MY DARLING, DARLING DOCTORS

The mostly medical experiences of actress (Miss Baker was one), wife, mother, kookpot Valerie Taylor Putnam articulated with more energy than usually generated on a bed of pain after some abdominal surgery leaves her with a ruptured/herniated/compressed/or just ""out"" disc. In diary and letter form, she confides her problem to a Dr. Lax in Rising Falls, Indiana; to her surgeon Hirtstein at L.A.'s The Poplars who ignores her; to a Dr. Bernie Hermann with an unintelligible German accent (""I vill ztop diz"") or the Russian Boris who sounds just like him and she progresses--not just the right word--to a chiropractor and a shrink. While George her husband, much to her dismay, comes on even stronger during her incapacitation. . . . This is not as funny as it should have been--even Valerie gets tired of all the ""Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk"" and the thought does occur that perhaps her lip should have been in traction.