the screenwriters was Ring Lardner, Jr., later blacklisted by the HUAC committee. He would later write the screenplay for M*A*S*H. I once saw him, as a very old man, giving a talk on one of his father's plays.