Ben Casey (1961)
Ben Casey is an American medical drama series which ran on ABC from 1961 to 1966. The show was known for its opening titles, which consisted of a hand drawing the symbols "♂, ♀, ✳, †, ∞" on a chalkboard, as cast member Sam Jaffe intoned, "Man, woman, birth, death, infinity." Neurosurgeon Joseph Ransohoff was a medical consultant for the show and may have influenced the personality of the title character.
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Episode 1 - To the Pure
Release Date: 1961-10-02Dr. Ben Casey is at odds with the medical board, particularly Dr. Zorba and Dr. Jensen, because of his manner toward interns. Under a reprimand, Casey tries to persuade the board to approve neurosurgery on nine-year-old Pete Salazar. After the first of three operations on the boy, Casey is accidentally jabbed with a needle while administering a rabies test to a female patient. During his thirty-day wait for a life-or-death prognosis, he is given permission to resume the surgery.
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Episode 2 - But Linda Only Smiled
Release Date: 1961-10-09Little Cathy Reed is brought to the hospital for emergency treatment after an auto accident. Casey prepares a blood transfusion, but her mother won't consent.
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Episode 3 - The Insolent Heart
Release Date: 1961-10-16Dr. Michael Waldman, a former professor of Casey's and a former colleague of Zorba's, comes to the hospital with a cardiovascular ailment diagnosed as fatal. Casey and Zorba want to try a new surgery on him, but the medical board is opposed.
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Episode 4 - I Remember a Lemon Tree
Release Date: 1961-10-23Dr. Karl Anders is a brilliant surgeon, and Zorba wants to keep him on at the hospital. But Anders is concerned with illnesses of his own—he's addicted to morphine, and suffers from leukemia.
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Episode 5 - An Expensive Glass of Water
Release Date: 1961-10-30Casey has Walter Tyson for a patient, the president of a large corporation in difficulties, who makes treatment impossible by ordering him about. Zorba and Dr. Jensen try to dissuade him from withdrawing, because his patient is a big donor to the hospital.
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Episode 6 - The Sound of Laughter
Release Date: 1961-11-06Tony Romano, a struggling nightclub comic, suffers a cranial seizure. Dr. Casey operates, but Tony is left a paraplegic.
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Episode 7 - A Few Brief Lines for Dave
Release Date: 1961-11-13Dr. Dave Taylor returns to the hospital to do research, but Dr. Casey diagnoses him as a ""hospital bum"" afraid of competition, and also treats a woman's hypochondria.
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Episode 8 - Pavane for a Gentle Lady
Release Date: 1961-11-20By degrees to the bare facts.
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Episode 9 - My Good Friend Krikor
Release Date: 1961-11-27Orderly Nick Kanavaris' good friend Krikor Dakopian is committed by his family to the psychiatric ward. Dr. Casey, however, thinks the ailment is likely to be responsive to neurosurgery.
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Episode 10 - The Sweet Kiss of Madness
Release Date: 1961-12-04Dr. Alan Reynolds' mental state is not improved by constant pressure from his wife to be a successful neurosurgeon. The strain increases when he treats an abused 10-year-old boy. Dr. Casey forestalls an unnecessary operation, and tries to persuade Dr. Reynolds to receive treatment.
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Episode 11 - A Certain Time, a Certain Darkness
Release Date: 1961-12-11Expectant mother Ellen Parker loses her child after an auto accident. Casey examines her and finds that she is subject to chronic seizures, and these, not the accident, are responsible for the loss of her baby.
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Episode 12 - A Dark Night for Billy Harris
Release Date: 1961-12-18Dr. Casey operates on Billy Harris, a holdup man shot and paralyzed, but he's also concerned about the policeman, who may have been too keen and might be mentally hampered.
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Episode 13 - And If I Die
Release Date: 1962-01-01""The faith that looks through death."" (Wordsworth)
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Episode 14 - A Memory of Candy Stripes
Release Date: 1962-01-08Recollections.
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Episode 15 - Imagine a Long, Bright Corridor
Release Date: 1962-01-15A clean, well-lighted place.
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Episode 16 - A Story to Be Softly Told
Release Date: 1962-01-22Between you, me and the nurse's station.
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Episode 17 - The Big Trouble with Charlie
Release Date: 1962-01-29He's not quite himself, or is he?
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Episode 18 - Give My Hands an Epitaph
Release Date: 1962-02-05Post-scriptum to a surgeon's operating life.
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Episode 19 - Victory Wears a Cruel Smile
Release Date: 1962-02-12From another point of view.
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Episode 20 - Odyssey of a Proud Suitcase
Release Date: 1962-02-19A piece of baggage.
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Episode 21 - Behold a Pale Horse
Release Date: 1962-02-26""And his name that sat on him was Death.""
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Episode 22 - For the Ladybug, One Dozen Roses
Release Date: 1962-03-05A decorated aviator with an alias goes into surgery.
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Episode 23 - To a Grand and Natural Finale
Release Date: 1962-03-12A consummation devoutly to be wished.
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Episode 24 - Monument to an Aged Hunter
Release Date: 1962-03-19Souvenirs and trophies.
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Episode 25 - All the Clocks are Ticking
Release Date: 1962-03-26As time goes by.
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Episode 26 - Among Others a Girl Named Abilene
Release Date: 1962-04-02A Texas rose.
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Episode 27 - A Pleasant Thing for the Eyes
Release Date: 1962-04-16A vision of loveliness.
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Episode 28 - And Eve Wore a Veil of Tears
Release Date: 1962-04-23Sorrow and pity.
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Episode 29 - Preferably, the Less-Used Arm
Release Date: 1962-04-30Might and main.
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Episode 30 - An Uncommonly Innocent Killing
Release Date: 1962-05-07Qualifications for the deed.
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Episode 31 - So Oft It Chances in Particular Men
Release Date: 1962-05-21So oft it chances in particular men That (for some vicious mole of nature in them, As in their birth, wherein they are not guilty, Since nature cannot choose his origin) By the o'ergrowth of some complexion, Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason, Or by some habit, that too much o'erleavens The form of plausive manners—that (these men, Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect, Being nature's livery, or fortune's star) Their virtues else, be they as pure as grace, As infinite as man may undergo, Shall in the general censure take corruption From that particular fault. The dram of evil Doth all the noble substance of a doubt, To his own scandal. Hamlet
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Episode 32 - When You See an Evil Man
Release Date: 1962-05-28The patient and the ill.