An Excerpt From the Show

What's This Scene All About?

A defining moment for all modern medical students is the white coat ceremony, in which the incoming class of first year medical students are formally given their short white coat, marking the beginning of their professional careers. Before the 1900s, doctors actually conventially wore black, until the white coat came to symbolize "medical excellence and purity" in the 20th century. The "first full-fledged white coat ceremony" was only held recently in 1993, at Columbia University, and was formalized by the recitation of the Hippocratic Oath.

Though this show, Smegma House, is from 1979 and clearly predates the official white coat ceremonies that medical schools hold today, this song shows that the white coat was still very important to medical students in the 1970s. Even then, medical students eagerly awaited the day they would receive their "little white coat" and the air of professionalism it would grant them. Through hard work and diligent study, they would receive the longer white coat of the resident physician upon their graduation from medical school.

The Show's Playbill

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