Once under contract to Universal, Denny was being worked non-stop, to the general delight of audiences – Oh, Doctor! would be the first of his four starring features released in 1925. Based on a novel by Harry Leon Wilson – best known as the author of Ruggles of Red Gap (1915) and Merton of the Movies (1922), both adapted multiple times for the screen – the film allowed Denny to play deliciously against type, casting him as a prissy hypochondriac who conquers his fears when he falls for his nurse, played by a young Mary Astor. Combining comedy with daredevil capers, Oh, Doctor! received enormous press coverage thanks to Universal’s industrious publicity department and was rewarded by generally glowing reviews and large box-office figures. Harriette Underhill summarized the general opinion in the New York Herald Tribune, writing, “The picture is perfect entertainment. Hilariously funny,” while Mordaunt Hall of the New York Times gave special praise to Denny: “he accomplishes that most difficult of histrionic feats – appearing natural.” Reg once again conducted his own dangerous stunts, with racing scenes filmed on location at the newly opened Legion Ascot Speedway in Los Angeles, deriving thrills by driving his new racecar on the dirt oval circuit called the “killer track” because of its treacherous straightaways and dangerously banked turns, which would claim the lives of 24 drivers.
Rufus Billop (Denny) has been convinced since childhood that he’s too sick for the slightest excitement, and is now certain he’ll die at any moment. When a trio of conniving opportunists learn he’s set to inherit $750,000 in three years, they get him to sign away the windfall by agreeing to lend him $100,000 now. Yet when they hire nurse Dolores Hicks (Astor) to look after him, Rufus falls for his initially unresponsive caretaker and discovers that life is worth grabbing onto. His newfound feelings are uproariously captured in a fantasy sequence in which he imagines the two of them transposed into a painting of a nymph and faun: “The dissolve from the painting into the dance can’t miss,” declared Wid’s Weekly, “just because it is so darned silly.” In the blink of an eye, Rufus decides to face his fears, and turns from a medicine-soaked weakling into a daredevil. He jumps out of bed and drives a Stutz Torpedo Speedster in an auto race, rides a motorcycle and sprains his knee, almost loses his life trying to paint a flagpole on top of a Los Angeles skyscraper, and lives through it all to win the girl in the end.
Oh, Doctor! was declared one of the top comedies of the year by numerous publications, with several critics singling out the final flagpole sequence, drawing favorable comparisons with Harold Lloyd’s Safety Last! The fan mail came in droves, like a letter sent to Carl Laemmle from the otherwise unknown David E. Hischer, quoted in Universal’s publicity: “Dear Mr. Laemmle, Since writing you last, had occasion to see Mary Astor and Reginald Denny in Oh, Doctor! I merely wish to say that if there is anything called a panacea for the ‘blues,’ this picture is it. It is a long time since I had such a hearty and continual series of laughs. Most comedies die down somewhere. The only place this one does is at the FINIS when it is all over. One will have to go a long while, I am afraid, before one will see another wholesome comedy as satisfying as this one.”

Kimberly Pucci