Nurse Romance Stories: Teen Secret Diary 11 - "Nurse Betsy Crane"

Charlton's Teen Secret Diary 11 is a key issue in the flowering of the medical romance genre. It is the first such comic in that early 60s 'explosion' triggered by the success of television series like Dr. Kildare and Ben Casey (Dell comic book versions of which followed later, after this sub-genre was established by Charlton). Although she's a stereotypical red-head in this story, Betsy must have dyed her hair, because in subsequent issues she's shown with black hair. Approximately 20% of nurses depicted in romance and war comics from the late 40s through the early 60s are redheads, far exceeding the incidence of red hair in the population, suggesting a stereotype possibly originating with a period earlier in the 20th Century during which Irish nurses were well-represented amongst nursing recruits. Charlton perhaps reconsidered the color of Betsy's hair as they prepared to launch their next nurse romance title, Cynthia Doyle Nurse in Love, with Cynthia remaining a redhead throughout the series.

Nurses in these early 60s romance comics are beginning to display characteristics of the liberated woman of later in the decade. Betsy is independent, capable, and intelligent. She is able to read situations better than the doctor she is the 'handmaiden' to. But the narrative on the splash page really captures the stereotype of Betsy's generation of nurses in a nutshell. Nursing is an occupation for women, and their female characteristics merge with their professional identity such that the two are inseparable.

Betsy, and a twist of fate, brought the doctor back from the depths of despair to resume his valuable career. Elsewhere in this comic there's a nursing recruitment ad, which presents an image of nurses congruent with that promoted by this and other nurse comic book stories of the time.

Charlton changed the title of the series to Nurse Betsy Crane with issue 12. It was the first and longest running medical romance series in comics, ending with issue 27. Charlton also reprinted the Betsy Crane stories in the five issue series Soap Opera Romances, one of the last titles in the romance genre, from July 1982 through March 1983.

Nurse Romance Stories: My Personal Problem 3 - "My Changing Heart"

"My Changing Heart" is the cover story for Ajax Farrell's My Personal problem 3 (Sept. 1956). It's a cool cover, nicely drawn, which largely gives away the plot to this short 6 page nurse romance story. Nurse Joan Perkins is hopelessly in love with Doctor Tim, a narcissist so full of himself it's nauseating. He doesn't return her affections, and basically couldn't care less about her. Joan's patient, Johnny Caine, however, is very interested in her. He's good looking too, but Joan is so besotted with the worthless Tim that she doesn't realize what's beginning to happen between herself and Johnny. Tim's running around with some other woman so Joan, with her time off because it doesn't coincide with Tim's, devotes her hours to giving Johnny company. Johnny's not complaining, but his communications of affection for Joan are still falling on deaf ears. When Tim comes by and sees Joan volunteering her time to attend Johnny, he assumes she's gold-digging and that Johnny is her rich patient and potential husband. What an absolute cad that Tim is! Perpetuating such a harmful negative stereotype of nurses!

Tim is just so arrogant, and his indifference to Joan is insulting. However, maybe the problem is also with Joan. After all, has Tim been leading her on? NO! Has he even given any indication that he's interested in Joan romantically? Quite the contrary - he's made it abundantly clear that he doesn't see them in a relationship. He may be a bit of an @$$ but at least he's honest. Maybe Joan's denial of the reality of what actually or potentially exists between her and Tim is the biggest issue here. She's also in denial about Johnny's declarations of love for her, and of her own growing feelings for him. Finally she's snapped out of it when she hears the news of Tim's elopement. Fortunately for her, Johnny's the kind of bloke who's ready to wait for the girl of his dreams to come to her senses, and all ends well.

Thus ends Joan's illusion and the unrequited love she was torturing herself with. It's not like Johnny's second best either. Joan lucked out in the end.

I noticed that this comic, along with many romance books that have nurse romance stories, has a nursing recruitment ad. I've seen them in other books that aren't carrying a nurse romance story, but I wondered if there was a connection, a kind of arrangement between the comic book company and the particular nursing entity, in this case the Post Graduate Hospital School of Nursing in Chicago, to add a nurse romance into the book, that somehow portrayed nursing as a desirable profession for young women. Although the nurse in this one is a bit slow on the uptake, her anguish-laden search for love is something many girls could relate to back then. It was precisely because she was a dedicated nurse that she ended up with dreamboat Johnny Caine. So the messages this story puts out in terms of the image of nurses are:

1. nurses are the doctor's handmaidens - typical stereotype from this period. Joan is there to tend to Tim's needs, like when he has a headache. But she means nothing to him.

2. nurses are self-sacrificing angels - Joan donates her free time to looking after Johnny.

3. nursing provides significant opportunities for women to find high grade marriage partners. Surely young women wouldn't become nurses in order to snag a man! But Joan ended up with a good one she most likely wouldn't have met had she not been a nurse. So in this story, the nurse gets a handsome (and potentially rich) patient for a husband instead of the alternative, a handsome (and potentially rich) doctor. Either way is fine, right!?