Kay's death

Yes; it was the third-leading cause of death in that era, before the use of penicillin and antibiotics became much more common. While it can still be fatal today, particularly among people who don't take its symptoms seriously and delay
getting treatment, in the 1930s and early 1940s it was often a death sentence once it was diagnosed, which was why Mildred gasps in terror the moment she hears Kay
has it and everyone rushes so urgently to get Kay some medical treatment. Nowadays, with antibiotics so easily available, people tend to be much more complacent about the symptoms of pneumonia, sometimes holding off getting
treatment until it's too late (which is what happened to Jim Henson, for example).



I'm not crying, you fool, I'm laughing!

Hewwo.

My son had pneumonia twice before he was 5 and his doctor told me that even with antibiotics it was a serious disease and he needed to stay quiet and rest.

I had pneumonia as a four-year-old in the 1950s, and again as a teenager in the early 1970s. It was a big deal, to be taken seriously.