Karl Miller wrote of the orchestral works of Lionel Barrymore.

>Tableaux Russe for Orch.  Written for the film "Dr.  Kildare's Wedding
>Day." One of the subplots in the movie concerned a symphony conductor.
>During the course of the film Dr.  Gillespie (aka Lionel Barrymore) showed
>the conductor some of the music written by a relative...towards the end
>of the movie the conductor (now cured of whatever)

Deafness, or at least sensitivity to high notes.  The piece Dr.  Gillespie
plays has lots of them and he warns the conductor that, if high notes
give him head pains, he should "get ready for brain fever." If I recall
correctly, and I saw this film over fifty years ago, the conductor's
sensitiviey to high notes was related to his overconsumption of starches,
spaghetti.

Of course I was not aware that I was listening to music composed by
Barrymore.

Walter Meyer