Nuts! (2016) Movie Script
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[ZAP]
[INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING]
[GOATS BLEATING]
This is a film
about John Romulus Brinkley.
A doctor, amongst other things.
A man who succeeded
against terrible odds and
powerful opposition.
A man who changed the world.
Brinkley's story begins
in 1902,
when he stood before the Dean
of Johns Hopkins University.
17 years old, in a shirt
and a pair of trousers
and nothing else.
He told the Dean he
wanted to be a doctor,
like his daddy was.
The Dean surveyed the boy
and laughed.
He said doctors were not made
from people like Brinkley.
But 15 years later,
Brinkley had a diploma
from the Accletic Medical
University, in Kansas
city.
Then he married a pretty
young woman named Minnie
and looked to the West,
with little money,
but big dreams.
[CAR HUMMING]
They arrived in a place
that barely needed a name.
But the few people
that lived there
called it Milford, Kansas.
Brinkley dolled up
an old soda farm,
and stocked it with medicine,
attempting to drum up business.
John and Minnie slept
in the back of the shop.
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
[GOATS BLEATING]
Just a few days after they
arrived, a farmer named
Stitsworth
visited Brinkley's store.
How do you do?
Well, I'm all in, doc.
I'm a... flat tire.
Flat tire?
What does that mean?
Well, for 16 years, I've been
trying to have a child with my
wife.
Well, I can't help you.
Modern medical science has not
yet solved the problems
of sexual weakness
and childless homes.
I see.
[GOATS BLEATING]
That fella out there
sure is something.
Something? Yes.
It's too bad I don't have
Billy goat nuts.
[LAUGHS] Too bad.
Say doc... why don't you just
put some in me?
Beg your pardon.
Put some goat nuts in me.
You know, graft them on.
To cure your impotence,
you want me...
to implant goat testicles...
into you.
Well doc, that can't be worse
than the nuts I've got.
[GOATS BLEATING]
Well... there'll be a small fee.
[OPENING THEME PLAYING]
Sweet sugar honey bunny
You can buy my love
With your money
Devil's word
I ain't got time for that
Ain't you heard
You can be my man
Come be my man
Don't you understand?
Don't you understand?
Don't you understand?
Don't you understand?
And I don't ever
want him back
He's a hustler?
Oh yeah
I don't understand
And I don't ever
want him back
He's a hustler
Milford, Kansas in 1917, when
Brinkley went there was
described...
as a one horse town,
and it...
was very dull and boring,
until Brinkley got there.
[CAR WHIRRING]
The outcomes of experimental
surgeries are difficult
to predict.
But the gland transplants
worked every time.
Brinkley
would put goat
testicles inside
an impotent man.
And nine months later,
that man would call
himself a father.
His patients and advocates
were increasingly wealthy
and respectable men.
Hue Yvon, William Jennings
Brian, Rudolph
Valentino.
It was rumored
that President Wilson,
had secretly visited
the Brinkley hospital.
And everyone knew,
Bustor Keaton was no stranger
to the power of goat glands.
[LAUGHTER]
[LAUGHTER CONTINUES]
[AUDIENCE CHEERING]
[CAR HONKS]
While Milford changed
because of doctor Brinkley,
he brought a lot of people
into town.
And these people had money.
He'd made Milford
a better place by far.
He began to develop
the Brinkley sanitarium,
and as he developed
the grounds, he made
them a community center.
And they had
church revival meetings,
there, he became very active
in the methodist church.
The whole community
benefited from having the
Brinkleys there,
and they... they loved him.
[PEOPLE CHATTERING]
[CHILDREN CHEERING]
[FAINT WHISPERS]
In the early 20's, just based on
the word of mouth...
he had people starting to flock
into Milford, Kansas this little
town.
At first, they came bringing
their own goats.
Pretty soon, he had his own
herd of goats out back.
The patient would come,
Brinkley would take them out
back.
They would browse the herd...
the patient would select a goat,
with which he felt
the most connection.
Then they would come in, do
the sort of double operation,
but soon... we're talking 1923,
very early on, when radio was
just, just, just beginning...
Brinkley realized what radio
could do. He saw, he saw the
future.
You're listening to the voice
of J. R. Brinkley of
Brinkley hospitals.
And I trust I may I have
your attention for the
next few minutes.
I wonder how many of you
men and women are sick.
Have you been taking treatments
and not getting better?
Do you continue to be ill?
Do you have gland disease?
Are you going downhill?
[INSERT SOUND CUE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Brinkley gave Milford, Kansas
America's fourth radio station.
Broadcasting at 5000 watts,
it was the most powerful
station in the world.
[CROWD CHEERS]
We visualize you are sitting
around your radio
receiving sets.
And I know...
Dr. Brinkley was a pioneer of
radio.
There was no question about
that. I mean, when he started
KFKB,
in Kansas there, it was in 1923.
Dr. Brinkley stretched
boundaries in quite a lot
of ways, talking about sex.
just wasn't done at that
time.
He was like the Dr. Ruth
Westheimer of 20's and 30's.
[HAPPY MUSIC PLAYING]
You men, and you women
who are sexually dead,
...sexually weak.
Men and women who have lost
their sex glands by
accident,
injury or surgery
Men and women who have long
despaired of ever having
any sex life again.
[COUGH]
NBC and other stations
would broadcast
what they call potted palm
music. It was music that was
real...
nice and sweet and safe.
[POTTED PALM MUSIC PLAYING]
The programming on KFKB
ranged from comedy programs.
"Don't argue with me,
Emmit. You don't know
what you talking about."
There were hillbilly singers
and musicians...
[FOLK MUSIC PLAYING]
You had your singing cowboy...
[COUNTRY MUSIC PLAYING]
Hawlin Alley on a dark
and drizzly night
Brinkley was really the first
guy to blast country music
across the nation.
that John B. Stetson Hat
It was an incredibly popular
radio station.
People never knew
what they were gonna hear next.
[FOLK MUSIC PLAYING]
Mrs. Brinkley and I
appreciate our listeners
over this station.
We appreciate our friends
out yonder in radio land.
And I know from the letters
that I received...
what Ms. Brinkley and I tell
you is appreciated by
thousands of people.
By the late 20's, he was on the
radio with something called
Medical Question Box, all right.
Where people would write in...
describe their symptoms,
then he would
prescribe for them,
over the radio.
Bags and bags and bags of mail
were coming in everyday.
He's got a team of secretaries
pawing through it
every morning.
[TYPING SOUNDS]
It becomes so successful that
he... he works out this whole
thing
...with druggists.
He had a network of hundreds of
druggists around the mid west.
Where they would stock
Brinkley medicines...
and he was so agile,
and he was so convincing.
In an era when everybody thought
radio was... um...
a novelty or at best.
At best.
He saw that he could use it
to...
rule... just rule...
commercially and turn himself
into a king,
which is exactly what he did.
[CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYING]
When I left my little cabin
home in Western North Carolina,
I'd known very few of the
comforts and conveniences
of life.
Hindered ties bound me,
to those scenes of my early
boyhood.
And I loved every rail pins
and smoky chimneys and
But I wanted to do better.
I'd seen my father wear
himself out, struggling
in those mountains.
And I knew that it'd be thus
safefor me to find a more
promising field.
I'd learnt the story of Lincoln
who rose from obscurity
to the highest peak of fame,
and found inspiration
in his early struggles.
Being ambitious, I wanted the
best.
And I was determined to
acquire it.
But I realized, that the
best was a choice prize
to be won only
by those with the git
to quite doggedly for it.
[CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYING]
In 1927,
a decade after that peculiar
request from Bill Stitsworth,
Minnie Brinkley gave birth
to a son.
John Brinkley junior.
They called him Johnny Boy.
[INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING]
[WIND-CHIMESS RINGING]
Hmm, one of the flowers
are coming in awful well.
Early bloom.
Johnny Boy, go fetch
daddy the newspaper.
I want you to go see
Willie Thurstin today...
Those roses he has,
the red ones.
The deep, deep, deep, deep,
deep...
...red ones.
Buy all of 'em.
What you don't plant here
we'll just bring
to the sanitarium.
Johnny, you go see Mr.Thurstin
with momma today?
Yes daddy.
I think it's time
we find a tutor.
But Johnny Boy...it ain't too
soon you think?
No, no, not too soon.
School alone won't educate him
proper.
[EMPHATICALLY] He is gonna make
a man for you to be proud of.
What... uh, these bastards!
What's that daddy?
Oh, that AMA, medical
association.
They're after me...
They're after us.
[OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING]
A blatant quack, one John R.
Brinkley,
claims to provide an
impotence cure through
goat gland grafting.
Though he is based
in an obscure Kansas town,
Brinkley has performed this
procedure over 10,000
times.
The American Medical
Association cannot allow
this state to operate
unopposed.
The AMA founded in 1947, was...
an attempt to consolidate
and increase the esteem...
of... medical professionals.
It had a very selective
membership.
In that, all the members were
male,
all the members were white
men...
The common man cannot be
trusted to understand
workings of his own body.
We must rely on regular doctors
to keep us healthy.
The practices
of the irregulars,
the chiropractors...
osteopaths, homeopaths,
midwives, acupuncturists
and herbalists,
all the so called alternative
practitioners must be stopped.
Morris Fishbein was the editor
of the journal
of the American Medical
Association.
He abandoned being a practicing
doctor and became a crusader.
A medical crusader for...
for the AMA.
Morris Fishbein had a lot of
concerns, but the
concerns gained him
the most attention, and some
would say the most notoriety,
was his campaign against
what he called quackery.
Fishbein became
so narrow in his thinking
about what a real doctor was,
that he had to be slapped on,
now and then for...
going too far.
The AMA is doing its part
to destroy quackery,
and is depending upon
the Federal Radio Commission
to swiftly put an end to KFKB.
Where Brinkley spiels forth
his irregular filth
into the ears of millions.
The Federal Commission was,
was created to rein in
all these maverick broadcasters
and to try to keep radio safe
for corporations, and families
and to try to impose some order
on the wild radio dial
that flourished at the time.
The beast that we know today
as the FCC
had it's beginning in the FRC,
back in the late 20's.
1930 should have been
Brinkley's year.
Voters in a national poll
named KFKB America's
favorite radio station.
Brinkley was planning a one
million dollar expansion
to his hospital.
But because of Fishbein's
campaign, the AMA and
FRCA targeted Brinkley,
with the goal of ending
his medical practice
and radio broadcasts.
Brinkley's practice,
his entire livelihood...
his life's work, was at stake.
Two separate hearings were
scheduled.
The first was in Tapiko,
with a local chapter
of the medical association
The press lined the walls,
and filled the corridors...
amidst hundreds of
Brinkley's patients and
supporters.
[REPORTERS QUESTIONING]
Dr. Brinkley.
Have you spoken to Fishbein?
Are they shutting you down?
Doctor, your thoughts?
Well, it's a strange day to
defend a proven successful
practice, but...
as it is said,
first they ignore you...
and they ridicule you,
then they fight you,
and then you win.
The hearing began
with the Board members
hurling their callous
accusations.
This goat gland surgery
is absolute flim-flammery.
Never mind the goat glands,
his operation
for bladder trouble is
amateurish.
I agree it's nuts, it's
ridiculous, no, it is nuts.
No, I've been keeping track
of the Brinkley goats,
the number of goats in that herd
never changes.
The supposed doctor is not even
using goat balls at all.
[COLLECTIVE GASP]
Then Brinkley addressed
the Board.
I'm forced to be here today
because of a ruling class
intolerant of progress, and
ignorant of benefits of
alternative medicine.
I have... all physicians have
theright to adopt new methods.
Patients have the right
to best treatments,
even those not approved
by the AMA.
Mr. Brinkley, gland
transplantation of any sort
is only in experimental stage.
Of course gland surgery
is in the experimental stage,
for some people. In my case,
it is past that experimental
stage. I do it daily.
It is a boon to humanity.
Is your form of medicine
found in any textbook?
I hardly doubt it.
[JUDGE] Did you learn it
in school?
Of course not.
Then how do you know it works?
Let me tell you a little story,
about a doctor named
Ignaz Semmelweis.
Now 100 years ago,
doctors didn't wash
their hands.
Semmelweis saw the doctors
in his hospital going
right from performing
an autopsy to delivering
a baby.
Now, a lot of those mothers
caught ill and died.
Semmelweis, in his
experimentation,
discovered that if a doctor
washed his hands
between the autopsy
and the delivery,
almost no deaths occurred.
Now, everyone knows that soap
and water kills the germs
on the doctor's hands.
But back then,
the idea was ludicrous.
They didn't know what a germ
was. It didn't fit comfortably
into mainstream medicine.
Semmelweis was endlessly
ridiculed for this
absurdity, exiled.
He died in an insane asylum.
But, he knew.
He didn't know why,
but he knew he was right.
He knew it worked.
He could plainly see the
evidence,
when others were blinded
by the status quo.
Look at all these patients
before this board.
You all have an awful lot
of evidence to ignore,
and I think you should
hear it from them.
Dr. Brinkley was the only doctor
I visited, who said my condition
was curable.
My wife just gave birth
to our first child!
I am living proof...
That the goat glands in my
scrotus are working.
I'd show all of you right now
if the ladies weren't present.
I used to have a flappy dong,
but it ain't flappy no more.
We waited so long for a child,
now we have hope.
Since 1926, I've been delivering
20 goats a week to Dr. Brinkley.
He must be doing
something with those goats.
I should be the one choosing my
doctor. I should be the one
choosing my treatment.
The government is telling me
what to do,
and I'm not going
to let them get away with it.
[CROWD APPLAUDING] You tell 'em.
Yes, the government can stay
out of all of this.
They should stay
out of all of this!
Wooh!
Yeah!
In all my life,
I've never had an instance
of normal sexual intercourse.
I never attempted intercourse
prior to marriage otherwise...
the tragedy might have been
saved.
My sexual excitement at all
times resulted in ejaculation
prior to the penis
entering the vagina.
Or immediately thereafter.
My wife had all the pain
of tending the birth of two boys
without a particle of
the pleasures of sexual life.
Had it not been for those two
boys,
I would have put a gun to my
head and triggered it,
to end my wife's misery.
Furthermore, on account of the
small size of my sexual organ,
I--
That's enough!
I think we've all heard enough.
The hearing adjourned
so the Board could deliberate.
Brinkley then traveled to
Washington DC to confront
the Federal Radio Commission,
to fight for the very existence
of his radio station.
A train full of KFKB listeners
followed him.
[PEOPLE CHEERING]
This hearing began
just as the first.
Pornography in the air waves!
Hardly.
Salacious innuendo.
I beg your pardon.
Hill billy music!
No.
Brinkley's supporters spoke up.
KFKB is more than a radio
station. It's a community.
It's our community--
Next.
This is actually a very simple
First Amendment issue.
Just because you don't like
what Dr. Brinkley is saying
doesn't give you any right--
Next!
Has anyone in this community
ever visited Milford, Kansas.
As the doctor says,
"Kansas folks know best,
what's best for Kansas folks."
Next!
This committee here
is scared of losing control!
Well, you've never
controlled us.
And the more you try to silence
country music,
the louder we're gonna sing it.
Stop it! Thank you.
Mr. Brinkley, the commission
has called this hearing
to determine if your station
is operating in the public good.
Exactly what sort of good
is your station providing
the public, Mr.Brinkley?
The kind of good
the public likes.
[CROWD CHEERING]
And the hearing was over.
Brinkley spent some idle days
in Milford,
enjoying the company
of his wife and son,
awaiting final decisions
from the medical board
and radio commission.
[WHISPERING]
[DOOR SLAMS]
They revoked
both of Brinkley's licenses.
He was barred from practicing
medicine and barred
from broadcasting.
None of the members
of the medical board
or radio commission,
fared well following the
hearings.
Dr. Jenkins was instantly
killed and horribly mangled
limb from limb,
by a railroad train.
Dr. Hissum died of a broken
heart following the death
of his only son.
Dr. Yuving and Mr. Fulcher,
lost their businesses
and most of their friends.
Dr. Ross lost his wife... and
mind.
His neighbors found him
walking around dressed
in his wife's clothes.
The others who were involved
in this malicious fight,
had lost everything they had.
Whether their health,
...or had died before their
times.
Prohibited from his work,
Brinkley took a quiet walk
through the streets of Milford.
And pondered his place
in the world.
And the good
he had done for it.
And that which had been
taken from him...
by lesser men.
[STATIC]
Johnny Boy.
Johnny Boy.
This is daddy talking to you.
Daddy is sitting here
and making this record,
because... I believe that you'd
like to hear daddy's voice...
after he is gone.
I have longed to hear the voice
of my own daddy,
who passed away...
when I was just
10 years of age.
And as I stood by his
unfilled grave,
in my little heart of hearts
I resolved...
to be a doctor, which required
many years of hard work.
So, when you came...
daddy did not want you,
Johnny, to be left
in the condition he was.
Daddy has things mapped out
for you in the future, so
that you could have
a good education,
a college education.
and daddy is speaking to you
from the depths of his heart,
because you are my only little
boy, your mamma's only
little boy,
and you're the only little boy
that we ever expect to have.
And Johnny Boy, this talk
to you comes to a close,
and when daddy's gone
and you hear it,
I want you to know
that it's given to you
with all the love of a loving
father. Goodbye.
Doc.
Afternoon.
Just heard the news.
What are you gonna do?
Are you worried about your
future?
Do I look worried?
[THUNDER RUMBLES]
[INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYS]
They had tried their
hardest to force Brinkley
out of Kansas.
The harder they hit me,
the higher I'll bounce.
That's my slogan.
So, John Romulus Brinkley ran
as a write-in candidate.
As an independent.
A man without a party.
No name on the ballot.
No platform. No nothing.
Not a chance.
He proposed that there would
be a lake in every County
in Kansas.
When God made Kansas,
he blessed her with everything,
but lakes.
Something free for
everybody. Free school
books, free medication,
free everything.
First thing I'll do is,
provide the poor
with quality medicines
absolutely free in every
drugstore.
Lat's pasture the goats
on the State House lawn.
Dr. Brinkley is not going
to say please anymore.
That's my slogan.
The slogan was, Clean out,
clean up and keep clean.
Clean out, clean up and keep
clean!
That's my slogan!
But, that slogan he actually
borrowed from a laxative.
Brinkley only had a month to
campaign.
So, he bought a plane
from Charles Lindbergh.
Flew it from town to town,
and put on shows
in dozens of counties
featuring the stars of KFKB.
Only 4% of the people control
85% of the wealth.
That inequality would be
a thing of the past.
[CROWD APPLAUDING]
Every man a king,
that's my slogan.
And now ladies and gents,
the singing cowboy!
[COUNTRY MUSIC PLAYS]
Ultimately, he built
a sound truck
that would go from town to town
with loud speakers on it.
That had really not been
thought about before.
It was widely imitated.
Later, Huey Long did it.
A lot of other people did it.
But Brinkley was really the
first one.
The motto of our fair state is,
ad astra per aspera.
To the stars
through difficulty.
I say to you that
difficulty will soon be
a thing of the past.
And the stars are so very near.
[APPLAUSE]
Brinkley's opponents soon
realized that Brinkley
was going to win.
How much money
could he really have?
Brinkley isn't going to stop
until he's dead.
Gentlemen, gentlemen.
Allow me to present
a reasonable solution
to this Brinkley matter.
He is a write-in candidate.
Surely, the only votes for him
that should count are those
which...
spell his name correctly.
Wouldn't you agree?
Yes.
Yes.
[EVIL LAUGHTER]
How many of these Brinkley
bumpkins can spell?
You had to write his name in
and... not only did you have
to write his name in,
but Attorney General Smith
ruled that the only
acceptable vote cast
for Brinkley would have to be
J. R. Brinkley.
Not John Brinkley
or Dr. John Brinkley
or Dr. Brinkley.
That's curious in the sense
that the law itself said
whatever the intent of the
voter, is to prevail.
You don't have to be
perfect. You don't have
to spell it exactly right.
Legally, Smith's holding
was not correct.
[LOUDSPEAKER ANNOUNCING]
You will be writing in
J.R. B-R-I-N-K-L-E-Y.
J.R. B-R-I-N-K-L-E-Y.
The election day broke very
calm and clear
and a very nice day.
And when the polls closed,
then the counting began.
No one knew at the time,
that the counting would continue
for 12 days.
The longest vote
count ever held
in the state of Kansas.
Probably one of the longest
vote counts
held for any kind of state
office anytime in the country.
[CROWD APPLAUDING]
People wrote-in
Brinkley's name for almost
every office on the ballot.
The Supreme court, for the
Senate, for Judgeships
and believe it or not
there were 20,000 ballots cast
in Oklahoma for John Brinkley.
[BALLOT SOUNDS]
After 12 days
and 12 nights of counting,
56,000 votes for
Brinkley were thrown out
for misspellings.
Brinkley officially lost the
election to Harry Woodring
by 30,000 votes.
Attorney General Smith
was promoted
to the Supreme court of Kansas.
The election was really stolen,
in 1930, in the state of Kansas.
So, if he won the election,
why didn't he demand a recount?
The truth of the matter is,
Brinkley really didn't want
to be Governor of Kansas.
Here was a job that could pay
12,000 dollars a year,
and he could make that much
in a week.
He was already grooming himself
for the next move.
[CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYING]
Well, here we are...
We're coming out of the
residence.
And we're all set to get into
the 16 cylinder Cadillac
and drive to the airport.
There's the Lockheed Orion.
We're gonna trade this
plane, and get a new one,
Lockheed Electra.
As Mrs. Brinkley
and Johnny Boy,
I'm trying to catch up
with procession.
We're getting on this
yacht, and we're on a
hurry to get away.
And we're underway folks.
And here I am, out fishing.
Tampico, Mexico, just
in the mouth of the...
Panuo river
and look at that tarpon jump.
Whoopsie! What's up tarpan,
jump!
Oh, he wants to get off
of that , he can
but he's securely hooked.
Watch that fellow fight,
will you?
He brings out the very best
there is, this fellow.
Here we are at Tower
Island. The first of the
group of Galapagos
And look at the birds.
Oh, these birds are tame.
They have not been cared
or killed or injured by man.
And look at that little fellow,
Oh, he's saying
"Get away from me...
I'm afraid of you,
get away from me."
He says "Get away."
And here is Johnny Boy,
standing on top of the seal
that he killed,
and here's daddy saying
"You are a good shot, my young
fellow. But I'm sorry you
killed that seal."
That fellow didn't know any
different. This fellow made
delicious green turtle soup.
And look at the birds.
Oh, they're beautiful!
[STATIC]
And there is the fish,
the 788 pound tuna that broke
Zain Graves 12 year record.
Those are some fine fish,
at 757 pounder,
65o, 620, some stinger fish.
Enough for breakfast anyway.
[INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYS]
He was a wily guy, you know...
sitting there in Kansas,
stroking that goatee...
I'm not exactly sure
how he got this idea.
Somewhere the idea came along.
Well, let's see. If I had a
radio station, say in...
Old Mexico, then the FRC
couldn't reach me there, you
know.
And I could broadcast my
programs,
northward to an American
audience in English.
And the Mexican officials
were very receptive to this
because
the United States and Canada,
had divided up
all the long range
radio frequencies between
themselves, and they had
allotted none to Mexico.
So, they saw this guy with his
goatee and his goat glands as
a bargaining chip.
You don't give us
any long range
radio frequencies
we're gonna put this dude
on our soil, just to cross
your border
and we're gonna let him build
a...
really high powered
radio station.
They will knock Amos and Andy
of the air in Philadelphia.
[RADIO PLAYING]
The Sunshine station
between the Nations.
I have a feeling we're not
in Kansas any more.
Brinkley defunct station KFKB,
operated at 5000 watts.
And reached most of the
United States.
The signal from his news
station XERA, reached 17
countries.
And operated at one million
watts.
[GUITAR PLAYING]
XERA was the world's most
powerful broadcasting station.
There was nothing like it
anywhere near it,
anywhere in the world at that
time, which is hard to imagine.
Sometimes they say, if you saw
birds flying near the antennas
they said it would fall
out of the sky dead.
[ZAP]
People could pick up
the station on fillings
in their teeth.
[RADIO BROADCASTING]
Jimmy Carter Cash liked to
say that... you could pick up
the Carter family, on any
barbed wire fence in Texas.
[RADIO BROADCASTING]
In addition to the in-house
bands, like Carter family
and Pickard family.
Brinkley's programming expanded.
He developed an innovative
and entertaining format
for advertising.
Lengthy commercials go on
for five to thirty minutes,
and they would be repeating
things over and over and over
and,
spelling out the names of the
towns
where you'd send your dollar to
get your... astrology lessons.
The secrets of the stars!
Burial tombstones...
Be elegantly deceased!
Bow-tie's that light up in the
dark.
The heights of fashion!
Guaranteed bed bug killer...
Stop bed pests!
Toe nail adjusters.
Toenails are not properly
adjusted!
Hemorrhoid medicines...
All the interior, posterior!
Autographed photo
of Jesus Christ...
Signed in your choice
of ink or blood.
Color packs was real popular
in hair dye
Color packs is a solution
for artificially coloring hair
through your grey hair,
and it's guaranteed.
Color packs actually had
some kind of lead in it.
[WOMAN SCREAMING]
Dr. Brinkley built an estate
in Del Rio, Texas
just across the border
from via Acuna, Mexico,
where XERA's tower was
constructed.
He was not barred from
practicing medicine
in Texas.
So, he took over the top
floor of the Rosswell
hotel in Del Rio
as the new Brinkley hospital.
Brinkley didn't want to lose
time in his busy schedule
traveling.
So, a phone line was run from
his home in Del Rio, to
the tower in Mexico.
So, he could deliver
his evening radio talks from
home.
Thanks to Dom, and
good evening ladies and
gentlemen,
I'm happy to be with you
this Sunday evening,
August of 27th.
Have you done as I've told you
and been telling you?
Have your neighbors
who do not have a radio set
come into your home
and gathered around you
and listened to
the Sunday evening talks?
Bring the children in,
I can assure you,
what I say...
will be helpful
and never hurtful
to your boys and to your girls.
I have a lovely son.
A young man just reaching
almost the age of adolescence.
And I wouldn't say nothing,
I'd do anything...
that would in any way
mar his future
or blithe his head.
Ladies and gentlemen...
[RADIO CONTINUES]
Taurus... Taurus!
Get me the radio commission.
In 1934, the Federal Radio
Commission put its foot
down
on Brinkley's border blaster.
And pressured Congress
into passing the Brinkley Act,
which prevented the
arrangement under which
Brinkley was operating.
Sending a signal from the US,
to a tower across the border
to broadcast back to the US.
No person shall be permitted
to locate use or maintain
a radio broadcast studio
or other place or apparatus
from which or whereby
sound waves are converted
into electrical energy or
mechanical or physical
reproduction
of sound waves produced and
caused to be transmitted
or delivered
to a radio station
in a foreign country
for the purpose
of being broadcast
from any radio station
there having a power output
of sufficient intensity
and or being so located
geographically that its
emissions
may be received consistently
in United States without first
obtaining a permit
from Federal Radio Commission
upon proper application
therefore.
Brinkley circumvented this
attack.
Recording his broadcasts
on 16 inch Aluminum
coded disks.
And sending them
to the tower in Mexico,
instead of using
his phone line.
This recording method soon
became an industry standard.
Everything I say...
on the Sunday evening talks,
is intended to raise men and
women, boys and girls to
a higher level.
Brinkley was doing
in Del Rio, Texas, what
he had done in Milford, Kansas.
But amplified a hundred times.
[RADIO BROADCASTING]
With his hospital and radio
station, he employed
thousands.
His charitable contributions
were endless.
He gave Del Rio
it's first library.
He had his record breaking
tuna stuffed, and gave
it to the high school.
[INSTUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING]
Every Sunday evening, people
drove in from miles
and miles away.
Gathering at the Brinkley
mansion...
where Brinkley put on a show.
Operating a player organ,
and controlling the flow of
water in his fountain.
And the lights shone
against it.
[CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYING]
I hope you people
have enjoyed...
these lovely flowers from my
garden here in Del Rio, Texas.
You know, I've told you that...
I have called our home in Del
Rio, a little bit of heaven.
The flowers you have seen were
cut for breakfast
this morning...
and put here in the room,
We put it in this picture,
for your enjoyment.
And...
when you see flowers...
and hear the song of birds,
and see this sparkle
of the dewdrops,
and the sunshine...
think of the great power
in the universe...
and the giver
of all good gifts,
that makes these
lovely things possible
for we mortals here below.
For many years,
I've been transplanting
the living glands
of young goats into men
as a means of curing
sexual weakness,
insanity,
sluggish temperaments,
and a host of other diseases.
I announce today
a wonderful breakthrough.
It is no longer necessary
to transplant goat glands.
We at the Brinkley hospitals
have developed
the means by which
we can inject
glandular preparations
rendering the surgical
technique obsolete.
It works every bit as the
surgery and is safer and
simpler.
This miracle of medicine
is called Formula 1020.
No longer anchored by the need
to perform surgeries,
Brinkley expanded his reach.
He erected two little hospitals
in little rock Arkansas.
He built another in San Juan,
Texas.
Remember, Del Rio for the
prostate, San Juan for
the colon.
Now, those of you
looking to be saved...
from certain early death,
should look no further
than the Brinkley hospital
for I am your savior.
And it is through
awful hard work
that I have achieved this
miracle of medicine
that I can bless you with.
You, out there hearing this,
must know,
that I shall be the one
to bring you true happiness.
Seven years have passed
since Brinkley was driven
out of Kansas.
If only other doctors
had the wisdom to cooperate
with the inspired healer from
Milford.
But the doctors had no more
sense, than the geese of
Rome.
They could only call out
quack, quack, when the city
was being attacked by Gauls.
Brinkley had cause
to celebrate.
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[PEOPLE CHATTERING]
For all the back and forth
between, Brinkley and
Fishbein had never met.
[OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYS]
It only became a matter of time
until they collided,
which they finally did.
[OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING]
[HAPPY MUSIC PLAYING]
It's a great sort of non
confrontation, confrontation.
What it did though,
was galvanize Fishbein
re-commit him to try
bring Brinkley down.
And this, is what finally
initiated sort of the last act.
In John R. Brinkley,
quackery reaches
its apotheosis.
With consummate gall,
greater than that of anything
ever revealed by any other
charlatan,
and not withstanding
the efforts of various
governmental
departments and agencies,
he continues
to demonstrate his astoopness
in shaking sheckles from the
pockets of credulous
Americans.
Brinkley has made as much as
55,000 dollars a week,
as a result
of his various quackeries--
Dr. Fishbein, there are many
people out here waiting.
Doris... would... you... mind!
He has been a possessor
of three fine yachts,
he travels abroad in the finest
suites, on the finest boats.
Neither he, nor Mrs. Brinkley,
engage in conversation
with the other passengers.
The money rolls in! Which proves
that the wages of sin
is not always deaf!
[CLEARS THROAT]
It is time, for arms and
departments,
all systems within the
government to work together
in ending Brinkley's
defrauding of the public!
BLEEP!
[DRUMS BEATING]
Brinkley sued Fishbein for
liable.
The trial began
on March 22nd, 1939.
The trial took place in
the County courthouse
in Del Rio,
and it was packed.
It was packed out to the door
A lot of women. He had a sort of
a weird sex appeal
that was inexplicable, except
to a certain stratum
of middle aged women.
But there were a lot of them.
So, he had his whole
cheering section there.
He also had a big team of
lawyers. He had at least five
lawyers.
Fishbein didn't have anything
like that kind of legal
firepower or money.
He's still just the editor
of a fairly obscure magazine.
[WHISPERING]
What Brinkley also had in
that courtroom, was a series
of satisfied customers,
which were the foundation
of his legal strategy.
[GAVEL BANGING]
All rise, court is in session.
Honorable judge
R.J. Macmillan presiding.
[CLEARS THROAT]
Please be seated.
We call to the stand...
William Stitswurth.
[DRUMS BEATING]
Do you swear to tell the truth,
the whole truth
and nothing but the truth?
So help you God.
I certainly do.
So help me God.
Mr. Stitswurth, as you...
do you know Dr. Brinkley?
I do. I was a patient of his.
Objection.
This witness is not an expert,
and your asking him
to offer expert opinion.
What?
That's not fair.
[CROWD DISAPPROVING]
Your Honor, these people have
traveled a long way to be here.
Mr. Fishbein's article
accuses my client
of being a fraud.
These witnesses are all here
to testify to the opposite.
Gentlemen, the testimony
provided by patients is not
admissible as evidence.
We will hear only from experts,
in the field of medicine.
[CROWD DISAPPROVING]
Experts... What do they know?
Order, order.
Sit down!
Mr. Brown, please call
your first expert witness.
Yes, the defense calls
Dr. Richard Ross.
Doctor, have you been keeping up
with the literature on the
subject
regarding the nature and
construction of the human
testicle?
Objection!
I see where this is going.
We are here because...
Well, you tell him.
My client has not performed that
operation in over five years.
These gland surgeries
are no longer relevant.
Oh, for Pete's sake. Overruled!
[CONFUSED WHISPERS]
What...
What is happening?
So...
So, um...
Testicles
Testicles, yes, I'm...
I'm a practicing physician. I've
been practicing
for over 31 years.
I'm a member of several
medical societies
including
the American Board of Urology.
I try to keep up with as much
current literature as possible.
Could you describe for the
court, what occurs during
Mr. Brinkley's
gland transplant procedure.
Well, the doctor makes an
incision in the scrotum
and then places a thin slice
of goat gland on the cremasteric
muscle or fascia.
To be clear, it is not actually
grafted to the testicle.
No, it's placed within
the layer of tissue between
the testicle and the skin.
The goat gland is supposedly
expected to fuse
with the scrotal tissue.
And does the goat gland fuse?
Does it...
live on with the human gland?
No, of course not.
Would you please explain to
the jury why that's the case?
Because nothing is internally
sutured, there is no supply of
blood to it.
I'm quite hesitant
to even call it transplantation,
It's just some foreign matter,
stuck underneath the skin
like a splinter.
What happens to the foreign
matter? What would happen to the
goat gland?
It would die, and then it would
either be sloughed away or,
and form scar tissue.
[COUGHING SOUNDS]
Is it possible
for any glandular transplant?
From one animal to another
to be successful?
Xeno transplantation of this
sort is not viable.
Um, one could simply make
a slit in the scrotum,
sew it up immediately, and it
would be just as effective.
Now, whether or not the
transplanted gland remains
alive,
or the mere transplanting of
the goat gland affect this man's
impotence?
No, not a particle.
Would it have any effect
whatsoever upon reducing high
blood pressure?
None at all.
Would it have any effect
in treating hardening of the
arteries?
[LAUGHS] No.
Would it have any effect in
creating energy in a man?
There would not.
Or in curing epilepsy?
No sir.
Locomotor ataxia?
Definitely not.
The insanity of the type
known as dementia praecox?
No.
Diseases of the stomach?
No sir.
Would it have any effect
in treating constipation?
None at all.
Are there any quantifiable
effects brought upon by Mr.
Brinkley's
cancer fighting toothpaste?
It does not fight cancer, um...
and it's actually a fairly
an ineffective toothpaste.
What about his Mayan vision
improving cream?
It does not improve vision.
The Incan vision improving
cream?
It's some sort of moisturizer.
It's not clear exactly, how a
cream could improve
one's vision.
Now doctor, if you would
take a look at this...
What do you see?
I see an article titled,
Brinkley's formula 1020.
It appears to be an article.
But it's an advertisement paid
for by the Brinkley hospital.
You're familiar with the
formula 1020, that the
plaintiff prescribed?
I am. I've analyzed it
and it is my understanding that
six ampules of formula 1020,
were sold to every
patient of Brinkleys.
Each ampule costs 100 dollars.
And for 100 dollars each, the
advertisement you hold claims
that the formula replaces
the gland transplant procedure
to increase virility,
and so forth.
Would you read aloud the
sentence that I've indicated?
It works every bit as well as
the surgery, and it is
safer and simpler.
Doctor, what is
formula 1020's composition?
The makeup of formula 1020 is,
1000 parts of distilled water
to one part blue dye.
[CROWD SCREAMING]
What!
I've paid 600 dollars
for a goddamn colored water?
Thank you doctor.
Thank you very much.
Dr. Fishbein...
refering to the article upon
which this suit is based,
you're the author of that
article, weren't you?
Yes sir.
Do you know John Brinkley in
person?
No.
Have you ever met John R.
Brinkley?
Mm, no.
Yesterday, every surgeon,
physician, biologist and
chemist testified
to John R. Brinkley
standing as a quack.
Do you agree with that
assessment?
Allow me to say a few words
about what a quack is.
I have studied and collected
at my work at the AMA,
hundreds of thousands
of examples of quackery.
I have found every charlatan,
every quack to exhibit
a consistent list of three
qualities.
One, the quack will
wrap himself inside a legend.
Half truths and anecdotes
warped,
twisted and formed
into a grand lie.
A tale too good to be true.
Brinkley's story is that he's
some sort of brave
maverick doctor
fighting against the powerful
mechanisms of mainstream
medicine.
Some modern Semmelweis.
Brinkley claims he discovered
a miraculous cure
to a great number of diseases
and conditions and ailments
that they don't have.
This miracle cure, the calling
card of the quack,
will often be a distortion
of true science.
Yes, the world of medicine
two decades ago,
was discovering the power
of the body's glands, especially
through the study of animal
glands.
Brinkley and other quacks before
him, preyed upon this gland
mania,
distorted it, and harnessed
that momentum for himself.
Now doctor--
Two,
let me stress, this is all for
himself.
If Brinkley was a real doctor,
if his methods were truly
effective
he would share these discoveries
with the medical community.
The exact makeup of all
Brinkley's formulas and tonics,
his magic potions, whatever you
want to call them are secret.
A true doctor would jump at the
chance to share a curative
breakthrough
with even a tenth
of the supposed power of say,
formula 1020.
But of course,
Brinkley kept these for himself.
More money could roll in.
All right, very good doctor-
Three, the quack is...
above all, a manipulator.
Those discovering him will be
told everything
they want to hear
There will be promise.
Hope where there is none.
Those built by him
will desperately want
to believe that a...
miracle took place.
Whatever effect they felt,
whatever healing they believed
took place,
would have occurred naturally.
Or it was the result
of what the real doctors call
the placebo effect.
Brinkley played each and every
one of these people with
his incessant
pitches on the radio,
those deceptive ads in print,
and the endless torrent of
postcards and brochures to every
mailbox in the midwest.
He made over a million dollars
just last year,
while the rest of us suffer
through the worst depression
this country has known.
No doctor has an income
as great as that.
It is not medicine
Mr. Brinkley is practicing,
It is big business!
So, when if you ask me,
if Mr. Brinkley is a quack?
I must say, he is the most crude
and greed driven quack
I have ever had
the displeasure to research.
He is a monstrous quack!
He is a tumor on the body of
science
and he must be exiled!
[THUNDER RUMBLING]
There are many unruly and
vain talkers and deceivers
especially they, of the
circumcision.
Especially they of the
circumcision,
whose mouths must be stopped.
You must realize ladies and
gentlemen, that millions of my
enemies
and your enemies are at work
with millions of dollars
behind them
to put over their program and
destroy my liberty
and your liberty,
I pay for these radio programs
out of my own pockets.
And I'm glad to do it.
But I cannot do it all alone...
You men and women
who believe that I
am worthwhile, and that my work
should be continued...
how many of you I repeat are
willing, to do a little
something about it.
And not just sit there, and
listen and do nothing.
All of us must, to be hanged
together
or are we going to hang
separately.
And when you are faced by red,
and a bullet has been placed
through your heart
or the brain of your
sinner daughter,
remember what Dr. Brinkley
has told you.
We gotta stand together, folks.
You can help me
by sending one dollar.
You can help this guy in need.
[WIND BLOWING]
Do you swear to tell the truth,
the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth?
So help you God.
Yes, always.
This court has heard an awful
lot nasty things about you,
Mr. Brinkley.
This court has only allowed
people with that opinion
to speak.
I notice on one piece
of literature from
the Brinkley hospital that says,
J. R. Brinkley MD.
What is that MD?
Doctor of Medicine.
So, you are a doctor?
Yes, of course.
Yesterday my client sat
where you're sitting right now.
And they said doctors don't make
over one million dollars a year.
Can you tell us how much money
you made last year, sir?
To the best of my recollection,
I made--
When you said,
to the best of my recollection
do you mean,
you are not certain?
I'm quite certain.
I'm modifying the word certain.
What?
Well, one can be
relatively certain
or absolutely certain.
You mean you are not positive?
Not absolutely positive.
Not absolutely positive?
No sir.
But to the best
of your recollection,
not completely certain,
or absolutely positive,
but as accurate as you can be.
Please tell the court your
income for the previous year.
To the best of my recollection,
I made 110,000 dollars last
year.
Sir, wouldn't most people say,
you made
one million,
one hundred thousand dollars?
1.1 million dollars.
Others might say that.
I prefer to say I made
110,000 dollars in 1937.
All right, that's fine.
Let's resume with these degrees.
It says here, in this same
pamphlet J. R. Brinkley CM.
What is that CM?
Master of Surgery.
[LAWYER] Then it says DRPH.
[BRINKLEY]
That is Doctor of Public Health.
[LAWYER] SCD?
[BRINKLEY]
Doctor of Science.
[LAWYER] Do you also put LLD
on your name sometimes?
[BRINKLEY] Uh... I don't know.
Have you ever claimed to have
a doctor of law degree.
I don't remember.
All right.
Now, I would like to
enter into evidence,
a certain book. The Life
of a Man , by Clement Wood.
Interesting reading,
if you have the stomach for it.
This is your authorized
biography, is it not?
Yes, I authorized that
biography.
Mr. Wood is a rather
a diligent researcher.
Would you assert that this
biography is truthful, sir?
It is accurate.
Accurate, very good!
[CLEARS THROAT]
In 1902, a boy stood
before the Dean
of Johns Hopkins
in a shirt and a pair of
trousers, and nothing else.
He told the Dean his name was
John Brinkley,
and he wanted to be a doctor
like his daddy was.
How old were you in 1902?
When did this happen?
I was 17 years old.
I don't recall the exact date.
You were married at that time,
yes?
Yes.
To a woman named, Sally Wike.
[AUDIENCE] Wike?
Yes. I was, I was young.
That marriage did not last long.
It lasted long enough
to have two daughters.
I've read this entire book,
and there is not one mention
of Sally Wike,
or your two daughters with her.
I find that rather queer.
Aah!
You were nowhere near Johns
Hopkins in 1902.
As you and Sally Wike were
running,
what was it called,
a Medicine Show, in Chicago.
You were selling snake oil.
The life of a Man claims
that 15 years later,
you had a diploma from
the Accletic Medical University
in Kansas city.
When did you graduate?
It was a beautiful day
in May of 1917.
You were on the campus of the
Accletic Medical University
in Kansas city, Kansas,
in May of 1917?
Yes sir.
It's the proudest day
of my life.
I have here
an arrest record from
the Greenville South Carolina
Police department.
You were arrested
in May of 1917.
You were incarcerated
in South Carolina.
At the time when you just
claimed to be in Kansas city,
receiving your diploma.
How do you account for that?
Those documents are false.
This particular arrest was for a
scam in which you charged
25 dollars for an injection.
This injection was merely
colored water.
You called this
German Electric medicine
and said it was based on the
teachings of Robert Bunsen.
I believe he invented
the Bunsen burner.
And here we are, 20 years
later...
and you're still injecting
customers with colored water.
How are we to believe that these
degrees with your name on them
are legitimate?
How are we to believe anything
in this biography of yours
is true?
I have not read that book.
I do declare I do not know
what is in it.
You don't know it.
You've never read it?
Not, no--
Well, let me read some for you.
This is from a part
called the Cobra Strikes.
It discusses your defeat at the
hands of the Kansas state
medical board
and radio commission.
It states, " none of the members
of the medical board,
or radio commission fared well,
following the hearings.
Dr. Jenkins was instantly
killed, and horribly mangled
limb from limb
by a railroad train."
Dr. Jenkins is here today
in this courtroom.
He's quite here. Like I said,
it's quite interesting reading.
Here's some more
from this biography.
But the doctors had no more
sense than the geese of Rome
that could only call out quack,
quack, when the city was
attacked by Gauls.
Need I remind the court, in
doing so the geese
warned Rome, saved Rome,
but that's neither here
nor there.
Page 310.
Martin Luther, Galileo,
Jesus Christ...
of their company is
John R. Brinkley.
A man, a little taller
than the rest.
So that the rays of truth
strike him first.
Who published this book?
The Goshorn Publishing Company.
Who owns that company?
I do.
How much did you pay the author?
[HESITATING]
5,000 dollars.
I find it odd that you would
pay someone 5000 dollars
to write this biography.
Hand out thousands of copies for
free at your hospitals
and say you've not even read it.
Well, I've read it,
Mr. Brinkley.
And I can tell you,
it's pure fiction.
What purpose would
a fictitious life story serve
a legitimate doctor.
I have never hurt... anyone.
You've never harmed
a patient of yours, not once?
No.
Have you ever performed a
surgery
while intoxicated?
No.
I have sworn affidavits from 26
of your former nurses and
assistants
that attest to your drunkenness
during many surgeries.
Now listen, a doctor needs--
They've also said
you openly mocked patients,
called them old fools and
pigeons.
That you knew your treatments
were a hoax.
How many surgeries did you
perform?
Over 6000--
...while intoxicated?
How many of these surgeries
resulted in irreversible harm
in your patients?
How many prescriptions
were merely coloured water?
Is goat gland transplantation
possible... really?
I, I never said
it was a true transplantation
No... I just put a little...
It seemed to work.
[SOMBRE MUSIC PLAYING]
How many of your patients
would be alive today
if they had seen a real doctor?
Received real treatment?
Are you capable of understanding
the effect that you have?
Are you capable of telling the
truth?
Why have you done these things?
Why are we here today?
What is it you want?
That night Dr. Brinkley
had a dream.
[THUNDER RUMBLING]
[ANIMAL HOWLING]
He saw a graveyard
on a mountaintop
with the graves open.
Heavy cloudbursts washed the
bones and the rotting
corpses
right out of the graves,
until they lay around him
everywhere.
He could not get a foothold.
There seemed no way to stop
his fatal fall into that
yawning abyss.
[GOAT BLEETING LOUDLY]
[THUNDER RUMBLING]
Suddenly, three figures
dressed in white appeared.
One, took his arm on either
side.
The third leading the way,
pointed out how he could march
straight to safety.
The three figures were
Brinkley's childhood heroes.
Abrahan Lincoln,
Thomas A. Edison,
and William Shakespeare.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
At this time, I must step
out of my role as
biographer and narrator,
and into my role of
psychoanalyst.
Dream analysis is one
of the many subjects
I've explored
in my published works.
It is my expert reading
that there is not an element
in Brinkley's dream
that can be twisted into the
attitude, or expression
of a fake,
a quack, a charlatan, a
pretender, a drunkard
a roisterer, or a would be
murderer.
John Romulus Brinkley,
this dream of yours has
cleared ,
more definitely than all
the legal evidence in the world
could conceivably do.
America will know your story
increasingly, as your star
rises out of the opposition
murk.
I predict that by the turn
of the 21st century,
there will be a great
scurrying of the rats and
other creatures of darkness.
And that John R. Brinkley's
star will burn brighter
than ever.
The trial lasted... three
perhaps into the fourth day.
The jury was sent out. They were
back within a few hours.
And ruled for Fishbein.
Suing Fishbein turned out
to be\the mistake
of his life because,
he put himself in court,
and once
he had been brought
into the bull ring
and had a few swords
run into him,
once he'd been exposed
like that,
then suddenly all of these
people, who'd been off
licking their wounds,
who'd been victims of Brinkley
but hadn't had the power or
encouragement, who'd been too
shamed
to come back at him.
Now they were emboldened
and he was getting sued
in the next year or two years.
He was getting sued
from all directions.
Suddenly the empire collapsed.
Suddenly he's bankrupt.
Financially he and many,
are fighting for their lives.
His health collapsed.
He went straight downhill
after that.
He was dead, in less than 3
years.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Honey, it seems my heart will
break since you phoned that
XERA was being torn down.
As long as it did not happen,
I had a faint hope.
But now the patient is dead.
We've struggled along
for almost 29 years,
had our happy and sorrowful
days.
We've had lots of blessings
and good times.
We've traveled and enjoyed
the luxuries of yachts,
steamers, planes,
palatial homes, etc.
We have loved much.
And you shall always be
my beautiful angel of hope
and wife of love.
Lend your time and talents
to our son, John.
He will make a man
for you to be proud of.
He is a delicate flower
like his father.
Your own devoted husband,
Dr. John R. Brinkley, MD.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Oh, he's absolutely worth
remembering.
In the course of perpetuating
this massive and complex fraud,
he had a million ideas.
And had a huge influence on
the course
of popular culture.
In spite of the fact
that personally
he was out for nothing,
but personal gain.
I would call him a psychopath,
but I'm not medically qualified
to say so.
I don't think, he had a feeling
bone in his body.
A lot of people
who were in his operation died.
But Dr. Brinkley
was a folk doctor.
People went to folk healers
when they are on
their last leg.
People went to folk healers
hoping for a miracle.
And not everybody's going to
find a miracle.
I've talked to people,
who've talked to people,
who had the operation, who swore
it did them a lot of good.
So, who knows...
I don't have any doubt,
that 50 years
from now, we'll look back
at some things are routine
right now,
and say "Oh, my God.
How could they ever do that?"
But I don't know
what that's gonna be.
Did he know he was a fraud?
Sure, he knew he was a fraud.
He practiced charlatanism
from the very beginning.
I think he was always trying
to make himself legitimate.
But deep down he knew,
he was a phoney.
All the way to the grave.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I know he was bilking me.
But I liked him anyway.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
What made you select the goat?
Dr. Brinkley found that out,
just the goat
was the only, the healthiest
animal.
The toggenburg not the billy
goat, you know.
Not the Angora.
Not an Angore, that smelled...
[MUSIC CONTINUES]
No, I never considered myself
a radio personality.
I was too young to think about
it one way or the other.
I was just talking into a black
box, it didn't talk back.
I understand I'm the first kid
to ever sing...
Happy Birthday To You over the
radio.
It usually came out
happy birthday to "zhou."
I couldn't pronounce "you."
[LAUGHS]
Johnny Boy... Johnny Boy...
This is daddy talking to you.
Now listen Johnny,
always tell the truth.
Never tell a lie
under any circumstances.
You might have
all the money in the world,
but if you have not come by
honestly, and fairly
and squarely...
that money is going to haunt
you, and that money
is not going do you any good.
And I speak to you
from experience.
And we're looking to you,
and depending upon you, Johnny.
To carry on.
[GUN FIRES]
If you put your goal
way up yonder,
if you shoot at the stars,
and the moon, and the sun...
you're going to be
shooting high and rising
high.
But whatever you do,
do it for the will, and do
it for the zeal
and remember that you can
conquer, and that you can
win.
[OPENING THEME PLAYS]
Sweet sugar honey bunny
[MAA]
You can't buy my love
with your money
devil's word
I ain't got time for that
Ain't you heard
You can be my man
Come be my man
Don't you understand?
Don't you understand?
Be my man
Don't you understand?
Don't you understand?
And I don't ever
Want him back
He's a hustler
He's a hustler
Oh yeah
[RNB MUSIC PLAYING]
I don't understand
And I don't ever
Want him back
He's a hustler
He's a hustler, yeah
He's a hustler
He's a hustler
You can be my man
Come be my man
Don't you understand
Don't you understand?
Be my man
Don't you understand
Don't you understand?
Yeahhh
And I don't ever
Want him back
He's a hustler
[RNB MUSIC PLAYING]
[ZAP]
[INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING]
[GOATS BLEATING]
This is a film
about John Romulus Brinkley.
A doctor, amongst other things.
A man who succeeded
against terrible odds and
powerful opposition.
A man who changed the world.
Brinkley's story begins
in 1902,
when he stood before the Dean
of Johns Hopkins University.
17 years old, in a shirt
and a pair of trousers
and nothing else.
He told the Dean he
wanted to be a doctor,
like his daddy was.
The Dean surveyed the boy
and laughed.
He said doctors were not made
from people like Brinkley.
But 15 years later,
Brinkley had a diploma
from the Accletic Medical
University, in Kansas
city.
Then he married a pretty
young woman named Minnie
and looked to the West,
with little money,
but big dreams.
[CAR HUMMING]
They arrived in a place
that barely needed a name.
But the few people
that lived there
called it Milford, Kansas.
Brinkley dolled up
an old soda farm,
and stocked it with medicine,
attempting to drum up business.
John and Minnie slept
in the back of the shop.
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
[GOATS BLEATING]
Just a few days after they
arrived, a farmer named
Stitsworth
visited Brinkley's store.
How do you do?
Well, I'm all in, doc.
I'm a... flat tire.
Flat tire?
What does that mean?
Well, for 16 years, I've been
trying to have a child with my
wife.
Well, I can't help you.
Modern medical science has not
yet solved the problems
of sexual weakness
and childless homes.
I see.
[GOATS BLEATING]
That fella out there
sure is something.
Something? Yes.
It's too bad I don't have
Billy goat nuts.
[LAUGHS] Too bad.
Say doc... why don't you just
put some in me?
Beg your pardon.
Put some goat nuts in me.
You know, graft them on.
To cure your impotence,
you want me...
to implant goat testicles...
into you.
Well doc, that can't be worse
than the nuts I've got.
[GOATS BLEATING]
Well... there'll be a small fee.
[OPENING THEME PLAYING]
Sweet sugar honey bunny
You can buy my love
With your money
Devil's word
I ain't got time for that
Ain't you heard
You can be my man
Come be my man
Don't you understand?
Don't you understand?
Don't you understand?
Don't you understand?
And I don't ever
want him back
He's a hustler?
Oh yeah
I don't understand
And I don't ever
want him back
He's a hustler
Milford, Kansas in 1917, when
Brinkley went there was
described...
as a one horse town,
and it...
was very dull and boring,
until Brinkley got there.
[CAR WHIRRING]
The outcomes of experimental
surgeries are difficult
to predict.
But the gland transplants
worked every time.
Brinkley
would put goat
testicles inside
an impotent man.
And nine months later,
that man would call
himself a father.
His patients and advocates
were increasingly wealthy
and respectable men.
Hue Yvon, William Jennings
Brian, Rudolph
Valentino.
It was rumored
that President Wilson,
had secretly visited
the Brinkley hospital.
And everyone knew,
Bustor Keaton was no stranger
to the power of goat glands.
[LAUGHTER]
[LAUGHTER CONTINUES]
[AUDIENCE CHEERING]
[CAR HONKS]
While Milford changed
because of doctor Brinkley,
he brought a lot of people
into town.
And these people had money.
He'd made Milford
a better place by far.
He began to develop
the Brinkley sanitarium,
and as he developed
the grounds, he made
them a community center.
And they had
church revival meetings,
there, he became very active
in the methodist church.
The whole community
benefited from having the
Brinkleys there,
and they... they loved him.
[PEOPLE CHATTERING]
[CHILDREN CHEERING]
[FAINT WHISPERS]
In the early 20's, just based on
the word of mouth...
he had people starting to flock
into Milford, Kansas this little
town.
At first, they came bringing
their own goats.
Pretty soon, he had his own
herd of goats out back.
The patient would come,
Brinkley would take them out
back.
They would browse the herd...
the patient would select a goat,
with which he felt
the most connection.
Then they would come in, do
the sort of double operation,
but soon... we're talking 1923,
very early on, when radio was
just, just, just beginning...
Brinkley realized what radio
could do. He saw, he saw the
future.
You're listening to the voice
of J. R. Brinkley of
Brinkley hospitals.
And I trust I may I have
your attention for the
next few minutes.
I wonder how many of you
men and women are sick.
Have you been taking treatments
and not getting better?
Do you continue to be ill?
Do you have gland disease?
Are you going downhill?
[INSERT SOUND CUE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Brinkley gave Milford, Kansas
America's fourth radio station.
Broadcasting at 5000 watts,
it was the most powerful
station in the world.
[CROWD CHEERS]
We visualize you are sitting
around your radio
receiving sets.
And I know...
Dr. Brinkley was a pioneer of
radio.
There was no question about
that. I mean, when he started
KFKB,
in Kansas there, it was in 1923.
Dr. Brinkley stretched
boundaries in quite a lot
of ways, talking about sex.
just wasn't done at that
time.
He was like the Dr. Ruth
Westheimer of 20's and 30's.
[HAPPY MUSIC PLAYING]
You men, and you women
who are sexually dead,
...sexually weak.
Men and women who have lost
their sex glands by
accident,
injury or surgery
Men and women who have long
despaired of ever having
any sex life again.
[COUGH]
NBC and other stations
would broadcast
what they call potted palm
music. It was music that was
real...
nice and sweet and safe.
[POTTED PALM MUSIC PLAYING]
The programming on KFKB
ranged from comedy programs.
"Don't argue with me,
Emmit. You don't know
what you talking about."
There were hillbilly singers
and musicians...
[FOLK MUSIC PLAYING]
You had your singing cowboy...
[COUNTRY MUSIC PLAYING]
Hawlin Alley on a dark
and drizzly night
Brinkley was really the first
guy to blast country music
across the nation.
that John B. Stetson Hat
It was an incredibly popular
radio station.
People never knew
what they were gonna hear next.
[FOLK MUSIC PLAYING]
Mrs. Brinkley and I
appreciate our listeners
over this station.
We appreciate our friends
out yonder in radio land.
And I know from the letters
that I received...
what Ms. Brinkley and I tell
you is appreciated by
thousands of people.
By the late 20's, he was on the
radio with something called
Medical Question Box, all right.
Where people would write in...
describe their symptoms,
then he would
prescribe for them,
over the radio.
Bags and bags and bags of mail
were coming in everyday.
He's got a team of secretaries
pawing through it
every morning.
[TYPING SOUNDS]
It becomes so successful that
he... he works out this whole
thing
...with druggists.
He had a network of hundreds of
druggists around the mid west.
Where they would stock
Brinkley medicines...
and he was so agile,
and he was so convincing.
In an era when everybody thought
radio was... um...
a novelty or at best.
At best.
He saw that he could use it
to...
rule... just rule...
commercially and turn himself
into a king,
which is exactly what he did.
[CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYING]
When I left my little cabin
home in Western North Carolina,
I'd known very few of the
comforts and conveniences
of life.
Hindered ties bound me,
to those scenes of my early
boyhood.
And I loved every rail pins
and smoky chimneys and
But I wanted to do better.
I'd seen my father wear
himself out, struggling
in those mountains.
And I knew that it'd be thus
safefor me to find a more
promising field.
I'd learnt the story of Lincoln
who rose from obscurity
to the highest peak of fame,
and found inspiration
in his early struggles.
Being ambitious, I wanted the
best.
And I was determined to
acquire it.
But I realized, that the
best was a choice prize
to be won only
by those with the git
to quite doggedly for it.
[CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYING]
In 1927,
a decade after that peculiar
request from Bill Stitsworth,
Minnie Brinkley gave birth
to a son.
John Brinkley junior.
They called him Johnny Boy.
[INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING]
[WIND-CHIMESS RINGING]
Hmm, one of the flowers
are coming in awful well.
Early bloom.
Johnny Boy, go fetch
daddy the newspaper.
I want you to go see
Willie Thurstin today...
Those roses he has,
the red ones.
The deep, deep, deep, deep,
deep...
...red ones.
Buy all of 'em.
What you don't plant here
we'll just bring
to the sanitarium.
Johnny, you go see Mr.Thurstin
with momma today?
Yes daddy.
I think it's time
we find a tutor.
But Johnny Boy...it ain't too
soon you think?
No, no, not too soon.
School alone won't educate him
proper.
[EMPHATICALLY] He is gonna make
a man for you to be proud of.
What... uh, these bastards!
What's that daddy?
Oh, that AMA, medical
association.
They're after me...
They're after us.
[OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING]
A blatant quack, one John R.
Brinkley,
claims to provide an
impotence cure through
goat gland grafting.
Though he is based
in an obscure Kansas town,
Brinkley has performed this
procedure over 10,000
times.
The American Medical
Association cannot allow
this state to operate
unopposed.
The AMA founded in 1947, was...
an attempt to consolidate
and increase the esteem...
of... medical professionals.
It had a very selective
membership.
In that, all the members were
male,
all the members were white
men...
The common man cannot be
trusted to understand
workings of his own body.
We must rely on regular doctors
to keep us healthy.
The practices
of the irregulars,
the chiropractors...
osteopaths, homeopaths,
midwives, acupuncturists
and herbalists,
all the so called alternative
practitioners must be stopped.
Morris Fishbein was the editor
of the journal
of the American Medical
Association.
He abandoned being a practicing
doctor and became a crusader.
A medical crusader for...
for the AMA.
Morris Fishbein had a lot of
concerns, but the
concerns gained him
the most attention, and some
would say the most notoriety,
was his campaign against
what he called quackery.
Fishbein became
so narrow in his thinking
about what a real doctor was,
that he had to be slapped on,
now and then for...
going too far.
The AMA is doing its part
to destroy quackery,
and is depending upon
the Federal Radio Commission
to swiftly put an end to KFKB.
Where Brinkley spiels forth
his irregular filth
into the ears of millions.
The Federal Commission was,
was created to rein in
all these maverick broadcasters
and to try to keep radio safe
for corporations, and families
and to try to impose some order
on the wild radio dial
that flourished at the time.
The beast that we know today
as the FCC
had it's beginning in the FRC,
back in the late 20's.
1930 should have been
Brinkley's year.
Voters in a national poll
named KFKB America's
favorite radio station.
Brinkley was planning a one
million dollar expansion
to his hospital.
But because of Fishbein's
campaign, the AMA and
FRCA targeted Brinkley,
with the goal of ending
his medical practice
and radio broadcasts.
Brinkley's practice,
his entire livelihood...
his life's work, was at stake.
Two separate hearings were
scheduled.
The first was in Tapiko,
with a local chapter
of the medical association
The press lined the walls,
and filled the corridors...
amidst hundreds of
Brinkley's patients and
supporters.
[REPORTERS QUESTIONING]
Dr. Brinkley.
Have you spoken to Fishbein?
Are they shutting you down?
Doctor, your thoughts?
Well, it's a strange day to
defend a proven successful
practice, but...
as it is said,
first they ignore you...
and they ridicule you,
then they fight you,
and then you win.
The hearing began
with the Board members
hurling their callous
accusations.
This goat gland surgery
is absolute flim-flammery.
Never mind the goat glands,
his operation
for bladder trouble is
amateurish.
I agree it's nuts, it's
ridiculous, no, it is nuts.
No, I've been keeping track
of the Brinkley goats,
the number of goats in that herd
never changes.
The supposed doctor is not even
using goat balls at all.
[COLLECTIVE GASP]
Then Brinkley addressed
the Board.
I'm forced to be here today
because of a ruling class
intolerant of progress, and
ignorant of benefits of
alternative medicine.
I have... all physicians have
theright to adopt new methods.
Patients have the right
to best treatments,
even those not approved
by the AMA.
Mr. Brinkley, gland
transplantation of any sort
is only in experimental stage.
Of course gland surgery
is in the experimental stage,
for some people. In my case,
it is past that experimental
stage. I do it daily.
It is a boon to humanity.
Is your form of medicine
found in any textbook?
I hardly doubt it.
[JUDGE] Did you learn it
in school?
Of course not.
Then how do you know it works?
Let me tell you a little story,
about a doctor named
Ignaz Semmelweis.
Now 100 years ago,
doctors didn't wash
their hands.
Semmelweis saw the doctors
in his hospital going
right from performing
an autopsy to delivering
a baby.
Now, a lot of those mothers
caught ill and died.
Semmelweis, in his
experimentation,
discovered that if a doctor
washed his hands
between the autopsy
and the delivery,
almost no deaths occurred.
Now, everyone knows that soap
and water kills the germs
on the doctor's hands.
But back then,
the idea was ludicrous.
They didn't know what a germ
was. It didn't fit comfortably
into mainstream medicine.
Semmelweis was endlessly
ridiculed for this
absurdity, exiled.
He died in an insane asylum.
But, he knew.
He didn't know why,
but he knew he was right.
He knew it worked.
He could plainly see the
evidence,
when others were blinded
by the status quo.
Look at all these patients
before this board.
You all have an awful lot
of evidence to ignore,
and I think you should
hear it from them.
Dr. Brinkley was the only doctor
I visited, who said my condition
was curable.
My wife just gave birth
to our first child!
I am living proof...
That the goat glands in my
scrotus are working.
I'd show all of you right now
if the ladies weren't present.
I used to have a flappy dong,
but it ain't flappy no more.
We waited so long for a child,
now we have hope.
Since 1926, I've been delivering
20 goats a week to Dr. Brinkley.
He must be doing
something with those goats.
I should be the one choosing my
doctor. I should be the one
choosing my treatment.
The government is telling me
what to do,
and I'm not going
to let them get away with it.
[CROWD APPLAUDING] You tell 'em.
Yes, the government can stay
out of all of this.
They should stay
out of all of this!
Wooh!
Yeah!
In all my life,
I've never had an instance
of normal sexual intercourse.
I never attempted intercourse
prior to marriage otherwise...
the tragedy might have been
saved.
My sexual excitement at all
times resulted in ejaculation
prior to the penis
entering the vagina.
Or immediately thereafter.
My wife had all the pain
of tending the birth of two boys
without a particle of
the pleasures of sexual life.
Had it not been for those two
boys,
I would have put a gun to my
head and triggered it,
to end my wife's misery.
Furthermore, on account of the
small size of my sexual organ,
I--
That's enough!
I think we've all heard enough.
The hearing adjourned
so the Board could deliberate.
Brinkley then traveled to
Washington DC to confront
the Federal Radio Commission,
to fight for the very existence
of his radio station.
A train full of KFKB listeners
followed him.
[PEOPLE CHEERING]
This hearing began
just as the first.
Pornography in the air waves!
Hardly.
Salacious innuendo.
I beg your pardon.
Hill billy music!
No.
Brinkley's supporters spoke up.
KFKB is more than a radio
station. It's a community.
It's our community--
Next.
This is actually a very simple
First Amendment issue.
Just because you don't like
what Dr. Brinkley is saying
doesn't give you any right--
Next!
Has anyone in this community
ever visited Milford, Kansas.
As the doctor says,
"Kansas folks know best,
what's best for Kansas folks."
Next!
This committee here
is scared of losing control!
Well, you've never
controlled us.
And the more you try to silence
country music,
the louder we're gonna sing it.
Stop it! Thank you.
Mr. Brinkley, the commission
has called this hearing
to determine if your station
is operating in the public good.
Exactly what sort of good
is your station providing
the public, Mr.Brinkley?
The kind of good
the public likes.
[CROWD CHEERING]
And the hearing was over.
Brinkley spent some idle days
in Milford,
enjoying the company
of his wife and son,
awaiting final decisions
from the medical board
and radio commission.
[WHISPERING]
[DOOR SLAMS]
They revoked
both of Brinkley's licenses.
He was barred from practicing
medicine and barred
from broadcasting.
None of the members
of the medical board
or radio commission,
fared well following the
hearings.
Dr. Jenkins was instantly
killed and horribly mangled
limb from limb,
by a railroad train.
Dr. Hissum died of a broken
heart following the death
of his only son.
Dr. Yuving and Mr. Fulcher,
lost their businesses
and most of their friends.
Dr. Ross lost his wife... and
mind.
His neighbors found him
walking around dressed
in his wife's clothes.
The others who were involved
in this malicious fight,
had lost everything they had.
Whether their health,
...or had died before their
times.
Prohibited from his work,
Brinkley took a quiet walk
through the streets of Milford.
And pondered his place
in the world.
And the good
he had done for it.
And that which had been
taken from him...
by lesser men.
[STATIC]
Johnny Boy.
Johnny Boy.
This is daddy talking to you.
Daddy is sitting here
and making this record,
because... I believe that you'd
like to hear daddy's voice...
after he is gone.
I have longed to hear the voice
of my own daddy,
who passed away...
when I was just
10 years of age.
And as I stood by his
unfilled grave,
in my little heart of hearts
I resolved...
to be a doctor, which required
many years of hard work.
So, when you came...
daddy did not want you,
Johnny, to be left
in the condition he was.
Daddy has things mapped out
for you in the future, so
that you could have
a good education,
a college education.
and daddy is speaking to you
from the depths of his heart,
because you are my only little
boy, your mamma's only
little boy,
and you're the only little boy
that we ever expect to have.
And Johnny Boy, this talk
to you comes to a close,
and when daddy's gone
and you hear it,
I want you to know
that it's given to you
with all the love of a loving
father. Goodbye.
Doc.
Afternoon.
Just heard the news.
What are you gonna do?
Are you worried about your
future?
Do I look worried?
[THUNDER RUMBLES]
[INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYS]
They had tried their
hardest to force Brinkley
out of Kansas.
The harder they hit me,
the higher I'll bounce.
That's my slogan.
So, John Romulus Brinkley ran
as a write-in candidate.
As an independent.
A man without a party.
No name on the ballot.
No platform. No nothing.
Not a chance.
He proposed that there would
be a lake in every County
in Kansas.
When God made Kansas,
he blessed her with everything,
but lakes.
Something free for
everybody. Free school
books, free medication,
free everything.
First thing I'll do is,
provide the poor
with quality medicines
absolutely free in every
drugstore.
Lat's pasture the goats
on the State House lawn.
Dr. Brinkley is not going
to say please anymore.
That's my slogan.
The slogan was, Clean out,
clean up and keep clean.
Clean out, clean up and keep
clean!
That's my slogan!
But, that slogan he actually
borrowed from a laxative.
Brinkley only had a month to
campaign.
So, he bought a plane
from Charles Lindbergh.
Flew it from town to town,
and put on shows
in dozens of counties
featuring the stars of KFKB.
Only 4% of the people control
85% of the wealth.
That inequality would be
a thing of the past.
[CROWD APPLAUDING]
Every man a king,
that's my slogan.
And now ladies and gents,
the singing cowboy!
[COUNTRY MUSIC PLAYS]
Ultimately, he built
a sound truck
that would go from town to town
with loud speakers on it.
That had really not been
thought about before.
It was widely imitated.
Later, Huey Long did it.
A lot of other people did it.
But Brinkley was really the
first one.
The motto of our fair state is,
ad astra per aspera.
To the stars
through difficulty.
I say to you that
difficulty will soon be
a thing of the past.
And the stars are so very near.
[APPLAUSE]
Brinkley's opponents soon
realized that Brinkley
was going to win.
How much money
could he really have?
Brinkley isn't going to stop
until he's dead.
Gentlemen, gentlemen.
Allow me to present
a reasonable solution
to this Brinkley matter.
He is a write-in candidate.
Surely, the only votes for him
that should count are those
which...
spell his name correctly.
Wouldn't you agree?
Yes.
Yes.
[EVIL LAUGHTER]
How many of these Brinkley
bumpkins can spell?
You had to write his name in
and... not only did you have
to write his name in,
but Attorney General Smith
ruled that the only
acceptable vote cast
for Brinkley would have to be
J. R. Brinkley.
Not John Brinkley
or Dr. John Brinkley
or Dr. Brinkley.
That's curious in the sense
that the law itself said
whatever the intent of the
voter, is to prevail.
You don't have to be
perfect. You don't have
to spell it exactly right.
Legally, Smith's holding
was not correct.
[LOUDSPEAKER ANNOUNCING]
You will be writing in
J.R. B-R-I-N-K-L-E-Y.
J.R. B-R-I-N-K-L-E-Y.
The election day broke very
calm and clear
and a very nice day.
And when the polls closed,
then the counting began.
No one knew at the time,
that the counting would continue
for 12 days.
The longest vote
count ever held
in the state of Kansas.
Probably one of the longest
vote counts
held for any kind of state
office anytime in the country.
[CROWD APPLAUDING]
People wrote-in
Brinkley's name for almost
every office on the ballot.
The Supreme court, for the
Senate, for Judgeships
and believe it or not
there were 20,000 ballots cast
in Oklahoma for John Brinkley.
[BALLOT SOUNDS]
After 12 days
and 12 nights of counting,
56,000 votes for
Brinkley were thrown out
for misspellings.
Brinkley officially lost the
election to Harry Woodring
by 30,000 votes.
Attorney General Smith
was promoted
to the Supreme court of Kansas.
The election was really stolen,
in 1930, in the state of Kansas.
So, if he won the election,
why didn't he demand a recount?
The truth of the matter is,
Brinkley really didn't want
to be Governor of Kansas.
Here was a job that could pay
12,000 dollars a year,
and he could make that much
in a week.
He was already grooming himself
for the next move.
[CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYING]
Well, here we are...
We're coming out of the
residence.
And we're all set to get into
the 16 cylinder Cadillac
and drive to the airport.
There's the Lockheed Orion.
We're gonna trade this
plane, and get a new one,
Lockheed Electra.
As Mrs. Brinkley
and Johnny Boy,
I'm trying to catch up
with procession.
We're getting on this
yacht, and we're on a
hurry to get away.
And we're underway folks.
And here I am, out fishing.
Tampico, Mexico, just
in the mouth of the...
Panuo river
and look at that tarpon jump.
Whoopsie! What's up tarpan,
jump!
Oh, he wants to get off
of that , he can
but he's securely hooked.
Watch that fellow fight,
will you?
He brings out the very best
there is, this fellow.
Here we are at Tower
Island. The first of the
group of Galapagos
And look at the birds.
Oh, these birds are tame.
They have not been cared
or killed or injured by man.
And look at that little fellow,
Oh, he's saying
"Get away from me...
I'm afraid of you,
get away from me."
He says "Get away."
And here is Johnny Boy,
standing on top of the seal
that he killed,
and here's daddy saying
"You are a good shot, my young
fellow. But I'm sorry you
killed that seal."
That fellow didn't know any
different. This fellow made
delicious green turtle soup.
And look at the birds.
Oh, they're beautiful!
[STATIC]
And there is the fish,
the 788 pound tuna that broke
Zain Graves 12 year record.
Those are some fine fish,
at 757 pounder,
65o, 620, some stinger fish.
Enough for breakfast anyway.
[INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYS]
He was a wily guy, you know...
sitting there in Kansas,
stroking that goatee...
I'm not exactly sure
how he got this idea.
Somewhere the idea came along.
Well, let's see. If I had a
radio station, say in...
Old Mexico, then the FRC
couldn't reach me there, you
know.
And I could broadcast my
programs,
northward to an American
audience in English.
And the Mexican officials
were very receptive to this
because
the United States and Canada,
had divided up
all the long range
radio frequencies between
themselves, and they had
allotted none to Mexico.
So, they saw this guy with his
goatee and his goat glands as
a bargaining chip.
You don't give us
any long range
radio frequencies
we're gonna put this dude
on our soil, just to cross
your border
and we're gonna let him build
a...
really high powered
radio station.
They will knock Amos and Andy
of the air in Philadelphia.
[RADIO PLAYING]
The Sunshine station
between the Nations.
I have a feeling we're not
in Kansas any more.
Brinkley defunct station KFKB,
operated at 5000 watts.
And reached most of the
United States.
The signal from his news
station XERA, reached 17
countries.
And operated at one million
watts.
[GUITAR PLAYING]
XERA was the world's most
powerful broadcasting station.
There was nothing like it
anywhere near it,
anywhere in the world at that
time, which is hard to imagine.
Sometimes they say, if you saw
birds flying near the antennas
they said it would fall
out of the sky dead.
[ZAP]
People could pick up
the station on fillings
in their teeth.
[RADIO BROADCASTING]
Jimmy Carter Cash liked to
say that... you could pick up
the Carter family, on any
barbed wire fence in Texas.
[RADIO BROADCASTING]
In addition to the in-house
bands, like Carter family
and Pickard family.
Brinkley's programming expanded.
He developed an innovative
and entertaining format
for advertising.
Lengthy commercials go on
for five to thirty minutes,
and they would be repeating
things over and over and over
and,
spelling out the names of the
towns
where you'd send your dollar to
get your... astrology lessons.
The secrets of the stars!
Burial tombstones...
Be elegantly deceased!
Bow-tie's that light up in the
dark.
The heights of fashion!
Guaranteed bed bug killer...
Stop bed pests!
Toe nail adjusters.
Toenails are not properly
adjusted!
Hemorrhoid medicines...
All the interior, posterior!
Autographed photo
of Jesus Christ...
Signed in your choice
of ink or blood.
Color packs was real popular
in hair dye
Color packs is a solution
for artificially coloring hair
through your grey hair,
and it's guaranteed.
Color packs actually had
some kind of lead in it.
[WOMAN SCREAMING]
Dr. Brinkley built an estate
in Del Rio, Texas
just across the border
from via Acuna, Mexico,
where XERA's tower was
constructed.
He was not barred from
practicing medicine
in Texas.
So, he took over the top
floor of the Rosswell
hotel in Del Rio
as the new Brinkley hospital.
Brinkley didn't want to lose
time in his busy schedule
traveling.
So, a phone line was run from
his home in Del Rio, to
the tower in Mexico.
So, he could deliver
his evening radio talks from
home.
Thanks to Dom, and
good evening ladies and
gentlemen,
I'm happy to be with you
this Sunday evening,
August of 27th.
Have you done as I've told you
and been telling you?
Have your neighbors
who do not have a radio set
come into your home
and gathered around you
and listened to
the Sunday evening talks?
Bring the children in,
I can assure you,
what I say...
will be helpful
and never hurtful
to your boys and to your girls.
I have a lovely son.
A young man just reaching
almost the age of adolescence.
And I wouldn't say nothing,
I'd do anything...
that would in any way
mar his future
or blithe his head.
Ladies and gentlemen...
[RADIO CONTINUES]
Taurus... Taurus!
Get me the radio commission.
In 1934, the Federal Radio
Commission put its foot
down
on Brinkley's border blaster.
And pressured Congress
into passing the Brinkley Act,
which prevented the
arrangement under which
Brinkley was operating.
Sending a signal from the US,
to a tower across the border
to broadcast back to the US.
No person shall be permitted
to locate use or maintain
a radio broadcast studio
or other place or apparatus
from which or whereby
sound waves are converted
into electrical energy or
mechanical or physical
reproduction
of sound waves produced and
caused to be transmitted
or delivered
to a radio station
in a foreign country
for the purpose
of being broadcast
from any radio station
there having a power output
of sufficient intensity
and or being so located
geographically that its
emissions
may be received consistently
in United States without first
obtaining a permit
from Federal Radio Commission
upon proper application
therefore.
Brinkley circumvented this
attack.
Recording his broadcasts
on 16 inch Aluminum
coded disks.
And sending them
to the tower in Mexico,
instead of using
his phone line.
This recording method soon
became an industry standard.
Everything I say...
on the Sunday evening talks,
is intended to raise men and
women, boys and girls to
a higher level.
Brinkley was doing
in Del Rio, Texas, what
he had done in Milford, Kansas.
But amplified a hundred times.
[RADIO BROADCASTING]
With his hospital and radio
station, he employed
thousands.
His charitable contributions
were endless.
He gave Del Rio
it's first library.
He had his record breaking
tuna stuffed, and gave
it to the high school.
[INSTUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING]
Every Sunday evening, people
drove in from miles
and miles away.
Gathering at the Brinkley
mansion...
where Brinkley put on a show.
Operating a player organ,
and controlling the flow of
water in his fountain.
And the lights shone
against it.
[CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYING]
I hope you people
have enjoyed...
these lovely flowers from my
garden here in Del Rio, Texas.
You know, I've told you that...
I have called our home in Del
Rio, a little bit of heaven.
The flowers you have seen were
cut for breakfast
this morning...
and put here in the room,
We put it in this picture,
for your enjoyment.
And...
when you see flowers...
and hear the song of birds,
and see this sparkle
of the dewdrops,
and the sunshine...
think of the great power
in the universe...
and the giver
of all good gifts,
that makes these
lovely things possible
for we mortals here below.
For many years,
I've been transplanting
the living glands
of young goats into men
as a means of curing
sexual weakness,
insanity,
sluggish temperaments,
and a host of other diseases.
I announce today
a wonderful breakthrough.
It is no longer necessary
to transplant goat glands.
We at the Brinkley hospitals
have developed
the means by which
we can inject
glandular preparations
rendering the surgical
technique obsolete.
It works every bit as the
surgery and is safer and
simpler.
This miracle of medicine
is called Formula 1020.
No longer anchored by the need
to perform surgeries,
Brinkley expanded his reach.
He erected two little hospitals
in little rock Arkansas.
He built another in San Juan,
Texas.
Remember, Del Rio for the
prostate, San Juan for
the colon.
Now, those of you
looking to be saved...
from certain early death,
should look no further
than the Brinkley hospital
for I am your savior.
And it is through
awful hard work
that I have achieved this
miracle of medicine
that I can bless you with.
You, out there hearing this,
must know,
that I shall be the one
to bring you true happiness.
Seven years have passed
since Brinkley was driven
out of Kansas.
If only other doctors
had the wisdom to cooperate
with the inspired healer from
Milford.
But the doctors had no more
sense, than the geese of
Rome.
They could only call out
quack, quack, when the city
was being attacked by Gauls.
Brinkley had cause
to celebrate.
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[PEOPLE CHATTERING]
For all the back and forth
between, Brinkley and
Fishbein had never met.
[OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYS]
It only became a matter of time
until they collided,
which they finally did.
[OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING]
[HAPPY MUSIC PLAYING]
It's a great sort of non
confrontation, confrontation.
What it did though,
was galvanize Fishbein
re-commit him to try
bring Brinkley down.
And this, is what finally
initiated sort of the last act.
In John R. Brinkley,
quackery reaches
its apotheosis.
With consummate gall,
greater than that of anything
ever revealed by any other
charlatan,
and not withstanding
the efforts of various
governmental
departments and agencies,
he continues
to demonstrate his astoopness
in shaking sheckles from the
pockets of credulous
Americans.
Brinkley has made as much as
55,000 dollars a week,
as a result
of his various quackeries--
Dr. Fishbein, there are many
people out here waiting.
Doris... would... you... mind!
He has been a possessor
of three fine yachts,
he travels abroad in the finest
suites, on the finest boats.
Neither he, nor Mrs. Brinkley,
engage in conversation
with the other passengers.
The money rolls in! Which proves
that the wages of sin
is not always deaf!
[CLEARS THROAT]
It is time, for arms and
departments,
all systems within the
government to work together
in ending Brinkley's
defrauding of the public!
BLEEP!
[DRUMS BEATING]
Brinkley sued Fishbein for
liable.
The trial began
on March 22nd, 1939.
The trial took place in
the County courthouse
in Del Rio,
and it was packed.
It was packed out to the door
A lot of women. He had a sort of
a weird sex appeal
that was inexplicable, except
to a certain stratum
of middle aged women.
But there were a lot of them.
So, he had his whole
cheering section there.
He also had a big team of
lawyers. He had at least five
lawyers.
Fishbein didn't have anything
like that kind of legal
firepower or money.
He's still just the editor
of a fairly obscure magazine.
[WHISPERING]
What Brinkley also had in
that courtroom, was a series
of satisfied customers,
which were the foundation
of his legal strategy.
[GAVEL BANGING]
All rise, court is in session.
Honorable judge
R.J. Macmillan presiding.
[CLEARS THROAT]
Please be seated.
We call to the stand...
William Stitswurth.
[DRUMS BEATING]
Do you swear to tell the truth,
the whole truth
and nothing but the truth?
So help you God.
I certainly do.
So help me God.
Mr. Stitswurth, as you...
do you know Dr. Brinkley?
I do. I was a patient of his.
Objection.
This witness is not an expert,
and your asking him
to offer expert opinion.
What?
That's not fair.
[CROWD DISAPPROVING]
Your Honor, these people have
traveled a long way to be here.
Mr. Fishbein's article
accuses my client
of being a fraud.
These witnesses are all here
to testify to the opposite.
Gentlemen, the testimony
provided by patients is not
admissible as evidence.
We will hear only from experts,
in the field of medicine.
[CROWD DISAPPROVING]
Experts... What do they know?
Order, order.
Sit down!
Mr. Brown, please call
your first expert witness.
Yes, the defense calls
Dr. Richard Ross.
Doctor, have you been keeping up
with the literature on the
subject
regarding the nature and
construction of the human
testicle?
Objection!
I see where this is going.
We are here because...
Well, you tell him.
My client has not performed that
operation in over five years.
These gland surgeries
are no longer relevant.
Oh, for Pete's sake. Overruled!
[CONFUSED WHISPERS]
What...
What is happening?
So...
So, um...
Testicles
Testicles, yes, I'm...
I'm a practicing physician. I've
been practicing
for over 31 years.
I'm a member of several
medical societies
including
the American Board of Urology.
I try to keep up with as much
current literature as possible.
Could you describe for the
court, what occurs during
Mr. Brinkley's
gland transplant procedure.
Well, the doctor makes an
incision in the scrotum
and then places a thin slice
of goat gland on the cremasteric
muscle or fascia.
To be clear, it is not actually
grafted to the testicle.
No, it's placed within
the layer of tissue between
the testicle and the skin.
The goat gland is supposedly
expected to fuse
with the scrotal tissue.
And does the goat gland fuse?
Does it...
live on with the human gland?
No, of course not.
Would you please explain to
the jury why that's the case?
Because nothing is internally
sutured, there is no supply of
blood to it.
I'm quite hesitant
to even call it transplantation,
It's just some foreign matter,
stuck underneath the skin
like a splinter.
What happens to the foreign
matter? What would happen to the
goat gland?
It would die, and then it would
either be sloughed away or,
and form scar tissue.
[COUGHING SOUNDS]
Is it possible
for any glandular transplant?
From one animal to another
to be successful?
Xeno transplantation of this
sort is not viable.
Um, one could simply make
a slit in the scrotum,
sew it up immediately, and it
would be just as effective.
Now, whether or not the
transplanted gland remains
alive,
or the mere transplanting of
the goat gland affect this man's
impotence?
No, not a particle.
Would it have any effect
whatsoever upon reducing high
blood pressure?
None at all.
Would it have any effect
in treating hardening of the
arteries?
[LAUGHS] No.
Would it have any effect in
creating energy in a man?
There would not.
Or in curing epilepsy?
No sir.
Locomotor ataxia?
Definitely not.
The insanity of the type
known as dementia praecox?
No.
Diseases of the stomach?
No sir.
Would it have any effect
in treating constipation?
None at all.
Are there any quantifiable
effects brought upon by Mr.
Brinkley's
cancer fighting toothpaste?
It does not fight cancer, um...
and it's actually a fairly
an ineffective toothpaste.
What about his Mayan vision
improving cream?
It does not improve vision.
The Incan vision improving
cream?
It's some sort of moisturizer.
It's not clear exactly, how a
cream could improve
one's vision.
Now doctor, if you would
take a look at this...
What do you see?
I see an article titled,
Brinkley's formula 1020.
It appears to be an article.
But it's an advertisement paid
for by the Brinkley hospital.
You're familiar with the
formula 1020, that the
plaintiff prescribed?
I am. I've analyzed it
and it is my understanding that
six ampules of formula 1020,
were sold to every
patient of Brinkleys.
Each ampule costs 100 dollars.
And for 100 dollars each, the
advertisement you hold claims
that the formula replaces
the gland transplant procedure
to increase virility,
and so forth.
Would you read aloud the
sentence that I've indicated?
It works every bit as well as
the surgery, and it is
safer and simpler.
Doctor, what is
formula 1020's composition?
The makeup of formula 1020 is,
1000 parts of distilled water
to one part blue dye.
[CROWD SCREAMING]
What!
I've paid 600 dollars
for a goddamn colored water?
Thank you doctor.
Thank you very much.
Dr. Fishbein...
refering to the article upon
which this suit is based,
you're the author of that
article, weren't you?
Yes sir.
Do you know John Brinkley in
person?
No.
Have you ever met John R.
Brinkley?
Mm, no.
Yesterday, every surgeon,
physician, biologist and
chemist testified
to John R. Brinkley
standing as a quack.
Do you agree with that
assessment?
Allow me to say a few words
about what a quack is.
I have studied and collected
at my work at the AMA,
hundreds of thousands
of examples of quackery.
I have found every charlatan,
every quack to exhibit
a consistent list of three
qualities.
One, the quack will
wrap himself inside a legend.
Half truths and anecdotes
warped,
twisted and formed
into a grand lie.
A tale too good to be true.
Brinkley's story is that he's
some sort of brave
maverick doctor
fighting against the powerful
mechanisms of mainstream
medicine.
Some modern Semmelweis.
Brinkley claims he discovered
a miraculous cure
to a great number of diseases
and conditions and ailments
that they don't have.
This miracle cure, the calling
card of the quack,
will often be a distortion
of true science.
Yes, the world of medicine
two decades ago,
was discovering the power
of the body's glands, especially
through the study of animal
glands.
Brinkley and other quacks before
him, preyed upon this gland
mania,
distorted it, and harnessed
that momentum for himself.
Now doctor--
Two,
let me stress, this is all for
himself.
If Brinkley was a real doctor,
if his methods were truly
effective
he would share these discoveries
with the medical community.
The exact makeup of all
Brinkley's formulas and tonics,
his magic potions, whatever you
want to call them are secret.
A true doctor would jump at the
chance to share a curative
breakthrough
with even a tenth
of the supposed power of say,
formula 1020.
But of course,
Brinkley kept these for himself.
More money could roll in.
All right, very good doctor-
Three, the quack is...
above all, a manipulator.
Those discovering him will be
told everything
they want to hear
There will be promise.
Hope where there is none.
Those built by him
will desperately want
to believe that a...
miracle took place.
Whatever effect they felt,
whatever healing they believed
took place,
would have occurred naturally.
Or it was the result
of what the real doctors call
the placebo effect.
Brinkley played each and every
one of these people with
his incessant
pitches on the radio,
those deceptive ads in print,
and the endless torrent of
postcards and brochures to every
mailbox in the midwest.
He made over a million dollars
just last year,
while the rest of us suffer
through the worst depression
this country has known.
No doctor has an income
as great as that.
It is not medicine
Mr. Brinkley is practicing,
It is big business!
So, when if you ask me,
if Mr. Brinkley is a quack?
I must say, he is the most crude
and greed driven quack
I have ever had
the displeasure to research.
He is a monstrous quack!
He is a tumor on the body of
science
and he must be exiled!
[THUNDER RUMBLING]
There are many unruly and
vain talkers and deceivers
especially they, of the
circumcision.
Especially they of the
circumcision,
whose mouths must be stopped.
You must realize ladies and
gentlemen, that millions of my
enemies
and your enemies are at work
with millions of dollars
behind them
to put over their program and
destroy my liberty
and your liberty,
I pay for these radio programs
out of my own pockets.
And I'm glad to do it.
But I cannot do it all alone...
You men and women
who believe that I
am worthwhile, and that my work
should be continued...
how many of you I repeat are
willing, to do a little
something about it.
And not just sit there, and
listen and do nothing.
All of us must, to be hanged
together
or are we going to hang
separately.
And when you are faced by red,
and a bullet has been placed
through your heart
or the brain of your
sinner daughter,
remember what Dr. Brinkley
has told you.
We gotta stand together, folks.
You can help me
by sending one dollar.
You can help this guy in need.
[WIND BLOWING]
Do you swear to tell the truth,
the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth?
So help you God.
Yes, always.
This court has heard an awful
lot nasty things about you,
Mr. Brinkley.
This court has only allowed
people with that opinion
to speak.
I notice on one piece
of literature from
the Brinkley hospital that says,
J. R. Brinkley MD.
What is that MD?
Doctor of Medicine.
So, you are a doctor?
Yes, of course.
Yesterday my client sat
where you're sitting right now.
And they said doctors don't make
over one million dollars a year.
Can you tell us how much money
you made last year, sir?
To the best of my recollection,
I made--
When you said,
to the best of my recollection
do you mean,
you are not certain?
I'm quite certain.
I'm modifying the word certain.
What?
Well, one can be
relatively certain
or absolutely certain.
You mean you are not positive?
Not absolutely positive.
Not absolutely positive?
No sir.
But to the best
of your recollection,
not completely certain,
or absolutely positive,
but as accurate as you can be.
Please tell the court your
income for the previous year.
To the best of my recollection,
I made 110,000 dollars last
year.
Sir, wouldn't most people say,
you made
one million,
one hundred thousand dollars?
1.1 million dollars.
Others might say that.
I prefer to say I made
110,000 dollars in 1937.
All right, that's fine.
Let's resume with these degrees.
It says here, in this same
pamphlet J. R. Brinkley CM.
What is that CM?
Master of Surgery.
[LAWYER] Then it says DRPH.
[BRINKLEY]
That is Doctor of Public Health.
[LAWYER] SCD?
[BRINKLEY]
Doctor of Science.
[LAWYER] Do you also put LLD
on your name sometimes?
[BRINKLEY] Uh... I don't know.
Have you ever claimed to have
a doctor of law degree.
I don't remember.
All right.
Now, I would like to
enter into evidence,
a certain book. The Life
of a Man , by Clement Wood.
Interesting reading,
if you have the stomach for it.
This is your authorized
biography, is it not?
Yes, I authorized that
biography.
Mr. Wood is a rather
a diligent researcher.
Would you assert that this
biography is truthful, sir?
It is accurate.
Accurate, very good!
[CLEARS THROAT]
In 1902, a boy stood
before the Dean
of Johns Hopkins
in a shirt and a pair of
trousers, and nothing else.
He told the Dean his name was
John Brinkley,
and he wanted to be a doctor
like his daddy was.
How old were you in 1902?
When did this happen?
I was 17 years old.
I don't recall the exact date.
You were married at that time,
yes?
Yes.
To a woman named, Sally Wike.
[AUDIENCE] Wike?
Yes. I was, I was young.
That marriage did not last long.
It lasted long enough
to have two daughters.
I've read this entire book,
and there is not one mention
of Sally Wike,
or your two daughters with her.
I find that rather queer.
Aah!
You were nowhere near Johns
Hopkins in 1902.
As you and Sally Wike were
running,
what was it called,
a Medicine Show, in Chicago.
You were selling snake oil.
The life of a Man claims
that 15 years later,
you had a diploma from
the Accletic Medical University
in Kansas city.
When did you graduate?
It was a beautiful day
in May of 1917.
You were on the campus of the
Accletic Medical University
in Kansas city, Kansas,
in May of 1917?
Yes sir.
It's the proudest day
of my life.
I have here
an arrest record from
the Greenville South Carolina
Police department.
You were arrested
in May of 1917.
You were incarcerated
in South Carolina.
At the time when you just
claimed to be in Kansas city,
receiving your diploma.
How do you account for that?
Those documents are false.
This particular arrest was for a
scam in which you charged
25 dollars for an injection.
This injection was merely
colored water.
You called this
German Electric medicine
and said it was based on the
teachings of Robert Bunsen.
I believe he invented
the Bunsen burner.
And here we are, 20 years
later...
and you're still injecting
customers with colored water.
How are we to believe that these
degrees with your name on them
are legitimate?
How are we to believe anything
in this biography of yours
is true?
I have not read that book.
I do declare I do not know
what is in it.
You don't know it.
You've never read it?
Not, no--
Well, let me read some for you.
This is from a part
called the Cobra Strikes.
It discusses your defeat at the
hands of the Kansas state
medical board
and radio commission.
It states, " none of the members
of the medical board,
or radio commission fared well,
following the hearings.
Dr. Jenkins was instantly
killed, and horribly mangled
limb from limb
by a railroad train."
Dr. Jenkins is here today
in this courtroom.
He's quite here. Like I said,
it's quite interesting reading.
Here's some more
from this biography.
But the doctors had no more
sense than the geese of Rome
that could only call out quack,
quack, when the city was
attacked by Gauls.
Need I remind the court, in
doing so the geese
warned Rome, saved Rome,
but that's neither here
nor there.
Page 310.
Martin Luther, Galileo,
Jesus Christ...
of their company is
John R. Brinkley.
A man, a little taller
than the rest.
So that the rays of truth
strike him first.
Who published this book?
The Goshorn Publishing Company.
Who owns that company?
I do.
How much did you pay the author?
[HESITATING]
5,000 dollars.
I find it odd that you would
pay someone 5000 dollars
to write this biography.
Hand out thousands of copies for
free at your hospitals
and say you've not even read it.
Well, I've read it,
Mr. Brinkley.
And I can tell you,
it's pure fiction.
What purpose would
a fictitious life story serve
a legitimate doctor.
I have never hurt... anyone.
You've never harmed
a patient of yours, not once?
No.
Have you ever performed a
surgery
while intoxicated?
No.
I have sworn affidavits from 26
of your former nurses and
assistants
that attest to your drunkenness
during many surgeries.
Now listen, a doctor needs--
They've also said
you openly mocked patients,
called them old fools and
pigeons.
That you knew your treatments
were a hoax.
How many surgeries did you
perform?
Over 6000--
...while intoxicated?
How many of these surgeries
resulted in irreversible harm
in your patients?
How many prescriptions
were merely coloured water?
Is goat gland transplantation
possible... really?
I, I never said
it was a true transplantation
No... I just put a little...
It seemed to work.
[SOMBRE MUSIC PLAYING]
How many of your patients
would be alive today
if they had seen a real doctor?
Received real treatment?
Are you capable of understanding
the effect that you have?
Are you capable of telling the
truth?
Why have you done these things?
Why are we here today?
What is it you want?
That night Dr. Brinkley
had a dream.
[THUNDER RUMBLING]
[ANIMAL HOWLING]
He saw a graveyard
on a mountaintop
with the graves open.
Heavy cloudbursts washed the
bones and the rotting
corpses
right out of the graves,
until they lay around him
everywhere.
He could not get a foothold.
There seemed no way to stop
his fatal fall into that
yawning abyss.
[GOAT BLEETING LOUDLY]
[THUNDER RUMBLING]
Suddenly, three figures
dressed in white appeared.
One, took his arm on either
side.
The third leading the way,
pointed out how he could march
straight to safety.
The three figures were
Brinkley's childhood heroes.
Abrahan Lincoln,
Thomas A. Edison,
and William Shakespeare.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
At this time, I must step
out of my role as
biographer and narrator,
and into my role of
psychoanalyst.
Dream analysis is one
of the many subjects
I've explored
in my published works.
It is my expert reading
that there is not an element
in Brinkley's dream
that can be twisted into the
attitude, or expression
of a fake,
a quack, a charlatan, a
pretender, a drunkard
a roisterer, or a would be
murderer.
John Romulus Brinkley,
this dream of yours has
cleared ,
more definitely than all
the legal evidence in the world
could conceivably do.
America will know your story
increasingly, as your star
rises out of the opposition
murk.
I predict that by the turn
of the 21st century,
there will be a great
scurrying of the rats and
other creatures of darkness.
And that John R. Brinkley's
star will burn brighter
than ever.
The trial lasted... three
perhaps into the fourth day.
The jury was sent out. They were
back within a few hours.
And ruled for Fishbein.
Suing Fishbein turned out
to be\the mistake
of his life because,
he put himself in court,
and once
he had been brought
into the bull ring
and had a few swords
run into him,
once he'd been exposed
like that,
then suddenly all of these
people, who'd been off
licking their wounds,
who'd been victims of Brinkley
but hadn't had the power or
encouragement, who'd been too
shamed
to come back at him.
Now they were emboldened
and he was getting sued
in the next year or two years.
He was getting sued
from all directions.
Suddenly the empire collapsed.
Suddenly he's bankrupt.
Financially he and many,
are fighting for their lives.
His health collapsed.
He went straight downhill
after that.
He was dead, in less than 3
years.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Honey, it seems my heart will
break since you phoned that
XERA was being torn down.
As long as it did not happen,
I had a faint hope.
But now the patient is dead.
We've struggled along
for almost 29 years,
had our happy and sorrowful
days.
We've had lots of blessings
and good times.
We've traveled and enjoyed
the luxuries of yachts,
steamers, planes,
palatial homes, etc.
We have loved much.
And you shall always be
my beautiful angel of hope
and wife of love.
Lend your time and talents
to our son, John.
He will make a man
for you to be proud of.
He is a delicate flower
like his father.
Your own devoted husband,
Dr. John R. Brinkley, MD.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Oh, he's absolutely worth
remembering.
In the course of perpetuating
this massive and complex fraud,
he had a million ideas.
And had a huge influence on
the course
of popular culture.
In spite of the fact
that personally
he was out for nothing,
but personal gain.
I would call him a psychopath,
but I'm not medically qualified
to say so.
I don't think, he had a feeling
bone in his body.
A lot of people
who were in his operation died.
But Dr. Brinkley
was a folk doctor.
People went to folk healers
when they are on
their last leg.
People went to folk healers
hoping for a miracle.
And not everybody's going to
find a miracle.
I've talked to people,
who've talked to people,
who had the operation, who swore
it did them a lot of good.
So, who knows...
I don't have any doubt,
that 50 years
from now, we'll look back
at some things are routine
right now,
and say "Oh, my God.
How could they ever do that?"
But I don't know
what that's gonna be.
Did he know he was a fraud?
Sure, he knew he was a fraud.
He practiced charlatanism
from the very beginning.
I think he was always trying
to make himself legitimate.
But deep down he knew,
he was a phoney.
All the way to the grave.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I know he was bilking me.
But I liked him anyway.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
What made you select the goat?
Dr. Brinkley found that out,
just the goat
was the only, the healthiest
animal.
The toggenburg not the billy
goat, you know.
Not the Angora.
Not an Angore, that smelled...
[MUSIC CONTINUES]
No, I never considered myself
a radio personality.
I was too young to think about
it one way or the other.
I was just talking into a black
box, it didn't talk back.
I understand I'm the first kid
to ever sing...
Happy Birthday To You over the
radio.
It usually came out
happy birthday to "zhou."
I couldn't pronounce "you."
[LAUGHS]
Johnny Boy... Johnny Boy...
This is daddy talking to you.
Now listen Johnny,
always tell the truth.
Never tell a lie
under any circumstances.
You might have
all the money in the world,
but if you have not come by
honestly, and fairly
and squarely...
that money is going to haunt
you, and that money
is not going do you any good.
And I speak to you
from experience.
And we're looking to you,
and depending upon you, Johnny.
To carry on.
[GUN FIRES]
If you put your goal
way up yonder,
if you shoot at the stars,
and the moon, and the sun...
you're going to be
shooting high and rising
high.
But whatever you do,
do it for the will, and do
it for the zeal
and remember that you can
conquer, and that you can
win.
[OPENING THEME PLAYS]
Sweet sugar honey bunny
[MAA]
You can't buy my love
with your money
devil's word
I ain't got time for that
Ain't you heard
You can be my man
Come be my man
Don't you understand?
Don't you understand?
Be my man
Don't you understand?
Don't you understand?
And I don't ever
Want him back
He's a hustler
He's a hustler
Oh yeah
[RNB MUSIC PLAYING]
I don't understand
And I don't ever
Want him back
He's a hustler
He's a hustler, yeah
He's a hustler
He's a hustler
You can be my man
Come be my man
Don't you understand
Don't you understand?
Be my man
Don't you understand
Don't you understand?
Yeahhh
And I don't ever
Want him back
He's a hustler
[RNB MUSIC PLAYING]