Mid-Century Illustrations: Dramatic Doctors and Nurses

A pulpy medical story deserves an equally expressive illustration. These images from short fiction that appeared in The Saturday Evening Post in the 1940s and ’50s show doctors and nurses in the throes of passion…or is it indigestion?

Illustration
“I love you so, and yet this war — Would you be willing to marry me and be a war widow?”
From “Death in the Doll’s House” by Hannah Lees and Lawrence P. Bachman
February 27, 1943

 

Cover
Navy Nurse
Jon Whitcomb
October 23, 1943

 

Illustration
“If he operated, she might live. If he didn’t, she’d probably die. He had to risk his career— or her life.”
From “Doctor’s Choice” by Jean Littlejohn Aaberg
August 14, 1948

 

Illustration
“Should a doctor tell his patient the truth—even if it means telling him he’s going to die?”
From “Tomorrow Never Comes” by Frank O’Rourke
January 1, 1949

 

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“How long can a handsome doctor last in a hospital full of adoring women—before he gets hooked?”
From “Even Doctors Are Human” by Maxine Lane
April 3, 1954

 

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“He didn’t even know his own wife. What had the Reds done to him?”
From “Brainwashed Pilot” by Sidney Herschel Small
March 19, 1955

 

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“To thaw this chilly blonde, the scientist dreamed up a special formula.”
From “Love Gas” by Jacob Hay
July 25, 1959