“Janet Dean, Registered Nurse”

This syndicated, half-hour drama starred Ella Raines as a recently discharged Army nurse who traveled the country filling in at hospitals wherever and whenever she was needed. But Janet Dean wasn’t just a nurse; she was a problem solver with a kind soul, trying to do more than heal her patients’ physical ills. The series ran for a single season from 1954-1955 and was probably the first television show to have a nurse as the main character.

In February of 1943, recent college graduate Ella Raines screen tested for a role in Universal’s Corvettes in Action and was signed to a term contract by Howard Hawks and Charles Boyer [1]. When the film was released in the fall of 1943 it had been retitled Corvette K-225. Several months, and several additional pictures later, Universal would take over the seven-year optional contract from Hawkes and Boyer, placing Raines in its own films and lending her out to other studios [2, 3].

Between 1943 and 1950 — the length of her original contract — Raines appeared in nearly twenty films before transitioning to television roles. In 1950, she guest-starred in episodes of Robert Montgomery Presents, Lights Out and the premiere episode of Pulitzer Prize Playhouse. She later joined with Joan Harrison to form Cornwall Productions in order to produce a syndicated series called Janet Dean, Registered Nurse, starring Raines as the title character [4]. The series was sponsored by the Emerson Drug Company [5].

Janet Dean was a former Army nurse who, after being discharged from the military, found employment as a private duty nurse working for an agency based in New York City [6]. She moved from job to job, often working in hospitals but taking assignments wherever she was needed. The stories were rarely benign and often placed Janet in danger as she tried to save lives. For example, in one episode she rushes into a trapped elevator to help the injured inside despite the fact that it might plummet to earth without warning. In another, her patient was the sole witness to a robbery and the robber wanted him dead.

Other episodes saw Janet involved in cases dealing with mental illness, polio, rigged sporting events, bigotry, baby-selling, gangs and perhaps the most deadly disease of all: plain, simple ignorance. Not every episode included a crisis, however. One episode didn’t feature Janet (or Ella Raines) at all. Instead, Kim Hunter starred as a nurse named Sylvia Peters who takes over for Janet on a case and winds up helping a young doctor battle fee-splitting. In another episode, Janet is charged with overseeing the recuperation of the manager of a baseball team that stands a good chance of winning the playoffs and tries to convince him to help an old friend of hers, a pitcher for another team.

Gore Vidal, using the pseudonym Cameron Kay [7], wrote an episode in which Janet reminisces about her days in England during World War II. She shares with some friends the tale of the “jinx nurse,” a beautiful young woman who dated many pilots, all of whom were killed in action shortly thereafter. Each episode of Janet Dean, Registered Nurse was titled “The [Blank] Case,” coinciding with the name Janet wrote on a file at the start of the episode.

The half-hour series was syndicated and aired on various days at various times across the country. For example, it aired in New York City on WNBT, Tuesdays at 7PM, starting in March of 1954 [6]. In Chicago, it aired Saturdays at 10:30PM on WNBQ beginning in April of 1954 [7].

At the end of each episode, Janet would address the audience about a topic relating to nursing or health care in general. A total of 39 episodes were produced and distributed, airing in reruns until the early 1960s [8]. The American Nurses’ Association released the following statement praising the series: “The sympathetic portrayal which Miss Raines gives to the spirit and substance of nursing is noteworthy” [9].

In October of 1954, Ella Raines began a “penny-a-day” fundraiser through Janet Dean, Registered Nurse with the hopes of raising $500,000 for cancer research [10]. The outcome of the fundraiser is unknown; however, the Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research was given a $20,000 check (from the Damon Runyan Cancer Fund) by Ella Raines when she announced the fundraiser [11].

During the 1950s, in addition to Janet Dean, Registered Nurse, Ella Raines appeared in several films and television roles before retiring from acting. During the Vietnam War her husband, Major (later Colonel) Robin Olds, was an Air Force top gun, flying one-hundred missions [12]. He had earlier served in World War II. The two were divorced in 1975 [13]. Ella Raines died in 1988 of throat cancer at the age of 1967, best remembered for her role in 1944′s Phantom Lady [14].

However, television fans should remember her for starring in Janet Dean, Registered Nurse, which might have been the very first television series about the nursing profession. We can’t say for sure, but we also can’t think of any other contenders.

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Last Updated August 20th, 2010