What was Mr. Gower doing with a big jar of poison?

[sunnyandseventytwo]

I watched It's a Wonderful Life last night. I hadn't seen it in several years and was amazed at how good a film it was. But something is bothering me: What was Mr. Gower doing with a big jar of poison in the pharmacy? I can understand keeping poisonous drugs on hand (strychnine had all kinds of medicinal uses), but why not have that on the label?

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[lord999]

It’s a movie. Also, you would never have strychnine in the dispensing section of a pharmacy ever, even back then. What medicinal use is there, it’s quite lethal? A pharmacist would have it on hand, but it would be in a separate section with the household chemicals. That’s why if you go into an old time pharmacy, you’ll see a small bench outside the pharmacy counter where that’s used as a separate work area for handling household chemicals.

I remember my grandfather commented that the guy was an idiot, both for having a household chemical in a cobalt, and having it in the medicine area and not outside the counter.

 

[RXDOC1986]

It’s a movie. Also, you would never have strychnine in the dispensing section of a pharmacy ever, even back then. What medicinal use is there, it’s quite lethal? A pharmacist would have it on hand, but it would be in a separate section with the household chemicals. That’s why if you go into an old time pharmacy, you’ll see a small bench outside the pharmacy counter where that’s used as a separate work area for handling household chemicals.

I remember my grandfather commented that the guy was an idiot, both for having a household chemical in a cobalt, and having it in the medicine area and not outside the counter.

Along the same line: Can anybody point out a movie, where a pharmacist is the lead, at the same time, not a psychopath or an idiot!
Seems like all the pharmacist roles are minor, selling condoms, or filling a prescription for the lead actor.
I am sure there is a movie out there, to fit the bill.

 

[Drjc1977]

It was necessary for the plotline

 

[lord999]

Along the same line: Can anybody point out a movie, where a pharmacist is the lead, at the same time, not a psychopath or an idiot!
Seems like all the pharmacist roles are minor, selling condoms, or filling a prescription for the lead actor.
I am sure there is a movie out there, to fit the bill.

No, for the same reasons why pharmacist mass murderers/serial killers don’t make the news. If you really want to be a serial killer and don’t have grandiose personality defects while remaining methodical, you don’t get caught because no one ever suspects a murder much less you. The only reason we know about some of them are postmortem evidence after the pharmacist has died or routine examination of purchase orders or travel data.

 

[Lexington2012]

Leonardo DiCaprio played a pharmacist in The Great Gatsby who was neither a psycho nor an idiot.

 

[RXDOC1986]

Leonardo DiCaprio played a pharmacist in The Great Gatsby who was neither a psycho nor an idiot.

Wasn't Leo, The Great Gatsby, the eccentric billionaire (inflation), lived in a mansion, threw wild parties? Did I miss the part where Leo was filling Rx's and making milk shake?
I stand corrected.