Suspense Sundays (137) End of the Road

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.

"End of the Road"

Air date: January 31, 1960
Starring Rita Lloyd

>>Episodes here<<

Mary Luciano is married to a brute of a husband in Willy - he has a questionable source of income, and has started to beat her.  Mary goes to a lawyer to start divorce proceedings and her lawyer is busy securing ways to keep her and her child safe.  Until Willy comes home one night and makes it up to Mary.  Mary calls off the divorce, and the lawyer gives it about 6 months before something will happen.

Okay.  This episode is a very realistic suspense story in that it is basically the story of what a wife does when she has an abusive husband.  Although the focus seems more on the lawyer and the district attorney which seems typical for the time period of this episode.  (Why can't the wife tell her own story??)  While it is clearly foolish for the wife to stay with a husband who is violent and a criminal, the DA, who is supposed to be helping her, was very free with his judgments.  It was very annoying.  I suppose though that this could have been helpful to listen to at the time, for women who might have been in a similar situation.  This sort of domestic drama isn't why I like to listen to Suspense stories though, so I don't think very highly of this episode in general.