Judy Garland and a Ham Sandwich at the "Drive In"

A cold winter night, relaxing on the couch and listening to an old time radio drama series called "Suspense" which was broadcast on CBS Radio from 1940-1962. I discovered this program on "You Tube" and now I'm hooked. The stories are haunting, mysterious, full of suspense and major stars appeared in many of the episodes....Lucille Ball, Joseph Cotten, Tony Curtis,Kirk Douglas, Olivia De Havilland, Alan Ladd, Cary Grant, Gregory Peck, James Stewart, Lana Turner, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Vincent Price.....the list goes on.

One of my favorite episodes is "Drive-In" staring the one and only Judy Garland. I loved this particular episode so much that I listened to it three times. It's a rainy night and Mildred (Judy Garland) a server at a drive-in has one last customer to wait on. A male customer appears in his car close to midnight, ordering a coffee and ham sandwich and minutes later when Mildred comes to his car to give him his order she is shocked that something wet gets on her hands.....blood. The man claims he's a doctor and that he just handled an injured passenger in a serious car accident. Distraught that she will miss her last bus to Glendale, Mildred accepts a ride from the doctor to the bus stop only to learn that this doctor wants to kill Mildred. He passes the bus stop and drives her to a dangerous canyon and Mildred must do everything in her power to outsmart the crazy doctor and save herself from being murdered because the doctor fears that she will report him to the police. Incidentally, the maniac man is not a doctor, he has killed the doctor and disguised himself as the doctor. Years ago he had murdered his wife and now out of prison he has murdered again. The ending is great, in fact the whole story is amazing. 

So now I've made myself a ham sandwich, and I'm going to listen one more time to "Drive In" as I sip on some warm coffee. It's 12 degrees outside, cold and dreary, so why not spend several moments getting into suspense with a radio program that everyone should check out at least once. Sometimes doing something old fashioned can have a positive effect and decrease anxiety and stress. Since I love acting, I can listen to the best of Hollywood's performers and wish that someday before I die I'll get my lucky break and people can listen to me perform a role on a show like "SUSPENSE."

ADVICE: Lesson learned, listening to "Drive-In" is a valuable lesson on how dangerous it can be to accept a ride from a stranger. Fortunately, Mildred had a pepper shaker in her pocket and that's what saved her life. Here's to moments of SUSPENSE!