The 35th episode of ABC’s science fiction anthology series, Tales Of Tomorrow, airs on ABC, with each episode’s opening titles proclaiming that the series is produced “in cooperation with the Science-Fiction League of America”, a collective of sci-fi writers including Isaac Asimov and Theodore Sturgeon among its members. This episode, written by Cyril Kornbluth, stars Joseph Anthony and Vicki Cummings; Kornbluth’s story will also be adapted by the BBC’s Out Of The Unknown anthology series, and again on American television as an early episode of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery.
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Disgraced and discredited, Dr. Fulbright was once a medical doctor, but is now an alcoholic shambling from one menial job to another. After an argument with his wife Angie, he is sold a mysterious medical bag by the local pawnbroker. A chance encounter with an Italian woman and her dying child gives Fulbright a chance to try out his lucky find. But he discovers it’s no ordinary medical bag: it’s from the year 2450, and its instruments seem to provide their own treatment, miraculously curing the girl. The rush of resuming his calling as a healer thrills Dr. Fulbright…but Angie sees only dollar signs, even over Fulbright’s dead body.
written by C.M. Kornbluth
additional dialogue by Mann Rubin
directed by Charles S. Dubin
music not credits
Notes: Despite the credits (and the original short story by Cyril Kornbluth) naming the character Dr. Full, he is clearly referred to as Dr. Fulbright throughout this episode. Despite the plaque inside the bag clearly stating that it is from the year 2450, Fulbright declares “the entire world will know of the revolutionary medical power transported to us from the twenty-first century!” This story was adapted twice more for television – once by the BBC for Out Of The Unknown, and again with a Rod Serling-penned adaptation for NBC’s Night Gallery in the early 1970s – but this was the only one that Kornbluth was still alive to witness for himself.
LogBook entry by Earl Green