CTVA
The Classic TV Archive - US Medical Drama Series
"Hollywood Off Beat: Steve Randall" (1952-53)    "The Doctor" (1952-53)
The Doctor (1952-53)
aka "Visitor" syndication title  (1956-57)
compiled by The Classic TV Archive
with contributions by:
  Jim Brent,  Tom Alger,  Rina Fox, [Updated Jan 2018 #18 - RF]
references:
New York Times / TV Guide
Library of Congress (telnet://locis.loc.gov)
Internet Movie Database (https://us.imdb.com)
UCLA Film and Television Archive
------------------------------------------
THE DOCTOR (syndicated title "Visitor")
------------------------------------------
NBC Production
for
NBC (Sundays 10:00pm ET)
Produced by Marion Parsonnet

US Medical Anthology series 1952-53   43 ? episodes x 30 min
24Aug52-28Jun53

Starring/Host:
Warner Anderson as The Doctor

Premise:
Dramas of people confronted with mentally disturbing situations
as seen through the eyes of a general practitioner.
Warner Anderson played "The Doctor" but usually appeared at only the
beginning and the end of each episode "to set the scene and discuss the
outcome.

Directors included:
Robert Aldrich, Don Siegel

Background:
Marion Parsonnet also produced the Crime Drama series "Hollywood Off Beat:
Steve Randall" (1952-53) starring Melvyn Douglas.

################## The Doctor ################
############### season 1952-53 ###############
##############################################
NBC Sundays 10:00pm Eastern (24Aug52-28Jun53)

 1.01 [--] The Doctor: THE INQUISITORS [TA]
24Aug52 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Anne Burr
Whit Bissell
Ferdie Hoffman.
Synopsis:
New dramatic series starring Warner Anderson as an intelligent, kindly
and philosophic general practitioner who is a doctor, but a warm counselor
and friend as well. First story is a tale of love on both sides of the
Iron Curtain. Sponsored by Camay Soap. [JB]

1.02 [--] The Doctor: SWEET THING [TA]
31Aug52 NBC Sun
Cast: (NYT)
Robert Pastene
Phyllis Avery
Synopsis:
A psychological drama of a young husband who discovers that his beautiful bride is plotting his death. [JB]

1.03 [--] The Doctor: TIME TO KILL [TA]
7Sep52 NBC Sun
Starring/Host: Warner Anderson (as The Doctor)
Guest Cast:
Conrad Janis
Carmen Mathews.
Sandy Kenyon
Synopsis:
A brilliant student of government is determined to destroy corruption in his state. [JB]

1.04 [--] The Doctor: THE BAKER STORY [TA]
14Sep52 NBC Sun
Starring/Host: Warner Anderson (as The Doctor)
Guest Cast:
Paul Langton
Lois Wheeler
Synopsis:
A young doctor’s action when he encounters an epidemic of ergot poisoning jeopardizes his whole future. [JB]

1.05 [--] The Doctor: BLACKMAIL [TA]
21Sep52 NBC Sun
Starring/Host: Warner Anderson (as The Doctor)
Guest Cast:
Theodore Newton
Wesley Eddy
Philip Bourneuf.
Synopsis:
An ambitious young chauffeur decides to exploit a situation of which
he becomes aware in his semi-confidential capacity. [JB]

1.06 [--] The Doctor: HIDING PLACE [TA]
28Sep52 NBC Sun
Starring/Host: Warner Anderson (as The Doctor)
Guest Cast:
Fay Baker
Richard Gaines
Synopsis:
Pot of gold and a frantic search by a farmer. [JB]

1.07 [--] The Doctor: NO GODS TO SERVE
5Oct52 NBC Sun
Written by Rod Serling
Directed by Don Siegel
Guest stars: (tvtome)
Robert North
Dabbs Greer
Harlan Wade
Guest Cast: (NYT)
Robert Osterloh
Synopsis:
Three GI’s are trapped with their chaplain behind enemy lines in Korea.
The chaplain loses, then regains his faith in his religion and God. [JB]

1.08 [--] The Doctor: LOVE LETTERS FROM A STRANGER [TA]
12Oct52 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Stella Andrew
Synopsis:
A comedy of how romance comes to a young lady in a millinery shop. [JB]

1.09 [--] The Doctor: THOSE WHO WAIT [RF/TA]
19Oct52 NBC Sun
Writen by Rod Serling
Directed by Don Siegel
Guest Cast:
Mary Anderson
Bernadene Hayes
Synopsis 1:
The story of four women whose men are involved in a coal mine disaster.
One of the men has been killed, but which one is unknown. [JB]
Synopsis 2:
The wives of four men trapped in a mine cave-in wait for news of the survivors.
*Syndication rerun 05Jun54 on  "The Visitor". [RF]

1.10 [--] The Doctor: THE GUEST [RF/TA]
26Oct52 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Beulah Bondi
Charles Vuchinski (aka Charles Bronson)(one of his first tv roles)
Synopsis:
Escaping from a robbery, a youth forces his way into a house where an
elderly woman and presents himself as a friend of her son, recently killed in Korea. [JB]

1.11 [--] The Doctor: THE RED WIG [TA]
02Nov52 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Dorothy Comingore
Henry Morgan
Synopsis:
A psychological study of a woman whose husband leaves her because
of her contempt for children. [JB]

1.12 [--] The Doctor: THE WHITE MEDALLION [JB]
09Nov52 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Ludwig Donath
Maudie Prickett.
Synopsis:
A young man’s love almost drives him to crime. [JB]

1.13 [--] The Doctor: THE FAKIR [JB]
16Nov52 NBC Sun
Synopsis:
A fantasy about an Englishman who seems to live a lifetime haunted by tragedy. [JB]

1.14 [--] The Doctor: NO STORY ASSIGNMENT (imdb) [JB]
23Nov52 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Wesley Addy
Joan Loring
Joan Alexander.
Synopsis:
A reporter’s assignment, to investigate a woman suing his paper for
libel, nearly causes him to lose his basic sense of decency. [JB]

1.15 [--] The Doctor: THE TRUSTING HEART [JB/RF]
30Nov52 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
John Baragrey
Polly Rowles
Jane Seyman.
Synopsis 1:
The story of a young woman’s great faith in her fiancé. [JB]
Synopsis 2:
A young woman's faith in her fiance is amply rewarded. [RF]
(syndicated rerun on "Visitor" 18Nov1956 NBC Sun WSYR-TV New York) [RF]

1.16 [--] The Doctor: PILE OF ROCKS [JB]
07Dec52 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Katherine Bard.
Synopsis:
A woman disappears and her husband is suspected of murdering her. [JB]

1.17 [--] The Doctor: MARTI [JB]
14Dec52 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Anne Jackson
Paul Langton.
Synopsis:
A cub reporter assigned to work in a slum, writes a human interest
story about policeman’s widow, which leads to a misunderstanding with her city editor. [JB]

1.18 [--] The Doctor: THE TALE OF TWO CHRISTMASES [Updated Jan 2018-RF]
21Dec1952 NBC Sun 10pm
Screenplay by Adrian Spies
Based on an original story by Doris Halman
Directed by Robert Aldrich
starring
Warner Anderson
Guests
Richard McMurray ...... Jerry
Janie Alexander .......... Barby
Margaret Hayes ........... Ann
Harry Bannister ............ Bentley
Raymond Bramley ....... Santa Claus
Richard Purdy .............. Floor Manager
Synopsis:
A story spanning change of two holiday seasons in the life of a troubled family. [JB]

1.19 [--] The Doctor: NIGHT RIDERS IN APARTMENT A [JB]
28Dec52 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Neva Patterson
Joshua Shelley
Anne Jackson
James Wyler.
Synopsis:
Story of two couples living one above the other in an apartment house.
One member of each couple has insomnia. [JB]

 1.20 [--] The Doctor: DESK OF MATTHEW DAY [JB]
04Jan53 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Thomas Mitchell.
Synopsis:
A former star reporter of a large newspaper, now a small town editor,
tries to solve his financial problems. [JB]

1.21 [--] The Doctor: MEDAL OF HONOR [JB]
11Jan53 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Wyrley Birch
Kathleen Comegys.
Synopsis:
The constable of a town in Maine is fired because there hasn’t been
a crime in 10 years. [JB]

1.22 [--] The Doctor: TAKE THE ODDS [JB]
18Jan53 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Charles Bushinski (aka Charles Bronson)
Ann Summers.
Synopsis:
A prizefighter refuses to recognize his failure and his son tries to
protect him from the ridicule of the neighboring kids. [JB]

1.23 [--] The Doctor: JULES [JB]
25Jan53 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Anatole Winogradoff
Terese Quadri
Tom Ahearne
Eli Mintz.
Synopsis:
An aged porter, deciding his time has come to depart this world, tours pawnshops in search of a burial suit. [JB]

1.24 [--] The Doctor: REWARD [JB]
01Feb53 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Sally Chamberlin
Jay Jostyn
Vaughn Taylor
Synopsis 1:
A gangster chooses a romantic moment to enter a restaurant and be
recognized. [JB]
Synopsis 2:
A young woman with pressing financial obligations reluctantly accepts a marriage proposal of a wealthy older man. [RF]
(syndicated rerun on "The Visitor" 10Apr56)

1.25 [--] The Doctor: THE DECISION [JB]
08Feb53 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Wesley Addy
Ann Jackson
John McQuade.
Synopsis:
A young man in love with a married woman is tempted to commit murder
when her long missing husband reappears. [JB]

1.26 [--] The Doctor: SONG FOR A BANKER [TA/JB]
15Feb53 NBC Sun (Network rerun 28Jun53)
Guest Cast:
Roland Young .......... George
Henry Jones ........... Joey Martin
Isabel Elsom .......... Anne
Sallie Grace .......... Audrey
Don Dubbins ........... Bruce
Marion Russell ........ Terry
Val Dufour ............ Freddie Roberts
Carl Harbord .......... Mr. Stuyvesant
Synopsis 1:
A conservative banker temporarily becomes a tin pan alley composer
to prove to his son-in-law that anyone can write a hit song. [TA]
Synopsis 2:
A sedate New England banker tries to discourage his prospective son-in-law from a career in tin-pan
alley by writing a song himself. The results are not at all what the banker had in mind. [JB]

[--] 22Feb53 - episode "Googan" - postponed until 08Mar53

1.27 [--] The Doctor: THE WORLD OF NANCY CLARK [JB]
01Mar53 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Lydia Reed.
Synopsis:
When nine-year-old Nancy discovers that her governess is going to be married, and she is to be left with her
quarreling parents, she takes drastic measures to prevent the marriage and almost ruins two lives.

1.28 [--] The Doctor: GOOGAN [JB]
08Mar53 NBC Sun (postponed from 22Feb53)
Guest Cast:
Ernest Truex
Virginia Gilmore
Thomas Coley.
Synopsis:
A manager of a baseball team finds that his isn’t doing too well until he
accepts the advice of his son’s imaginary friend, Googan. [JB]

1.29 [--] The Doctor: TREASURE ISLAND [JB]
15Mar53 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Peg Hillias
Russell Hardie
Joel Fallon.
Synopsis:
When two strangers arrive, a little boy begins an adventure as exciting as the one he’s been reading. [JB]

1.30 [--] The Doctor: CARLA'S BOY [JB]
22Mar53 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Allen Martin
Dan Tobin
Anna Karen
Synopsis:
A young boy runs away from school to seek one of his mother’s former
husbands so that he might have a father. [JB]

1.31 [--] The Doctor: LUNCHEON AT CASEY'S [RF/JB]
29Mar53 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Murray Matheson
Patricia Benoit
Lawrence Fletcher
Dean Harens.
Synopsis:
A ne’er do-well who follows the horses all over the country is disturbed
when he finds that his daughter is in love with a man just like himself. [JB]

1.32 [--] The Doctor: AS THE TWIG IS BENT [RF/JB]
05Apr53 NBC Sun
Guest Cast: [JB]
Diana Herbert
Dennis Harrison.
Synopsis 1:
A policeman’s boyhood friend is acquitted of a crime, but the policeman knows
that his friend is guilty. [JB]
Guest Cast
Edward Binns (listed on rerun) [RF]
Synopsis 2:
The struggle between a policeman and a criminal who, although guilty
of murder, has been acquitted and is free to commit further crimes. [RF]
(syndicated rerun on "Visitor" 03Mar1957 NBC Sun, WSYR-TV New York)

1.33 [--] The Doctor: FRIEND OF THE FAMILY [JB]
12Apr53 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Raimonda Orselli
Harry Ellerbe.
A father tries to restore his daughter’s lost illusions. [JB]

1.34 [--] The Doctor: THE WAY OF HOPE  [Updated Feb-2017-RF]
19-Apr-1953 NBC Sun
Guest cast:
Donald Cook
Julie Hayden
Glenn Anders
Synopsis:
A story of a once successful playwright, his actress wife and an alcoholic producer who find a new future. [JB]

1.35 [--] The Doctor: RENDEZVOUS [JB]
26Apr53 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Ann Summers
Bert Thorn
Katherine Bard
Todd Andrews.
Synopsis:
A woman writes a series for a fiction magazine based on the man she has lost to her best friend. [JB]

1.36 [--] The Doctor: ESCAPE FROM THE PAST [JB]
03May53 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Ron Randall
Stella Andrew.
Synopsis:
A man’s past returns to trouble him. [JB]

1.37 [--] The Doctor: DESK JOB
10May53 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Howard St. John
Joe Maross
John McGovern
James Broderick
Henry Misrock
Synopsis:
An Air Force Weather Officer feels inferior because his job is on the ground. [JB]
Synopsis 2:
A young lieutenant's weather predictions determine the fate of fog-imprisoned fliers. [RF]
(syndicated rerun on "The Visitor" - 13Apr56 WABD Dumont New York City)

1.38 [--] The Doctor: NO-RAP CHARLIE [Updated Feb-2017-RF]
17-May-1953 NBC Sun
Guest cast:
Dennis Harrison
Anne Jackson
Frank McHugh
Synopsis:
A burglar faces a dilemma when he discovers top-secret information. [JB]
*Aired on "The Visitor" July 23, 1954. [Brooklyn Daily Eagle]

1.39 [--] The Doctor: THE ROCKING CHAIR [JB]
24May31 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Mildred Natwick
Ian Keith.
Synopsis:
An elderly doctor is torn between his love of his profession and his wife’s wishes that he retire. [JB]

1.40 [--] The Doctor: THE RESEARCHER [TA/JB]
31May53 NBC Sun
Cast:
William Prince
June Dayton
Natalie Priest.
Synopsis 1:
A pretty magazine researcher pursues a man until her father happens to create a break. [TA]
Synopsis 2:
An elusive prey of a girl, still single at 28, picks on a man whom
she meets in the course of her job as a magazine researcher, as the
man she’d like to marry. All goes smoothly until he discovers that he is the object of her chase. [JB]

1.41 [--] The Doctor: THE BROTHERS [TA/JB]
07Jun53 NBC Sun
Cast:
Edmon Ryan
Dean Harens
Synopsis:
A young officer who's returned from Korea rebels against his older  brother's well meant protection.
[TA/JB]

1.42 [--] The Doctor: THE DOG TAG [JB]
14Jun53 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Gusti Huber
Philip Huston
Edward Binns
Robert Gallagher
Peg Hillias
Adele Newton
Louis Scholle
Jackie Scholle.
Synopsis:
A German widow tracks down the former GI who killed her husband in a
hand-to-hand fight during World War II. [JB]

1.43 [--] The Doctor: THE RUNAWAYS [JB] [Last new show of the series]

21Jun53 NBC Sun
Guest Cast:
Lee Marvin
Dorothy Malone.
Synopsis:
A middle-aged postman and his wife are inquisitive about the doings of their mysterious border. [JB]

[--] 28Jun53 rerun of "Song for a Banker" (first aired 15Feb53)
####### The Doctor a.k.a. The Visitor ########
################## the end #################
##############################################

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