Bill W. and Dr. Bob

Written by Stephen Bergman and Janet Surrey, Bill W. and Dr. Bob depicts the relationship between Bill Wilson, a failed stockbroker, and Dr. Bob Smith, a surgeon, during the early days of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Diagnosed as an incurable alcoholic, Wilson determined that what he needed most was fellowship with others in his position. When his desire to drink overwhelmed him during a trip to Akron, Ohio, he randomly picked out the name of a clergyman and asked to be put in contact with a local alcoholic. That search led him to Dr. Bob Smith, a respected surgeon who frequently operated while inebriated.

The stockbroker and the surgeon first met in the living room of Akron matron Henrietta Sieberling on May 12, 1935 and talked for six straight hours. Buffeted by their strong desire to recover from their chronic alcoholism, the pair’s sometimes stormy friendship led to the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous. On June 10, the date used to mark the founding of AA, Dr. Bob took his last drink and drug.

Bill W. and Dr. Bob offers a rich, provocative dramatization of what remains one of the most enduring, if unlikely, success stories in American history.