While watching a TV show in which a woman gave birth while stuck in an elevator, my husband and I started wondering what movie or TV show was the first to feature this plot. Anybody know, or want to venture a guess?
I honestly can’t think of any movie/TV show where that has happened. What were you watching?
The earliest one I can think of off the top of my head was All in the Family. Archie nearly died from having to confront the reality of birth, but the newspaper he was carrying turned out to be useful.
The only other one I can think of right now, was on Welcome Back, Kotter, where Epstein suggested they name the child Otis.
They did it on Night Court as well.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it went back to silent films, though.
Not precisely on topic, but not a total hijack, either.
The elevator in building 11 of the old Balboa Navy Hospital (now torn down) was very antiquated, and frequently broke down. With typical Naval intelligence, the OB/Gyn clinic was located on the 3rd floor of this 1920’s era building.
This resulted in several babies being born in that elevator – I don’t know if they were named ‘Otis’, or named after the elevator repairman, but the ‘baby born in elevator’ trope was reality for that place.
Continuing the hijack, when was it torn down? (That’s where I went when I was a kid, if I was sick enough.)
I remember a Fresh Prince of Bel Air in which Will helped deliver his cousin in an elevator.
Geez, the stories I could tell.
The new hospital was commissioned in 1987, and the bulk of the old buildings were torn down in 1988-1990. They started with the ones on the north end, IIRC, so building 11 would have been down as soon as they got the whole body counter out of building 10 (there’s a story there, for sure). Maybe I’ll do a blog post on it.
When I worked designing elevator “fixtures,” like the control panels you folks see in every TV elevator, I expressed dismay that we supplied “Pull to Stop” buttons, as they would destroy the meme behind Every Sitcom Ever Made. The appropriateness of a “PULL to Stop” button, FAR harder to activate accidentally, overruled my artistic claims.
FTR, yes, I scan EVERY TV elevator to see if it is “one of mine.” House, yes. I spaced our “Classic” buttons my own way. Don’t hire guys who fancy themselves artists if you want them to follow the official layout.
And the pilot of Early Edition? Hell, I SOLD them those panels!
It happened on The Nanny’s series finale. Fran got trapped in an elevator with C.C. and went into labour. Her voice could be heard ten floors up.
So what was the final tally? And how many were incomplete? 
I believe Saved by the Bell did this, as well. It was Zach delivering (Mrs. Belding’s?) baby.
Nuts. I was going to suggest TV Tropes, but it looks like they missed this one. (There is a related trope, Instant Birth, Just Add Water.)
Yes, but her babies (twins) weren’t actually born in the elevator, as I recall. They managed to get out of the elevator and to a hospital.
How about expanding this to include babies born in unusual places other than in the elevator? In the Star Trek: TNG episode “Disaster,” Keiko O’Brien is forced to give birth to her daughter Molly in the ship’s lounge, Ten-Forward, during an emergency situation on the Enterprise, assisted by Lieutenant Worf. I’ll always remember Worf’s deadpan line,
“Congratulations. You are fully dilated. You may now give birth.”
Is is possible the baby/elevator thing originated with Jack Lemmon? He actually was born in an elevator in 1925.
Gilded Lily, I was watching old episode of Beverly Hills, 90210. When Brandon and Susan got on an elevator with a very pregnant woman, my husband and I both KNEW they were going to get stuck. And they did.
I know many babies have been born in elevators, often elevators in hospitals. But the likelihood of giving birth in an elevator or getting stuck with someone else who is and having to deliver the baby increases exponentially if you are a TV or movie character. There had to be a first time it happened in a movie or TV show though.