The Story of Ivy is an adaptation of the 1927 story by Marie Belloc Lowndes. Ivy is a narcissistic woman whose goals are social status and money. She’s willing to have her husband murdered, with the blame placed elsewhere, to get what she wants.
Lowndes was the author of The Lodger (1913) that became a favorite of Alfred Hitchcock, became his first hit movie (1927, silent), and was the story adapted for the Suspense audition in 1940 on CBS Forecast and re-presented in December 1944 starring Robert Montgomery.
This episode was adapted by Robert Tallman, a writer who would become a favorite of Spier for the Sam Spade series, just like Robert Richards was for Suspense.
There are two network recordings. One goes directly to network ID and the other takes 35 seconds. The recording marked “(35s)” is the better recording, but both are good. It is not known which is east or west.
This story became the 1947 movie Ivy and starred Joan Fontaine. It can be viewed at The Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/ivy-1947
This is the only appearance of Australian actor Ann Richards on Suspense. She was well-known in her native land (considered “Australia’s top actress”) and had a good period of success in Hollywood for MGM and RKO in the 1940s. In Australia, she founded the “Celebrity Comedy Company” which entertained Australia and New Zealand armed services personnel during WW2. More details about her career can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Richards_(actress)
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP450621
THE CAST
ANN RICHARDS (Ivy Lexton), Raymond Lawrence (Miles Rushworth), Wally Maher (Inspector Orpington), Gavin Gordon (Roger Gresham), Joe Kearns (Signature Voice / Lab Man / Police Sergeant), unknown (Miss Matthews), unknown (Jervis Lexton), unknown (Judge), unknown (Doctor Berwick), unknown (Nurse Maid) (possibly Pat McGeehan?, Frederic Worlock?)
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