Ben Casey opening -- what did it mean?

Cafe Society
1

Here it is on YouTube:

For those who don’t want to watch, the words “Man, Woman, Birth, Death, Infinity” are said (in Sam Jaffe’s voice) while the symbols are written on a chalkboard in a vertical column. The man, woman and infinity symbols are the ones we’re familiar with (although I think this was my first exposure to them). The other two I didn’t question at the time, but Birth is an 8-pointed asterisk, and Death is a plus sign (or maybe a cross). These I don’t get.

But anyway, what was the point of this deeply philosophical opening?

2

The [dagger] symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species or languages)

The asterisk and the dagger, when placed beside years, indicate year of birth and year of death respectively

3

Here’s a bit more info from one of the footnotes

4

Kurt Vonnegut has assured me that represents an asshole.

5

I know. Maybe a smiley face inside a mandolora shape would be better

6

Man, woman, birth, and death are commonly associated with the practice of medicine while infinity represents the time you’ll spend before actually being seen by a doctor.

7

the local late night horror movie hosts in Cleveland used to show skits during commercial breaks. One of there regular ones were those starring “Ben Crazy”, with the same intro

8

I thought that was 6 points?

9

Here’s the Vonnegut drawing of an anus from Breakfast of Champions. As a primary care physician, I consider it a pretty good representative of a healthy specimen

Here’s a link to all his drawings from Breakfast of Champions

10

Thank you for this link. I never would have figured out that the character in the clip is the dagger symbol. It seems one would have to be some kind of scholar to be familiar with that usage, as well as the use of asterisk for birth. Apparently there is no particular significance to the asterisk in the clip having 8 points instead of 6 (or 5), that was just a choice made by an art director or someone.

As for the reason for using those symbols in this opening, I suspect it boils down to pretentions of seriousness in a TV medical drama. But also it worked, I still remember it and very little else about that show to this day.

11

To be deeply philosophical?

12

There’s an old joke about a patient misreading instructions on a pill bottle, misreading ‘rear’ for ‘r ear’ (right ear).

13

See also, “Geez, doc, for all the good that suppository did me, I might as well have shoved it up my ass!”

14

Not that much of a scholar – they’re used in the German Wikipedia, and no doubt elsewhere – eg, here:

Heinz Wilhelm Guderian (* 17. Juni 1888 in Kulm, Westpreußen; † 14. Mai 1954 in Schwangau bei Füssen) war ein deutscher Berufssoldat (ab 1940 Generaloberst), Kommandeur großer Panzerverbände und in der Endphase des Zweiten Weltkrieges zeitweilig mit der Wahrnehmung der Geschäfte beauftragter Chef des Generalstabes des Heeres.

15

Well, I’m neither a peruser of German Wikipedia nor that much of a scholar, I guess.