Suspense Sundays (104) Ivy is a Lovely Name

Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"Ivy is a Lovely Name"

Air date: June 21, 1959
Starring Frank Lovejoy and Joan Banks

>>Episodes here<<

This episode is not about murder and mayhem, but about a regular, suspenseful situation - the birth of a child.  Also driving the freeway.  The story begins with a father calming his wife, Linda who is soon to give birth, while also looking after their first born son, Bobby, who likes to climb the ivy outside their house.  They have everything prepared.  Except the sister can't pick up Bobby, and then it's raining really hard.  But Tom has everything under control.  Until a tire blows out on the freeway on the way to the hospital.

This isn't a good story to listen to if you are expecting because it's kind of scary how everything goes wrong.  And an expecting mother wouldn't want those ideas put into her head!  The fact that Linda NEEDS to be at the hospital NOW does make this a pretty suspenseful story.  I've also traveled on the Hollywood freeway so it was interesting to hear it described in this episode.  It's practically the same as it was all those years ago, and I can imagine needing to walk along the freeway in the rain by the middle divider would be harrowing.  Even though the suspense in this story is a domestic one, I thought it was pretty entertaining.  And of course there is a happy ending (must be nice to give birth so easily...)