WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:23.500 [Music] 00:00:23.500 --> 00:01:01.033 [A group of teens assembles, climbs into their cars, and heads to the movies.] 00:01:01.033 --> 00:01:05.033 [Tires screech as car drives off.] 00:01:05.033 --> 00:01:11.366 [Kansas State Board of Health In Cooperation with the U.S. Public Health Service Presents] 00:01:11.366 --> 00:01:23.799 [The Innocent Party] 00:01:23.800 --> 00:01:27.233 [Technical Advisors Al F. Schaplowsky, William F. Schwartz, Lee E. Van Winkle, 00:01:27.233 --> 00:01:31.233 Virginia Pence, Lawrence A. Brennon, G. Martin, M.D.] 00:01:31.233 --> 00:01:46.266 [Music] 00:01:46.266 --> 00:01:48.199 [Betty:] Thanks, Don. 00:01:48.200 --> 00:01:49.100 [Don:] Ready to go now? 00:01:49.100 --> 00:01:52.466 [Mrs. Turner:] Betty, you and Don aren't leaving are you? It isn't late. 00:01:52.466 --> 00:01:56.732 [Betty:] Well, I think we'd better, Mrs. Turner. But we had a wonderful time. Thank you so much. 00:01:56.733 --> 00:02:01.499 [Don:] That's the trouble with going steady with a girl like Betty, Mrs. Turner. Her mother always expects her home by 11. 00:02:01.500 --> 00:02:04.433 [Mrs. Turner:] Well, you come back again. 00:02:04.433 --> 00:02:11.799 [Betty:] Uh-huh. We will. 00:02:11.800 --> 00:02:17.700 [Mrs. Turner:] Good night.[Betty:] Good night. 00:02:17.700 --> 00:02:33.366 [Music] 00:02:33.366 --> 00:02:36.266 [Don:] Kind of quiet tonight.[Betty:] Uh-huh. 00:02:36.266 --> 00:02:40.332 [Music] 00:02:40.333 --> 00:02:41.833 [Betty:] Don?[Don:] Hm-hm? 00:02:41.833 --> 00:02:49.333 [Betty:] You know what? I've never felt about anyone, well, the way I feel about you. 00:02:49.333 --> 00:02:54.999 [Don:] Gosh, Betty. I think you're wonderful too. 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:58.066 [Betty:] Hey, you better watch out [laughter]. You're getting on the wrong side of the road. 00:02:58.066 --> 00:02:59.866 [Don:] Let's pull off the road for a few minutes. 00:02:59.866 --> 00:03:03.566 [Betty:] Well, I have to be home by 11, remember? Uh-huh. [laughter]. 00:03:03.566 --> 00:03:06.432 [Don:] Okay. 00:03:06.433 --> 00:03:09.566 [Music] 00:03:09.566 --> 00:03:12.299 [Don:] Are you sure you have to be home right away? 00:03:12.300 --> 00:03:19.933 [Betty:] Well...oh, I guess not. Not for a while anyway. 00:03:19.933 --> 00:03:49.166 [Music] 00:03:49.166 --> 00:04:18.099 [Don and Betty are sitting in the car; Betty is tearful.] 00:04:18.100 --> 00:04:21.466 [Don:] Betty. 00:04:21.466 --> 00:04:25.332 [Betty:] Let's go home, Don. 00:04:25.333 --> 00:04:28.166 [Don:] Okay. 00:04:28.166 --> 00:04:55.532 [Music] 00:04:55.533 --> 00:04:57.933 [Nicky:] Hey, Don, boy. What's the matter? Looks like you got deep thoughts. 00:04:57.933 --> 00:05:00.433 [Don:] Oh, just thinking something, Nicky. That's all. Just thinking. 00:05:00.433 --> 00:05:06.099 [Nicky:] Still dreaming about the little queen over in the city? Did Betty find you a changed man? 00:05:06.100 --> 00:05:10.700 [Don:] Hey, you come off that right now. Listen, Betty's not that kind of girl and you remember it. 00:05:10.700 --> 00:05:28.233 [Nicky:] Okay. Okay. Just forget I mentioned it. 00:05:28.233 --> 00:05:33.333 [Don:] Say, Nicky?[Nicky:] Yeah. 00:05:33.333 --> 00:05:34.699 [Don:] You know those girls in the city the other night? 00:05:34.700 --> 00:05:36.300 [Nicky:] Yeah. 00:05:36.300 --> 00:05:37.533 [Don:] You think they might have had something? 00:05:37.533 --> 00:05:43.866 [Nicky:] You bet they did. Oh, you mean. No. Just forget about it, buddy. 00:05:43.866 --> 00:05:47.332 They're just a couple of good kids who want to have a little fun. 00:05:47.333 --> 00:05:51.066 [Don:] Well, I don't know, Nicky. Something happened. 00:05:51.066 --> 00:05:53.532 [Nicky:] What do you mean something happened? 00:05:53.533 --> 00:05:57.699 [Don:] Well, I've got some sort of sore down there. 00:05:57.700 --> 00:06:02.533 [Nicky:] Oh, don't worry about it. It's probably just a pimple or something. 00:06:02.533 --> 00:06:06.433 The same thing happened to me and it cleared up all by itself. 00:06:06.433 --> 00:06:10.799 [Don:] Well, maybe. But I think I'll have to go see a doctor just to be sure. 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:14.566 [Nicky:] Well, suit yourself. Personally, I'd just forget all about it. 00:06:14.566 --> 00:06:30.366 [Music] 00:06:30.366 --> 00:06:36.566 [Dr. Carlson:] Well, there they are. 00:06:36.566 --> 00:06:49.866 Take a look at this. 00:06:49.866 --> 00:06:53.199 [Don:] Is it something bad, Dr. Carlson? Do you know what it is? 00:06:53.200 --> 00:06:56.600 [Dr. Carlson:] Well there's no doubt about what it is, Don. 00:06:56.600 --> 00:07:00.533 Those little corkscrew things are the germs of syphilis. 00:07:00.533 --> 00:07:04.333 [Don:] Syphilis? Gosh, doctor, I... 00:07:04.333 --> 00:07:10.899 [Dr. Carlson:] Now, take it easy. It isn't the end of the world for you. 00:07:10.900 --> 00:07:15.333 We can cure syphilis, especially if we find it in the early stages such as yours. 00:07:15.333 --> 00:07:18.599 [Don:] Are you sure it's syphilis, doctor? 00:07:18.600 --> 00:07:22.000 [Dr. Carlson:] The darkfield examination is proof enough. 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:24.966 We'll also run a blood test on you before you leave. 00:07:24.966 --> 00:07:28.766 [Don:] I don't know. I don't know how I got it. I haven't done anything. 00:07:28.766 --> 00:07:33.832 [Dr. Carlson:] Don, let's be straightforward about this. I'm not here to make a moral judgment, 00:07:33.833 --> 00:07:38.733 but you and I know that it was contracted through sexual intercourse with an infected person. 00:07:38.733 --> 00:07:45.099 [Don:] Well, I heard you could get something like this from a toilet seat or something. 00:07:45.100 --> 00:07:49.000 [Dr. Carlson:] About as much chance as being hit by a meteor. 00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:50.933 [Don:] What am I going to tell my dad? 00:07:50.933 --> 00:07:57.599 [Dr. Carlson:] The best thing is to tell him the truth. 00:07:57.600 --> 00:08:03.933 I'll talk to him if you want me to. 00:08:03.933 --> 00:08:12.099 Don, there are some things you should know about this disease of yours. 00:08:12.100 --> 00:08:16.666 Now here we are. This is the sore you have, Don. 00:08:16.666 --> 00:08:20.932 It's called a chancre. It is usually painless. 00:08:20.933 --> 00:08:26.066 Sometimes it looks like this. And sometimes like this. 00:08:26.066 --> 00:08:32.766 When it appears on or around your sexual organs, you've probably got what we call primary syphilis. 00:08:32.766 --> 00:08:36.032 [Don:] Boy. It's pretty awful looking. 00:08:36.033 --> 00:08:39.799 [Dr. Carlson:] Well now, actually the appearance of a chancre is rather fortunate. 00:08:39.800 --> 00:08:42.100 Sometimes a sore does not appear. 00:08:42.100 --> 00:08:44.533 Or it's so small that you wouldn't notice it. 00:08:44.533 --> 00:08:47.766 Now, when that happens the disease might go unnoticed for years. 00:08:47.766 --> 00:08:51.699 [Don:] Well, what happens if you don't find it right away? 00:08:51.700 --> 00:08:55.166 [Dr. Carlson:] Well, the results can be tragic in many instances. 00:08:55.166 --> 00:09:01.032 Syphilis can cripple you. Blind you. Destroy your brain. 00:09:01.033 --> 00:09:03.766 And, of course, it may kill you eventually. 00:09:03.766 --> 00:09:07.632 [Don:] Well, you did say it could be cured though, especially in an early case like mine. 00:09:07.633 --> 00:09:11.733 [Dr. Carlson:] Yes. In the stage you have we can knock out the spirochete in a hurry. 00:09:11.733 --> 00:09:14.999 [Don:] Spirochete? What's that? 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:18.566 [Dr. Carlson:] Well, that's the corkscrew-shaped thing that you saw on the microscope. 00:09:18.566 --> 00:09:20.766 Like this. 00:09:20.766 --> 00:09:24.699 These germs enter the body when you have sexual intercourse. 00:09:24.700 --> 00:09:26.566 They burrow under the skin. 00:09:26.566 --> 00:09:30.699 Usually causing a chancre to appear where they entered. 00:09:30.700 --> 00:09:35.133 They work their way into the blood stream and the chancre on the skin disappears. 00:09:35.133 --> 00:09:41.366 Now, that happens to quite a few people who think they're all right after the sore clears up. 00:09:41.366 --> 00:09:46.632 Now Don, I'll have to have the names of the girls you had sexual relations with. 00:09:46.633 --> 00:09:48.866 And, naturally, this is confidential. 00:09:48.866 --> 00:09:54.566 [Don:] There haven't exactly been dozens. As a matter of fact, I know exactly where I got it. 00:09:54.566 --> 00:09:58.799 There was this one girl over in the city, Barbara Meyers. 00:09:58.800 --> 00:10:01.833 [Dr. Carlson:] Well now, tell me everything you can about this girl, Don. 00:10:01.833 --> 00:10:05.299 You see, the Health Department over there will want to contact her to see that she's examined 00:10:05.300 --> 00:10:08.400 and treated before she gives the disease to someone else. 00:10:08.400 --> 00:10:10.600 [Don:] I'm afraid I don't know her address. As a matter of fact, 00:10:10.600 --> 00:10:14.366 I'm not even sure that's her real name. 00:10:14.366 --> 00:10:15.299 [Dr. Carlson:] Anybody else, Don? 00:10:15.300 --> 00:10:19.333 [Don:] No, sir. Just that one girl. 00:10:19.333 --> 00:10:21.199 [Dr. Carlson:] Are you being honest with me, Don? 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:25.933 [Don:] I told you. There's this one girl over in the city and that's it. 00:10:25.933 --> 00:10:28.099 [Dr. Carlson:] Now, look here son. 00:10:28.100 --> 00:10:32.466 I've admired your courage for coming in here and facing up to the facts. 00:10:32.466 --> 00:10:36.166 But you get it through your head that you're dealing with a deadly disease. 00:10:36.166 --> 00:10:39.566 Not some common cold or a case of the chicken pox. 00:10:39.566 --> 00:10:43.899 If you think you're doing some girl a favor by protecting her good name and reputation, 00:10:43.900 --> 00:10:46.466 you're wrong. You're terribly wrong. 00:10:46.466 --> 00:10:51.232 [Don:] I've said all there is to say. There is no other girl. 00:10:51.233 --> 00:10:57.066 [Dr. Carlson:] All right. If there's no other girl, we'll leave it at that. 00:10:57.066 --> 00:11:00.166 But before we do, I want to show you something. 00:11:00.166 --> 00:11:03.666 Now, come here. 00:11:03.666 --> 00:11:07.899 I've showed you the symptoms of syphilis as they appear in the male. 00:11:07.900 --> 00:11:13.066 Generally the chancre appears on or around the external sex organ. 00:11:13.066 --> 00:11:19.232 Many boys who contract syphilis have a good chance of spotting it when the danger appears. 00:11:19.233 --> 00:11:22.666 With a girl, however, it 's not quite as easy. 00:11:22.666 --> 00:11:26.566 You see, a girl could develop a chancre way up inside like this, 00:11:26.566 --> 00:11:29.432 and never know that she had syphilis. 00:11:29.433 --> 00:11:33.333 Of course, if she's lucky, it will appear out in the open like this. 00:11:33.333 --> 00:11:36.299 Now we don't have to worry about this. do we, Don? 00:11:36.300 --> 00:11:40.533 You say there's no other girl who might have become infected by you. 00:11:40.533 --> 00:11:45.333 [Don:] Even if a girl had it and didn't know it, she'd find out, wouldn't she? 00:11:45.333 --> 00:11:47.099 I mean, there'd be other signs. 00:11:47.100 --> 00:11:52.333 [Dr. Carlson:] Yes. Yes, sometimes there are other signs. 00:11:52.333 --> 00:11:58.099 In the secondary stage, a few weeks or months after the primary chancre disappears, 00:11:58.100 --> 00:12:00.166 she may develop a sore throat. 00:12:00.166 --> 00:12:02.166 Patches of her hair may come out. 00:12:02.166 --> 00:12:06.132 Or her skin may break out in a rash like this. 00:12:06.133 --> 00:12:11.333 Then again, the symptoms of secondary syphilis may be so slight that they go unnoticed. 00:12:11.333 --> 00:12:17.199 If she doesn't go to a doctor, or if a doctor isn't looking for syphilis, it may never be detected. 00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:21.633 You see, the secondary symptoms, like a primary chancre, 00:12:21.633 --> 00:12:24.033 also will disappear even without treatment. 00:12:24.033 --> 00:12:27.266 [Don:] Well, you'd find it for sure when you had a blood test before you got married. 00:12:27.266 --> 00:12:28.699 They'd discover it then. 00:12:28.700 --> 00:12:32.233 [Dr. Carlson:] Now, that would be a lovely wedding present for a girl to discover 00:12:32.233 --> 00:12:35.999 that she had syphilis a few days before the wedding. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:40.500 And in some states some people can get married even without a blood test. 00:12:40.500 --> 00:12:43.433 But suppose she had undetected syphilis? 00:12:43.433 --> 00:12:45.833 Inactive in the latent stages. 00:12:45.833 --> 00:12:50.733 She might go for years thinking that she's all right. 00:12:50.733 --> 00:12:56.266 Then before she knows what's happening to her, she goes insane or becomes a hopeless cripple. 00:12:56.266 --> 00:12:58.032 Here's something else, Don. 00:12:58.033 --> 00:13:00.266 Congenital syphilis. 00:13:00.266 --> 00:13:02.066 Look at this baby. 00:13:02.066 --> 00:13:10.099 Its mother infected it before it was born because she had syphilis and didn't get treated. 00:13:10.100 --> 00:13:13.966 Now, you say there is no other girl, Don. 00:13:13.966 --> 00:13:18.899 But if you're lying to protect a girl, just consider what it might cost her. 00:13:18.900 --> 00:13:20.466 [Don:] But she might not even have it. 00:13:20.466 --> 00:13:25.299 [Dr. Carlson:] You can't take that risk. Only a doctor can tell you for sure. 00:13:25.300 --> 00:13:31.700 [Don:] She's a nice girl, doctor. I don't want her to have to go through all this if she doesn't have to. 00:13:31.700 --> 00:13:38.433 [Dr. Carlson:] All right, Don. It's your decision. 00:13:38.433 --> 00:13:45.933 But if you're the young man I think you are, you'll bring that girl in to see me. 00:13:45.933 --> 00:13:48.366 [Don:] I have to think about it, doctor. 00:13:48.366 --> 00:13:51.399 I've got to have time to think about it. 00:13:51.400 --> 00:14:02.900 [Music] 00:14:02.900 --> 00:14:05.500 [Don:] She might not even have it. 00:14:05.500 --> 00:14:10.000 [Dr. Carlson:] Only a doctor can tell. You can't take that risk. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:18.800 [Music] 00:14:18.800 --> 00:14:22.400 [Don, thinking to himself:] I may have given Betty syphilis. Syphilis. 00:14:22.400 --> 00:14:28.200 [Music] 00:14:28.200 --> 00:14:35.800 [Dr. Carlson voiceover:] She'll never know until it's too late. She goes insane or becomes a hopeless cripple. 00:14:35.800 --> 00:14:48.100 [Music] 00:14:48.100 --> 00:14:54.533 [Don walks along, thinking.] 00:14:54.533 --> 00:15:06.666 [Music] 00:15:06.666 --> 00:15:18.099 [Betty emerges from the doctor's office.] 00:15:18.100 --> 00:15:24.200 [Dr. Carlson:] Now, there's something I want to tell both of you. Now, what's happened is past. 00:15:24.200 --> 00:15:28.700 You both have the disease and you will both have to be treated. 00:15:28.700 --> 00:15:33.133 Now, you took a risk by doing something that society condemns. 00:15:33.133 --> 00:15:35.699 Perhaps you didn't realize some of penalties involved. 00:15:35.700 --> 00:15:39.033 [Don:] Betty, I didn't. 00:15:39.033 --> 00:15:42.933 [Dr. Carlson:] Betty, I know that you blame Don. 00:15:42.933 --> 00:15:45.633 But you should thank him for one thing. 00:15:45.633 --> 00:15:48.633 [Betty:] Which thing, doctor? 00:15:48.633 --> 00:15:55.966 Shall I thank him for giving this to me or for adding me to his list of girls. 00:15:55.966 --> 00:15:58.266 Just what do I thank him for? 00:15:58.266 --> 00:16:01.366 [Don:] For gosh sakes, Betty, I didn't mean to do this to you. 00:16:01.366 --> 00:16:05.999 [Betty:] What is it, doctor? What do I thank Don for? 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:09.833 [Dr. Carlson:] Just be thankful he brought you in in the first place. 00:16:09.833 --> 00:16:13.333 And be thankful he brought you before it was too late. 00:16:13.333 --> 00:16:15.133 Now, we've caught this thing in time. 00:16:15.133 --> 00:16:16.833 We can take care of it. 00:16:16.833 --> 00:16:20.866 You and Don are both going to be all right. 00:16:20.866 --> 00:16:31.832 [Betty:] You may be right, doctor. But right now, I'd rather be dead. 00:16:31.833 --> 00:16:33.866 [Dr. Carlson:] I know. 00:16:33.866 --> 00:16:37.366 But you're thinking only of this moment. 00:16:37.366 --> 00:16:41.932 Tomorrow you'd rather be cured. 00:16:41.933 --> 00:16:53.666 [Music] 00:16:53.666 --> 00:17:03.266 [THE END A Centron Production]