Where is the country doctor? Although I’m sure quaint healers who trade traditional remedies for a jar of homemade preserves still exist in some rural corners of the United States, the days of the smalltown doc are long gone. The organized Western medical industry has spread from the big cities to basically every small town and rural hamlet. Although some lifesaving advances have been made through research, development, and new knowledge, much of the simple wisdom and common sense of generations has been lost in the bargain.
Today’s moment of movie wisdom is from “Welcome Stranger” (1947). The scene takes place 100 minutes into this 107-minute movie. In the small town of Fallbridge, Maine, a new young doctor, Dr. Jenks (Larry Young), examines four schoolboys with similar symptoms. When he learns that one of them recently skipped school because his horse died, he develops a theory that the lads have “virus brain fever” from mosquito bites. Without pausing a moment, he has the town officials talking about an epidemic and calling Washington, D.C. to get vaccines against the illness for the whole community. Thankfully, the town’s wise old country doc, Dr. Joseph McRory (Barry Fitzgerald), uses common sense to solve the case.
In the film, Dr. Joe McRory is planning to go on his first vacation after faithfully caring for the health of Fallbridge’s citizens for years. Before he leaves, he hires a replacement physician from Boston to take care of his patients while he’s gone. On the train, Dr. McRory keeps being pestered by a cheerful younger man, who always seems to be in his way. The old doctor is horrified when he learns that the railroad pest is the replacement he hired, Dr. Jim Pearson (Bing Crosby). Realizing he can’t fire him without delaying his trip, Dr. McRory decides to put up with the replacement doctor.
The Scene
After 30 years of faithful service, Joe has to fight for his place in the community when Roy, the pharmacist, brings his cousin Dr. Jenks to town and helps him set up a rival medical practice. C.J. Chesley (Charles Dingle) the head of the town council who also happens to be Roy’s father, seeks Dr. Jenks’s medical advice when four boys in Trudy’s class fall ill. Examining them, Dr. Jenks comments that he doesn’t like their dizzy headaches. Investigating further, he notices some mosquito bites on a boy’s arm. When he learns that one of the boys just lost his horse, he comes to the hasty conclusion that all four boys have equine encephalitis. When the laypeople struggle to remember the medical term, he gives it the menacing common name “virus brain fever.” The crowd which has gathered breaks into a frantic uproar.Its Significance
This story shows how quickly people can forget those who have helped and served them for years. Early in the film, Dr. McRory is honored with a surprise party thrown by his friends and neighbors, thanking him for his 30 years of serving the Fallbridge community. As the only doctor in town, he has cared for 2,400 people day and night, year after year, often receiving canned preserves rather than money in exchange for his services. He has done his job lovingly and joyfully, since he truly cares about the well-being of his patients.
However, it isn’t long before Joe finds himself in competition with Dr. Jenks. After spending his whole career planning a local hospital, he has to prove his medical knowledge to even be considered to run it. A written test is suggested to prove which doctor is the better man, but, at twice his age, Dr. McRory can’t compete with Dr. Jenks’s up-to-date fact retention. Old Doc McRory has been too busy curing people in real life for the past 30 years to read all the latest medical journals!
Fire the Horse Doctors
Once Dr. McRory’s diagnosis proves to be right, the crowd breaks into laughter. Dr. Jenks tries to explain himself to C. J. Chesley, but the older man bellows, “Get away from me, you horse doctor!” Chesley is stubbornly wrong about many things throughout this film, to the point of being an antagonist. However, when logical evidence proves that Dr. McRory was right while he, his son, and their candidate were wrong, he admits defeat. He could have tried to argue against the circumstantial evidence and denounced Dr. McRory as a crazy old man. The three of them could have banded together, leaning on modern science instead of old-fashioned notions. Thankfully, he is wise enough to know that Dr. Jenks is a fool, and he would be too if he continued listening to him.We need to throw out the horse doctors ruining our nation’s health and return to the old-fashioned wisdom and common sense of men like Dr. McRory.
