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THE DAY THE MUSIC ENDED

Oklahoma may have taken Broadway by storm in the 1940s, but the hit musical—or at least one of its songs—didn't play very well in New Hampshire during the 1950s, according to a former orthopaedic surgeon at the Hitchcock Clinic.

The local daily paper, the Valley News, published a feature recently about area surgeons' musical choices in the OR. That prompted Dr. Robert Shoemaker of Claremont, N.H., to write the following letter to the editor:

"The article regarding music in the operating room was interesting, and it reminded me of an occurrence during the late '50s. It was decided to have music in the recovery room at Mary Hitchcock Hospital in Hanover. Unfortunately, the music played was from Oklahoma. A patient whose name was Jud awoke to hear 'Poor Jud Is Dead.' That put an end for a while to music," Shoemaker concluded.

A.S.

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