Abstract
Medical student shows are a prominent feature of medical student life around the world. Following a traditional vaudeville format of skits and songs, the shows are notorious for their exuberance, bawdiness, and lack of political correctness. Despite their widespread prevalence and sometimes hostile reactions, there has been no previous study of these shows. Based on research of scripts, programs, reviews, and oral history, this article explores their history and content and argues that, far from being irrelevant frivolities, these shows serve several important functions. These include the fostering of communal spirit, the development of skills in teamwork, and the collective ventilation of emotional reactions to the process of becoming a doctor. They are one offshoot of the ancient and important tradition of misrule in Western society.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Stallybrass and White. The Politics and Poetics of Transgression, 8.
Bakhtin, Rabelais and his World.
Brockett, History of the Theatre, 96.
Search in WorldCat database (accessed 31 October 2004 by Bert Hansen).
Abrams, Personal Communication (27 January 2003).
The only previous article pertains to a show in the style of a student show performed by the staff of the British Medical Journal. See Baker, “The Show Must Go On,” 245.
Program for Daffydil, 1948, 1.
Jones, “Montpelier Medical Students and the Medicalisation of 18th Century France,” 57–80 and Waddington, “Mayhem and Medical Students,” 45--64.
“25th Anniversary of Daffydil Night,” 4.
Harrell, “A History of the Pithotomy Club,” 29. The term,“pithotomy,” was devised by combining the Greek words, pithos (vessel) and otomos (open). Loosely translated, it means, “to tap a keg.”
Black, “Galens Honorary Medical Society.”
Waddington, Medical Education at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital 1123–1995, 253.
Programs for shows kindly loaned by Dr. Robert Bartlett.
Harrell, 22.
Tricolour 1981, 97.
The Varsity, 22 February 1929, 1.
The Varsity, 20 February 1920, 1.
Harrell, 21.
Sowby, “Alumni Memories.”
Meccalot, Galens Smoker 1989.
Peter Pannus, Galens Smoker 1995.
Enema House, Galens Smoker 1995.
Epistaxis, program for Daffydil 1938, 12.
Program for Revenge of the GERD, 2005.
Peter Pannus, Galens Smoker 1995.
Harrell, 33.
These figures can be identified in photos of the show as far back as 1961 in the Bentley Historical Library.
The Varsity, 7 February 1924, 4.
Programs from Galens Smoker 1983--2004, kindly loaned by Dr. Robert Bartlett.
“Give `em your tuition” from The Sprues Brothers, Galens Smoker 1998.
Tachycardia 1997, videotape courtesy of Dr. Jeff Nisker.
How to Succeed in Medical School without Really Trying, Galens Smoker 1997.
Little Marfan Annie, Galens Smoker 1996.
Mary Poopins, Galens Smoker 1985.
Rothman, White Coat: Becoming a Doctor at Harvard Medical School, 82–86.
Ibid., 84.
Ibid., 82.
“Here on 6C,” from The Little Dermaid, Galens Smoker 1993.
Ibid.
Harrell, 27.
Ibid., 21.
Gladwell, “New Face For Science: Bernardine Healy Takes On The Establishment,” 9–13, 23–25.
Barr, A Century of Medicine at Western, 401.
Black.
Davis, Society and Culture in Early Modern France, 97–123.
Harrell, 8.
Drife, “Student feedback,” 59.
Bloom, “Socialization for the Physician’s Role,” 3–52.
Knight, Doctor-To-Be: Coping with the Trials and Triumphs of Medical School.
Clark, “Teaching Doctors to Care,” 96–7.
Murray, Personal Communication (22 June 2002).
Finkelstein, “Studies in the Anatomy Laboratory,” 22–42.
Sinclair, Personal Communication, 4 April 2003.
Hays, Personal Communication, 25 July 2002.
References
“25th Anniversary of Daffydil Night.” The Varsity (University of Toronto), 24 January 1923.
R. Baker, “The Show Must Go On.” British Medical Journal 322 (7280): 245.
M. Bakhtin, Rabelais and his World (Boston: MIT Press, 1968).
M. L. Barr, A Century of Medicine at Western (London: Ont.: University of Western Ontario Press, 1977).
D. Black, “Galens Honorary Medical Society.” Unpublished History. University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library.
Bloom, S W. “Socialization for the Physician's Role: A Review of Some Contributions ofTheory and Research.” In Becoming A Physician: Development of Values andAttitudes in Medicine. EC Shapiro and LM Lowenstein (eds.) (Cambridge: Ballinger, 1979).
O. Brockett, History of the Theatre. 3rd ed. (Boston and London: Allyn and Bacon, 1977).
L. R. Clark, “Teaching Doctors to Care: How do we get back our humanity?” Medical Economics (7 May 2001): 96–7.
R. Coombs, D. S. Scott, and G. W. Small, Inside Doctoring: Stages and Outcomes in the Professional Development of Physicians (New York: Praeger, 1986).
N. Z. Davis, Society and Culture in Early Modern France (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1975).
J. O. Drife, “Student Feedback.” British Medical Journal (321) (2000): 59.
P. Finkelstein, “Studies in the Anatomy Laboratory: A Portrait of Individual and Collective Defense.” In Inside Doctoring: Stages and Outcomes in the Professional Development of Physicians. R. Coombs, D. S. May, and G.W. Small (eds.) (New York: Praeger, 1986), 22–42.
M. Gladwell, “New Face For Science: Bernadine Healy Takes On The Establishment.” The Washington Post Magazine (21 June 1992): 9–13, 23–25.
Harrell, R A. “A History of the Pithotomy Club.” Unpublished Manuscript. JohnsHopkins Medical Institutions Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives.
C. Jones, “Montpelier Medical Students and the Medicalisation of 18th Century France.” In Problems and Methods in the History of Medicine, R. Porter and A. Wear (eds). (London: Croom Helm, 1987), 57–80.
J.A. Knight, Doctor-To-Be: Coping with the Trials and Triumphs of Medical School (New York: Appleton Century Crofts, 1981).
E. L. Rothman, White Coat: Becoming a Doctor at Harvard Medical School (New York: Morrow, 1999).
D. Sowby, “Alumni Memories.” www.uoft175.utoronto.ca/memories/index.asp.
P. Stallybrass and A. White, The Politics and Poetics of Transgression (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1986).
K. Waddington, “Mayhem and medical students: image, conduct, and control in theVictorian and Edwardian London teaching hospital.” Social History of Medicine 15(2002): 45–64.
K. Waddington, Medical Education at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital 1123–1995 (Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press, 2003).
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to the following individuals and organizations who provided information, advice or help for this project: Chris Rutty, Jackie Duffin, Howard Goldstein, Frederick and Grace Holmes, Robert Bartlett, Barry Deatrick, Garni Barkhoudarian, Jim Grant, Bert Hansen, Duncan Sinclair, Jock Murray, Jeff Nisker, Susan Abrams, Paul Potter, Allan Lee, Richard Hays, Paul Banfield, Toby Appel, Gerard Shorb, William Summers, D. B. Weldon Library (University of Western Ontario), University of Toronto Archives, the Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. Drs. Bill Seidelman, Shunbin Xu, Mevlut Yaprak and Cagri Beyhun Serhat provided information about shows in Israel, China, and Turkey.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hayter, C.R.R. Medicine’s Moment of Misrule: The Medical Student Show. J Med Humanit 27, 215–229 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-006-9019-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-006-9019-4