The Girl in White

The Girl in White is a 1952 American drama film directed by John Sturges and starring June Allyson, Arthur Kennedy and Mildred Dunnock. It is based on the memoirs of the pioneering female surgeon Emily Dunning Barringer.

Plot
Her pregnant mother is in labor and in dire need of a doctor, but young Emily Dunning is new to the neighborhood and knows no one. When someone finally suggests a Dr. Yeomans, she is shocked to discover the doctor is a woman. It is the turn of the century in New York and times are changing, but as yet women are not being made welcome in the field of medicine. Emily is so impressed by Marie Yeomans that she decides to enroll in med school at Cornell.

Fellow student Ben Barringer is one of the few there who encourage Emily, and they also fall in love. Ben plans to continue his education at Harvard, but upsets Emily by asking her to abandon her studies and accompany him. Emily instead moves to New York, where she and Dr. Yeomans share an apartment. Hospitals deny her an internship until a reluctant Dr. Seth Pawling is persuaded to accept her, although he confines her mainly to ambulance duty. Ben, it turns out, has become an intern at the same hospital.

A patient is pronounced dead prematurely by a Dr. Graham, but is resuscitated by Emily, who exhausts herself for hours in the process. A nurse informs the press of Emily's heroic act, irritating Graham but impressing Pawling, who recognizes her determination and skills. When a typhoid epidemic breaks out, the need for doctors is so great that Dr. Yeomans is asked to help. She, too, earns the respect of the hospital's men, just before her weak heart gives out. Ben is leaving for Paris to continue his work, but Emily heeds her friend's advice to have a personal life as well as a professional one, so she promises Ben that their careers will not keep them apart.

Cast

 * June Allyson as Emily Dunning
 * Arthur Kennedy as Ben Barringer
 * Mildred Dunnock as Marie Yeomans
 * Gary Merrill as Seth Pawling
 * Jesse White as 	Alec, Ambulance Driver
 * Marilyn Erskine as 	Nurse Jane Doe
 * Herbert Anderson as 	Dr. Barclay
 * Gar Moore as 	Dr. Graham
 * Don Keefer as 	Dr. Williams
 * Ann Tyrrell a s	Nurse Bigley
 * James Arness as 	Matt
 * Curtis Cooksey as 	Commissioner of Hospitals Hawley
 * Carol Brannon as 	Nurse Wells
 * Ann Morrison as Nurse Schiff
 * Jo Gilbert as 	Nurse Bleeker
 * Erwin Kalser as 	Dr. Schneider
 * Kathryn Card as 	Mrs. Lindsay
 * Jonathan Cott as Dr. Ellerton
 * Joan Valerie as 	Nurse Hanson
 * Coleman Francis as Orderly
 * A. Cameron Grant as 	Elevator Attendant
 * David Fresco as 	Patient

Reception
According to MGM records the film earned $904,000 in the US and Canada and $440,000 elsewhere resulting in a loss of $292,000.

Radio adaptation
The Girl in White was presented on Lux Radio Theatre May 18, 1953. The one-hour adaptation starred Allyson and Steve Forrest.