The Knick (2014) s02e03 Episode Script
The Best with the Best to Get the Best
and will be performed by Dr.
Schoenweiss and Klein with Dr.
Haas assisting.
I'll be in surgery B with Dr.
Jacobi performing a thyroidectomy on the Itskowitz boy.
Regardless of your participation in these surgeries, I want all of you to review the cases and familiarize yourselves with every aspect of the procedures.
Now, I want to welcome a new member of our team at the rank of third surgeon who has joined us from the Knickerbocker, Dr.
Bertram Chickering Jr.
You can all call me Bertie.
Only in your off-hours.
In the hospital you will be Dr.
Chickering.
At Mount Sinai, we're a bit more formal than the Knick.
Certainly.
Anything else? I am not a Jew.
But I worked on many of them at the Knick.
Recent immigrants mostly, so I learned a little Yiddish.
Azoy? A bissel.
It will be helpful.
Another one of Dr.
Chickering's gifts is for lab work.
So in order to give him a chance to get settled in, he'll join Guggenheim in the lab to search for surgical applications for the new gland extract.
I I wasn't aware of any new gland extract.
It's an interesting substance that's been taken from the glands of several animals by a Pole named Cybulski.
I have no idea what he calls it, but we're calling it adrenaline.
You'll help us learn if it has any practical uses.
So, unless there are any other questions, I'll see some of you on grand rounds and the rest of you at second meeting.
There's a second one of these meetings? At noon.
And a third at 6:00.
So be prepared.
The first day of school is always the hardest.
Do I look that lost? No, it was more the disappointed look on your face when you were told you'd be working in the lab to start.
Did Dr.
Zinberg notice? Well, you concealed it well.
He's letting me know that I'm going to have to earn my way into the operating room and letting them know that he's going to ease me into the fold.
There's thought in everything he does.
He's a very deliberate man.
Is that why he has you taking notes of his meetings? Why, because I couldn't possibly be a surgeon like you? No, I just meant no, I'm sorry, I you're a surgeon.
I I hadn't Look at you.
No, I'm not a surgeon.
I'm not even a nurse.
I'm I'm writing a story about Dr.
Zinberg for "Collier's.
" - Oh, really? - Mmm.
You write for "Collier's"? Yes, is that more surprising than being a surgeon? Are you the girl who went undercover for that article about sanitariums and lunatic asylums? Genevieve Everidge? Why, do you want to meet her? Well, I just imagine that she's a very exciting person to talk to.
Oh, she is.
Yeah, especially when you take her out.
So let's say Friday evening around 7:00.
- Mazel.
- Empty? Even Cleary was speechless when he opened the coffin.
You're certain it was the correct grave? I can read a headstone, Algie.
Sorry, it's just so odd.
It's like someone knew there'd be people looking for Speight and wanted to make certain he couldn't be found.
Yes, well, obviously they wanted you to leave this alone and so do I.
Speight didn't just drunkenly fall overboard.
There is more here and I can't give up on it now.
Yes, you can.
If someone wanted him dead or wanted the cause hidden, it's a matter for the police, Cornelia, not for you.
You're being reckless.
Again.
Not here.
Not now.
When? Thank you.
Give us one more smile, love.
You are yourself again.
Are you tired? It has been an eventful morning.
Perhaps I should lay down, gather my strength.
I can help Dorothy make lunch later.
Of course.
She does seem better, doesn't she? I'm praying for her.
Our family certainly doesn't want to have to have her locked away for good.
But what she is now is not acceptable.
To whom? To us.
To anyone.
Everett, she's a baby killer and a madwoman.
Facts known not just in New York anymore.
They're talking in Philadelphia? Ethel's fiancé broke off their engagement.
And I'm living in hope like some pathetic spinster.
She will get better.
We're all hoping.
But I know Eleanor wouldn't want her collapse to affect Ethel and me the way it has.
We meet again.
Mr.
Robertson.
I, um I saw you in here with these sick men.
You're very good.
You brighten their day.
Well, how could you not? Were you referring to the comatose patient? The men who were delirious on morphine? Or the ones who were asleep? Then you brighten mine.
Don't you believe me? I'm holding a full bedpan, so it's harder to believe than you realize.
Look, you're a quick and clever girl and I like that, but when will you stop being clever and give me a chance? There's no shortage of not so clever nurses around here all hired by you who've already given you a chance and then some.
But you're the one that has me intrigued.
Do you already have men courting you? You hesitated.
I'm gonna take that as a no, which tells me I shouldn't give up the chase.
Then tell me, Mr.
Robertson do you believe in God? Do you read the Bible, go to church and lead a Christian life? You're hesitating.
So I'm gonna take that as a no.
Which tells me you should most definitely give up the chase.
Clara! Clara! What happened to her? She broke into Hackett's office and gave herself a heroin injection big enough to kill an elephant.
Fucking putrid scene.
Where's the body now? Family is sending someone up from the city to collect it.
Turns out, her real name is Marianne Horner.
Family's got some big copper mining company.
Absolutely not.
I can understand your trepidation.
Trepidation? You want to cut our dead daughter open and root around inside her like some jewelry box.
It's enough that we've had to live with her cocaine addiction.
She allowed men into her mouth in exchange for the drug.
Our friends believe that she's been away in Virginia at college and came down with the flu.
How do you suggest we explain that there will be no funeral because a doctor wants to open her up and study her insides? Mrs.
Horner, you feel the same? My wife is not in a place to think rationally.
Can't you see that? Look, you have my heartfelt sympathies, but you must understand that I'm trying to save girls like your daughter with my work.
But let's be frank here, your daughter isn't the only person in the family who has a problem.
You have as much interest in finding a cure as I do.
You help me, and perhaps with what I learn, I can help you.
I'll work as fast as I can and you can bury her in a few days.
You won't cut her face? I'll protect it with my life.
You promised I'd have my fee, Mr.
Cleary.
And you'll have it.
Mrs.
Showalter here is gonna cover all your costs.
You've heard of the Showalters, yeah? Probably own this building.
Be that as it may, if I don't have the amount at my office by tomorrow, your nun will need to find another lawyer.
You didn't have to come.
I should have come sooner.
You're here now.
All rise.
The Honorable Parkinson Bothamly presiding.
Be seated.
Mr.
Whitting, you asked for this pretrial hearing, correct? I did, Your Honor.
In front of me are 16 past cases thrown out due to proven entrapment by the New York Vice Department.
All of which have no relevance here.
Each case on its own merits, Counselor.
But an examination of the files will clearly show uncommon similarities between those wrongly accused citizens and my client Sister Harriet.
I think it only fair Do not tell me what is fair in my courtroom, Mr.
Whitting.
"Lo, children are a heritage from the Lord and the fruit of the womb is His reward.
" Excuse me? Psalm 127.
I'm surprised the devil allows you to remember any verse, Miss Dolan.
But hear me, the devil will not influence me in my decisions.
He is no more a power over me than your pretender in Rome.
Your Honor! You have shown the true murderous nature of your people.
I will use this courtroom and the strength of my God to sound a warning against the people now flooding our shores and let real Americans know exactly what you are.
The trial will formally commence on the 15th.
Next case.
What the fuck just happened? You haven't seen the new club yet.
Yale built theirs down the street.
It's almost 12 stories.
But you'll see ours is far more tasteful.
Is this how I used to do it? Of course.
It looks wrong to me.
It looks lovely.
I can start again.
Are you all right, Ellie? I just want everything to be right for you, Everett.
You always used to love to show me off to your classmates.
Now I'm afraid there's not much left to brag about.
Nonsense.
You will always be the most beautiful girl in the world to me.
But I've lost so much weight.
My dress will be hanging off of me.
And my color It's just a class reunion with a bunch of boring Penn Medical men and their wives.
Far too many of whom also happen to be their cousin.
What would I even say to them? That I've recently been locked away? And the dinner what if one of my teeth comes loose? Gallinger.
Ah, there you are.
Griscom and Lloyd.
If you find one, you'll always find the other.
Looking well, Everett.
We're now in practice in Rye in our own hospital together.
Must be a fine institution.
And you're still slicing them up at the Knick, I presume? Yes.
Certainly made of stronger stuff than we are.
Henny, it's lovely to see you.
Mary, how are all your people? Political, as always.
There's usually an Ingersoll campaigning for something somewhere.
Where is Eleanor? I'd love to see her.
Visiting relatives on Long Island.
I'm afraid she left me to face the class of '91 all by myself.
Well, it's only for one night.
Or has she left you for good? Ooh.
No, she'll be back.
I'm sure of it.
Pardon me.
You've seen the streets of this city.
The dregs of the world are coming here.
Every country emptying their slums into our ports.
Italians, Jews, any Semite, really, Slavs with their darkness and filth, gypsies and homosexuals, the dim-witted, infirm, and defective everywhere we look.
But among them, the Negro, the one we brought here ourselves, he could be the largest danger of all.
Gallinger, good to see you.
Don't let me interrupt.
We were just discussing eugenics.
Drexler and I are both teaching courses on the subject this year.
Do you know much about it? Heard a few things.
Breed the best with the best to get the best.
But it's just as important that the laggards, the worst of our species, don't get the chance to continue their line or contaminate a better one.
And Negroes are the largest threat? There's a reason that as a people they've never succeeded.
Science is proving their weak intellect and innate lack of character.
If they continue to breed, if they, heaven forbid, begin to mix in with us, we'll forfeit potential greatness for the mongrelization of our species.
Forgive us our preaching.
Drexler and I are both a bit evangelical on the subject.
Rockefeller, Carnegie, Harriman, they're all putting money towards teaching.
Colleges and medical schools are adding eugenics courses in droves.
It's the future.
And it's coming just in time.
Amen.
Speak freely, brother.
Confess yourself without fear.
You're in the presence of God.
- I have thieved.
- Amen.
My whole life.
- I stole from my employer.
- Amen, brother.
- I stole from my wife's widowed mother.
- Amen.
Anybody else I could dupe.
- I made promises I knew I would never keep.
- Amen.
I hurt anybody who ever loved me and I never felt a moment of regret.
Amen, brother.
Instead, I felt a vain glory for having succeeded in it.
Amen.
But I succeeded nothing outside of destroying myself.
I know that God is punishing me, but I hope, I pray that He can see just how much I've changed.
Stay on the path and His forgiving light will soon shine down upon you.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Who else among us needs to unburden themselves tonight? I have a heavy heart.
The heart of a sinner.
My daughter.
Works as a nurse.
She's seen some vile, awful sickness, but nothing comes close to the disease Satan can infect in you.
The cure confession.
Open up that medical kit, Lucy.
Take out that medicament and cast the devil out.
Go on, Cricket.
Right, are you ready? I can't believe you haven't been here before.
Here we are.
So when you did your exposé, how were you able to gather all that information without anyone becoming suspicious or getting drugged yourself? Well, I seduced the orderlies with filthy stories and erotic pictures.
Really? No.
No.
- No, of course not.
- Oh.
No, I paid them off.
Ahem, a well-offered bribe can be an art.
Perhaps I'll bribe you.
To do what? I'll think of something.
But you liked the article? Oh, I loved the article.
But I don't want people thinking all medicine is like that.
Psychiatry is a very new field and things always look worse at the beginning.
Not all things.
No, not all things.
Well, that's why I'm writing about Zinberg.
Right.
A positive story about medicine.
And if it happens to show a Jew who isn't a Lower East Side ghetto peasant, all the better.
Before I met Zinberg, the only Jews I had met were destitute patients at the Knick.
Hmm.
Well, now you know two who aren't.
You? Jewish? Yeah, from head to toe.
But don't worry, it's not catching.
No, no, no, it's I didn't mean it's just that it's just Genevieve Everidge is a very Goyisha name? - Well - Yeah.
Yeah, it reeks of old money.
A finishing school girl.
But you aren't? Maybe I am.
No one knows and I don't want them to.
When you read Genevieve Everidge, she's anything you want her to be.
And I doubt people would feel the same way about Esther Kohn, a shirtmaker's daughter from Pittsfield.
I would.
Said Columbia University's Bertram Chickering Jr.
The only Presbyterian surgeon at Mount Sinai Jews' Hospital.
Hmm.
Seems we're both swimming in each other's ponds.
How lucky am I? You're always so sweet to me.
Well, I do love to be with you, however infrequent.
I should be more attentive.
I do like that.
And when I do this? That's nice, too.
That wasn't so bad, was it? No.
It was nice.
Ahem.
Is it too soon to ask if you feel pregnant? It doesn't work that way.
No? How would you know? I work in a hospital.
Did work.
I went and saw Sister Harriet today.
Why would you do that? She's my friend and she's really up against it.
The judge was brutal.
Well, she's not a very sympathetic defendant.
And her lawyer costs more than she could ever afford.
I was thinking we could help her.
What? You're asking me to help fund a baby killer.
She helped women in trouble.
She's a murderer.
How can someone who wants to have a baby possibly sympathize with someone like that? Did you know that she was aborting babies? You said she was your friend.
- You must have.
- No.
Of course not.
Stay away from her.
Only God can save her now.
John? Abby.
Thanks.
How long were you away? Too long.
But you're better now? Yeah, yeah.
I feel good.
Really.
How are you? Your arm bothering you? Been having muscle spasms.
Anything else? Insomnia.
The headaches are much worse.
Well, you should have come to see me.
What for, John? There's no cure.
And we both know where I'm ultimately headed.
Looks like it was a good night.
People give more when they feel worse.
Just as long as they feel better when they leave, right? I know I feel better.
Do you? I do.
While I was up there I honestly could feel forgiveness wash over me.
I felt lighter, safer.
I felt free.
Girl, you is far from free.
The spittle you let fly from your wretched mouth was the most disgusting, humiliating sewage my ears have ever heard.
Daddy, I had to confess.
How else could I be welcomed back into God's arms? You think God is just gonna forgive a stupid girl like you? You not only made yourself look foolish, you made me look worse.
- I didn't mean to.
- No, you didn't mean to.
Just like you didn't mean to lie.
Didn't mean to steal.
To take a drug.
To fuck a stranger.
I should have known.
I said to your mama since the day you was born how dumb you was.
You know why I call you Cricket? Because that's what you sound like.
Every time you speak, it makes my skin crawl.
And tonight tonight it took the power of the Almighty for me not to squash you while you was chirping away in church.
Daddy.
Please.
- Daddy.
- Don't make it worse.
Please.
Please.
- Please don't.
- You know what you earned yourself.
The Polish doctor discovered the gland secretion existed.
Doc at Johns Hopkins thought he'd crystalized it, but turned out he had only isolated a benzoyl derivative.
Then this Japanese fellow on 103rd Street, he crystalized it for real.
Genius.
No, the genius was that he patented it.
He's the one who called it adrenaline.
Hmm.
His heart's beating rapidly.
We're just looking to see if it cures his sniffles to start.
There might be side effects to consider.
Or other uses.
So how was your little excursion to Huber's Palace with the girl writer? You're already the talk of the hospital.
The charming shaygetz.
She's like no one I've known.
The things she's seen.
I'm worried I'm no match for her.
We might consider trying on larger animals or even humans.
Dr.
Zinberg is very specific about his protocols.
Start on mice.
Present our findings.
Then on to rats, guinea pigs.
Then cats, dogs, pigs, and only then to humans.
Well, we could at least try injecting the drug in different doses.
Just the sniffles, Chickering.
You can be aggressive around here, but we don't go in for sloppy or stupid.
Of course.
What do you mean no match? You trying to bed her or beat her in badminton? I'm not trying to bed her, Leo.
If it came to that, I worry I'm not experienced enough for her the way an older man might be.
Ah.
There's experience out there for the taking.
I get mine every Tuesday at a Negro brothel on 29th Street.
As experiences go, it's worth every penny.
The papers are signed.
You have your subway partner.
Did you convince your father to sell some of his ships? I've been able to find some savings for the company which I think could be put to better use elsewhere.
Better than in reinvesting? How does your father feel about you betting against him? He doesn't know.
And I'd like to keep it that way.
If he wants to stay blindly adrift in the 19th century, that's his business.
Now here's to ours.
It shouldn't be difficult to excise from the base of the tumor.
Yes, there it is.
We will now bisect the healthy liver tissue leading to the tumor and tie off all blood vessels contained within.
Or we could simply strangle the vessels leading to the tumor and not bother the healthy liver.
Which would be lazy.
As opposed to slicing the liver further, which would be idiotic.
There is no idiocy in removing blood supply for any future tumors.
It will be done delicately and the decision has been made.
Nurse Pell.
Please hand Dr.
Gallinger a clean scalpel with our thinnest blade so he may carry out - You want me to do it? - Yes.
Yes.
I will now bisect the healthy liver tissue leading to the tumor and tie off each blood vessel contained within.
Edwards.
Can I get your assistance in Pathological? I think I might be onto something.
Let's go.
Thack.
Yes? Why do you always go to him? What do you mean? Why do you always choose Edwards over me? Well, this is simply something for which he's better suited.
It was me who saved you.
And I'm eternally grateful.
You know my appreciation for you is not an issue here.
I just need someone with whom I can work with on this research.
Since he started here, Edwards has invented and improved procedure after procedure, technique after technique.
Everett, if you want to collaborate with me, then jealousy won't serve you a tenth as well as ambition and effort.
So that's the enemy.
The syphilis spirochete.
Our goal is to kill that bastard.
Eloquent.
How do you propose to do that? So I read in this Austrian journal that several syphilis patients inexplicably improved.
The only link was that all had been suffering from various other illnesses strep, pneumonia, meningitis.
I've heard similar stories in Europe.
The belief is that the syphilis spirochete was killed off by something in the strep or the pneumococcus.
No, that wasn't what killed the syphilis at all.
I have tried to kill that thing under the microscope with everything I can think of.
Anything I can safely put in a human body.
Nothing worked.
I thought it was indestructible until finally it died on its own one night while I was working under the light of several lamps focused on my work.
- It's light sensitive? - No.
It's the heat.
I was baking under those lamps and so was the disease.
Syphilis can be killed by temperature.
How high? If I can induce a fever in a syphilis patient and get it high enough, I can bake the disease to death.
Yes, and the patient in the process.
You are talking about lethal temperatures.
Yes, to cure a lethal disease.
Suppose you could induce the fever using something curable.
- Like what? - Malaria.
It's a deadly disease inducing terribly high fever, but with a relatively dependable cure.
Quinine.
Well, let's try it.
We would need extensive research.
The risks are enormous.
No, no, that could take years.
I don't have that time.
You? No, Abby.
She's developing motor coordination problems.
You know, the blood vessels in her brain are swelling and clotting.
Won't be long before the seizures come.
The thrombosis.
And death.
Where do we start? Where we usually do, with a pig.
Yes, changes are always expected during construction, but what you're asking is quite extensive.
Well, the board thinks the matter important enough to implement the changes.
Well, I understand the Inebriety Ward, but some of these things you're asking for make very little sense.
Changing ceiling heights, moving walls, why? It's all very disruptive, not to mention it will cost a fortune in materials and manpower.
The board wants what it wants.
Then I should speak to them.
Mr.
Wingo, I sympathize, but questioning the board to their faces is not a recipe for keeping your job.
I should know.
I fought these on your behalf and nearly found myself out on the street.
I don't want that fate to befall you, a man who does not have nearly the history with these men that I do.
Thank you for your counsel.
The changes will be made.
Good.
Make me a list of the extra materials you'll need and I'll send them along to the contractors.
Where is the tender? Where's the fire tender, damn it? Who's supposed to be on watch? It's Mr.
Blackledge, sir.
I think he went to piss.
Well, when he buttons up, tell him he's fired.
He can follow that piss down the hole.
You're the new tender now.
Make sure the fires don't go out and don't burn the place down or you can follow Blackledge and his piss.
Understood? - Understood? - Yes, Mr.
Wingo.
Go.
Well done, Frazier.
I won't allow negligence.
Perhaps just to be safe, we should slow construction down a bit despite the cost.
We don't want to take any unnecessary risks.
I have to be hard on these men.
They have to know who's boss.
Of course.
I have always said a little bit of fear can be a very good thing.
- Jimmy.
- You piece of shit.
- You're - Not in a fucking hole in the ground? - No, I ain't.
- I had nothing to do with it.
I swear I do not know who took out Bunky.
And sliced me up good.
Bellevue boys sewed me up like a rag doll.
But here I am.
And here you are.
Jimmy, please I ain't here to bust you up.
I'm just delivering a message.
You got to come to Tammany Hall and make your accounts for this here building.
You work for Tammany? Yeah.
And I ain't Jimmy to you no more.
People call me formal now.
I'm Mr.
James Fester.
You'd do well to remember that.
Okay.
Mr.
Barrow gave me very specific instructions that I must have a written report of the patient's ailment before I can dispense any of the narcotics.
And only to a doctor or a nurse.
Answer me this, then.
How am I supposed to write a report from Houston Street or wherever when I've just picked up a body that's been kicked in the chest by a mule? Now, having those drugs on the ambulance could be the difference between putting them on the ward or putting them in the morgue.
Good news, Herman.
I was at the club last night carousing with the fellows and we got to talking about you.
I've now got enough backers to bring you in to interview for membership.
Really? Not to worry.
I'll be by your side the whole time trumpeting your worthiness.
Least I can do.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
Thank you.
I didn't want to keep you waiting.
I had to finish my school studies and do my hair just right for you.
I hope you'll forgive me.
Excuse me, I am next.
Hermie, sorry.
I didn't see you.
Apparently not.
Hello, Judge Corwin.
Herman.
It's just that I've been so distracted with my school studies and doing my hair just right for you.
Please don't be mad, Hermie.
You know how special you are to me.
And to the judge and to that fat fellow before him and to the Spaniard before him.
Yes, I have been waiting that long.
Ever since you obtained a new boss, it seems harder than ever to see you.
Why is that? Did he take out an advertisement in "The Morning Telegraph"? Hmm? Is there a billboard of you on Broadway? Are you jealous? I just thought you would always want me at the head of the line.
I do.
It's not my fault.
They make me do it that way.
I am not an idiot, Junia.
I'm well aware this is a job for you.
I just thought you and I would always be more than another six-dollar sale.
Oh.
You are.
When I go to sleep at night, I think of your sweet smile.
I dream of your hugs and kisses.
And when I wake, I count the hours until I see you again.
You know I do, don't you? Yes.
I wish I could be with only you all the time.
I'm trapped here.
And you're all I have.
A life with you is all I dream of.
- I'm sorry.
- Shh.
Don't you be sorry.
It is not your fault you ended up here.
Is that really what you want? You want to be with me? More than anything in the world.
Then you will be.
There we go.
That should guarantee it.
All right, Otto, let's get you delira and excira.
Arm.
You ready? Ready? Come on! Come on! No cheap shots.
Shake hands.
- Come on, boyo! - Wrestle! Come on! Rip his fucking arm off! Yeah! Come on! Come on! Otto.
Otto.
Otto! - Otto! - Come on, get up! Shit.
Here.
Our syphilitic sow is now three degrees above normal.
We have no idea if quinine will even cure malaria in a pig.
Well, in five more degrees, we'll load her up with it and find out.
In the meantime, we let the fever rage.
You've got a visitor.
Excellent.
Thank you, gentlemen.
I need to begin a full dissection of this girl's body.
And I'll return in an hour and take the pig's temperature.
You know, if people actually knew what you did in here, they wouldn't trust you to give them a fucking aspirin.
Yes? Put it through.
Dr.
Edwards speaking.
What? Right now? Have another piece of cake.
I made it myself.
I shouldn't.
There's only so many pounds a girl can dance away.
You can afford it.
Algie went on and on about how pretty you were, but he didn't do your silhouette justice.
Algie, look who's here.
Opal.
Hello, sweet.
We finally get to meet this wife of yours after hearing about her for all these months.
It's been so long.
Let me get my arms around you again.
She sailed into Boston on the Saxonia day before yesterday.
Boston? Where I thought you would be.
But I learned my mistake.
This country is so big with so many cities.
I came here straightaway.
To my parents? Who greeted me like family.
Because that's what you are.
That's what I am.
Also a mess after all this travelling.
I need to freshen up a bit.
Absence may make the heart grow fonder, but a little bit of lip rouge will make the heart beat quicker.
Down the hall just to the right.
Won't be a moment.
Who on earth is that woman? She is my wife just as she said she is.
You think that's something you might want to tell us, that you got married? Boy, that's not something you just forget about.
I guess I hoped that she would.
You should have told us.
Why'd you lie? It happened so fast.
We were in Paris.
Medicine was going well.
People were accepting me.
We met and I was happy.
- But then - But then.
There is always a "but then" with you.
You run hot and then you run cold.
And then you run and run.
How in the world did you think this wouldn't catch up with you? I don't even know what she wants.
I know exactly what she wants.
That girl is determined.
What did I miss?
Schoenweiss and Klein with Dr.
Haas assisting.
I'll be in surgery B with Dr.
Jacobi performing a thyroidectomy on the Itskowitz boy.
Regardless of your participation in these surgeries, I want all of you to review the cases and familiarize yourselves with every aspect of the procedures.
Now, I want to welcome a new member of our team at the rank of third surgeon who has joined us from the Knickerbocker, Dr.
Bertram Chickering Jr.
You can all call me Bertie.
Only in your off-hours.
In the hospital you will be Dr.
Chickering.
At Mount Sinai, we're a bit more formal than the Knick.
Certainly.
Anything else? I am not a Jew.
But I worked on many of them at the Knick.
Recent immigrants mostly, so I learned a little Yiddish.
Azoy? A bissel.
It will be helpful.
Another one of Dr.
Chickering's gifts is for lab work.
So in order to give him a chance to get settled in, he'll join Guggenheim in the lab to search for surgical applications for the new gland extract.
I I wasn't aware of any new gland extract.
It's an interesting substance that's been taken from the glands of several animals by a Pole named Cybulski.
I have no idea what he calls it, but we're calling it adrenaline.
You'll help us learn if it has any practical uses.
So, unless there are any other questions, I'll see some of you on grand rounds and the rest of you at second meeting.
There's a second one of these meetings? At noon.
And a third at 6:00.
So be prepared.
The first day of school is always the hardest.
Do I look that lost? No, it was more the disappointed look on your face when you were told you'd be working in the lab to start.
Did Dr.
Zinberg notice? Well, you concealed it well.
He's letting me know that I'm going to have to earn my way into the operating room and letting them know that he's going to ease me into the fold.
There's thought in everything he does.
He's a very deliberate man.
Is that why he has you taking notes of his meetings? Why, because I couldn't possibly be a surgeon like you? No, I just meant no, I'm sorry, I you're a surgeon.
I I hadn't Look at you.
No, I'm not a surgeon.
I'm not even a nurse.
I'm I'm writing a story about Dr.
Zinberg for "Collier's.
" - Oh, really? - Mmm.
You write for "Collier's"? Yes, is that more surprising than being a surgeon? Are you the girl who went undercover for that article about sanitariums and lunatic asylums? Genevieve Everidge? Why, do you want to meet her? Well, I just imagine that she's a very exciting person to talk to.
Oh, she is.
Yeah, especially when you take her out.
So let's say Friday evening around 7:00.
- Mazel.
- Empty? Even Cleary was speechless when he opened the coffin.
You're certain it was the correct grave? I can read a headstone, Algie.
Sorry, it's just so odd.
It's like someone knew there'd be people looking for Speight and wanted to make certain he couldn't be found.
Yes, well, obviously they wanted you to leave this alone and so do I.
Speight didn't just drunkenly fall overboard.
There is more here and I can't give up on it now.
Yes, you can.
If someone wanted him dead or wanted the cause hidden, it's a matter for the police, Cornelia, not for you.
You're being reckless.
Again.
Not here.
Not now.
When? Thank you.
Give us one more smile, love.
You are yourself again.
Are you tired? It has been an eventful morning.
Perhaps I should lay down, gather my strength.
I can help Dorothy make lunch later.
Of course.
She does seem better, doesn't she? I'm praying for her.
Our family certainly doesn't want to have to have her locked away for good.
But what she is now is not acceptable.
To whom? To us.
To anyone.
Everett, she's a baby killer and a madwoman.
Facts known not just in New York anymore.
They're talking in Philadelphia? Ethel's fiancé broke off their engagement.
And I'm living in hope like some pathetic spinster.
She will get better.
We're all hoping.
But I know Eleanor wouldn't want her collapse to affect Ethel and me the way it has.
We meet again.
Mr.
Robertson.
I, um I saw you in here with these sick men.
You're very good.
You brighten their day.
Well, how could you not? Were you referring to the comatose patient? The men who were delirious on morphine? Or the ones who were asleep? Then you brighten mine.
Don't you believe me? I'm holding a full bedpan, so it's harder to believe than you realize.
Look, you're a quick and clever girl and I like that, but when will you stop being clever and give me a chance? There's no shortage of not so clever nurses around here all hired by you who've already given you a chance and then some.
But you're the one that has me intrigued.
Do you already have men courting you? You hesitated.
I'm gonna take that as a no, which tells me I shouldn't give up the chase.
Then tell me, Mr.
Robertson do you believe in God? Do you read the Bible, go to church and lead a Christian life? You're hesitating.
So I'm gonna take that as a no.
Which tells me you should most definitely give up the chase.
Clara! Clara! What happened to her? She broke into Hackett's office and gave herself a heroin injection big enough to kill an elephant.
Fucking putrid scene.
Where's the body now? Family is sending someone up from the city to collect it.
Turns out, her real name is Marianne Horner.
Family's got some big copper mining company.
Absolutely not.
I can understand your trepidation.
Trepidation? You want to cut our dead daughter open and root around inside her like some jewelry box.
It's enough that we've had to live with her cocaine addiction.
She allowed men into her mouth in exchange for the drug.
Our friends believe that she's been away in Virginia at college and came down with the flu.
How do you suggest we explain that there will be no funeral because a doctor wants to open her up and study her insides? Mrs.
Horner, you feel the same? My wife is not in a place to think rationally.
Can't you see that? Look, you have my heartfelt sympathies, but you must understand that I'm trying to save girls like your daughter with my work.
But let's be frank here, your daughter isn't the only person in the family who has a problem.
You have as much interest in finding a cure as I do.
You help me, and perhaps with what I learn, I can help you.
I'll work as fast as I can and you can bury her in a few days.
You won't cut her face? I'll protect it with my life.
You promised I'd have my fee, Mr.
Cleary.
And you'll have it.
Mrs.
Showalter here is gonna cover all your costs.
You've heard of the Showalters, yeah? Probably own this building.
Be that as it may, if I don't have the amount at my office by tomorrow, your nun will need to find another lawyer.
You didn't have to come.
I should have come sooner.
You're here now.
All rise.
The Honorable Parkinson Bothamly presiding.
Be seated.
Mr.
Whitting, you asked for this pretrial hearing, correct? I did, Your Honor.
In front of me are 16 past cases thrown out due to proven entrapment by the New York Vice Department.
All of which have no relevance here.
Each case on its own merits, Counselor.
But an examination of the files will clearly show uncommon similarities between those wrongly accused citizens and my client Sister Harriet.
I think it only fair Do not tell me what is fair in my courtroom, Mr.
Whitting.
"Lo, children are a heritage from the Lord and the fruit of the womb is His reward.
" Excuse me? Psalm 127.
I'm surprised the devil allows you to remember any verse, Miss Dolan.
But hear me, the devil will not influence me in my decisions.
He is no more a power over me than your pretender in Rome.
Your Honor! You have shown the true murderous nature of your people.
I will use this courtroom and the strength of my God to sound a warning against the people now flooding our shores and let real Americans know exactly what you are.
The trial will formally commence on the 15th.
Next case.
What the fuck just happened? You haven't seen the new club yet.
Yale built theirs down the street.
It's almost 12 stories.
But you'll see ours is far more tasteful.
Is this how I used to do it? Of course.
It looks wrong to me.
It looks lovely.
I can start again.
Are you all right, Ellie? I just want everything to be right for you, Everett.
You always used to love to show me off to your classmates.
Now I'm afraid there's not much left to brag about.
Nonsense.
You will always be the most beautiful girl in the world to me.
But I've lost so much weight.
My dress will be hanging off of me.
And my color It's just a class reunion with a bunch of boring Penn Medical men and their wives.
Far too many of whom also happen to be their cousin.
What would I even say to them? That I've recently been locked away? And the dinner what if one of my teeth comes loose? Gallinger.
Ah, there you are.
Griscom and Lloyd.
If you find one, you'll always find the other.
Looking well, Everett.
We're now in practice in Rye in our own hospital together.
Must be a fine institution.
And you're still slicing them up at the Knick, I presume? Yes.
Certainly made of stronger stuff than we are.
Henny, it's lovely to see you.
Mary, how are all your people? Political, as always.
There's usually an Ingersoll campaigning for something somewhere.
Where is Eleanor? I'd love to see her.
Visiting relatives on Long Island.
I'm afraid she left me to face the class of '91 all by myself.
Well, it's only for one night.
Or has she left you for good? Ooh.
No, she'll be back.
I'm sure of it.
Pardon me.
You've seen the streets of this city.
The dregs of the world are coming here.
Every country emptying their slums into our ports.
Italians, Jews, any Semite, really, Slavs with their darkness and filth, gypsies and homosexuals, the dim-witted, infirm, and defective everywhere we look.
But among them, the Negro, the one we brought here ourselves, he could be the largest danger of all.
Gallinger, good to see you.
Don't let me interrupt.
We were just discussing eugenics.
Drexler and I are both teaching courses on the subject this year.
Do you know much about it? Heard a few things.
Breed the best with the best to get the best.
But it's just as important that the laggards, the worst of our species, don't get the chance to continue their line or contaminate a better one.
And Negroes are the largest threat? There's a reason that as a people they've never succeeded.
Science is proving their weak intellect and innate lack of character.
If they continue to breed, if they, heaven forbid, begin to mix in with us, we'll forfeit potential greatness for the mongrelization of our species.
Forgive us our preaching.
Drexler and I are both a bit evangelical on the subject.
Rockefeller, Carnegie, Harriman, they're all putting money towards teaching.
Colleges and medical schools are adding eugenics courses in droves.
It's the future.
And it's coming just in time.
Amen.
Speak freely, brother.
Confess yourself without fear.
You're in the presence of God.
- I have thieved.
- Amen.
My whole life.
- I stole from my employer.
- Amen, brother.
- I stole from my wife's widowed mother.
- Amen.
Anybody else I could dupe.
- I made promises I knew I would never keep.
- Amen.
I hurt anybody who ever loved me and I never felt a moment of regret.
Amen, brother.
Instead, I felt a vain glory for having succeeded in it.
Amen.
But I succeeded nothing outside of destroying myself.
I know that God is punishing me, but I hope, I pray that He can see just how much I've changed.
Stay on the path and His forgiving light will soon shine down upon you.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Who else among us needs to unburden themselves tonight? I have a heavy heart.
The heart of a sinner.
My daughter.
Works as a nurse.
She's seen some vile, awful sickness, but nothing comes close to the disease Satan can infect in you.
The cure confession.
Open up that medical kit, Lucy.
Take out that medicament and cast the devil out.
Go on, Cricket.
Right, are you ready? I can't believe you haven't been here before.
Here we are.
So when you did your exposé, how were you able to gather all that information without anyone becoming suspicious or getting drugged yourself? Well, I seduced the orderlies with filthy stories and erotic pictures.
Really? No.
No.
- No, of course not.
- Oh.
No, I paid them off.
Ahem, a well-offered bribe can be an art.
Perhaps I'll bribe you.
To do what? I'll think of something.
But you liked the article? Oh, I loved the article.
But I don't want people thinking all medicine is like that.
Psychiatry is a very new field and things always look worse at the beginning.
Not all things.
No, not all things.
Well, that's why I'm writing about Zinberg.
Right.
A positive story about medicine.
And if it happens to show a Jew who isn't a Lower East Side ghetto peasant, all the better.
Before I met Zinberg, the only Jews I had met were destitute patients at the Knick.
Hmm.
Well, now you know two who aren't.
You? Jewish? Yeah, from head to toe.
But don't worry, it's not catching.
No, no, no, it's I didn't mean it's just that it's just Genevieve Everidge is a very Goyisha name? - Well - Yeah.
Yeah, it reeks of old money.
A finishing school girl.
But you aren't? Maybe I am.
No one knows and I don't want them to.
When you read Genevieve Everidge, she's anything you want her to be.
And I doubt people would feel the same way about Esther Kohn, a shirtmaker's daughter from Pittsfield.
I would.
Said Columbia University's Bertram Chickering Jr.
The only Presbyterian surgeon at Mount Sinai Jews' Hospital.
Hmm.
Seems we're both swimming in each other's ponds.
How lucky am I? You're always so sweet to me.
Well, I do love to be with you, however infrequent.
I should be more attentive.
I do like that.
And when I do this? That's nice, too.
That wasn't so bad, was it? No.
It was nice.
Ahem.
Is it too soon to ask if you feel pregnant? It doesn't work that way.
No? How would you know? I work in a hospital.
Did work.
I went and saw Sister Harriet today.
Why would you do that? She's my friend and she's really up against it.
The judge was brutal.
Well, she's not a very sympathetic defendant.
And her lawyer costs more than she could ever afford.
I was thinking we could help her.
What? You're asking me to help fund a baby killer.
She helped women in trouble.
She's a murderer.
How can someone who wants to have a baby possibly sympathize with someone like that? Did you know that she was aborting babies? You said she was your friend.
- You must have.
- No.
Of course not.
Stay away from her.
Only God can save her now.
John? Abby.
Thanks.
How long were you away? Too long.
But you're better now? Yeah, yeah.
I feel good.
Really.
How are you? Your arm bothering you? Been having muscle spasms.
Anything else? Insomnia.
The headaches are much worse.
Well, you should have come to see me.
What for, John? There's no cure.
And we both know where I'm ultimately headed.
Looks like it was a good night.
People give more when they feel worse.
Just as long as they feel better when they leave, right? I know I feel better.
Do you? I do.
While I was up there I honestly could feel forgiveness wash over me.
I felt lighter, safer.
I felt free.
Girl, you is far from free.
The spittle you let fly from your wretched mouth was the most disgusting, humiliating sewage my ears have ever heard.
Daddy, I had to confess.
How else could I be welcomed back into God's arms? You think God is just gonna forgive a stupid girl like you? You not only made yourself look foolish, you made me look worse.
- I didn't mean to.
- No, you didn't mean to.
Just like you didn't mean to lie.
Didn't mean to steal.
To take a drug.
To fuck a stranger.
I should have known.
I said to your mama since the day you was born how dumb you was.
You know why I call you Cricket? Because that's what you sound like.
Every time you speak, it makes my skin crawl.
And tonight tonight it took the power of the Almighty for me not to squash you while you was chirping away in church.
Daddy.
Please.
- Daddy.
- Don't make it worse.
Please.
Please.
- Please don't.
- You know what you earned yourself.
The Polish doctor discovered the gland secretion existed.
Doc at Johns Hopkins thought he'd crystalized it, but turned out he had only isolated a benzoyl derivative.
Then this Japanese fellow on 103rd Street, he crystalized it for real.
Genius.
No, the genius was that he patented it.
He's the one who called it adrenaline.
Hmm.
His heart's beating rapidly.
We're just looking to see if it cures his sniffles to start.
There might be side effects to consider.
Or other uses.
So how was your little excursion to Huber's Palace with the girl writer? You're already the talk of the hospital.
The charming shaygetz.
She's like no one I've known.
The things she's seen.
I'm worried I'm no match for her.
We might consider trying on larger animals or even humans.
Dr.
Zinberg is very specific about his protocols.
Start on mice.
Present our findings.
Then on to rats, guinea pigs.
Then cats, dogs, pigs, and only then to humans.
Well, we could at least try injecting the drug in different doses.
Just the sniffles, Chickering.
You can be aggressive around here, but we don't go in for sloppy or stupid.
Of course.
What do you mean no match? You trying to bed her or beat her in badminton? I'm not trying to bed her, Leo.
If it came to that, I worry I'm not experienced enough for her the way an older man might be.
Ah.
There's experience out there for the taking.
I get mine every Tuesday at a Negro brothel on 29th Street.
As experiences go, it's worth every penny.
The papers are signed.
You have your subway partner.
Did you convince your father to sell some of his ships? I've been able to find some savings for the company which I think could be put to better use elsewhere.
Better than in reinvesting? How does your father feel about you betting against him? He doesn't know.
And I'd like to keep it that way.
If he wants to stay blindly adrift in the 19th century, that's his business.
Now here's to ours.
It shouldn't be difficult to excise from the base of the tumor.
Yes, there it is.
We will now bisect the healthy liver tissue leading to the tumor and tie off all blood vessels contained within.
Or we could simply strangle the vessels leading to the tumor and not bother the healthy liver.
Which would be lazy.
As opposed to slicing the liver further, which would be idiotic.
There is no idiocy in removing blood supply for any future tumors.
It will be done delicately and the decision has been made.
Nurse Pell.
Please hand Dr.
Gallinger a clean scalpel with our thinnest blade so he may carry out - You want me to do it? - Yes.
Yes.
I will now bisect the healthy liver tissue leading to the tumor and tie off each blood vessel contained within.
Edwards.
Can I get your assistance in Pathological? I think I might be onto something.
Let's go.
Thack.
Yes? Why do you always go to him? What do you mean? Why do you always choose Edwards over me? Well, this is simply something for which he's better suited.
It was me who saved you.
And I'm eternally grateful.
You know my appreciation for you is not an issue here.
I just need someone with whom I can work with on this research.
Since he started here, Edwards has invented and improved procedure after procedure, technique after technique.
Everett, if you want to collaborate with me, then jealousy won't serve you a tenth as well as ambition and effort.
So that's the enemy.
The syphilis spirochete.
Our goal is to kill that bastard.
Eloquent.
How do you propose to do that? So I read in this Austrian journal that several syphilis patients inexplicably improved.
The only link was that all had been suffering from various other illnesses strep, pneumonia, meningitis.
I've heard similar stories in Europe.
The belief is that the syphilis spirochete was killed off by something in the strep or the pneumococcus.
No, that wasn't what killed the syphilis at all.
I have tried to kill that thing under the microscope with everything I can think of.
Anything I can safely put in a human body.
Nothing worked.
I thought it was indestructible until finally it died on its own one night while I was working under the light of several lamps focused on my work.
- It's light sensitive? - No.
It's the heat.
I was baking under those lamps and so was the disease.
Syphilis can be killed by temperature.
How high? If I can induce a fever in a syphilis patient and get it high enough, I can bake the disease to death.
Yes, and the patient in the process.
You are talking about lethal temperatures.
Yes, to cure a lethal disease.
Suppose you could induce the fever using something curable.
- Like what? - Malaria.
It's a deadly disease inducing terribly high fever, but with a relatively dependable cure.
Quinine.
Well, let's try it.
We would need extensive research.
The risks are enormous.
No, no, that could take years.
I don't have that time.
You? No, Abby.
She's developing motor coordination problems.
You know, the blood vessels in her brain are swelling and clotting.
Won't be long before the seizures come.
The thrombosis.
And death.
Where do we start? Where we usually do, with a pig.
Yes, changes are always expected during construction, but what you're asking is quite extensive.
Well, the board thinks the matter important enough to implement the changes.
Well, I understand the Inebriety Ward, but some of these things you're asking for make very little sense.
Changing ceiling heights, moving walls, why? It's all very disruptive, not to mention it will cost a fortune in materials and manpower.
The board wants what it wants.
Then I should speak to them.
Mr.
Wingo, I sympathize, but questioning the board to their faces is not a recipe for keeping your job.
I should know.
I fought these on your behalf and nearly found myself out on the street.
I don't want that fate to befall you, a man who does not have nearly the history with these men that I do.
Thank you for your counsel.
The changes will be made.
Good.
Make me a list of the extra materials you'll need and I'll send them along to the contractors.
Where is the tender? Where's the fire tender, damn it? Who's supposed to be on watch? It's Mr.
Blackledge, sir.
I think he went to piss.
Well, when he buttons up, tell him he's fired.
He can follow that piss down the hole.
You're the new tender now.
Make sure the fires don't go out and don't burn the place down or you can follow Blackledge and his piss.
Understood? - Understood? - Yes, Mr.
Wingo.
Go.
Well done, Frazier.
I won't allow negligence.
Perhaps just to be safe, we should slow construction down a bit despite the cost.
We don't want to take any unnecessary risks.
I have to be hard on these men.
They have to know who's boss.
Of course.
I have always said a little bit of fear can be a very good thing.
- Jimmy.
- You piece of shit.
- You're - Not in a fucking hole in the ground? - No, I ain't.
- I had nothing to do with it.
I swear I do not know who took out Bunky.
And sliced me up good.
Bellevue boys sewed me up like a rag doll.
But here I am.
And here you are.
Jimmy, please I ain't here to bust you up.
I'm just delivering a message.
You got to come to Tammany Hall and make your accounts for this here building.
You work for Tammany? Yeah.
And I ain't Jimmy to you no more.
People call me formal now.
I'm Mr.
James Fester.
You'd do well to remember that.
Okay.
Mr.
Barrow gave me very specific instructions that I must have a written report of the patient's ailment before I can dispense any of the narcotics.
And only to a doctor or a nurse.
Answer me this, then.
How am I supposed to write a report from Houston Street or wherever when I've just picked up a body that's been kicked in the chest by a mule? Now, having those drugs on the ambulance could be the difference between putting them on the ward or putting them in the morgue.
Good news, Herman.
I was at the club last night carousing with the fellows and we got to talking about you.
I've now got enough backers to bring you in to interview for membership.
Really? Not to worry.
I'll be by your side the whole time trumpeting your worthiness.
Least I can do.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
Thank you.
I didn't want to keep you waiting.
I had to finish my school studies and do my hair just right for you.
I hope you'll forgive me.
Excuse me, I am next.
Hermie, sorry.
I didn't see you.
Apparently not.
Hello, Judge Corwin.
Herman.
It's just that I've been so distracted with my school studies and doing my hair just right for you.
Please don't be mad, Hermie.
You know how special you are to me.
And to the judge and to that fat fellow before him and to the Spaniard before him.
Yes, I have been waiting that long.
Ever since you obtained a new boss, it seems harder than ever to see you.
Why is that? Did he take out an advertisement in "The Morning Telegraph"? Hmm? Is there a billboard of you on Broadway? Are you jealous? I just thought you would always want me at the head of the line.
I do.
It's not my fault.
They make me do it that way.
I am not an idiot, Junia.
I'm well aware this is a job for you.
I just thought you and I would always be more than another six-dollar sale.
Oh.
You are.
When I go to sleep at night, I think of your sweet smile.
I dream of your hugs and kisses.
And when I wake, I count the hours until I see you again.
You know I do, don't you? Yes.
I wish I could be with only you all the time.
I'm trapped here.
And you're all I have.
A life with you is all I dream of.
- I'm sorry.
- Shh.
Don't you be sorry.
It is not your fault you ended up here.
Is that really what you want? You want to be with me? More than anything in the world.
Then you will be.
There we go.
That should guarantee it.
All right, Otto, let's get you delira and excira.
Arm.
You ready? Ready? Come on! Come on! No cheap shots.
Shake hands.
- Come on, boyo! - Wrestle! Come on! Rip his fucking arm off! Yeah! Come on! Come on! Otto.
Otto.
Otto! - Otto! - Come on, get up! Shit.
Here.
Our syphilitic sow is now three degrees above normal.
We have no idea if quinine will even cure malaria in a pig.
Well, in five more degrees, we'll load her up with it and find out.
In the meantime, we let the fever rage.
You've got a visitor.
Excellent.
Thank you, gentlemen.
I need to begin a full dissection of this girl's body.
And I'll return in an hour and take the pig's temperature.
You know, if people actually knew what you did in here, they wouldn't trust you to give them a fucking aspirin.
Yes? Put it through.
Dr.
Edwards speaking.
What? Right now? Have another piece of cake.
I made it myself.
I shouldn't.
There's only so many pounds a girl can dance away.
You can afford it.
Algie went on and on about how pretty you were, but he didn't do your silhouette justice.
Algie, look who's here.
Opal.
Hello, sweet.
We finally get to meet this wife of yours after hearing about her for all these months.
It's been so long.
Let me get my arms around you again.
She sailed into Boston on the Saxonia day before yesterday.
Boston? Where I thought you would be.
But I learned my mistake.
This country is so big with so many cities.
I came here straightaway.
To my parents? Who greeted me like family.
Because that's what you are.
That's what I am.
Also a mess after all this travelling.
I need to freshen up a bit.
Absence may make the heart grow fonder, but a little bit of lip rouge will make the heart beat quicker.
Down the hall just to the right.
Won't be a moment.
Who on earth is that woman? She is my wife just as she said she is.
You think that's something you might want to tell us, that you got married? Boy, that's not something you just forget about.
I guess I hoped that she would.
You should have told us.
Why'd you lie? It happened so fast.
We were in Paris.
Medicine was going well.
People were accepting me.
We met and I was happy.
- But then - But then.
There is always a "but then" with you.
You run hot and then you run cold.
And then you run and run.
How in the world did you think this wouldn't catch up with you? I don't even know what she wants.
I know exactly what she wants.
That girl is determined.
What did I miss?