Wednesday, June 27, 2012

1963 Comic Strips: A Summary

Source*: Curtis, Dal. Rex Morgan, MD. 1 Jan - 14 Dec 1963, Publishers/Publishers Newspaper Syndicate (Chicago, IL). 
*p. 76-125 on disk from King Features Syndicate.


All comic strips are posted online by special permission of King Features Syndicate, Inc.
  • January 1 - 3: Mrs. Williams, diabetes
  • January 4 - 9: Tracy, Paul and Keith
    • Tracy gets another call from Paul - they both miss each other, Tracy tells Paul they just have to be apart for a year
    • Keith phones Tracy and sets up a date with her
  • January 10 - 12: A Child, acid burns of the cornea
    • A child comes in with acid burns to the cornea; the ophthalmologist says the damage won't be permanent because the parents were quick to wash with luke-warm water (teaching moment!)
Rex Morgan, MD - January 12, 1963     © King Features Syndicate
  • January 13 - March 4: Tracy & Paul
    • Tracy goes out with Keith, has a great time, and struggles with the possibility of breaking up with Paul (her fiance whom she plans to marry after residency)
    • When Tracy tells Paul she wants to marry immediately, he flies down to see her - this is when we learn Paul is blind, and knows that Tracy is in love with someone else
      • Paul Winthrop lost his vision in a car accident at 18 - Tracy was driving, but apparently it wasn't her fault; she can't admit to this
    • Paul flies home, Tracy hopes Keith will one day return
  • March 4 - July 26: Dr. Bernard Van Bern, the looove doctor
    • Dr. Van Bern is clearly a fraud, but Mrs. William Plutark, wife of a wealthy industrialist, holds a reception in his honor; women flock
    • Rex is not impressed
    • Mrs. Plutark insists on her daughter, Elizabeth Corey, seeing Van Bern to save her marriage
    • Van Bern hypnotizes Elizabeth, instructing that she'll be very happy in her marriage, but will break down when she hears the name Lola Laroc (who we know is in cahoots with Van Bern)
    • Rex stops by the Corey residence to see their child, who has bronchitis
    • Van Bern tells Mrs. Plutark a [false] secret: that Jack is legally married to Lola Laroc, not Elizabeth; he says he'll handle it
    • Lola is set up to blackmail Jack, saying she'll go to the police unless she's paid $75k
    • Jack and Rex are worried that Elizabeth is mentally ill
    • Rex checks with the police: Van Bern = Professor Borrigard, con man
    • Van Bern and Lola get busted; Jack's reputation is restored, Elizabeth gets psychiatric care
  • July 26 - December 3: C. Robert "Bob" Wiley & Wife Midge, coronaries and stress
    • Rex is called when Bob has a minor coronary; his wife is upset because they have dinner with the president of Bob's company (she's convinced he just had indigestion)
    • Strip educates about a doctor's responsibility versus ability to treat the unwilling, 8/8/63 (see image)
Rex Morgan, MD - August 8, 1963     © King Features Syndicate



    • Teaching strip on coronaries, 8/9/63 (see image)
Rex Morgan, MD - August 9, 1963     © King Features Syndicate
    • Midge pushes Bob to accept a promotion, but the stress causes him a serious coronary - another great time for a teaching strip, 8/28/63 (see image)
Rex Morgan, MD - August 28, 1963     © King Features Syndicate
    • Mr. Wiley goes into fibrillation while Mrs. Wiley has taken Rex out to wine and dine (and flirt and distract and...)
    • Bob confronts both his wife the the VP of his company to tell them that he's prefer to be in sales rather than take the promotion to a managerial position
    • Midge feigns overdosing on sleeping pills after hearing this to scare her husband into doing what she wants
    • Midge slaps Rex in the face and he gives her a piece of his mind; this moves Midge to soften up and support Bob's decision to return to sales
  • December 3 - April 16, 1964: Jeanie Tang, heroine addict
    • December 15 - January 5: MISSING
    • Jeanie Tang is a singer at a local night club owned by sleeze-ball Nero
    • Al Croyden fears she's not well and approaches Rex about her health

1962 Comic Strips: A Summary

Source*: Curtis, Dal. Rex Morgan, MD. 12 Feb - 31 Dec 1962, Publishers Syndicate (Chicago, IL). 
*p. 18-76 on disk from King Features Syndicate.


All comic strips are posted online by special permission of King Features Syndicate, Inc.
  • January 1 - February 11: MISSING
  • February 12 - May 12: Susie Conover, meningitis
    • Harris intends to marry Emily Conover, the single mother of daughter Susie, but can't stand children
    • Susie falls ill, and when Rex shows up, Harris insists he leaves and waits for the "specialist" that he has phoned in; Susie only wants Rex
    • Susie has meningitis, and is placed "in contagion", and falls into a coma
    • After 2 doses of hydrocortisone, Susie eventually pulls through
    • Harris has a change of heart about his priorities, and decides he loves both Emily and Susie
  • May 10 - August 23: Sindoo and his "Rest Home"
    • Elsa's husband, Larry Farnum, is worried that Elsa is mentally ill and needs hospitalization, but her mother (Mrs. Krone) is horrified at the idea and refuses
    • Mrs. Krone finds a "Dr. Sindoo", who doesn't charge fees but asks for "contributions" - Miss Georgi Fleece, working with Sindoo, suggests an initial contribution of $500
    • Sindoo whips one of his workers, Grif, for leaving bruises on an elderly patient (Grif does not appear to be mentally sound)
    • Rex checks in with the medical society, which doesn't have any information on Sindoo
    • Grif takes Elsa away from from Sindoo's to protect her from others; he harms anyone who tries to come near her - this all seems very King Kong...
    • Grif holds Elsa hostage at a farmhouse, thinking he's protecting her; he fractures Sindoo's skull with the butt of a shotgun, threatens to shoot Rex but Elsa screams and stops him
    • Grif turns out to be Sindoo's brother
    • Teaching moment! 8/21/62 (see image)
Rex Morgan, MD - August 21, 1962     © King Features Syndicate
    • Miss Fleece has a mysterious past that Rex knows about
    • In the end, Elsa is hospitalized and given a good prognosis
  • August 24 - November 23: Allison Poole
    • Rex avoids getting into a fight when Allison's playboy, Tony, instigates problems because of a double-booked table at a fancy restaurant
    • Allison lures Rex to her home feigning an emergency, just to hit on him; Tony follows and sees him there, runs Rex off the road after he leaves her house
      • When the police show up, they make a point to mention he was wearing his safety belt - nice touch (see image)
Rex Morgan, MD - September 19, 1962     © King Features Syndicate
    • Rex has a severe concussion, and doesn't remember anything about that night
    • June overhears Tony [aggressively] admitting to Allison that he ran Rex off the road; she gives him a good wallop (there's an awful lot of face slapping in this series...)
    • Tony eventually admits to Rex that he ran him off the road, but does so in the same sentence as his request for help with Allison - she's left Tony a note saying "there's so little time left" for her
      • Rex already had suspicions when she was unaware her cigarette was burning her fingers
    • Neuro exam! 11/13/62
    • Diagnosis with a neuro consult: syringomyelia, "a crippling disease...and the course...downhill"
    • Allison is discharged, as there is no more medical intervention
  • November 23 - December 7: Dr. Keith Cavell's Surprise Visit
    • Even those Melissa fakes a heart attack to keep Keith from leaving town (without Rex and June knowing) we still get a picture of how Keith treats angina: a nitroglycerine tablet under the tongue
Rex Morgan, MD - November 27, 1962     © King Features Syndicate
  • December 3 - TBD: Intern, Dr. Tracy Heath
    • Rex heads to hospital to help a new female intern, Dr. Tracy Heath, handle a head injury with lacerations - he automatically assumed it was a man, and had to be corrected by the nurse
    • A 3-car automobile car crash results in chaotic scenes at the emergency department
      • hemorrhage and transfusion
      • compound fracture
    • Tracy is offended by Keith's comment, "...if I knew they were turning out pretty interns like you, I might cut down on my off time!"
    • Interns make $25/month! 12/22/62
    • Tracy gets a call from a worried Paul (who we don't yet know)
  • December 28 - January 3, 2012 - Mrs. Williams, diabetes
    • Mrs. Williams, a diabetic patient who won't stay on a diet, comes in - she's frank about not liking female doctors, and Tracy lets her have it for not following doctor's orders:
Rex Morgan, MD - December 29, 1962     © King Features Syndicate
    • Rex is also blunt with Mrs. Williams about her diabetes. Teaching strip, 1/1/63 (see image)
    • Rex goes on to lecture Tracy that disciplining patients is not the way to handle them, even when they don't follow orders
Rex Morgan, MD - December 31, 1962     © King Features Syndicate
Rex Morgan, MD - January 1, 1963    © King Features Syndicate

1958 Comic Strips: A Summary

Source*: Curtis, Dal. Rex Morgan, MD. 2 Feb - 14 Jun 1958, Publishers Syndicate (Chicago, IL). 
*p. 1-17 on disk from King Features Syndicate.


All comic strips are posted online by special permission of King Features Syndicate, Inc.
  • January 1 - February 16: MISSING
  • February 17 - June 9: The Remington Twins, kidney disease
    • Twin brothers, Eric and Derek Remington, are both in love with June Gale, Rex Morgan's former office nurse
    • June returns after months away (in NYC?)
    • *physical abuse* - Eric hits Derek in fight over June
    • Derek, the nice twin, is diagnosed with "a rather advanced polycystic disease", 5/2/58, and he can only be cured with a kidney transplant from an identical twin (what are the chances!)
    • Eric turns a 180 and becomes worried about his brother's health when he realizes how serious his disease is
    • Derek dies before he gets to surgery, even after Eric agrees to risk his life for the small chance he could save his brother
Rex Morgan, MD - May 16, 1958     © King Features Syndicate
  • June 5 - 14: Martha Wheaton, mental illness
    • Martha Wheaton, a patient Rex saw 10 years ago, is to be discharged after years of hospitalization for a chronic mental illness
    • Strip ends on 6/14/58
  • June 15 - December 31: MISSING