Dr. Stanley Burns, M.D., Medical Technical Advisor to the Original Cinemax Series The Knick, Discusses his Role on the Show September 9, 2014
Set in New York City, circa 1900, THE KNICK is the story of the Knickerbocker Hospital, which is home to groundbreaking surgeons, nurses and staff who push the boundaries of medicine in a time of astonishingly high mortality rates and zero antibiotics. Starring Clive Owen and directed by Steven Soderbergh, the next episode of the drama series debuts FRIDAY, SEPT. 12 (10:00-11:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on CINEMAX.
Dr. Stanley Burns, M.D., a surgeon and the leading medical and photographic historian specializing in turn-of-the-century medicine, is the show's medical technical advisor, working closely with the production and actors to make the hospital scenes realistic and authentic to the times. In 1975, he founded The Burns Collection & Archive, which now houses more than a million photographs, including the largest private collection of medical photography. Burns has written 44 books and more than 1100 articles, and has curated dozens of exhibitions, all covering the time period of THE KNICK. In addition, Dr. Burns' daughter, Elizabeth Burns, who runs the archive, serves as a consultant and archivist to the series, supplying reference materials, images and props.
Q: How long have you been collecting rare photographs and medical books?
STANLEY BURNS: I have been collecting medical books since 1960 and photographs since 1975.
Q: How did you get involved with THE KNICK?
SB: Creator and writer Jack Amiel, who wrote the script with Michael Begler, knew of my work and requested my input and involvement.
Q: What was your involvement in the show?
SB: I read the scripts for historical accuracy. I supervised the medical and surgical situations, making sure examinations and procedures were correct to the period. I supplied stories to the writers, and as the production unfolded, added events that were dramatic and were woven into the production, such as a case of severe spasms seen in meningitis, called opisthonos.
Q: What was it like working with Steven Soderbergh?
SB: It was beyond amazing. His analysis of every scene on set and its interpretation was a joy to watch. He holds and shoots his own camera, which weighs 35-plus pounds, and some of the precarious positions he undertook, such as leaning over the top of a ladder he climbed, were remarkable.
Q: Did Steven tell you what he wanted the action to be, and you then showed him how it would be done? Or did you show him how the real procedure would have been performed, and he then directed the scene around it?
SB: We did it both ways. I showed him and he showed me.
Q: After years of studying turn-of-the-century medicine in photographs and books, how did it feel to walk into a surgical theater with all of the old equipment and costumes, where hundred-year-old procedures were being simulated?
SB: It was absolutely mind-boggling. I felt transported back in time. I was especially stunned by the doctors, packed into the amphitheater audience, as each one was individually perfect in dress, demeanor and appearance. They looked as real as professors and surgeons of the time period.
Q: What medical training did you give to the actors?
SB: I established The Knickerbocker Medical School & Hospital, where we familiarized them with procedures and trained them in operative technique. Aside from discussing specific cases and diseases, I taught the principal surgeons and surgical nurses how to tie surgical knots quickly, how to use forceps to clamp blood vessels, and, especially, how to tie or cut and hold an extra clamp in their fingers so they could quickly swing it into action to grasp a bleeding vessel. It looked so great on screen!
Q: What skills did you teach the actors that differ from modern-day techniques?
SB: I taught them the hand-washing technique of the period, using three solutions, and also how to administer drop anesthesia techniques.
Q: THE KNICK isn't a typical medical drama, visually depicting much more of the realities of surgery than most shows. Did that present challenges?
SB: The challenge was to make the operations and results medically accurate and realistic to the time period. Showing the real results of deadly disease and operative adventures necessitated uncomfortable views not usually shown to the public. Medical photographs were made for the limited audience of medical specialists. We are now vividly sharing not only the medical view and gruesome outcomes, but making it come alive.
Q: Were you surprised by how unflinching Steven's camera was when filming the blood and guts of the surgeries?
SB: I was not surprised, as Steven's professionalism is unquestioned. (It should also be noted that, in real life, putting your eye behind a camera's viewfinder under the most horrific circumstances seems to distance the photographer - he becomes recorder and not a participant.)
Q: Does the series portray medicine truthfully?
SB: The series portrays medicine accurately and truthfully. The entire production company went out of their way to provide authentic settings, props and other details. The actors were trained to act like surgeons with the demeanor and affect of the time in minute detail. My photograph collection allowed accurate reproduction down to the type of sponge and wastebasket. Scenes that would be on screen for seconds were painstakingly prepared, sometimes for hours.
Q: What could surgical patients expect in 1900, as opposed to today?
SB: They could expect the doctor to tell him or her that if they survived the procedure, the hospital stay would be a long and treacherous path. Post-op infection and complications were common, but a 50% survival rate is better than 0%.
Q: What sorts of operations were being invented and perfected in this
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Dr. Stanley Burns, M.D., Medical Technical Advisor to the Original Cinemax Series The Knick, Discusses his Role on the Show September 9, 2014
