"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." "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." "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." "That fella out there sure is something." "Something?" "Yes." "It's too bad I don't have Billy goat nuts." "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." "Well... there'll be a small fee." "* 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." "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." "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." "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?" "Brinkley gave Milford, Kansas America's fourth radio station." "Broadcasting at 5000 watts, it was the most powerful station in the world." "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." "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." "NBC and other stations would broadcast what they call potted palm music." "It was music that was real... nice and sweet and safe." "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..." "You had your singing cowboy..." "* 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." "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." "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." "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." "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." "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." "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." "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." "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." "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." "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." "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." "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." "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." "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." "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?" "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." "Every man a king, that's my slogan." "And now ladies and gents, the singing cowboy!" "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." "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." "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." "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." "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." "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." "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!" "And there is the fish, the 788 pound tuna that broke" "Zain Graves 12 year record." "Those are some fine fish, at 757 pounder, 650, 620, some stinger fish." "Enough for breakfast anyway." "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." "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." "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." "People could pick up the station on fillings in their teeth." "Jimmy Carter Cash liked to say that... you could pick up the Carter family, on any barbed wire fence in Texas." "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." "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..." "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." "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." "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." "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." "For all the back and forth between, Brinkley and Fishbein had never met." "It only became a matter of time until they collided, which they finally did." "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!" "It is time, for arms and departments, all systems within the government to work together in ending Brinkley's defrauding of the public!" "BLEEP!" "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." "What Brinkley also had in that courtroom, was a series of satisfied customers, which were the foundation of his legal strategy." "All rise, court is in session." "Honorable judge R.J. Macmillan presiding." "Please be seated." "We call to the stand..." "William Stitswurth." "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." "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." "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!" "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." "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?" "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." "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!" "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." "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." "Then it says DRPH." "That is Doctor of Public Health." "SCD?" "Doctor of Science." "Do you also put LLD on your name sometimes?" "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!" "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." "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?" "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." "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." "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." "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." "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." "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." "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." "I know he was bilking me." "But I liked him anyway." "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..." "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."" "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." "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." "* Sweet sugar honey bunny" "* 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" "*" "*" "* 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"