Replacing main cast members

While pondering on Wesley’s tribute post for his birthday next week, my thoughts ended up turning to another topic: that of replacement characters.

Of course, both Andy and Steve were replacement characters, as first Ray Collins’ health declined and then Wesley disappeared from the show for reasons still unknown. I love all the police characters, but putting personal preferences aside, did replacing one of the original, key characters really work?

Many shows have to deal with the problem of replacements somewhere along the line. In fact, it’s difficult to think of shows that don’t. Contracts expire and aren’t renewed, there are contract disputes, actors sadly become ill or die, or they simply want to move on.

Some shows honestly can’t seem to hold on when a key person leaves. James Garner’s departure from Maverick undoubtedly killed that show. They tried to struggle on, and perhaps they would have been successful for a while with British cutie Roger Moore, but the quality of the scripts had gone down with the departure of the series creator a year earlier and Roger was soon fed up. They even tried bringing in Robert Colbert to play a character so much like James’s that it was painful to watch. Even though James Garner’s and Jack Kelly’s characters were given the same speech pattern in scripts, the actors still managed to make them different. But Robert’s character was meant to be a clone of James’s in almost every way, right down to the exact same wardrobe, alarmingly similar name, and exact dialogue and delivery. That only worked for two episodes. Jack Kelly carried the final season alone and the show was canceled.

Other shows seem to manage to survive with cast changes, even though naturally the dynamic is forever different. M*A*S*H is perhaps one of the most successful examples of cast changes. Several key characters left over time: Trapper John, Colonel Blake, Frank Burns, and eventually Radar O’Reilly. But the show adapted to each loss and brought in someone new in most cases (there never really was a Radar replacement; Corporal Klinger took over his job). And although people were upset by the changes, many of them adjusted and accepted the newcomers and the show went on. Some people even preferred the new characters. I myself count Charles Winchester as one of the best things to happen to M*A*S*H. He was stuck-up and arrogant upon arrival, but he grew and adjusted and became one of the team. There was a good person under the stuffy exterior, one who honestly cared about people and even came to be fond of his strange comrades. Frank Burns was never depicted as being so deep, even though Larry Linville did try to portray him as a real person and not a one-dimensional caricature.

So how did Perry hold up? Ray Collins brought to life a beloved and adorable Lieutenant Tragg. He is heavily present in the early seasons, enjoying many scenes and hilarious exchanges with the other characters. To have his role gradually reduced and eventually eliminated out of necessity certainly changes the dynamic of the series. His strong presence is always missed.

But Lieutenant Anderson is a bright and eager young policeman when first introduced, not impish or dubiously friendly like Tragg is, but cheerful and congenial and intelligent. (And aloof.) He’s a different character for the series, perhaps one of the best changes they could have made since change had to come. A Lieutenant Tragg clone would have been a painful and very bad idea. One thing that often makes replacement characters work is when they’re different from the ones they’re replacing. Of course, Wesley had to struggle with using dialogue specifically written for Tragg for a while, but thankfully that soon changed.

Apparently the replacement worked, since the show continued. It likely helped that Andy is introduced gradually, often appearing with Tragg and then quietly taking some of the burden of extra screentime from him. Andy begins to appear more while Tragg appears less. Eventually Andy is the only one appearing at all, as Ray Collins’ health forced him to leave altogether.

The show changes in a negative way when Tragg is gone for good. So does Andy. Perhaps he misses his friend (if we take the stance that since Tragg isn’t seen, he must be gone as the actor is). Perhaps Andy finds he just can’t hack the burden without him. Whatever the reason, Andy is not the same cheerful fellow he started out as. Although he is stressed as early as season 6, it isn’t the dominant personality trait then as it becomes by season 8.

People have complained that all of the characters are far more serious by season 8. But while Perry and company seem to have used that seriousness to grow and mature, Andy just seems lost. He flounders, makes far more mistakes than before, and mostly seems very unhappy. Perhaps some of it is Wesley’s unhappiness with the amount of screentime he was getting. Largely, however, it seems to actually be written into the script. For some reason, they wanted to change Andy’s character in that way. And it was a very bad idea. Perhaps if they had left him as he was, or found a different way to make him more serious, there wouldn’t have been the need to replace him.

When that time came, the staff knew that the show was unlikely to continue. They must have had some hope of renewal or they wouldn’t have played with filming in color for one episode. But with only one more season as the most likely option, they chose Richard Anderson, a previous two-time guest-star, to come in and play the third police lieutenant.

It’s regrettable there is only one season with this intriguing character. Richard’s Lieutenant Steve Drumm takes some elements from both Tragg and Andy, as well as some fresh, new elements all his own, and becomes a very good representative for the police department in the series. Of course, with the formulaic nature of the series, the wrong person is still always arrested at first, but unlike how Perry can make both Tragg and Andy look like idiots on the witness stand, he really can’t do that with Steve. Steve is sharp as a whip. Alternately gruff and hardboiled and friendly and open, Steve is happy sharing lunch with Perry and company and is comfortable being their friend, but he won’t tolerate law-bending. Andy never does seem comfortable being very friendly and instead prefers keeping them at arm’s length. Like Steve, Tragg also seems quite comfortable being friendly, but unlike Steve, sometimes it’s difficult to tell how often Tragg means it and when it’s just an act. By contrast, and similar to Andy, Steve doesn’t put on airs. He is genuine through and through. I don’t think Steve could put on an act if he tried. It’s just not his nature.

The show always tries to be as kind to the police department as possible, but from the first season to the last, it certainly goes through changes in how it chooses to portray the main police characters. And by and large it seems to work. Even with season 8, I haven’t run across anyone else who feels that Andy is drastically different that year, so perhaps to the majority, they feel that things carried on the same as always. But in any case, each character is his own man and handles his role uniquely and expertly. With continuing strong characters, Perry managed to survive the cast changes. With lesser actors and lesser writing, it most likely would not have worked.

However, even though the police characters are supposed to be as much a part of the main cast as the lawyers, Della, and Paul, would replacing other characters have worked as well? They certainly had a devil of a time figuring out what to do with the district attorney character when William Talman was suspended. The clashes between Perry and Hamilton are such an integral part of the series, much moreso than any scenes between Perry and company with the police. Could the series have replaced, say, Hamilton and survived as it did with the police?

Again, the key is quality writing and acting. The acting was no problem; everyone is at the top of his game. But, as what happened when they tried to replace Tragg, there is no unique dialogue for Hamilton’s assistant D.A.s They all have lines originally written for Hamilton, so each actor had to figure out his own way to best interpret things differently to make for a noticeable character.

I still maintain that H.M. Wynant managed to do that the best. If they actually had done the unthinkable and refused to bring William Talman back, I think that of the parade of assistants seen, only H.M. Wynant and possibly Robert Karnes could have carried the prosecutor’s role long-term. Or, as with Andy, perhaps the staff would have gone with someone else who hadn’t even appeared as a prosecutor. Of course, again as with Andy, the writers would have then needed to flesh out the character and give him some unique dialogue not written for Hamilton.

But would it have worked? Would people have been as receptive as they were to the new policemen? That is honestly hard to say. Actually, the season 4 episodes with the assistants are very strong episodes and many are quite popular among fans. But it was only temporary. If things had continued in that vein, or if a new prosecutor had come in for good, it might not have worked that well. Many fans love the clashes between Perry and Hamilton. Having Perry clash with any other prosecutor just isn’t the same.

One could argue that the movies managed to survive and be strong without steady police or prosecuting characters, so possibly the entire cast of the original series could have changed except for Perry and Della and it would have worked. But I think not. The movies worked because so much time had passed following the end of the series and the old fans were thrilled to reunite with Perry and Della again. They were so happy to get those two back that they were just fine with everything else changing (again, out of necessity). And the young, incoming fans mostly didn’t know any different until later, when they started researching the original series.

Of course, I could be wrong. Perhaps Perry and Della really are the only mainstays as far as most fans are concerned, even in the original series. But one thing I am very happy about is that as far as the original series goes, that was something we never had to find out. Overall there were very few cast changes, especially compared to some other series.

Sadly, if the series had continued, it could have only gone another season or so with William Talman. So I try to console myself about the series ending feeling that it probably ended at the best possible time, carrying through with four of the original five main cast members to the end.

If it had continued, though, it likely would have only been for that one extra season, since Raymond Burr was tiring and apparently so was CBS. So it is interesting for me to ponder and dream about what season 10 of Perry would have been like.

Hopefully there would not have been any other cast changes.

The Travelling Treasure

As I imagine you’ve noticed, blog posts lately have trickled down to one per week. I’m hoping that won’t persist indefinitely, but for the time being it will probably stay that way.

There has been a method to the madness of at least some of the unusual days whereupon the posts have been going up, however. Last week was a double birthday tribute (one half belated); this week is another one. I couldn’t let my beloved H.M. Wynant’s birthday pass by without a mention on the blog, as long as there’s something I can come up with for it! And with ten episodes and eight characters, there is still quite a lot!

Today I decided to highlight The Travelling Treasure, which is one of my favorite Perry episodes ever, and which features an H.M. character who is fairly nice compared to some of his others, even though this one is a crook.

The eponymous object is a large amount of gold stolen from the Alchemy Gold Mines (hmm, interesting name). We see the guard, Leon Ulrich, who’s mixed up in the theft. He hides the gold under his jacket in the trunk of his car as he escapes the mine. He then transfers it to the woods for safekeeping.

We follow him on his exploits to find a way to smuggle the gold out of the country. He thinks he can easily get it aboard Scott Cahill’s boat, due to an odd charter party that has it every weekend, but this particular weekend they’ve cancelled, so he sets about trying to change their minds.

We meet H.M.’s character, Max Bleaker, at this point. He’s sitting with friend Charlie Bender in a bar. Charlie is the diver for the charter party, but he thinks he won’t have to go this weekend and hence, has gotten quite drunk. He starts singing about Karl McGovern breaking his leg to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell and he and Max laugh at the silly song. Leon rushes to find McGovern’s address.

Karl McGovern is in all kinds of trouble due to a deal that didn’t go through when it was supposed to. Leon poses as another process server to scare him into taking another trip to Mexico, only at the beginning we’re led to believe that they just might be in on the theft together.

Lisa Gaye, in one of her many Perry guest-spots, plays McGovern’s frustrated wife. He’s always snapping at her and never lets her in on what’s going on. Fearing that he’s going to get a divorce in Mexico and just stay there, she keeps going on the trips even though she hates boats.

The last member of the charter party is absent-minded professor Vaughn Taylor, who wears his hat and asks where it is. The whole reason for the trips is supposedly to collect Mexican seaweed. The professor has sunk an immense chunk of money into the project, going deeply into debt by doing so, but McGovern hasn’t put in any of his half.

With Charlie Bender drunk to high heaven, they recruit Max Bleaker as their diver. He comes willingly, particularly after catching sight of Lisa Gaye.

Two scenes missing from the current televised version are right around here. First, the McGoverns argue and Mrs. McGovern tries desperately and in vain to find out what’s frightening her husband so badly. Mr. McGovern treats her like dirt, as always, and orders her to call the ambulance to take him to the pier. She tells him it’s been out there for twenty minutes already. He forgot he had called it!

Second, after everyone is on the docks, Max is loading his gear onto the boat and a policeman stops him, asking if he’s seen Leon. Max looks at the picture and says he hasn’t. He finishes loading and everyone climbs aboard. The boat then starts off. This scene is cut on television to the part where Leon watches the boat depart and salutes it, smirking.

McGovern is such a jerk, but I never fail to get a giggle out of the part where deckhand Benny is staring at Mrs. McGovern and Mr. McGovern scowls and sarcastically asks, “Would you like me to buy you one, Buster?”

Mrs. McGovern certainly is popular with the guys. Both Benny and Max admire her throughout the episode, even though nobody makes a move to do anything about it.

Captain Cahill is a friend of Perry’s. Perry and Paul were actually supposed to take the boat out with him for the weekend when the charter cancelled, but when McGovern decided they had to go after all, Cahill had to find another boat for Perry and Paul.

Perry and Paul aren’t having much luck fishing on the other boat. In the middle of their woes, the radio lights up with an urgent message from Cahill. McGovern died aboard the boat. And a bunch of stolen gold has been found and now Cahill is suspected of being involved in the robbery.

Tragg is waiting when Perry and Paul arrive. He delivers a classic line, bemoaning their arrival in addition to the police, the Coast Guard, the Treasury Department, and three presidents of a gold mine.

Cahill thinks McGovern just died from too much alcohol, but the police soon discover it’s murder. Eventually they decide that McGovern and Cahill were mixed up in the robbery together and that Cahill murdered him.

I love the part where Tragg tells Perry for the second time to go fishing, and Perry says, “Tragg, I’ll just wait until I can go with Captain Cahill.”

The scenes where everyone on the boat is questioned are fun. I especially love Paul talking to Max, of course, and the scene with the professor is also a kick.

This episode boasts so many classic lines. Another is from the latter scene, where Perry tells Paul to see if he can find Charlie Bender. Paul goes, “If he’s not on one, I’ll find him.” Ha!

Paul is off in Mexico for the hearing, eventually discovering Leon waiting for someone. This is another scene that’s cut on television, instead going directly to Perry’s subsequent telephone conversation with Paul. Perry tells Paul not to move in and that he’ll let Paul know when he’s coming. Referencing Paul Revere, Perry says to wait to see a light in the belfry—one if by land, two if by sea.

You know, the funny thing about Leon Ulrich is that he is so central to the episode, yet he remains silent for the entire time! He speaks not a single word.

One thing I don’t like is that Max’s testimony is the only one we don’t hear in court. I wanted to see more of him and hear what he said! But the episode is so enjoyable that I forgive that omission.

I usually think of this episode as a great Perry and Hamilton episode. The latter scenes show why. Perry wants a two-day recess because he thinks he knows where the gold is. The judge grants it and Hamilton and the boat’s crew accompany Perry on a Navy vessel as they search for the spot where Cahill’s boat was anchored.

Perry and Hamilton have some great exchanges as Perry picks Hamilton’s brain about how he would mark the gold if it’s under the water. Hamilton plays along, although he’s confused and increasingly so as it goes on. “Why don’t you go back in the Navy?” he says more than once. Eventually, however, Perry uncovers the location by having the ship go full-speed through a kelp bed. The marker is triggered. This isn’t an unusual idea, Perry says, for someone who once served aboard a minesweeper.

I wonder if we were supposed to hear Max’s testimony in court. Perry’s line doesn’t make much sense without having heard it, if by doing so we would have learned in court that Max served aboard a minesweeper. On the other hand, maybe Perry was just putting the pieces together and guessing and never really did know for sure about Max.

In any case, he’s right. Max served on a minesweeper and is Leon’s partner in the robbery. He was taking the gold down inside the diving tanks. But when Perry comments he thought of the tanks “you divers use”, Max immediately says that it was just him and Charlie was never in on it.

I love him for that. I can think of quite a few characters who would try to put some of the blame on poor, hapless Charlie, but Max accepts full responsibility as soon as Perry figures it out. I like to think that Charlie and Max are genuinely good friends and that Max didn’t just stumble on Charlie around the time he got his idea. Their opening scene in the bar certainly makes it look like they’re pals.

Hamilton thinks Max’s involvement means Max also committed the murder, but Max is quick to exclaim that he did not. Perry agrees, saying that someone who could create such a masterful plan certainly wouldn’t spoil it with a murder.

Once they’re back on land, Perry and Hamilton question Mrs. McGovern in her house. She insists Max must have done it, but together the lawyers finally draw the truth from her, that her husband stole her furs and deliberately burned one of their homes, all for money, and that he was planning to leave her as she feared. If he stayed in Mexico, she wouldn’t be able to get anything back. So she killed him.

Perry and Paul are fishing with Cahill in the epilogue. They discuss a few loose ends and Cahill notes that Perry isn’t paying attention to what he’s doing, as he’s just about to lose a big fish.

This is one of the few episodes in which Della doesn’t appear. Honestly, though, I have to admit that there’s so much going on that sometimes I don’t even stop to think about that fact. This is in complete contrast to the season 7 episodes where she’s missing. Her absence is very glaring in those.

Max doesn’t have as many scenes as I would like, but as he always does, H.M. takes the screentime he has and creates a character who feels real. Max laughs, plots, admires beautiful women, chews gum in court, and gets things done without violence. Stealing the gold is wrong, of course, but Max seems so harmless and good-natured that it’s hard for me to be that angry with him. H.M. is really good at playing menacing antagonists, and he certainly could have made Max into another one, but he didn’t.

I have written for Max once, briefly, in my Rockford Files story The Warehouse on Wharf 33. Now released from prison, Max is working with Mike Nelson from Sea Hunt to get a new lease on life. They dive around the site of the exploded warehouse in the story, looking for any trace of the body that was supposed to have been there.

Perhaps future Perry stories will result in Max having some type of role there, as well.

H.M. Wynant is 87 today. Here’s to many more happy birthdays for a very talented and very kind man!

Notable Guest-Stars: H.M. Wynant

I decided that since H.M.’s 86th birthday is this Tuesday, this week would be an excellent time to do a guest-star post highlighting him and his Perry roles.

The best biographical information I’ve found on him is on IMDB.com, and unless there’s someone else editing his page with coincidentally the same name, it looks like the bio was written by his present wife! That is awesome if it’s her. I don’t want to take anything away from that by trying to summarize it, so I’ll just provide the link instead: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0943894/bio

My first encounter with H.M. must have been fourteen or fifteen years ago, in an episode of the 1970s Nancy Drew series entitled The Mystery of the Ghostwriter’s Cruise. He played a reporter, and was a suspect in the crimes for a while, but he turned out not to be guilty. I remember that even way back then, not knowing who the heck he was, I liked him and I liked his character. I also liked that he danced with Nancy!

It was probably on Perry a couple of years later when I encountered him next, although I doubt I recognized him at the time, since the Perry episodes came so much earlier in time and I was very terrible at recognizing people until about seven years ago.

I’m also wondering if there’s any old footage of him in an episode of Diagnosis Murder that crossed over with Mannix, in which Dr. Sloan and Mannix solve the murder of H.M.’s character from the Little Girl Lost episode of Mannix. I read that there are flashbacks to the Mannix episode, so I thought there might be some footage of H.M.’s character. I actually have the Diagnosis Murder episode (Hard-Boiled Murder), albeit edited from PAX TV, but I haven’t been in the mood to watch it knowing that H.M.’s poor character was killed. (Also, I think Mannix himself is dying, which is depressing as heck. Or maybe it’s just a risk of death if he does anything too strenuous; I’m unclear on that angle from what I read and I just don’t remember enough about the episode.) I do intend to watch it at some point. I’d be more likely to do it sooner if I knew for sure if there’s footage of H.M.’s character.

In any case, even if there’s not any footage, I find it a little eerie that there’s one more very old connection between H.M. and me! I was recording those Diagnosis Murder episodes around the time I was first discovering Perry.

H.M., like William Boyett, appeared in every Perry season except the second one. I wonder why that season was the exception?

He started off his ten appearances as defendant Daniel Conway in The Daring Decoy. That is an excellent starting point; Daniel is one of my favorites of his Perry characters. Kind and good-natured, he’s dragged into a cruel mess and framed for murder by the wife of his nemesis. Or one of them, anyway—he has quite a collection of nemeses, poor man.

He isn’t seen again until late in season 3, for The Singing Skirt, where he played gambler, sometimes adulterer, and murderer Slim Marcus. What a character.

I find it amusing that he goes from that to playing staunchly upright assistant D.A. Sampson in season 4. While each one of H.M.’s Perry characters is vastly different, Sampson and Slim seem to be polar opposites of the most intense variety. Sampson would never dream of committing a crime, it would seem, and he can be very zealous in his pursuit of the truth and convicting the accused murderers.

H.M. did three turns as Sampson, with the only break being an out-of-town episode after The Loquacious Liar and The Red Riding Boots and before The Envious Editor. I would really like to know if they were considering him as a semi or permanent replacement for poor William Talman, since H.M. and Robert Karnes were the only two assistants they had on multiple times in season 4. And I still wish he had joined the cast, not as a replacement but in a role similar to Bill Vincent’s in season 9. Sampson would have made a less impulsive and more mature assistant for Hamilton to have around on a regular basis, and in any case, it would have made possible a lot of fun interaction.

Season 5 brought us Max, a diver smuggling gold in The Travelling Treasure. He, like the guy who ties up the boat everyone uses, seems to quite like the sight of Karl McGovern’s wife. (But they just look, nothing more.) And he holds the gate open for her in court, when she’s exiting the stand and he’s going to it.

Max seems to constantly chew something, except while diving. I’m not sure if it’s gum or tobacco, but I gravitate to the idea of gum.

He’s a crook, yes, but he doesn’t seem terribly bad, especially since he refuses to implicate Charlie in the smuggling mess. He’s adamant that Charlie had nothing to do with it and didn’t even know about it.

Gene Torg appears in season 6’s The Bogus Books—another crook, but definitely a smalltime operator. Even when Pearl Chute tempts him into the book racket, his part in that would have been little more than collecting the money Pearl would arrange for her and him to have. He doesn’t seem to want any part in anything really big, since he’s alarmed when Pearl tells him the real cost of the book he swiped for her and says he wouldn’t have taken it if he’d known. He must have a legitimate job that pays pretty well, since he lives in an apartment house with a desk clerk. I thought only the really fancy apartment houses had those.

I’m torn between whether Slim Marcus or Tobin Wade is the nastiest of H.M.’s Perry characters. But since Tobin seems to have really been friends with the Stuarts in season 7’s The Decadent Dean, he just might have the edge. Imagine a friend wanting to collect money from your property so bad that he tries to discredit you by stealing important books for the school, spreading anonymous rumors about you, and scaring the students’ mothers with said rumors. Then, after deciding he has to get out of sight after being seen following a robbery, he tricks your sick wife into drinking again, lies to her about you, and tries to frame you for his death. Yeaaah, Tobin Wade is a real case. It’s no surprise he ends up dead for real.

Shady private detective Glen Holman in season 8’s The Tell-Tale Tap isn’t a very nice fellow, either. Not only does he arrange for people to eavesdrop on other people, he listens in too (even if he tells the clients they’re the only ones who will hear). Then he tries to blackmail the one being eavesdropped on, if there’s something juicy for him to use. But he’s smooth and charming and likes the ladies. He also tries to figure out what kinds of drinks they like just by their voices. He’s eventually killed in a car crash, which the murderer of the main victim insists was an accident.

Tony Earle, in season 9’s The Candy Queen, is involved with gambling. He runs an illegal casino in a secret room of the Royal Beach nightclub. He must get out on bail after the place is raided, as he’s free to roam about town and talk to Paul at Clay’s. Despite his association in the criminal underworld, he seems fairly nice and provides Paul with information on the episode’s main slimeball, Mark Chester (although of course he wants some help in return for that information).

I’m intrigued by that scene where he talks to Paul, particularly since they seem to know each other. I suppose the implication is that Perry and Paul spoke with him before, maybe shortly after his arrest, but since no such scene is shown or mentioned I wonder if it really existed and was simply edited from the final product.

I don’t think there were too many Perry actors who were asked back for so many guest-spots, but it doesn’t surprise me in the least that H.M. would be one of them. He’s an excellent and amazing actor who never fails to make his characters believable, no matter whether they’re good guys or bad (or if they have shades of gray; some are too complex to simply label “good” or “bad”).

I doubt he’ll see this, but I hope that the 12^th will be a very happy birthday for him!

Notable Guest-Stars: Allison Hayes

I am so sorry. I was so busy this morning/afternoon, I wasn’t able to squeeze a blog post in. And I hadn’t decided on a topic. Several ideas came to mind tonight, and I determined to go with this one.

One of my favorite female guest-stars on Perry is Allison Hayes. Popular with the B movie crowd, I’ve heard, one of her most well-remembered roles was in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.

Apparently I’ve known of her existence for years without being fully aware of that fact, as her first released appearance was in one of the Francis the Talking Mule movies. I saw most of those many years ago, and although I was never a big fan, I found them fairly enjoyable. I remember seeing the one she was in, Francis Joins the WACs, but I don’t recall anything about her character.

I find it a bit sad that the film she considered her best, Count Three and Pray, did not give her the proper attention. I haven’t seen it, so I can’t fully pass judgment, but I’ve seen multiple times where various actors and actresses don’t get the credit and attention they deserve from audiences and critics and are overshadowed by other, more well-known names. In this case, however, the opposite happened—the previously unknown actress (Joanne Woodward) was given the attention while the already-known Allison was mostly ignored. They should have both received attention, if their performances warranted it, and I have no doubt that Allison’s did.

According to Wikipedia and other sources, Allison became friends with Raymond Burr while working on the picture, and it was implied that their friendship was at least partially responsible for her appearing on Perry.

This fansite that I just stumbled on seems to include a great deal of biographical information. http://www.freewebs.com/allisonhayes/ I’m going to be perusing it for a while; it looks like fun.

I was stunned a couple of days ago when I learned that Allison died very young, at age 46 in 1977. And it’s very tragic that it sounds like it didn’t have to happen. She received lead poisoning through a calcium pill she had been taking for years. For the last years of her life she fought hard to get the FDA to stop importing that pill. When she was diagnosed with the leukemia that led to her death, it was unclear how it had developed, but it might have been instigated by the pill, or by the many X-ray examinations when she was trying to find out what was wrong before she realized it was the pill.

The fansite I’m still looking at seems to only make a brief note of her appearances on Perry. She was in five episodes through the series’ run. I spotted her in The Singing Skirt when I watched it recently. And I saw her in The Laughing Lady on MeTV. She’s also appeared in The Deadly Debt, as the sister of the murder victim, and in The Captain’s Coins. I am having a terrible time bringing her character to mind in the latter episode, however. From the summary I found, it doesn’t sound like she had much screentime. And I suspect at least some of it was chopped out of the only version I’ve seen. Maybe that’s why I can’t recall her. I like the episode, and I plan to dig it out to watch her in it. I’ll probably send for the uncut disc from NetFlix.

Her largest and most memorable Perry role, I feel, is in The Bogus Books. (Of course, you knew I wouldn’t forget that one, right?) As Pearl Chute, she has many scenes and even has the chance to light up the screen with H.M. Wynant, who is playing her “friend” Gene Torg. The characters certainly seem to behave as though they’re not solely friends! In any case, lucky, lucky girl.

I’ve been pondering more on Pearl’s actions in the episode, specifically towards Gene, and came to a conclusion. It doesn’t seem to me that Gene’s presence in the book racket would have particularly added anything to Pearl’s benefits, considering what she wanted. In fact, she would probably get a bit less than she might otherwise, since Gene would need to be paid part of the money too, under Pearl’s terms. Hence, from Pearl’s point of view, I imagine that regardless of whether Gene was really trying to go straight, Pearl felt that the deal was just too good to pass up and she honestly wanted to share the benefits with him. Not that it justifies her trying to pull him back into criminal activities, but if from her point of view she honestly was trying to do him a favor, it would make me feel better about her actions towards him.

I wonder if Allison and H.M. were friends in real-life. The Bogus Books was not the only time they appeared together. Of course, they were also in The Singing Skirt, but I don’t think they shared any screentime in that.

They did, however, in an episode of Shotgun Slade called The Laughing Widow. H.M.’s character sadly ends up dying in that, and Allison’s character falls apart, grieving and sobbing over his body. http://lucky-ladybugs-lovelies.tumblr.com/post/41300096605/well-ive-had-an-interesting-and-emotional

Who knows; they may have had other appearances together, too. This one wasn’t even listed among H.M.’s credits; I stumbled across it quite by accident. I’ve added H.M. on the IMDB page for the episode and hope that there are other things he’s been in that aren’t listed. That would mean more surprise finds!

I consider Allison a hero in the same way I do William Talman, for her staunch determination to get the FDA to ban the dangerous calcium pill. I plan to look up more of her movie and television work; her last appearances are two episodes of Gomer Pyle that I have around here somewhere and like. I wouldn’t be surprised, however, if my favorite of her roles is always Pearl Chute.

The Singing Skirt

First, some news, courtesy of Amazon.com. This week only, through Saturday the 12^th, they’re having some incredible sales on Perry DVD sets (all except part 2 of season 8)! Most are $10.99, with a few later ones at $17.99 and a couple at $24.99. This is an excellent time to start collecting, or to pick up installments you don’t yet have! If you’ve only ever seen Perry on television, you’re missing a lot of scenes that were cut out.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=pe_196050_27628120_pe_button/?docId=1000946611&ie=UTF8

Speaking of cut scenes, I ordered the disc with The Singing Skirt from Netflix, as I wanted to see if anything involving H.M. Wynant’s character had been cut. The problem is, it’s been so long since I’ve seen it that I couldn’t fully remember. I recognized one scene towards the beginning as being new, featuring the Ennises in their one and only scene together, but other than that I just wasn’t sure.

Is it just me or is the episode’s plot very similar to The Long-Legged Models? Both are based on books of Gardner’s, according to the opening credits, and there’s no indication that they’re based on the same book, so I have to wonder if he really wrote two books with such similar elements.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen The Long-Legged Models too, but from what I recall, there’s a deal over a legal gambling joint in an area either in L.A. or nearby, a girl who knows too much and is being threatened by the gamblers, and a series of identical guns admitted as evidence. Perry initially tries to confuse the issue with the guns and only makes everything worse.

That plot could describe either episode.

You know, the funny thing is, from what little I do recall, I thought Perry’s actions with mixing up the guns were more shocking in The Long-Legged Models than in The Singing Skirt, yet Hamilton never learns about what Perry did in The Long-Legged Models.

I really felt sorry for Perry in The Singing Skirt, trying so hard to help the girl by switching the guns (before any of them were used in a crime) and being so confident that everything would be alright, only to later discover that the one he put in place of the other was the (first) murder weapon. He ended up getting himself as well as the defendant into quite a mess.

H.M.’s character is quite a nasty fellow all the way along, plotting with Mrs. Ennis to take her husband’s money in a crooked poker game. And he shouldn’t have been dating her in the first place, although as far as that point is concerned, the defendant shouldn’t have been going out with Mr. Ennis. This episode is interesting for being one of the few where the defendant really isn’t just squeaky-clean and misunderstood.

I couldn’t remember how the confession scene was done, and I couldn’t imagine H.M. doing one of the really cheesy ones, so I was gratified by the intensity of it. George Anclitas, the owner of the gambling joint (and not such a nice guy either, really), suddenly realizes that H.M.’s character Slim Marcus must be the guilty one. He snaps and grabs for him, while Slim tries to get away, and ends up throttling him right there in the gallery. The bailiff struggles to separate them and finally succeeds, and in a fit of hysteria over nearly being killed, Slim blurts out, “I’ll tell you how I did it! I’ll tell you how I killed her!”

Every now and then the show does an episode where the killing is an accident, and I have to admit, I wished it would have been that way in this one. But the only thing that’s said is that Slim and Mrs. Ennis fought over control of the money and he shot her. Since there’s no mention of a specific fight for the gun, I suppose there probably wasn’t one and he just picked up the gun and did it. I think that would be Second Degree Murder, if it wasn’t premeditated and was committed in the heat of the moment.

Of course, if I really wanted, since there’s so little information, I could say that Mrs. Ennis picked up the gun and they struggled and it went off. But it wouldn’t change Slim’s nasty behavior throughout the episode or what he did to implicate the defendant. I don’t particularly have any intention of tinkering with a story to try to cast him in any kind of slightly better light.

Then again, I never intended to do that with Tobin Wade either, and that happened. In Tobin Wade’s case, however, what fascinated me most was that he apparently really had been friends with the Stuarts and then let his greed and desperation take over so that he turned against them. And I wondered if he would ever regret what he did to them.

Slim doesn’t have anyone he’s close to, unless I were to say that once upon a time he had been close to George Anclitas. And somehow I can’t picture either of them ever having been a genuine friend to the other. They were probably always in it for the money. But again, with so little information, it could likely be written any way someone wanted.

One thing that was instantly apparent to me: I could see why they wanted H.M. to play a character nicknamed Slim! He really was impressively slender and trim then, as both he and Richard Anderson have always been.

And as always, he delivers an amazing and fully believable performance. He can play any part, good or bad, to perfection.

Funny thing: I do remember that the last time I watched The Singing Skirt before this, whenever that was, I couldn’t remember who the guilty party was and I hoped it wasn’t him (even though at that time, I wasn’t really up on recognizing him whenever he popped up in something). I was disappointed that his character was guilty, despite the fellow’s nastiness. When that happens, I like to think that I’m more interested in the actor and that somehow his real goodness is coming through to me, rather than that I’m just shallowly thinking the character is cute. Although another part of it is that because I’ve found something I like in an apparently roguish character, I’m hoping he turns out to not be as bad as he seems. Sometimes it works (such as in an epically awesome episode of The Virginian I saw part of last night). Other times, such as here, it doesn’t.