Birthday Post: Ray Collins

I couldn't let December 10th pass by without acknowledging Ray Collins' birthday. It was on this day in 1889 when this amazing person and actor came into the world. He was inspired at an early age to want to become an actor and showed that he definitely had the talent for it. He was only rarely out of work once he began his long career, working on the stage and in radio as well as in movies and on television. He was widely respected and well-liked.

I was looking over his Wikipedia page before coming here, and I read something I have never heard before. Apparently, the reason his name was kept in the credits after he could no longer return to the show was because Gail Patrick Jackson knew he watched the show each week and she didn't want to discourage him by removing his name from the credits. That is awesome and very moving. It doesn't quite explain why his name was left there for the rest of season 8, even after his death, but I suspect my original idea, that it was out of respect and sadness. They probably couldn't stand to take his name away when the grief was too fresh. And they wanted to continue to acknowledge the great impact he had on the show. In any case, I'm sure he continued to be there in spirit.

As season 4 marches on, I continue to enjoy Ray's wonderful work as Lieutenant Tragg. He portrayed the character so brilliantly, with a mixture of grouchiness, sarcasm, intelligence, and caring, and he made it work each and every time. Lieutenant Tragg is larger-than-life, but at the same time he feels three-dimensional and real. He isn't just a cardboard cut-out character that gets trounced by Perry all the time.

Sadly, the writing was already on the wall that something wasn't right. While Sergeant Brice is absent for most of the early season 4 episodes, he returns the same time Hamilton does, in The Fickle Fortune. In both that and the next episode, The Waylaid Wolf, Brice takes part much more than he generally did before. He and Tragg are both present in the first of those episodes, but Brice still handles a lot of the needed conversations and both of them are questioned in court. Brice even sits in the gallery for the rest of the court scenes, something he doesn't often do. The next episode has him carrying it alone, including the court scenes. This happens several more times in season 4.

Although I love Sergeant Brice and delight to see him gain more screentime, I'm saddened by the reason why it happened. We've entered the point in the show where Tragg is being gradually, quietly phased out, and it's never quite the same afterwards.

There are still occasions where Tragg has a lot of screentime, however. The next episode, The Wintry Wife, features him in a lot of the investigation scenes along with Victor Chamberlin, in what is probably his highlight episode. This isn't the time to discuss Chamberlin (maybe next time), but I will mention that they made a fun team and it was enjoyable seeing Chamberlin get out in the field for a while . . . even though I of course would have liked it even more if it had been Hamilton with Tragg. (Or Sampson. Sampson in the field would have been epic.)

My dad complained while watching The Married Moonlighter several months ago that Tragg is often quite rude. I'll admit that that particular episode probably isn't his best moment; the scene where the husband is arrested and the wife is so upset and crying is quite haunting. At the same time, though, I could relate to Tragg looking to the wife but saying nothing. Sometimes it's so difficult to know what to say in such situations. What there is to say can seem so trite. Perhaps Tragg just didn't know how to say anything that might help, so he felt it was better to say nothing at all. In other episodes he usually does try to say something to the one left behind; maybe his experience in this episode made him decide that finding something to say was better than silence.

Dad was no doubt also referring to Tragg's many sarcastic cracks throughout the series. On that matter, I have to say that I love his snark and always look forward to what sort of comment he'll make next. Out of everyone in the main cast, Tragg is most likely the funniest. The way he says things, like responding to Adam West being Captain Obvious in The Bogus Books, is classic. "Oh, why thank you. I might never have figured that out!" Even Perry seemed to find that one amusing.

Tragg counters that irony with genuine concern and caring for people. One of my favorite serious Tragg scenes is in The Loquacious Liar, when he comes into the boat company's meeting room and tries to soberly and kindly tell the victim's wife that her husband is dead. He also expresses concern for Perry in the same episode, telling him he hopes Perry's old war injury isn't anything serious. His friendship with Andy is also something special. Despite being short, the scene in The Hateful Hero where Tragg comes to tell Andy of Otto Norden's death is quite poignant and powerful. Tragg is completely serious and sad, knowing how bad Andy will feel. His voice even cracks slightly as he tells him to get his hat and come. This is likely unintentional as part of the script and was an error in delivery, possibly due to Ray's sadly waning health, but it really works and makes the scene feel so much more real than if the delivery had been entirely polished.

Tragg is such a fun and multi-faceted character. There is always something new to discover about Ray's perfect portrayal of this gruff veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department. Happy Birthday to the wonderful actor and human being who brought him to life as no one else ever could! You will always be remembered and loved.

In Memoriam: Ray Collins

And so we come to another July 11^th, the anniversary of Ray Collins’ death. The problem of figuring out new things to say remains, but my respect and admiration of this highly talented and warmhearted man persists as well.

Every time we finish another run of Perry and switch to the early episodes, what I look forward to the most is seeing Tragg again. All the other characters seen at the beginning are still there at the end, albeit more mature and wise than they were to start with, but Tragg is very sadly absent. It’s always a joy to see him in the early episodes and hear those hilarious, snarky comments once again.

The first three-ish seasons have that special bond between the Core Five that was never duplicated in later seasons, even when they were together again after the real-life scandal that split the group up. By mid-season 4, when William Talman was finally restored to his rightful place in the cast, Ray Collins’ health was already deteriorating. The search for what to do began in season 4, not 5, as I have noted in another post.

Perhaps in some way, the real-life sorrows that plagued the actors had carried over to the characters at that point. There’s a certain innocence in those early seasons, as though the characters and the actors all think that everything is well and although there are problems to get through, they will all come out just fine in the end. That innocence was shattered for the actors when William Talman was suspended, and only grew worse when Ray’s health began to fail. Naturally, even after the actors and characters were all reunited, they could not fully be the same people they had been in the beginning. While Hamilton had not been suspended in the scripts, and Tragg was still healthy as far as we knew, the actors’ problems and sorrows were new, subtle elements to the characters. The innocence of the early seasons was gone; sometimes things didn’t turn out alright, or when they did, there were still scars left behind.

Tragg, of course, continued to be awesome right up through his final episode, season 7’s The Capering Camera. Always snarky even while he respects Perry, some of Tragg’s most amusing comments were among his last. I think of the scene in The Reluctant Model when Perry receives the call from “a client who no longer wants to be a client.” Tragg’s dry response is, “My heart bleeds for you.” Heh! And his final episode includes the classic scene where Andy comes to him for advice and Tragg suggests that Andy consider Perry his prime suspect and follow him around for a while, if he’s so uncertain that the apparent suicide is really suicide.

Yet even in these scenes, there’s still a definite sense that things are changing. Tragg seems somewhat worn-down in The Reluctant Model; in past seasons, he might have been perkier and cheerier, with some nice comment for Della in specific or some note of goodwill for both of them, despite his annoyance with whatever Perry might be holding back this time. And in The Capering Camera, during that scene where he advises Andy, he’s sitting down at his desk. It also definitely looks like the reins are being turned over to Andy, since he is the one in charge of the case and Tragg is not involved (although he becomes involved later).

Still, they wanted to show that Tragg is still a very active and important member of the police force. He’s very busy at his desk, with plenty to do, and in the majority of his other scenes in the episode, he’s standing up. He gets out in the field and does some investigating and picking up of suspects later on, and the final time we see him, he’s again standing, in the courtroom.

That’s a good memory to take with us of Tragg’s last episode. I still like to picture him carrying on through the remainder of the series, even though we don’t see him onscreen. Ray Collins brought to life such a wonderful, colorful character for us to enjoy and celebrate again and again, and I will continue to do just that.

 

Thank you, Ray, for all the happy memories and each episode that features Lieutenant Arthur Tragg. Ray played many amazing characters in films, but Tragg will always be the most iconic of all of his characters.

In Memoriam: Ray Collins

I have just become aware that the many novels in The Saint series are being republished. About half are out now, with the other half due at the end of the month. With so many, it was definitely a good move to publish in chunks instead of just one or two at a time.

Armed with this intriguing news, I started wondering if there might possibly be some activity on the Perry Mason book front as well. So I went to look. It seems some of the books are now available as Kindle editions to be downloaded? If anyone likes the idea of E-books and has a Kindle, it would be worth looking into. Me, I still prefer traditional books.

Some of them appear to be available in hardback editions in addition to E-books, and they seem to be shiny and new, as they are offered by Amazon proper and not just in the Marketplace. The paperback versions, unfortunately, do not seem to be getting republished. Hardbacks are lovely, but so expensive! I did see at least one paperback that appears to be available new, The Horrified Heirs. It’s an edition from 1995. The title amuses me more than it probably should.

I believe I heard that The Saint television series adapted every one of the original novels in some way. That information might be incorrect, but in any case I’ve been curious more than once over why Perry didn’t do the same thing. The Horrified Heirs is one that was never a television episode, as are quite a few others.

Not that I’m complaining, really; I greatly enjoy most of the screenplays that were not books first. But I just wonder why they didn’t want to adapt all of the Perry books.

With the 11^th as the anniversary of Ray Collins’ death, I have been planning a Tragg post. It’s been a great deal of fun re-watching his scenes in season 1. He is one of the best things about the early episodes: snarky and cynical, always with a hilarious quip or two for Perry. But, being a very three-dimensional character, he also shows a very gentle and compassionate side when needed. The Fugitive Nurse is one of my favorite examples of that, as is season 4’s The Loquacious Liar. He speaks so kindly to the widows of the murder victims, showing definite awareness of their feelings and their fragile states.

I find it interesting how often Perry turns to Tragg when he needs help from the prosecuting side. At this point in time, he apparently knows or at least feels that he cannot go to Hamilton for such help. Perhaps he honestly doesn’t want to, either, as I recall him saying in one season 1 episode that he deliberately left Hamilton guessing about the identity of the murderer because he wasn’t about to admit that Hamilton had been right about something. I think it might be the footprints episode? That one should be coming up soon, but I can’t remember its name.

Anyway, it shows an interesting bit of apparent pride on Perry’s part. He’s not just a squeaky-clean victim of Hamilton’s wild accusations. Sometimes the accusations are at least partially deserved, and sometimes, it would seem, Perry can be a bit petty and just doesn’t want to do anything that nice towards Hamilton (although I suppose it could be argued that Perry’s reasoning is that he thinks if he admits Hamilton was right on something, Hamilton will become all the more overconfident). But the problems between them are on both sides.

Tragg is right in the middle of it all. On the one hand, he works closely with Hamilton on putting the cases together. He’s on the prosecuting side and to that end, is Perry’s adversary. On the other hand, even when Hamilton isn’t that willing to associate with Perry any more than he has to, Tragg will sometimes just drop in for a little visit during or after a case. He respects Perry and is intrigued by how his mind works, whereas Hamilton is endlessly frustrated by such—albeit even in some early episodes he shows a certain interest for how Perry solves some of the cases.

Perry reciprocates by trusting Tragg at multiple times and sometimes taking him into a confidence. A large part of The Silent Partner involves Perry and Tragg working together on the puzzling case. Of course, there’s also the epic climax of The Moth-Eaten Mink, with Perry telling Tragg of his suspicions off-camera and bringing Tragg back to the office to wait for the confrontation with the murderer. And there are several other occasions in the early episodes where Perry drops in at Tragg’s office or calls him for assistance on a particular matter or to present a theory to him.

One of my favorite elements of the series has always been Perry and Hamilton’s friendship. But Perry and Tragg really have a great one too, and one that shines quite some time before we see Perry and Hamilton’s really begin to grow.

It’s true—Tragg’s quiet disappearance from the series left quite a lonely gap. The episodes are definitely missing something without him there. Perry doesn’t match wits and barbs with the other police like he does with Tragg. I love the others dearly, but naturally they can’t fully replace such a unique and wonderful character. I’m still very glad the writers didn’t even attempt such a thing and took a different path for the others. Really, there can only be one Tragg for this version of Perry Mason. Ray Collins just took on the role so beautifully and immortalized the character.

Dane Clark did very well when he tried playing Tragg in the 1970’s remake, making the character his own. Luckily, he didn’t struggle to emulate Ray Collins. That would have been a disaster. Ray Collins was one of a kind, a true individual. And when Perry fans think of our beloved Lieutenant Tragg, it is almost always Ray Collins’ interpretation in our minds.

Ray Collins left us on July 11^th, 1965, but the characters he brought into existence live on.

And the posting gap ends at last.

I am so sorry for the terrible gap in posts. When I warned they might not come as frequently, I didn’t intend for there to be this much space before the next one!

We have been experiencing the utter frustration that digital television can bring. Our converter box conked out, rendering everything involving live television unusable. And when we finally got a digital television, thinking that would solve the problem, we still couldn’t record because the television didn’t have the converting technology that our VCR needed.

Thank goodness for Rite Aid and a sale they’re having this week. We got hold of a glorious converter box and now everything is set to go once again.

But with what all of that aggravation added onto the more typical havoc of the season, I didn’t have much time to sit and think about good post topics. Hence, this nasty week and a half gap.

A couple of nights ago I considered more notable guest-star posts, specifically a Bruce Gordon one since I ran across one of his Perry episodes again. And then of course yesterday was Ray Collins’ birthday and I had wanted to write a post for that. The only problem was, I haven’t seen anything new with him and I wasn’t sure what kind of angle I could use that I haven’t already used.

I also missed getting up a memorial post for Dan Tobin around November 26^th. I was going to look at his guest-starring appearances on The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, but hadn’t got to it yet, so I wasn’t sure what to write for him, either. It’s both amazing and sad, the utter lack of information available on him.

And just now I started thinking about the times Perry had Paul go undercover as a television repairman. I think it happened at least twice. And though I don’t think Paul actually “repaired” the sets either time, it made me wonder if he really could successfully repair a set, if needed. Maybe sometime I’ll write a silly short story about him dealing with the frustrations of technology and being forced to try to repair a television set or something else because someone keeps hanging around in the room and he can’t start looking for whatever Perry wants him to find.

I wonder how many different “jobs” Paul has had while undercover on cases. Paul often doesn’t seem to like doing that; I remember he didn’t like posing as a television repairman whenever Perry wanted it, fearing he would lose his license. And at the moment, the only other undercover job I remember him having is as a construction worker in The Carefree Coronary. I think that time it may have been his own idea? I’m not sure they specified one way or the other.

MeTV news regarding Perry actors and events: they will be showing both parts of The Fugitive series finale on Friday evening. Richard features in both parts. We caught part 1 on the 1st and he unfortunately had very little screentime in that. Hopefully part 2 will show him more.

Richard will also appear on Ironside Monday the 16th, and on Gunsmoke both Monday and Tuesday! I am not terribly fond of the Gunsmoke episodes, however, which are parts 1 and 2 of The Guns of Cibola Blance. Amanda Blake actually quit the series over those episodes, or so I have heard. She was not at all happy with the abuse Kitty was to take in those episodes, even being raped if I remember right. So she quit and they got a different girl to go through the horrors. Richard played a bad guy, but he does survive. Or at least that's what I got out of it when I tried to watch those episodes when they aired before. I was so confused and unimpressed that I started skipping around after a while and only stopped at all the Richard scenes I could find.

Also, a final note, The Killer Kiss, one of the Perry movies, will air on the 20th. Hopefully I will finally get around to watching The Glass Coffin before then.

Ray Collins and the uncut Fatal Fortune

It was so hectic on Thursday that I neglected to mention that the day, July 11^th, was the anniversary of Ray Collins’ death.

MeTV, currently running season 1 in the evenings and season 4 in the mornings, has a lot of Perry offerings with great Tragg moments. The Moth-Eaten Mink and The Clumsy Clown are two of many classic episodes where Tragg has very good scenes. Nevertheless, I still wouldn’t say that either of them are Tragg-centric in nature.

I still puzzle over the fact that Lieutenant Tragg really doesn’t have a proper spotlight episode. Does anyone know if he gets one in any of the books? I think he may have one in The New Perry Mason, but that wouldn’t be Ray’s Tragg.

And on to The Fatal Fortune, one of the paranormal Perry episodes. I detailed the plot last October, so here I’ll try to focus mainly on the many scenes chopped from the standard television version.

The very first scene is when Max is still in the hospital and being released. Beth, the secretary, is there with him and the doctor is giving him instructions. Max is very irritable and cranky (as Perry says, “Max is being Max again”) and tells the doctor not to worry, he’s still going to inherit the money for his clinic when Max dies. Also present in the scene is the whistle Pat gave him, which Max declares he’s going to use.

The next scene is right after Max gives Pat the pearls. Pat takes them back to her office, admiring them, and Beth comes in and admires them with her. They then begin to discuss the men in Pat’s life and she mentions Max’s newest proposal. She comments how she’s just not in love with him and then excitedly tells Beth that Marius’s prediction about meeting her white knight has come true. Beth says she feels Pat should marry Max instead.

Our third missing scene features Gordon Evans arriving at the location where Pat has gone to meditate on the marital issues. He asks the desk clerk about Pat and is told she’s at the pool.

The episode proceeds the same as the cut version for a while, until after Max is heartlessly killed. Our next missing scene is when Perry goes to see Hamilton after Pat has been arrested, wanting to ask for her release. Hamilton refuses, very calmly and maturely. Perry manages to get in a wild accusation at Hamilton, which Hamilton denies, and he explains why he can’t comply with Perry’s wishes. There’s quite a bit of evidence stacked up against Pat.

Our final scene is right after Paul announces that Marius has returned after being mysteriously absent. Perry and Della go to see him and have their fortunes told. Perry uses Paul’s name, which Marius reveals he is aware of as he eerily tells Perry that he is like two people. He finally ends his fun and drops his charade, admitting that Hamilton told him Perry would likely be coming around. He then offers to give Perry a real fortune, for his true self.

It’s certainly preposterous how much is missing from the usual television version! I think there’s even more edits here than in The Impatient Partner, which is also one of the most mangled episodes. There are mainly pieces of scenes missing from the latter, but in this venture, it’s mostly entire scenes gone! Good grief.

The episode makes alright sense without all the absent pieces (unlike some episodes that just fall apart without one or more of the scenes), but it certainly presents a much fuller, more well-rounded plot with all of them intact. I always felt that the standard television version was much too short. Now I definitely see why.

The Uncut Hateful Hero

So I’ve had some more spare money on hand of late, due to my freelance writing and other work. I managed to pick up a few of the older Perry sets, including the first half of season 6. I haven’t seen most of those episodes uncut, and Netflix doesn’t have season 6 even though it was released over a year ago, so it’s going to be a real treat going through these.

It’s already started being a big treat, really. I finally saw the uncut version of The Hateful Hero for the first time. It’s a true delight! And I am exasperated at the stuff that the syndication version cut out. True, most of the scenes aren’t especially needed to move the main plot forward, but oh, they’re just wonderful for character development!

The first thing I noticed was that the scene where Andy speaks with Detective Toland is supposed to be twice as long. It was very interesting to see the full version, where the case is discussed at greater length.

The next major cut is the entire scene where Andy asks Jimmy about the stolen perfume and other objects. Jimmy insists that he didn’t take them and asks Andy if he’ll represent him as his counsel when he goes before the police board in five days. Andy is surprised and Jimmy interprets it as reluctance. Andy says “Jimmy, you’re my cousin,” and then Jimmy figures that’s the only reason Andy is agreeing and that Andy really thinks he’s guilty as everyone else does. Andy protests and tries to rectify the damage, but Jimmy is stressed and his patience stretched to the nth degree. He snaps that it’s a lot different compared to when they were kids and Andy got him into trouble. Eventually he storms off, with Andy calling after him in desperation.

I never quite pictured Andy getting Jimmy into trouble, unless of course it was just an accident. It was never specified whether it was accidental or deliberate, but now I’m wondering how to reunite this canonical information with the fact that I long ago wrote a scene for The Malevolent Mugging wherein they discuss their childhood and Jimmy intimates more that Andy was trusted to look after him because he didn’t get him into trouble. On the other hand, though, I have that idea where they often played rocket ships in the backyard and they had a few disasters with those, so I could always say Jimmy was referring to that when he said Andy got him into trouble. But Jimmy also said in that story scene that he didn’t remember Andy making any stupid decisions when they were kids. I suppose I could say it was a joke and Jimmy remembered very well.

In any case, I’m thrilled for any new piece of canonical information involving them. I’m glad that at least my idea of them not being too far apart in age and being kids together didn’t go against what was stated in the uncut Hateful Hero.

The next clipped scene takes place during the police board hearing. Jimmy and Andy wait while the board deliberates. Jimmy can’t sit still and bitterly tells Andy how he doesn’t believe that the police really look out for their own, like the myth says they do. He feels that he is a sacrificial scapegoat and that they’ve been grooming him for that from the start of this mess. Andy tries to console and calm him by telling him he didn’t have to come to the hearing, but he came anyway. How could he do anything else? How could he be anything but a policeman?

It’s unclear whether Jimmy is usually so cynical or if the pressure was just getting to him right then. I kind of like the idea of him being at least a little cynical in general, though. I knew of that scene’s existence, although I didn’t know the details before last night. I’ve previously tried to have a bit of that cynicism creep into Jimmy’s speech and personality in the stories I’ve featured him in. Now that I’ve seen the scene, and love it, I’ll probably continue to do so for sure.

I find it interesting that the police board scene happens without any on-screen resolution for the terrible confrontation Andy and Jimmy previously had. It makes me wonder whether they just didn’t show it to us but it happened or if it didn’t happen at all, even off-screen. Perhaps Andy and Jimmy are really so close that no apologies are needed.

I’m not quite certain without seeing the edited version of the episode again, but I don’t fully recall if Hamilton’s opening remarks in court were cut. What he said wasn’t familiar to me offhand. I wouldn’t be surprised if they cut directly to the interview of the first witness. I’ve seen that happen in other syndicated copies of episodes, including The Fatal Fetish.

I noticed some variously assorted things, including that Hamilton sounds especially gentle and sobered when he questions Andy, at least during the first part of the examination. That is the closest we get to seeing his reluctance for handling that case. He surely must have been reluctant to some extent, with Jimmy being Andy’s cousin and Andy so visibly agonized to have to testify against him. I still wish there had been an actual scene where they’re discussing the difficulty of the case.

Also, with the episode being for the Anderson family, there are many scenes of Andy investigating. And Tragg is usually with him. It was, sadly, one of Tragg’s last appearances, since his screentime was greatly decreasing by season 6, due to Ray Collins’ ill health. But it’s lovely to see him and Wesley together in so many scenes. I think that, out of all the episodes in which they both appeared, this is the one where they had the most time together.

Throughout the entire nine-season run, Perry never had a two-part episode. If there had been one, and if it had been this one, I wonder what sorts of behind the scenes goodies there would have been. Perhaps Tragg and Andy talking in-depth about the case and Jimmy? For all of their scenes together, they don’t talk that much to each other. Mostly they’re questioning others.

I think I shall have fun writing some missing scenes at some point, as I did for The Carefree Coronary.

Tomorrow is Ray Collins’ birthday, speaking of him and Lieutenant Tragg! It would be an excellent day to watch some of Tragg’s best moments on the show. I thoroughly recommend The Negligent Nymph, The Moth-Eaten Mink, and The Fugitive Nurse. I love his interaction with Andy in The Capering Camera. Also, he has some good stuff in The Rolling Bones, if I remember right.

It sounds like I need to watch that one again. Another thing I bought was the second half of season 1, something I’ve wanted for some time. Most of my favorite season 1 episodes are in the latter half, and well, since becoming extremely interested in H.M. Wynant’s roles, I just had to have an uncut copy of The Daring Decoy to enjoy whenever I feel like it. I shall watch The Rolling Bones tomorrow and rejoice in its completeness! I hated how badly it was chopped up the last time I saw it on television. Season 1 episodes get it worse than the others, since they’re a minute or two longer.

Regular police in out-of-court and out-of-town episodes

The usual formula of a Perry episode calls for both the police and the district attorney (or someone representing his office) to be present. The police make their investigation and give it to the D.A.’s office, which prosecutes.

If the case never makes it to court, it’s rare for the D.A.’s office to appear at all. Sometimes the police will, while investigating. Also unusual is if the case is being tried out-of-town but the local police put in an appearance.

Perry has done some episodes of both types, but they aren’t very common. After seeing one of them this week, I started pondering on how many out-of-court or out-of-town episodes feature the regular police. There’s a couple where the D.A.’s office even gets involved, too.

As early as the first season, the rare out-of-court idea was in place. Episode 6, The Silent Partner, was the first of that kind ever aired for the series. Tragg actually has an extensive role, appearing when Perry calls him late at night about the girl being poisoned by candy. Tragg and his loaf of Wonder Bread go see. Tragg is very involved with the remainder of the episode, at first grouchy from being disturbed when he was going home, but quickly becoming a vital part of the case.

Hamilton puts in a very brief appearance, after Perry’s client collapses. Hamilton wants to talk to her as soon as she is well enough. Perry is concerned that Hamilton won’t wait that long and threatens him with being charged with murder if he goes too soon and she dies from the stress. Hamilton flings an accusation right back at Perry, saying that Perry deliberately told his client to fire her gun again after using it in the murder. (Actually, it went off by accident, shattering a window.) The reporters are hanging around and gobble it up. (Hmm, the reporters are also a rare sight and should probably get their own post sometime.)

This is first season stuff, Hamilton and Perry at odds with each other worse than usual. I have mixed feelings about the scene; Perry has pulled some terrible law-bending (and occasionally breaking!) stunts, some of which Hamilton is aware of. Considering Perry’s antics in The Restless Redhead and The Mystified Miner, it isn’t hard to see why Hamilton suspects him of other, similar disasters (providing Hamilton learned about those or some that were similar). It’s still tiring when the accusations fly when Perry has settled down, though. But that not being the case here, and everyone still sticking closer to their book roots, the scene is on the other hand interesting to me, even exciting and fascinating, to some level. Compare it to episodes from later seasons and just see the changes in their regular interaction! Such wonderful character development.

That was Hamilton’s only screentime in The Silent Partner. Tragg was an important figure throughout, as the case was puzzled over and wound to its eventual, twisty conclusion.

The next out-of-court episode is #14, The Baited Hook. Hamilton is absent in this one. Tragg is once again prominent, but Perry does not seem to want to work with him this time around. One scene features him and Della even climbing out onto a ledge (!) to avoid Tragg finding that they’ve been poking around where they probably ought not to have been. The epilogue features Perry and Della discussing Tragg rather negatively.

Tragg has some very interesting scenes, particularly with the woman who is eventually uncovered as the murderer. She thinks highly of him, telling Perry Tragg was kind to her daughter while her daughter was being held for the murder. She wants Tragg to be the one to arrest her. Perry then calls Tragg in and she requests that he escort her downstairs by letting her take his arm. Tragg is very gentlemanly and agrees.

I had previously reported that Tragg showed interest in dating this woman, but unless such a scene exists in the uncut version of the episode (which I have not seen), or unless the person who reported it to me was just interpreting things differently than I, I cannot find any trace of such interest on Tragg’s part. I don’t think there was any romantic interest in the scene where he escorts her out after arresting her. And I didn’t think Tragg acted romantically interested when he discussed her with Perry earlier on. Ah well.

These types of episodes being highly uncommon, I’m not sure we see another for several seasons. The one I saw this week was a season 5 out-of-town episode, The Absent Artist, and since the victim was leading a double life but they thought he was killed in Hollywood, I’m not sure why it is an out-of-town one. I thought they only learned he was killed elsewhere during the court case.

Andy has a brief scene in this one, talking with Perry in his office and taking the out-of-town girlfriend of the victim to identify the body in the morgue. He does not appear for the hearing, unless a scene with him being questioned was cut.

Even though The Velvet Claws was the first Perry story written, it took them six seasons to adapt it to the screen. Perry’s encounters with a bewildering and frustrating femme fatale, which eventually lead to her accusing him of murdering her husband because she’s trying to protect the one she thinks really did it, makes for an intense plot. With Perry trapped in a dilemma, this episode never makes it to court. Andy appears in a few scenes after the murder, congenial to Perry as he investigates.

The Fifty Millionth Frenchman, in season 7, features Andy very briefly, even though the court is out of town. The defendant and the victim both live in town, it seems, and Andy has a bottle of pills that pertain to the case, found at the site of the plane crash in Van Nuys. Judging from some plot elements, it sounds like yet another reworking of some Fugitive Nurse elements! That makes the fourth time someone crashed in an airplane like this, the third time when a thermos was involved. The only thing missing is the wrong person’s body being identified first.

Having just learned of Andy’s presence, I went and looked at his part out of curiosity and for this post. I will examine the episode in full later. I’ve been curious about it for a while because of David McCallum. Meanwhile, Andy has a very nice, very friendly scene with Perry, and is very kind with the victim’s widow.

Season 8 brings us the only other out-of-court episode I can think of where both the regular police and the local D.A.’s office are involved. The Careless Kitten, which I’ve long been perplexed over due to Andy’s uptight behavior, features him and Sergeant Brice as well as Hamilton. True, Hamilton only comes very late into the venture, but his appearance is one of my most favorites. Can anyone possibly picture first season Hamilton coming to Perry’s office, sincerely concerned for him and wanting him to stay out of trouble? I could picture first season Hamilton making a façade of being friendly, as he does for the lunch in episode #8, The Crimson Kiss—but not being genuine, as he clearly is in The Careless Kitten.

I’ve been pondering over whether to include The Runaway Racer. They don’t go into a formal courtroom, it’s true, but there is a gathering, some type of inquest if I remember right. It’s very informal, though, not like the inquest scenes in The Carefree Coronary. Still, I am inclined to not include it as part of this specific list.

And I was just about to list The Misguided Model, but I realized that’s off in yet another category, since they do get to local court (albeit briefly) and Deputy D.A. Bill Vincent is present. That category would be called “Episodes in which the local police appear and the local D.A.’s office is involved, including in court, but not specifically Hamilton.” That category would include the great majority of season 4 as a whole, so I opted not to cover that territory. Both Tragg and Steve have been part of those types of episodes, while I don’t think Andy ever has. But Andy gets that other category, “Out-of-town court with regular police appearing”, which I don’t think Tragg or Steve ever has.

On a rather unrelated subject, I was watching The Hateful Hero on MeTV this morning and then laid down for a short nap. I plunged myself right into a strange, strange Perry-related dream, in which I seemed to have become friends with a harmless group of guys acting out what seemed to be an equally harmless trading card game. Later, it changed and it seemed that I had infiltrated them and that they were dangerous. I fled from there, and there seemed to be some confrontation going on between other members and later, the police. I hung out with Lieutenant Tragg, waiting for the outcome (until the dream decided to take the easy way out and have Ray Collins and I and others just watching an episode of Perry that we’d made, without showing the ending). After the plot switch, Ray and I had a nice little visit.

I woke up wishing I could have really met Ray. He, as well as his character Tragg, was very charming and very kind and gracious in the dream. I imagine Ray as really being that way, from all I’ve learned of him.

A very odd dream overall, but very nice. I wonder if I could get a fan story out of that material involving Tragg’s niece Lucy, whom I invented. It might be tricky. Usually I am not fond of it when people create their own characters to be related to established characters. It often doesn’t seem to fit or the new character seems to dominate everything. I try to avoid inventing such characters whenever possible. But Lucy somehow felt right, and I do try to keep her largely in the background. I always want the main focus to be on the canon characters.

And a closing note. The weekend posts will come on schedule, but the next two weekday posts will both be on Wednesdays.

First encounters

Next week there will be a lot of tribute posts. And I’m kind of wondering how to do the ones on the 30^th, for William Talman and Wesley Lau. Should I combine the tributes into one large post? Should I post twice that day, with them separate? Should I post one of them on the weekend and one on the 30^th?

I realize that in May, I ended up doing a combined post for Raymond Burr and Lee Miller, but that was only because I found out about Lee Miller’s birthday while checking up on material for Raymond’s post. Otherwise, the posts would have been separate (and on the proper days, too).

I feel like I want to do the memorial tributes for both William and Wesley on the right day. But I’m concerned that if I post them separately, even if on the same day, the first one may get lost in the shuffle. On the other hand, if they’re combined in one post, I’m not sure that would allot the same amount of attention to each one either.

It seems a problem without a perfect solution. This is the first time I’m faced with it, as last year I was unaware that they passed away on the same day (sixteen years apart). And that is sad and eerie and uncanny to begin with, as they are two of my three favorites.

Thoughts, anyone? What seems the most respectful way to handle this?

While checking up on some of the recurring cast and their birthdays, I stumbled across this: http://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=7782 I’ve been on this site now and then; they have some fun and rare pictures for various character actors. The picture of Karl Held they have up suddenly made me realize something. There are certain cast members from our show with whom I was at least aware of for years before I was introduced to Perry. Karl is one of them.

I honestly can’t remember when my dad introduced me to The Student Prince, but I am positive it was before I ever saw Perry. I also think it was before I developed an independent interest in old movies and television. If so, Richard Anderson may very well be the first Perry cast member I ever ran across. The more I think about it, the more I am very sure that his character Lucas was my favorite character from the film.

Isn’t it strange, how that works? He was my favorite, but I knew nothing about the actor, and by the time I became reacquainted with him years later I’d all but forgotten that initial encounter. And yet he managed to once again become a favorite due to Perry, with me not remembering the first meeting until after the fact. The same thing happened with Simon Oakland (whom I first saw on Perry years ago and immediately liked).

I guess it goes to show that my preferences have never really changed much, even after all this time.

As for Karl Held, well, my maternal grandmother had this magazine about cats that I just loved to read and re-read. One segment talked about cat movies. Disney’s 1965 classic That Darn Cat! was mentioned and I was intrigued. In 1996 I looked for it at the library and found it. I watched it, loved it, and my interest in old movies was sparked. It was the first old movie, aside from animated films and The Wizard of Oz, that I deliberately set out to see. That led to many more Disney comedies, and from there, an interest in similar fun family films.

I also watched the old movies my parents selected with greater interest and decided to seek out some of the awesome-sounding television shows my mom had talked about for years. I became so entranced with the golden oldies that for a time, I actually preferred things being in black-and-white to color! I generally prefer color again now, but some things really do look better in black-and-white for the shadows and mysterious effects.

Karl Held appears in That Darn Cat!, as an F.B.I. agent assigned to trail the titular character because there’s reason to believe the kitty knows where a kidnapped bank teller is being held. While he wasn’t my favorite of those agents, I enjoyed his part. The scenes of the agents tailing the cat are among my most favorites in the film.

(And I didn’t realize Karl Held has such pretty blue eyes. I’ve only seen him in black-and-white stuff other than this, I think. And I haven’t seen the film again since becoming better aware of who Karl is. Man, he looks good in a fedora. Of course, people generally do. It’s such a cool hat.)

I find it kind of neat that a Perry cast member was in the thing that sparked my interest in old media. And I’m one of the very few people who honestly isn’t bothered by David Gideon, so that makes it even better for me.

Offhand, I also remember seeing Raymond Burr in A Place in the Sun years ago. I want to say it was before I saw Perry, but I’m honestly not sure on that. It probably was, though, because otherwise my parents probably would have talked about the irony of him playing a prosecutor, and I don’t recall such discussion. What I do remember, very vaguely, is thinking he was very good in the part.

Ray Collins I met prior to Perry because of my love for the Ma & Pa Kettle films. I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw him in other things too. I remember The Magnificent Ambersons being on television sometimes and catching snatches of it.

William Hopper I would have seen in Rebel Without a Cause, but even though I liked that film, I cannot bring his character to mind. I regret that. I should get the film out again and refresh my memory.

It’s very possible that I saw Barbara Hale in things before Perry, too. With William Talman and Wesley Lau it’s more unlikely, since their films are sadly more obscure for the most part.

I would tentatively say it’s slightly possible that I saw Wesley in The Alamo, if that film was on television at some point. It’s probably one of the two most commercially available of all of his films. Of course, I also saw him in I Want to Live!, but I think I first saw that film after seeing Perry. I wish I could remember for sure. It’s also possible that even if it was after, it was before I saw any Wesley episodes.

I want to say that I thought the main character’s husband was very cute, in spite of the character being a deadbeat jerk. If that happened, it was similar to how I immediately liked Simon and didn’t want his Perry character in The Frantic Flyer to be hurt, even though he was . . . quite a nasty fellow. Instead of just being completely shallow, I think it was more that the actors themselves appealed to me, rather than their specific characters in those productions. Their goodness shone through.

(Albeit every now and then, I do become downright fond of a specifically antagonistic character, if the personality intrigues me in a certain way. I am extremely fond of Emil Sande in The Alamo and feel sorry for him when he is killed while trying to defend his weapon stockpile that Davy Crockett and the others show up to take. But that is a ramble for another place. Maybe on the 30^th, hmm?)

The case of the characters' ages

I was originally going to do another episode-centric post, on The Bogus Buccaneers (a rather unremarkable episode save for one scene where Della and another woman are abducted), but then I decided maybe it would be better to try something different.

How old are the characters? Are their ages meant to be contemporary with their actors’? Or are they supposed to be younger?

I’ve been pondering and puzzling over it for some time. For the most part, I would imagine that Yes, their ages are more or less the same as their actors’. Perhaps a few years younger. There’s never any real indication, however.

In one episode, Perry asks Della if she would like to pose as the wife of a handsome man about forty. The initial implication, I believe, is that the audience is supposed to believe he’s talking about himself. He isn’t, but that still stands as the only (and very shaky) clue to his age.

The cast was mostly in their early forties when they begun their nine years as our beloved characters, save for Barbara Hale, who was in her mid thirties, and Ray Collins, who was in his late sixties. And Lieutenant Tragg’s age is certainly the biggest mystery. Is he really supposed to be the same age as his actor? It’s a perplexity that’s left me scratching my head for months.

In season 4 he soberly tells a widow that he’s been on the police force almost 25 years, and telling someone about a loved one’s death never gets easier. If he joined the force at the earliest possible age, he would be somewhere in his forties in that season 4 episode. And that would put him contemporary with the other male cast, which … doesn’t sound quite right. Even though the book and radio character versions were around the same age as the others, it’s generally assumed that the TV show version is older.

Perhaps the only reason for that is because his actor was. But it makes sense. He seems older, more seasoned, than the rest of the characters, as though he’s experienced much more and over a longer period of time.

Now, suppose instead that he joined the police force in his thirties. Then he would be somewhere in his fifties—older than the rest and at a more believable age. To get him the same age as the actor, he would have joined the force in his forties. And that is possible. Apparently, even though each municipality has somewhat their own rules on age restrictions, in general you’re never too old to either become a police officer or stay a police officer, if you’ve graduated the police academy and passed all the physical fitness tests. After 25 years it seems you’re eligible for retiring from the force, but you don’t have to.

It makes me ponder again on Andy’s introduction. I wonder if the character was being groomed by Tragg to take his place, if he intended to retire. Andy first appeared in season 5, and although I don’t know if each season constitutes an approximate year for the characters, it could be thought of as such if one wanted. Perhaps Tragg was approaching 25 years with the force and wanted to retire. Or, if one would rather think that Tragg continued with the force, perhaps he was simply taking a younger policeman under his wing without any intention of having Andy take his place.

(When it comes to Andy's age, by the way, he has stated in season 8 that he's been on the force for 15 years. Supposing he joined at the earliest possible age, he would be around 36, which sounds reasonable. I always thought he was probably a few years younger than Perry, Paul, and Hamilton, as his actor is. Of course, perhaps he's a few years older than 36, but probably not by much. Wesley Lau, incidentally, was around 39 or 40 when he first played the character in season 5.)

In any case, Tragg’s age is a dilemma I’ve been wondering how to deal with in my stories. So far, I’ve never addressed it for lack of needing to and lack of knowing how to do so. I think I’ve always pictured him as being in his fifties. But since it would be technically possible for him to be closer in age to his actor, I might change my mind.

The others I’ve mostly kept contemporary with their actors’ ages, with a slight adjustment here and there. Hamilton and Mignon, for instance, I’ve depicted as closer to two years apart instead of the eight years between their actors.

I had to determine an entire timeline for them while writing The Broken Ties, and moreso for my series of vignettes for February. The main factor determining it was Mignon’s son Larry’s age. Once Hamilton told Paul he had known Mignon since before Larry was born (and that Hamilton had been around college age at the time), I had to work accordingly with that. I ended up placing Larry’s age between 25 and 26 (or 27), taking into my calculations him finishing college and law school before getting into the D.A.’s office. Then I added a year or so to how long he had been there.

With Larry’s age in mind, I juggled the timeline around until it came out with Hamilton approximately 47 by the present day and Mignon approximately 49. That satisfied me quite well.

And I find it amusing that, regardless of Tragg’s age, I kept picturing his wife Maureen looking like Meredith Baxter while writing The Broken Ties.

The Case of the Capering Camera: We need more capers like this!

Season 7 is a really interesting piece of work in many ways. Following on the heels of one of my favorite seasons, it includes a great number of my most-loved episodes as well. The majority of them, however, seem to be in the first half of the season, with only a couple really catching my eye later.

When CBS gets around to releasing another DVD set, it will probably have the first 15 episodes of season 7. (Unless they decide to give us a whole season at once, which is unlikely.) The episode that would close that set would be The Capering Camera.

And what a stellar caper it is! I don’t know if it was just because it was Ray Collins’ last episode and they wanted to make a splash or if that had nothing to do with it (maybe they didn’t know it would be his last?), but it is an amazing episode.

The plot itself has a surprising opening, with a model confronting the photographer over a blackmail issue. Apparently he has some nude calendar pictures he took of her some time ago and has been blackmailing her over them. She wants them back. She eventually draws a gun and says she would love to shoot him. At that moment, he is shot and drops dead. In spite of her words, she is stunned and horrified. And absolutely bewildered; it was not her gun that fired the shot.

That has to be one of the earliest on-screen deaths in any episode.

Perry is a friend of the girl’s family. When she goes to her father’s house Perry is present at a small gathering. She then goes to Perry’s office later and explains her story. It sounds outrageous, but Perry is willing to give her the benefit of a doubt.

By the time the police arrive the scene has been changed and looks like a suicide. Andy writes it off as such, but seeing Perry and Paul show up and act surprised and troubled makes him wonder if something more is going on, such as murder. The next day he goes to Tragg at the station for advice. It’s a very interesting scene, and it and their next scene together both seem to give the impression that Andy is or perhaps more likely was under Tragg’s tutelage and that he highly looks up to and admires the older policeman.

Tragg’s advice is interesting too, and reminds me of something he might have said in season 1. He suggests that Andy consider Perry Mason his only suspect. Not that he really believes Perry would be guilty (I’m not sure Tragg was even serious about the advice, as he acts surprised later when Andy says he followed it), but the idea is that if Andy tails Perry, he may discover a real suspect in the form of a client. Which is exactly what eventually happens.

Meanwhile, however, Perry is wrestling with his conscience over this curious ethical dilemma. If he stays quiet, then the death will likely remain labeled a suicide and his client will be in the clear. He’s not even sure it wasn’t really a suicide and the girl is telling a wild story. Or of course, she might really be a murderer. Whether she is or not, there’s always the possibility that the man actually was murdered. And then a killer would be running free. And despite the girl telling him things in confidence, he can’t ignore the moral responsibility of alerting the authorities that the man may have been murdered.

Eventually he can’t stand it any longer and knows he must take some course of action. But, still conflicted over what the right thing is and wondering how to protect his client amid it all in case she is innocent, he opts for a very intriguing solution. He goes to Hamilton for advice.

Hamilton is friendly and amiable, as he usually is in the later seasons. He greets Perry with a congenial handshake and asks if there’s something pending between them. Perry says he doesn’t think so. Hamilton asks next if this is a social call. Perry says he isn’t sure what it is. Hamilton suggests that between the two of them, they can figure it out.

Perry says he’s got an ethical dilemma and asks if Hamilton will hear him out with the promise that his client will be protected until all the facts are in. Hamilton says that as district attorney he can’t “buy a pig in a poke like that”, which Perry knows. Perry then says he’ll present the situation hypothetically so Hamilton won’t have to promise anything. He lays out the whole problem. Hamilton says that Perry knows he, or oops, his hypothetical lawyer, can’t be forced to come forward. Perry agrees but says he wants to. Hamilton tells him it’s a humdinger of a problem, and by a strange coincidence, he can help Perry with it. Lieutenant Anderson is there, with Perry’s client.

The rest of the episode is just as engaging, as the characters try to find the solution and catch the real murderer. There’s a small sub-plot of another young woman who was blackmailed in the past over some similar inappropriate pictures, who doesn’t want the story to have to come out because she’s tried to turn her life around and is filming the starring role in a movie about orphans and nuns. And as it turns out, it was actually Perry’s client’s sister who was being blackmailed over the other pictures and the sister took over for her, paying the blackmail and trying to get the pictures back.

Tragg and Andy appear in court and together later to pick up the actress as a witness, as she saw the defendant leaving the building the night of the murder. The murderer’s identity keeps the audience guessing until the very end. Perry conducts an experiment in court of reenacting the murder, with Della as his client and Andy as the victim. Paul plays the real murderer, whose identity Perry unmasks moments later. Hamilton and Tragg stand at the prosecutor’s table during the experiment. That is the last we ever see of Lieutenant Arthur Tragg.

The epilogue scene includes Perry receiving an autographed picture of the actress as a thank you for not asking any questions about her own blackmail experience. Della expresses concern over whether the woman has sent Perry one of the inappropriate pictures. He reassures her No.

It’s one of the series’ high-points. It’s also bittersweet, as Tragg’s final appearance. Someone once commented that he stands a lot in many of his scenes. This is true. And he’s standing when we see him last. Ray Collins was already ill by the time he filmed his last episodes, and this other fan commented that perhaps he had wanted to stand, sort of as saying that he was still stubbornly hanging on and standing strong. It’s possible. But in any case, it’s a comforting final image.

The character is never mentioned again. We never know if he’s still around and the audience just doesn’t see him (since of course Ray is unable to come back and play him on-screen), or if he retired or even died. I prefer to think that Tragg is still around. It would have been enjoyable if he had been remembered in the scripts, perhaps being mentioned now and then. That would have been a nice tribute to Ray Collins and a way to keep his beloved character alive off-screen.

Ray Collins’ other two appearances in season 7, in The Deadly Verdict and The Reluctant Model, are also both exceptional episodes. They will both be highlighted here in the future.

Andy’s behavior in the episode is a bit surprising at times. His decision to take Tragg’s “advice”, seeming to think Tragg is serious even if Tragg isn’t, indicates either complete, perhaps a bit naïve, trust in and idolization of the older man or that he determined it was a good idea regardless of whether Tragg meant it. When they stand by in the police darkroom and watch a photograph develop of Perry’s client holding a gun at the photographer, however, Andy indicates that he believes Tragg did mean what he said.

The possible idolizing of Tragg is a side of him we’ve never really seen before. Usually he seems fully in control, an independent and hardboiled detective in his own right. But if Tragg has had Andy under his wing since season 5, so to speak, it’s very understandable that Andy would think a great deal of him. The fact that he goes to Tragg for advice in the first place says that loud and clear.

And I think it’s the only time he is shown seeking out Tragg’s advice. Considering it’s Tragg’s last episode that is also a bit bittersweet. But Tragg seems to be hard at work at the time, with no indication that he plans to leave the force any time soon.

And then of course, Perry’s moral dilemma and what he finally does about it. Well, there’s no need to say I was utterly thrilled and ecstatic! And the way Hamilton handles it, especially since he already knows about the client, is very interesting. He is friendly throughout, never mocking, and never accuses Perry of any misconduct. It’s always possible he could have done so off-screen, but he seems more like he’s willing to accept Perry’s story as Perry’s genuine feelings and doesn’t have any desire to charge Perry with anything.

I’ve been pondering whether such a scene could have occurred earlier, even in season 1. As season 1 goes on, there are some hints that Perry and Hamilton are growing closer. But there are also many book-inspired ventures, such as The Daring Decoy, in which Hamilton is most unfriendly. That is his overall attitude in season 1, with it being a rarity if he behaves differently towards Perry. (The Crooked Candle and The Sun-Bather’s Diary both include such unusual for the time, friendly scenes.) If Perry had possibly trusted Hamilton enough to go to him in season 1 the scene could have potentially happened, but Hamilton might have then ceased to be friendly and even decided to charge Perry with misconduct or obstructing justice. If it had proceeded the way it did in The Capering Camera, it would have been even more of a surprise than it was in season 7!

(Of course, if Hamilton had felt that Perry had indeed been guilty of misconduct, even in season 7 he would have found it necessary to charge him. Make no mistake about that. Hamilton does not let friendship get in the way of doing his job, as much as it pains him sometimes.)

All in all, the episode is an absolutely wonderful treat. Most, if not all, of the season 6 and season 7 episodes featuring both Tragg and Andy are extremely well done. And this is among the best of the best.