Miss Susie Slagle's
Cast & Crew
John Berry
Veronica Lake
Sonny Tufts
Joan Caulfield
Ray Collins
Billy Dewolfe
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Miss Susie Slagle has run a Baltimore boardinghouse for medical students since her parents' death when she was a young woman, and by 1910, her boardinghouse has been home to two generations of doctors. Among the new students who now move into Susie's are Pug Prentiss, who has worked for three years at hard labor in order to afford medical school, and Elbert Riggs, who grew up in China and plans to return and work as a missionary after obtaining his degree. Spirited second-year student Ben Mead joins the new group for their first dinner with Susie, at which she announces her house rules: No smoking in bed, no women in the house, and none of them may fail their studies. During the first class in anatomy, Professor Metz warns Elijah Howe, Jr., whose father is the medical school chief, that his work will suffer due to his irreverent behavior. That night, Pug guides a drunken Elijah home, and meets Elijah's beautiful younger sister Margaretta. When Pug later becomes unnerved while watching an operation, he runs from the surgery, and confesses to Susie a childhood trauma in which he was terrified by his own helplessness when left alone with his father's dying patient. Susie consoles Pug with the knowledge that all great surgeons experience fear when they first start. Months later, at a Christmas party, Pug becomes smitten by Margaretta, who has blossomed into beautiful womanhood, and she becomes determined to marry him. Homesick Elbert skips the party and meets Nan Rogers, a student nurse, who is also homesick. After Elijah has a confrontation with his father, whose career has always intimidated him, he moves into Susie's boardinghouse, and passes his second-year examinations only after receiving encouragement from Susie and her houseman. Ben's happiness at passing his own examinations is dampened when he learns that his fiancée has married someone else. Nan and Elbert then become engaged. Third-year training begins with work in a free clinic, where interns are allowed to treat patients. When the clinic turns away a little boy who comes in with an injured dog, Pug rallies his friends and secretly operates on the animal. The chief surgeon is impressed by Pug's adept surgery, and Pug, who always thought his large hands would preclude the possibility of becoming a surgeon, is elated by Faber's encouragement and proposes to Margaretta. At Easter, Elbert is stricken by diphtheria, and dies despite the devoted nursing of Nan and his friends. Pug's confidence is destroyed because he was helpless to save Elbert. During the fourth year, the students are assigned to handle maternity cases. Fearing failure, Pug asks to be excused, but instead is put on call. His reputation already in jeopardy, Pug prepares to leave school, but Susie forces him to confront his fear. Nan works with Pug as the attendant nurse when he is sent out on call to the Johnson home and panics when he finds Mrs. Johnson in a weakened condition. However, Pug finds his strength at last, and after emergency surgery, he and Nan leave behind a healthy mother and baby. Afterward, Nan announces her intention to carry on Elbert's work in China. All of Susie's boarders graduate from medical school, and Pug plans to return following his vacation to intern with Dr. Faber. Before he leaves, Pug tells Susie that he owes everything to her, as does every doctor who ever left her house. Margaretta picks Pug up for his ride to the train station, and as they depart, one of Susie's new students knocks on her door.
Director
John Berry
Cast
Veronica Lake
Sonny Tufts
Joan Caulfield
Ray Collins
Billy Dewolfe
Bill Edwards
Pat Phelan
Lillian Gish
Roman Bohnen
Morris Carnovsky
Renny Mcevoy
Lloyd Bridges
Michael Sage
Dorothy Adams
E. J. Ballantine
Theodore Newton
J. Lewis Johnson
Ludwig Stossel
Charles E. Arnt
Isabel Randolph
Kathleen Howard
Frederick Burton
Chester Morrison
William Meader
Albert Ruiz
Stan Johnson
Jerry James
Harold Topf Bernardi
George Carleton
Hal Taliaferro
Larry Thompson
John Kellogg
Cyril Ring
William Moss
Bobby Driscoll
Thomas Quinn
Buddy Yarus
Hope Landin
Damian O'flynn
Shimen Ruskin
Jimmy Brady
Eve March
Walter Fenner
William Challee
Laura Bowman
Pierre Watkin
Connie Thompkins
Mary Herriot
Roberta Jonay
Alan Bridge
John Rosser
Tony Paton
Milton Kibbee
Constance Purdy
Byron Poindexter
Betty Farrington
Crew
Daniele Amfitheatrof
Guy Bennett
Roy Burns
Hugo Butler
Harry Caplan
Mary Kay Dodson
Jan Domela
Hans Dreier
Farciot Edouart
William Forsythe
Anne Froelick
Anne Froelick
Bertram Granger
Hugo Grenzbach
Edith Head
Earl Hedrick
John Houseman
Gordon Jennings
Wallace Kelley
Charles Lang Jr.
Paul Lerpae
Archie Marshek
Joel Moss
Helen Gladys Percey
Irmin Roberts
Dr. Benjamin Sacks
Adrian Scott
Elvira Smith
Theodore Strauss
Wally Westmore
Philip G. Wisdom
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was The Golden Years. According to a March 1941 Hollywood Reporter news item, Larraine Noble was initially slated to write a treatment of Augusta Tucker's novel, but Noble's contribution to the final film has not been confirmed. According to a pre-production news item in Los Angeles Examiner, a role in this film was being tailored for actress Betty Field. Hollywood Reporter news items also reported that Jean Arthur was considered for a lead role in the film. This film marked John Berry's feature film directorial debut. The Lux Radio Theatre broadcast a version of Miss Susie Slagle's on October 21, 1946, featuring Joan Caulfield, William Holden and Billy De Wolfe.
