The Doctors

[amybrickwallace]

Althea's maiden name was Gibson. I read that in an old soap book.

[Matt]

I want to say it was Hamilton

[amybrickwallace]

Virginia Vestoff stepped in as Althea when Liz Hubbard got married and had a baby, right? Did Ms. Vestoff have good chemistry with Gerald Gordon?

[Paul Raven]

I thought it was Hamilton also,although I can't find any record of it.There was a character called Edna Hamilton played by Joanna Roos,Florence Williams and Margaret Baker who I assumed to be Althea's mother. This was around the time her son Buddy died so it would have been natural that her mother was there.

Mysteries like this might be solved if we keep getting access to the Retro TV eps.

[amybrickwallace]

What year did Buddy Davis die? I think I read that she and Nick were out of town when it happened.

[amybrickwallace]

If you look closely at the episode where Althea talks in her therapy session about her father, you'll see a boom mike in the shot. Another sign of the times, I guess. It was cut and print because you didn't have it in the budget to do it over again or edit it out.

[Matt]

We came close to getting the sponsor credit after the opening today. They left only the tiniest bit of the announcer in after the epigram.

[allmc2008]

I guess it was a copyright issue for the theme song:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x27dz6t_hope-memorial-monday-dec-18-tuesday-dec-19-1967_shortfilms

[amybrickwallace]

I should have guessed all this was over a music licensing issue. Though while the theme music is certainly beautiful and lush, it doesn't really stand out as something that would be causing trouble for episodes made 47 years ago!! If it was contemporary pop music of the day, I could see that.

In any case, let's hope this puts the issue to bed at last and we can enjoy the episodes!!

[JWDrama1980]

Doctors #1309 (12-08-1967)

[allmc2008]

That LIz Hubbard was one hell of an actress on Monday's episode!!

[amybrickwallace]

Haven't seen it yet - but I will soon. These episodes are real treats!!

[Matt]

They should be thanking them because as a result of that, I just went and bought that full theme song for "The Doctors" off of amazon.

[amybrickwallace]

I found the story of Althea's pregnancy and the morals clause fascinating. I wanted to know more about it and didn't have to go further than the living room to find out from someone who would know firsthand.

My mother is a retired RN. She graduated from nursing school (a Lutheran nursing school) in 1964, worked for a couple of years and by 1967 (when these episodes were airing) went back to Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland for post-graduate studies. I asked her about the morality clause. She said that yes - the nurses and the nurses-in-training had to be above reproach, couldn't be pregnant when unmarried and were not allowed to date doctors - interns or residents. She said that the medical community at large was very strict about the morals clause.

Mom also said that she's not sure when the morals clause fell by the boards because she spent the majority of her nursing career in home health care. She didn't work in a hospital or doctor's office once she was done with her training - though she worked one year as a school nurse at an elementary school, and often went to clinics to give flu shots and such.

Anyway, just thought I'd give you the firsthand word of someone in the medical field who was in nursing at the time of this show and who knew about the morals clause.

[~bl~]

Soaps used to have morals clauses in the contracts for the actors. Watching this I wonder if it wasn't also a "commentary" on that situation...