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A second- [and fourth-] year sampler Over the past 50 years, student productions have parodied every facet of medical school life, from the ever-present food vendors on Cedar Street to the peccadilloes of the financial aid office. Always in the crosshairs are faculty members and the Yale System. Faculty targets have included John P. Peters, Averill Liebow, Milton Winternitz, Howard Levitin and, in recent years, Robert Gifford, Nancy Angoff, David Kessler, Angela Holder, Arthur Crovatto, Margretta Seashore and Frank Bia. Always Frank Bia, it seems. What did he do? In fact, Bia actively encourages the students to mock him. “I would feel left out if they didn’t,” he said. “I make it very clear to medical students that one of their major obligations is to put on a good show.” And they oblige, often with the most biting wit. Among the highlights of past years’ shows are the tidbits that follow. 1949 “How Many Liters, Dr. Peters?” made fun of the tendency of John P. Peters, M.D., to speak in a very low voice. The show opened to an overture, “We’re Doctors Out of Yale.” Skits included “Continental Bow-Wows” and “Super-Duper Rounds.” 1954 These lyrics, sung by John Cole, Jack Gariepy and Ed Ransenhofer to music borrowed from Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado, lampooned Averill Liebow, M.D., a pathologist noted for his demands on students. (CPC stands for clinical pathology conference.) If you want to know what this
is, And, poking fun at the Yale System, to the tune of “Fugue for Tinhorns” from Guys and Dolls: You needn’t take exams. The Class of 1954 also made fun of Dr. Peters’ speaking manner to the tune of the chorus of “Oh, Susanna.” J.P. Peters, Crovatto appeared in his class show not as a doctor, but as a nurse. Student shows have made him a regular target, most recently in 1998’s The Rx Files. 1959 The Class of 1959 struggled to find lyrics from their fourth-year show, featuring Nicholas Passarelli and John Marsh, that might be suitable for publication. “Failing at the task,” Marc Schwartz wrote in a memo to Yale Medicine, “and unwilling to risk disqualifying the medical school from any grants it might receive from funding organizations overseen by Congress, we regretfully decline your invitation.” 1964 Set to the music of Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana,” these lyrics poked fun at Paul Beeson, then the chairman of medicine, who was rumored never to use his first name. Attila was not called Mr.
Hun. 1969 This class stressed scholarly pursuits and their second-year show included a scene of runners sprinting to overcome the hurdle of the medical boards. 1972 The Class of 1972 also poked fun at the Yale System with this song to the tune of “There Is Nothing Like a Dame,” from South Pacific. When we first considered Yale, We have tennis matches Monday. 1978 In 16 skits, the Class of 1980 targeted classmates whose parents were on the faculty, student recruiting practices and the “new” curriculum. The title refers to tetralogy of Fallot, a common form of congenital heart disease. 1989 The Class of 1991 mocked the faculty in “Yalehouse Rock,” to the tune of the Elvis Presley standard: Bill Stewart was bangin’
on the To the tune of The Who’s “Pinball Wizard”: Ever since I was in med school,
To the tune of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”: In the rectum, the itchy rectum, Drop your skivvies, here comes
1998 The Class of 2000 borrowed the music from “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” to lampoon the food vendors on Cedar Street. Bean curd make your They also mocked Dean Kessler, newly arrived at Yale after seven years as head of the Food and Drug Administration. They sang “FDA Dropout” to the tune of “Beauty School Dropout” from Grease. Your story’s too long
to tell, Kessler took it in good humor and even appeared in the show, imitating Irish preener Michael Flatley in a number titled “Deans of the Dance.” — John Curtis
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