The Lethal Lesson

So in The Lethal Lesson, we finally meet Ken for the first time. And like the much-hated David Gideon, Ken is a law student accused of murder. I was a bit surprised by this, as I hadn’t realized Perry met Ken by defending him, but I like it. I wonder if they intended at this point to make Ken a steady character or if that was only something they decided a little later?

I’ve always liked Ken better than Paul Jr., and even in this first entry, he seems to be overall more competent than Paul Jr. He’s certainly bewildered by all of a sudden having two girls interested in him, but that would be pretty overwhelming for anyone and he seems to handle things quite well.

I’m generally the type who prefers quieter, sensible characters, so I gravitated more to Kimberly. Throughout the first part of the movie, I was never quite sure if Amy really cared about Ken. I agreed with Perry about how she was sending him mixed signals and thought she was being very annoying to proclaim herself his fiancée. I think it was only about the time she went to that bar and was determined to even go undercover working there for a few hours that I realized she really did care. The tale she was telling the bartender certainly indicated that, as well as the fact that she would stoop to making food in a bar when she was rich enough to buy the place out several times over and then some. Once I realized she really did care, I found her quirkiness more amusing than I had.

Late in the movie, I had to question things again when Perry expressed doubt over Ken and Amy being a cute couple. Suddenly I wondered if it would turn out that either Amy or Kimberly was the guilty party. I imagined up ideas of Amy killing the guy with the thought that then Ken would have to rely on her to get him out of the mess. She seemed off-the-wall enough that it seemed possible.

I was kind of glad that did not end up being the case in the end. I was surprised by the revelation of two people being involved in the killing, but not by the identity of one of the two.

I’m left wondering what happened with Amy after the movie, though. I don’t remember her being in any of the other entries . . . I don’t think. Yet I have this vague memory that maybe she was in one more? When Ken’s reason for breaking things off with her was that he didn’t like her planning his life, I wonder how things could really work out between them long-term. One of Ken’s defining characteristics in all movies is that he likes to work alone, sometimes to the point of it being exasperating. And there was no indication that Amy realized Ken would prefer to plan his own life (as most people would), so it seems like that would likely still be a stumbling block between them.

Perry also ended up with a very interesting and sad dilemma, as the father of the murder victim was an old friend and became very angry and hurt when Perry decided Ken was innocent and he would defend him after all, after previously thinking he wouldn’t because of their friendship. The father even hired Ken’s roommate to lie about him and make him look more guilty, which was disgusting on both their parts. It was heartbreaking for the father to lose his beloved son, and naturally he was thoroughly convinced Ken was guilty or he wouldn’t have done it otherwise, but it was still a terrible thing to do. And I’m repulsed by the roommate agreeing. One of my favorite scenes in the movie was where Perry tore down his story.

I wonder what happened to Ken and his roommate after the movie. I can’t imagine either of them would want to continue being roommates. I wonder if the creep even felt sorry at all for what he did.

It was a little cruel for Perry to make the father believe he had proof of the man’s payment to the roommate to try to blackmail him into testifying. But on the other hand, I had to agree with Perry when the guy snarled, “What a trick to play on a friend!” and Perry repeated “Friend?” The man certainly hadn’t been acting like a friend. And while that doesn’t make it right for Perry to pull a trick in return, he probably felt a lot more like it had to be done when he saw the lengths the father was willing to go to in order to convict Ken.

I wonder what happened to them after the movie as well. I thought there might be some kind of reconciliation scene. The most there was, was seeing the father’s expression as the real killers were exposed. He clearly seemed to be thinking that he had been wrong about Ken and he had done wrong because of it. I wish they had shown a scene of him and Perry talking afterwards.

It didn’t seem like Della was in this movie very much. But she had an amusing scene when she first came in, talking about the lovely cruise she had been on and saying how bored she was after four days. After so many years of Perry keeping her on her toes all the time with cases, apparently he’d turned her into almost as much of a workaholic as he himself. She couldn’t relax for very long without being bored by it.

I really loved the gorgeous sapphire blue suit she was wearing in that scene. I wish she would have worn that more in the film!

There were a few shippery comments, as is usual for many of these films, including a cute exchange at the end where Della asked Perry if she should drive around the block three times (as Amy did while waiting for Ken, hoping he would come) and Perry smiled and said, “Like always, I’ll catch you on the first time around.”

I found it interesting that both the prosecutor and the judge were women in this entry. That was cool, and I liked this prosecutor a lot more than the female prosecutor in the very first movie. The one in the first movie seemed more interested in getting conviction above all else, even facepalming when the real killer is exposed and Perry asks for a dismissal of charges against his client. But she does congratulate him on the case, so it’s possible she was facepalming because of chagrin over prosecuting the wrong person. But anyway, I liked this other prosecutor better.

There was no mention of Paul Jr. in this entry. I wonder if this was the first one without him or if there was one other that explained why he wasn’t there. I think I’ll assume, however, that Paul Jr. just plain wanted to stay in L.A. and didn’t move to Denver with Perry and Della. I’m still not even sure that they moved there, since all the films I’ve seen where they are there seem to involve them either coming for a case or coming on vacation and getting into a case. As I recall, a lot of the later movies have them traveling all over, so it doesn’t seem like they really put down roots in Denver. Albeit this movie has Perry teaching a law seminar, so I guess they must have bunked down in Denver for at least a little while.

I really like the idea of Perry teaching the class, too. It totally makes sense for him to pass on his legal knowledge in that way, training a new generation of lawyers. And it reminds me of how he is occasionally shown giving lectures or seminars in the series proper, such as in a late season 8 episode.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable movie too. I could have done without the scene of what I assume was a topless dancer on a table when the good guys have to corner a gang in a club, but that was thankfully about the worst thing in it. The other scene that could have been eyebrow-raising, the scene where Kimberly comes over when Amy is in Ken’s shower, was handled quite tastefully well in the end.

The Murdered Madam

I was understandably a little leery of an installment called The Murdered Madam. Knowing the way Dean Hargrove and Fred Silverman approached Diagnosis Murder, inserting suggestive things whenever they felt like it, I could easily imagine them doing the same thing with Perry.

Instead, I was pleasantly surprised. Unless MeTV cut something, there really weren’t any suggestive or racy scenes at all. It was handled very tastefully, only really mentioning the victim’s past through newspaper articles. I was concerned that Paul Jr. might have to go talking to some of the girls who worked for her and they would be in compromising positions and such. I remember one movie where he went to talk to someone and a model was posing for him naked.

But the only girl he needed to talk to was never shown in any states of undress, although it was mentioned that she was a call girl. And as usual, he had some very unimpressive scenes as he ends up maced by her and has his wallet taken by her.

I could scarcely believe it when he finally caught up to her and actually thought she would stay put while he ran out ahead to try in vain to catch up to someone who was trying to kill her. She wasn’t willing to hold still for him before; there wasn’t a reason to think she would then. Something he quickly learned.

At last he finally had a decent scene when he found her again and managed to get out of there with her despite an angry ex-boyfriend. It kind of seems like that’s a standard formula for the movies: Paul Jr. (or Ken) does some really stupid things while investigating, then finally does something right late in the film to move the case along. Even though Paul Sr. had some bad luck sometimes, he came across as a lot more competent than his son often seems to.

I forgot to mention anything about Sergeant Brock in the movie yesterday. He actually seemed to have a pretty good-sized role in it. (And hasn’t he been in more than one film? The name seems familiar.) However, both he in that film and the sergeant in this one come across as very businesslike and cold. They don’t seem to have any of the charm of the series’ policemen. Even when Andy is being businesslike and holding people at arms’ length, he shows instances of being compassionate and human.

Reston had a very nice scene where he expressed concern for Perry trying to stand on a knee that had just been operated on, and offered his own assistant if Perry needed help presenting exhibits. It was a neat way to show the prosecutor’s humanity and reminded me of kind gestures Hamilton makes on the series.

One of the most interesting aspects of this installment is the backstory on Della. According to her (and Reston), she grew up in the same neighborhood as Tony, the defendant, and she had a younger brother who was Tony’s age. She often baby-sitted both of them. And Tony’s uncle apparently proposed to her and they were even engaged. It’s not explained what broke that up, but she felt the need to tell Perry that it was a very long time ago, when she was very young. That was cute, and I imagine the shippers like it.

The very last scene is also very nice for the shippers, with Paul Jr. saying he’s going to have dinner with a beautiful lady and Perry saying that he is too. It’s just him and Della. Della smiles and leans into him.

It was a little bittersweet of a line for me, though, since for viewers coming from the series proper, it really was just Perry and Della; they were the only original cast members left. But it was lovely to see them still there.

Tony was an interesting character, too. It was heartbreaking to see him come home and find his wife dead, and then to not be able to accept the news that she was once a notorious madam. And boy, was he impulsive to preposterous extents, even bursting into a business meeting to demand of one of the suspects “Who killed her?!” and then punching him when he doesn’t receive an answer.

I liked that at the end of the film, Della told him that his wife was arranging that complex blackmail scheme because she wanted the money for him. Despite whatever wrong things she had done in the past, and whatever crooked things she had done right before her death, she really loved Tony. I thought it was nicer to have it that way instead of being that she really didn’t care about him. Plus, with my consternation over so many insincere couples on the series, I loved seeing one that really loved each other.

All in all, I was quite impressed by how they handled the potentially suggestive subject matter and was very pleased to not see any of the standard naughty scenes those producers are known for. Not all of the movies fared as well in that respect.

Paul Jr.’s ridiculous flubs made me roll my eyes, but he redeemed himself in the end, I suppose. I wouldn’t want him to be a complete Paul Sr. clone, but I think they could have made the character sufficiently different without having him make so many mistakes.

And even though I do not consider the movies to be absolute canon, just a possibility, it is interesting to see what they’re doing with Della’s backstory. I look forward to any future revelations they may have to that effect.

As a parting and unrelated note, I finally finished a short humor story I’ve been working on for the past several weeks. It mostly deals with Hamilton and some of his deputies as they have a bizarre day in the office. I’m overall quite pleased with how it turned out; it was definitely amusing to write. And I’m left wishing again that the show really had delved more into Hamilton’s interaction with his deputies. http://www.fanfiction.net/s/11056082/1/

The Case of the Notorious Nun

So I’ve decided to offer commentary on the Perry movies. I may not do it for all of them, especially since some days I may not be able to post, but we’ll see how it goes. Maybe it will help make up for some of the silence around here as I’ve been desperately seeking topics.

The Notorious Nun was quite a good installment. Apparently it was one of the very early ones, as they’re still flying to Denver from L.A., William Katt is there, and it’s the first appearance of David Ogden Stiers’ Michael Reston.

I don’t have a lot to say on the plot itself. I really liked Margaret; she was cute, spunky, and extremely determined. And not afraid to do whatever had to be done. One of my favorite bits was when Paul Jr. was going through the trash and Margaret wanders off. A few minutes later she comes back ready to help him do garbage battle.

The way the crooks got her caught in the frame was sickening and cruel and very much like many Perry antagonists in the series proper. I was a little underwhelmed by the revelation of what was actually going on. Of course, embezzlement is nothing to sneeze at, but I suppose when the crooks involved religious people I was expecting something a little darker and deeper.

I still don’t care a great deal for Paul Jr. I see something of his father in how he complains about being taken away from associations with lovely ladies, but overall he seems more like a stereotypical private eye than his father does, especially with always pretending to be other people and unorthodox things like running out with a confidential file, and he just doesn’t do it for me. The best thing about him is that he’s played by Barbara Hale’s son, and you can see the familial love between them in every scene they’re in.

I did like the friendship between Paul Jr. and Margaret in this installment. That was sweet.

One thing that keeps puzzling me is, what exactly happened to the character when he stopped being in the movies? Did they say he preferred living in L.A. and would not be moving to Denver? Did they say nothing and simply drop him without explanation? And in reality, what was the reason for the departure? Did they feel the character was not working? Did William Katt want out? Anyone know?

I was a little surprised that the film didn’t show us Margaret’s decision on whether she felt she could take her final vows or not. Maybe they preferred to leave it up to the imagination or maybe they felt it would upset the flow of the film. Or maybe they honestly forgot about wrapping up that angle. I know sometimes I get caught up in the main plot of a story and I forget to address subplots.

I liked Michael Reston, as I generally do, although I didn’t like his insistence on Margaret’s only answering Yes or No to his questions. I know that’s typical for handling hostile witnesses, but since Margaret absolutely wanted to testify and therefore wasn’t hostile, it seemed to me that she should have been allowed to say everything she was trying to.

The main thing I was thinking about this film overall? Man, did Perry look good. Seriously, Raymond Burr had clearly lost weight at that point; he looked thinner than Perry did in the last Perry seasons and thinnier than Ironside ever did throughout eight seasons. It was very impressive.

I was a little dismayed at the plot idea of having Perry collapse, as it’s sad to think of him getting so old he’s having that happen, but I was in and out for a few minutes there at the beginning and I gathered that he really didn’t collapse and it was a ruse to get him into the hospital to start looking into the case? I loved the little bit of Della rushing in so worried and then finds that Perry is fine.

Overall, it proved a very worthy member of the Perry family and I look forward to the next one tonight.

Quick Post

A little reminder that MeTV's week of Perry movies kicks off tonight following the nighttime Perry! Set your VCRs or DVRs! (Or stay up and watch, if you are so inclined!)

And another Perry-related reminder: you can still pre-order Richard Anderson's book, which releases next month! http://www.bearmanormedia.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=802 It seems to only be available to purchase from the publisher, and pre-ordering will allow free shipping, which is an awesome thing.

Richard's book will be a treasure for every classic movie and television lover, as well as Richard fans in specific. And he's bound to talk about Perry somewhat, something I am eagerly looking forward to!

William Talman: Belated Birthday Tribute and Movie News

I really wanted to get a post up on Wednesday. I really did. And I thought and thought and thought . . . and couldn’t seem to come up with a very original way to say Happy 100th Birthday to the awesome William Talman. I still can’t, after all the posts I’ve already made for him and Hamilton, but I wanted to acknowledge his milestone birthday before we get any farther removed from February 4th!

A local station is going to show the movie The City That Never Sleeps this coming weekend. I’ve been debating whether to give it a try. I know William plays the bad guy in it, but it’s still a movie I haven’t seen him in yet. And he’s so amazing at whatever he does that I know it will be an incredible performance.

MeTV is currently showing the four season 6 episodes with guest lawyers. I’ve been enjoying re-watching them again; two of them are among my all-time favorite episodes ever (The Libelous Locket and The Two-Faced-Turn-A-Bout). Hamilton has a lot of great scenes in all the episodes, and the one coming up tomorrow is the one where he and Della have that intriguing “hostile witness” exchange.

I’m always impressed by how he conducts himself in the Bette Davis episode, Constant Doyle. Back in the 1960s, it would have been so easy to have had people giving a female lawyer a really hard time. But Hamilton is so perfectly professional and gracious and never looks down on Constant because she’s a woman (or because of any reason, really). Even when he’s absolutely bewildered by her trenchcoat display, he sounds baffled when he objects instead of argumentative.

I still don’t agree with Perry’s comment that Hamilton called him ten times exclaiming that he wants Perry to get well so he’ll have someone easy to face off against. I think Perry was probably joking. Hamilton may have called once, and said something like that jokingly, but I can’t feature him doing it ten times. Nor do I think Constant was harder to beat than Perry. But it was a fun case and it was awesome to see a female lawyer appear (for the only time in the series proper).

I never fail to get the giggles in The Libelous Locket when Professor Lindley pins Andy down on his joke about the Martian nine feet tall. Hamilton does a brilliant facepalm right then and his expression is classic. He’s sure that’s not going to help the prosecution’s case one bit, despite Andy’s exclamation that he was only kidding.

Any time Hamilton is in a scene, it can never be dull. He always has some perfect expression or comment to make. Even when he isn’t the focus of a scene and is only present in the background, such as while watching Perry conduct an examination of a witness, he’s very involved in what’s going on. I always like watching to see what William Talman does at those moments. Sometimes he observes Perry. Sometimes he writes or makes notes on a piece of paper. It always looks very natural and logical. The fact that he always knows how to handle those moments when he’s on camera, yet isn’t the focus, is one more sign of what an impressive actor he was.

How wonderful to think that the world has had knowledge of William Talman’s existence for 100 years. What a treasure! Happy birthday to a great actor and noble man!

And some news on the movie front: Next week, starting with the 16th, MeTV will finally have a week of showing Perry movies for their nightly Mystery Movie thing at 12:30 A.M. (or 11:30 P.M., for Mountain and Central timezones), right after the nighttime Perry. It’s no problem for night owls like me, but those going to bed at more decent hours had best have VCRs or DVRs ready. The lineup will be as follows:

The Notorious Nun
The Murdered Madam
The Lethal Lesson
The Musical Murder
The Maligned Mobster 

None are movies that MeTV has previously shown, so it’s doubly important to grab the chance if you’re interested. I will definitely be watching, although as always, I will be missing those of the cast who are sadly absent. I wish they could have at least recruited Richard to come onboard and play Lieutenant Drumm again (maybe as a Captain by then or something). I know it would be the wrong locale if everyone relocated to Denver within the storyline, but still, it would have been such fun. And it would have given the police character more of a role again. One thing that surprises me about the movies is that the police characters rarely have a decent-sized part or are even well-rounded characters at all. That was a big part of the Perry series proper. I wonder why they felt it was not important enough to transfer to the movies as well?

Birthday post for William Hopper and news

I wanted to make sure to get in one more post in January. As an anonymous reader hastened to inform me, I neglected to put up a post for William Hopper’s birthday on Monday. This year, it wasn’t for lack of remembering, but lack of physical capability to make the post. I was feeling miserable all that day. Then Tuesday was rather busy, as has been the rest of the week, but I decided I must make sure to get William H. acknowledged before the month is out.

This is a real milestone birthday for our William H.; he would have been 100 this year! (William Talman and Simon Oakland celebrate the same milestone this year as well.) It’s really quite incredible to think that it’s been that many years. I wish I really had a decent tribute to give, but I haven’t seen any more of his movies yet, nor have I gleaned new insight into Paul-centric episodes or scenes since the last time I posted on that matter.

The best I can do is mention my geeky excitement when I was watching The Stars and Stripes Forever, the biopic for John Philip Sousa, and they mentioned the actor DeWolf Hopper was going to star in a musical play Sousa was writing the music for. I figured that must be William H.’s father, considering his full name is William DeWolf Hopper, Jr., and looking him up, I find that is true. So it was fun to find a little Perry-related connection in that film.

Also, looking up things further, it says that William H. first appeared in one of his father’s silent movies, Sunshine Dad, as a baby. That’s pretty adorable.

William H. had a very illustrious career in the motion picture business during the late 1930s and off and on through parts of the 1940s and 1950s, before he became Paul Drake on Perry Mason in 1957. And it wasn’t just B-grade movies, either; he has quite the impressive resumé—even though many of his early roles were bit parts. Among other well-known films, he appeared in Stagecoach, The Maltese Falcon, Knute Rockne, and Yankee Doodle Dandy! I knew about his later role in Rebel Without a Cause, but I was unaware of these earlier roles. I am excited. It’s been years since I’ve seen The Maltese Falcon; it looks like it’s time I saw it again. And on the B-movie circuit, he was in two of the Bonita Granville Nancy Drew movies. While I did not care for her version of the character, I would definitely be interested in seeing those films to see William H.

I still find it interesting that William H. originally auditioned for the role of Perry Mason himself when they started putting the show together. I really enjoyed his screen test when I saw it on the 50^th Anniversary DVD set, but he just didn’t give off a Perry vibe to me. I guess the producers agreed, since they determined he would be the perfect Paul Drake instead. That was definitely a bit of casting genius!

While I’ll admit that I didn’t think Albert Stratton in The New Perry Mason did a poor job as Paul, it will always be William Hopper’s Paul who is the iconic version of the character. He’s ideal! Smooth, intelligent, always with an eye for a beautiful lady and bewilderment over some of Perry’s desires (“A couple of dozen flies?!”), William H.’s Paul delivers many classic lines and hilarious expressions. And of course, he often brings in the evidence Perry needs to cinch a case just in time.

I love whenever the show devotes a bit more time to showing Paul operating, instead of just having Paul tell Perry things about the investigation after the fact. Every now and then the show would allow some spotlighting of Paul’s work, something that became more prominent later on as Raymond Burr grew tired of always carrying the majority of the show. Mid-series episodes such as The Barefaced Witness, The Impatient Partner, and The Glamorous Ghost are excellent Paul investigation vehicles. Later ventures such as The Bullied Bowler, The Feather Cloak, and The Carefree Coronary also involve Paul as a particularly key figure.

When out-of-town investigating needs doing, Perry often sends Paul instead of going himself. Sometimes Paul’s adventures are off-screen; other times, we see him in assorted locales such as New Orleans, Boston, and Mexico. It would make a good post just to focus on Paul’s travels sometime. I’ll have to start collecting information for such a post.

Paul is such a ladies’ man that another good post subject would be all the times he’s mentioned having dates, shows interest in particular ladies, or is actually shown on dates. Then again, that could take volumes. Paul has an interesting social life, when given the chance to have it.

Paul always adds so much spice to the show. I always enjoy seeing more of his investigations and would have liked to have seen more. There could never be too many private-eye series! Lately I’ve been enjoying a lot of Darren McGavin’s private-eye vehicle Mike Hammer, and it occurs to me how much fun it would have been had there been a series focusing more on Paul’s investigations than on the legal elements. But I love Perry Mason for what it is, and I love Paul for being a part of what it is. There is certainly a big, lonely gap in the reunion movies where Paul should be. No actor could quite fill it.

Happy belated birthday to a wonderful actor and a wonderful man, William Hopper! 100 years of being aware of his existence in the world is a milestone indeed.

And now for a bit of news. I probably shouldn’t have this in the same post, but I’d like to get it out here before any more time goes by. I still wish that there was a Perry video or computer game with all the latest graphics. It would be so fun to see the cast rendered in 3D, possibly even controllable for levels. Imagine playing out investigation levels as Paul! Going to court as Perry and Hamilton! Playing mini puzzle games with Della or Tragg, Andy, and Steve sorting through information! There are so many possibilities.

The old DOS text-based computer game remains the one time Perry ventured into such media. There may be some nice pictures of Paul in that; I’m unsure, as I’ve only seen the first 16 minutes of game play. All I recall is some nice renditions of Hamilton and Tragg. However, for anyone who understands how to work a text-based DOS game, it is now possible to find out the answers to this and any other questions revolving around said game! The Internet Archive has been adding old DOS games to be legally played online for free, and the 1985 Perry game The Mandarin Murder is among them! My friend Crystal Rose (who runs the Simon Oakland blog with me) discovered it here:

https://archive.org/details/msdos_Perry_Mason_-_The_Case_of_the_Mandarin_Murder_1986

I’m looking forward to giving it a try, although I don’t know how handy I’ll be at playing a text-based game.

Also, I do have what appears to be news on the Perry movie front. There is a promo running for MeTV’s current Mystery Movie feature on weeknights, and Perry as he appears in the 1980s and 1990s movies is part of that promo. It looks like at some point, MeTV will indeed air some of the Perry movies as part of their line-up. They seem to rotate each week, so we should get a whole week of Perry movies sometime soon. That should be interesting: a late-night Perry episode followed by a Perry movie.

Extra! Extra! Read all about Mr. Mason! (Or Mr. Burger!)

So I’m writing a non-Perry story based on the adventure quest genre and decided to have some of the clichés, including a heavyset bad guy in white. I opted to base the character on Perry alumnus Dan Seymour. I’ve already written a story with a Victor Buono-inspired bad guy, and Dan Seymour seemed the next most logical choice.

The Ancient Romeo is not a favorite episode of mine and never has been. When I saw it was on MeTV tonight, I decided to see what was on the local station instead. I see that episode so seldom I didn’t recognize its opening scene at first, but I recognized Dan Seymour’s voice before he actually walked onscreen. I’m rather pleased about that.

The episode was The Silent Partner, which probably gave Dan Seymour his meatiest screentime on Perry. Even though I’ve come to prefer its remake, The Candy Queen, I like the earlier episode and decided to watch it instead of MeTV’s offering. I am, however, wondering why the local station was showing season 1 when they were in the middle of season 4! I hope they haven’t decided to only air episodes through most of season 4 now. It was bad enough when they cut out most of 7, all of 8, and half of 9!

It’s always a little odd to go back to season 1 episodes after watching later episodes. I will probably always prefer the later episodes, as sacrilegious as that likely sounds to some fans, but there’s no denying that the early episodes featured very twisty, noir-ish plots.

They also feature a Perry who doesn’t always put the interests of worried clients first. Okay, so even a bit later there are times when he really doesn’t want to take a case, but season 1 seems to bring us the majority of the times when he has a client and doesn’t always jump to their aid or even wholly believe them. He’s a much more cynical Perry. Here, he wants to work on a brief instead of immediately going to Mrs. Kimber’s aid, suggesting she come tomorrow as opposed to that night. It’s understandable that he would be worried about the brief, but it’s just interesting to note that he doesn’t drop everything to see about Mrs. Kimber that night. Della, however, thinks that he should do exactly that.

But this post isn’t going to be one that examines the differences between Perrys. The main thing I was thinking about this time around was how the press features into the episode and how often they’re around in the series at all. I was also thinking about Hamilton’s approach to the press and how that seems to change over time.

There really aren’t very many occasions when the main characters are shown being hounded by reporters. This episode gives us a glimpse into what has been happening on that front, with the reporters hanging on the friction between Perry and Hamilton and rushing off to make their stories when Perry says “No comment” in response to being asked if he really, deliberately told his client to fire a second bullet from the gun to make a paraffin test inconclusive.

Perry and Hamilton are on very bad terms here, with each calling the other by his last name and not even affording the courtesy of a “Mr.” for the sake of the press if nothing else. Hamilton is stressed and angry, believing that Perry has broken the law, and he treats the reporters in a very clipped manner. Perry is cold to Hamilton but gracious to the reporters; in spite of the “No comment” remark, he delivers it in a calm and collected tone.

Contrast this season 1 incident with a scene from season 9, where Hamilton is cornered by reporters in The Carefree Coronary. (Oddly enough, Dan Seymour is in this episode too.) Now Hamilton is calm, cool, and collected, handling the questions with grace and ease and telling the reporters that he isn’t going to make any case against Perry until he sees what the outcome of the inquest is.

Hamilton is definitely more of an ally by the final season. And he has also matured in other ways, including not losing his temper as often. (When he does, though, it’s a beaut, like in The Fatal Fortune.) Perhaps he would have handled the reporters smoother even in season 1 if he hadn’t been so stressed at the moment; we see him in the season 1 episode The Terrified Typist, rather pleased and triumphant as he talks to a reporter after court (albeit we don’t hear what he’s saying). But it’s an interesting contrast between season 1 and season 9 anyway.

Also of interest to note is that while in The Silent Partner and other early episodes, Perry goes to the police for help (i.e., Lieutenant Tragg), in later episodes such as The Carefree Coronary he’s more likely to appeal to Hamilton (despite Steve being the most genuinely friendly of the three policemen). Ah, how times change through the seasons. I just love their always-developing friendship.

(And yet another interesting contrast, as others have noted, is Hamilton’s reaction to getting an onscreen win. While in The Terrified Typist he’s clearly pleased with himself for getting a conviction, in season 7’s The Deadly Verdict he is very sobered. Even though in both cases he believes the defendant is guilty, he has always recognized that it’s still a somber thing for someone to be sentenced to death, and in The Deadly Verdict, this feeling is more visibly prominent than in the earlier episode.)

EDIT: I just remembered that Perry is cornered by reporters in The Grinning Gorilla, when they mob him to ask about him taking on the case. At that point, he had not agreed to take the case and it was very awkward for him. It's been so long since I saw the episode that I no longer recall how he handled the situation. I vaguely remember that he was so taken by surprise that he didn't know what to say at first. I think in frustration he then tried to say he had not taken the case, but never finished that statement.

I actually can’t think of any other times where we both see and hear Hamilton or the other main characters talking to reporters about themselves. Perry has to fend off reporters bothering his clients sometimes, such as in The Wrathful Wraith, and there’s a couple of times when Perry or Hamilton appears in newspaper stories, including Hamilton’s win in The Deadly Verdict, but as far as actual interaction between the main characters and reporters where reporters want to write about them, it’s quite rare. (So are those other news-related incidents, actually.)

Still, even though we are only allowed glimpses into what happens when the press pounces on our main characters, they are fascinating little glimpses. In early seasons I imagine reporters in L.A. make it big describing all the latest clashes between Perry and Hamilton, while reporters of the later seasons are stunned and amazed by all the times the two actually work in harmony together. And judging by the tongue-in-cheek example of the “District Attorney Victorious” headline in The Deadly Verdict, I wonder if the reporters make a big deal out of any time Hamilton actually wins a case.

I subscribe to the idea that he won more than we saw onscreen, and that there were actually more times that he won onscreen than what is generally noted by viewers (such as all the times a case went to jury trial instead of remaining a preliminary hearing), so I’ll admit I do hope that the reporters don’t make like a win by Hamilton is a rare event.

That said, the headline in The Deadly Verdict is amusing. A nice smidgen of humor in one of the darkest (and best) episodes of the series.

MeTV 2015 schedule changes

So reader Susan Clark alerted me to the fact that come next month, MeTV’s schedule will alter in a way that will affect Raymond Burr fans. Yes, Ironside will be off the schedule once again. Sigh. I managed to get one of the Joseph Campanella episodes I wanted, but there were still the other three. And in any case, it’s such an enjoyable, suspenseful show and there were still some episodes I hadn’t seen. They just put it back in September; it really shouldn’t be gone again already.

Both Perry episodes, luckily, will remain. They’re insistent on trying The Love Boat on weekdays again, but it won’t interfere with the morning Perry. And at night, they’re running something called the MeTV Mystery Movie right after the nighttime showing of Perry. Apparently, among other things, they’ll be borrowing some of the shows from Cozi TV that run ninety minutes.

I am excited about them bringing Quincy, M.E. to the schedule. There are quite a few episodes that I am very interested in catching, including four with Perry guest-star Simon Oakland and two with H.M. Wynant (although they might not show one of them, since it was one of the pre-series movies). And Ironside guest-star Joseph Campanella appears six times, I think!

I am sad that Dragnet and Adam-12 are leaving the schedule, but since MeTV has been so sloppy about which episodes they air lately (sometimes airing certain ones again after only a couple of weeks), perhaps it's time for them to take a break from showing these fun crime shows. I wonder if Antenna TV will pick them up again? (Oh! Correction: Cozi will get them. I'm glad they'll still be on somewhere, but Cozi is notorious for being sloppy about showing episodes in order. Sigh.)

This is probably the only check-in before Christmas, so Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to all readers! Hopefully the new year will bring an end to such sporadic posts and we can get back to a regular schedule.

Richard interview, and an attempt to use Sergeant Brice more

I’ve just finished listening to this awesome interview Richard did last week: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/richardrossi/2014/12/03/hollywood-movie-star-richard-anderson-aka-oscar-goldman-writer-al-doshna-1 It’s definitely a treasure. I loved listening to him all the way along, and it was fun to hear what some of the fans had to say. Perry is only briefly touched on, but it was great to hear it mentioned.

I blushed a little when the topic of Oscar Goldman and Jaime Sommers as a romantic pairing came up, but whatever Richard may have thought of the idea, he was very gracious and kind about it (as he was throughout the whole interview) and mentioned that people were asking him about that even back when The Bionic Woman was first on.

I have to admit, I can never fully get away from being rather fascinated by the idea of the pairing. I feel a bit guilty for that because of Steve Austin and Jaime’s epically soap opera romance, but I remain intrigued anyway. I pretty much love looking at Oscar and Jaime’s relationship in every way possible: friendship, familial, or romantic. And I think it’s time I saw the Deadly Ringer episodes they were discussing at one point. Due to me not liking when main characters end up in prison, I still haven’t seen those yet, but I’ve planned to since I’ve been sure there are some awesome Oscar scenes in them.

It’s so very exciting that Richard’s book is coming out! It’s a treat for all Perry fans, Richard fans, and classic movie and television fans. I know Richard will have many exciting things to tell.

And as season 4 of Perry wound to a close and season 5 begins to unfold, I observe first Sergeant Brice’s expanding role and second, the apparent search for someone else to help take some of the acting strain off of Ray Collins, whose health was starting to fail.

It’s obvious that they first tried the idea of Sergeant Brice becoming more talkative and involved. In late season 4 episodes such as The Grumbling Grandfather and The Guilty Clients, Brice has a lot more to do or say than in most episodes, even taking over completely for Tragg in some scenes and episodes.

I definitely like the idea and wonder why it didn’t work out. Was Lee Miller uncomfortable having more to say? Did they determine that the quiet, understated Sergeant Brice just wouldn’t be able to carry things by himself very often and a more forceful character would be needed?

On that, I probably agree at least somewhat. Brice is so calm and gentle and not bothered by Perry and company hanging around and investigating. The show would have certainly taken on a different dynamic with the more permissive Sergeant Brice being more in charge of things. He probably would have become much more of an ally to Perry and company, freely allowing them their investigations and perhaps letting Perry or Paul be right with him to look into questioning suspects and the like. In later episodes, on one occasion he shows definite amusement over his superior blowing his stack at Perry’s interference, and on another, indicates to Paul that if it were up to him, he would let Paul stay and look around a crime scene.

I can’t say I would have minded at least seeing what the show would have been like with that changed dynamic. But I’m not sure it would have worked out for long, since it seems Gardner and the crew wanted it to stay with the police sometimes assuming great opposition to Perry’s investigations, and since amusingly frustrated exchanges are often a big and important part of Perry’s interaction with the police. Brice just isn’t the type to engage in such exchanges. Hence, they definitely needed someone aside from Brice to be there.

Thus began what seems to be a bit of a search. Although they try Wesley Lau very early in season 5, playing Lieutenant Anderson in a great couple of scenes in The Malicious Mariner, he doesn’t immediately become part of the main cast. They also try Med Flory, another actor from late season 4, who in The Crying Comedian plays Lieutenant McVey, twin brother to Captain McVey of the United States Air Force. . . . (Just kidding, but I still find it bewildering that both of his Perry characters are named McVey! I am definitely going to make them twin brothers in my stories.)

Then we have a couple of episodes in a row that do not feature the regular city police cast. The next time we get back to them, Tragg is there again (with faithful Sergeant Brice silent in the background). The next episode after that, Andy is back and this time stays.

I would be curious to know in what order the early season 5 episodes were filmed and whether Andy’s first episode was filmed after Lieutenant McVey’s. Perhaps they had already decided on Wesley Lau before any of his police episodes aired, although I would then wonder why they showed the McVey episode after Andy’s first one.

I am very glad they ended up choosing Wesley, but I love Med Flory as Captain McVey in The Misguided Missile and I know he could have made Lieutenant McVey a great character too.

Short post

Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow, fellow American readers! To everyone else, Happy Thursday!

I caught part of The Difficult Detour on MeTV last week. I had watched the uncut version not that long ago, so I wasn’t sure I’d watch it on television, but I ended up pulled into the plot again anyway.

Is it just me or does anyone else find Neil Hamilton’s character to be a bit . . . confusing? I feel like that every time I see the episode. To elaborate, he claims he always liked Pete Mallory. If that’s true, then why in the world didn’t he try talking to Pete about the road on his land before just slapping a court order on him? Surely he would have realized that Pete wasn’t trying to do anything against him.

I suppose it’s possible that he used the court order because he still wasn’t down from San Francisco and he wanted work on the road stopped immediately instead of letting it go on even a few more hours. And if that was the case, I guess that it was a kindness in a certain way, not wanting the crew to do even more work on the project when it was just going to be stopped.

I’m not sure whether he was down from San Francisco yet or not; I don’t think the script specified. But maybe I’ll choose to think of it like that. It’s the only way that makes sense, when he does seem to be a fairly nice person when he appears.

I also wonder what happened to the episode’s murderer. He definitely didn’t seem to quite have all of his marbles, so it wouldn’t seem exactly fair if he were executed for the crime. He seemed like he needed psychiatric help.

Also, this is the time of year that I think about Dan Tobin, who was born in late October (the 19^th) and died in late November (the 26^th). I’ve been noticing him guest-starring in more shows than I had thought I’d seen with him. It’s always fun to spot him, especially if it’s something I’ve seen before and liked. I think my most favorite non-Perry roles of his, however, will always be his Maverick characters. Staring in horror as a camel looks in a hotel window, challenging Bret Maverick to a duel, and swindling Beau Maverick by tricking him into taking a real diamond necklace are among his memorable Maverick moments. He had a real comedic genius, especially in the first two episodes. That comes out a bit on Perry, as Clay says strange things, but it’s certainly more understated there (and should be). I wish I had some more biographical information to go on for him, but I’m happy that so many of his performances are still available for viewing.

More book news, and the uncut Barefaced Witness

I bring more exciting news on the book front, as Richard is interviewed about it: http://www.bookpleasures.com/websitepublisher/articles/7271/1/Hollywood-Actor-Richard-Anderson-Discusses-Acting-and-His-Memoir-With-Norm-Goldman-of-Bookpleasurescom-/Page1.html#.VGbCF9JDvq7 The interview is awesome in general, and now we have confirmation that Perry Mason will be discussed within the book’s pages! I hope there will be a nice, meaty section on it.

And The Barefaced Witness was on MeTV this past night. The television version has never made a great deal of sense to me and I’ve had the feeling that it’s one of the most cut-up episodes, so I decided it would be the perfect time to watch the uncut version.

I was definitely right about it being chopped up. So many scenes were missing, specifically almost everything that specifically showed or mentioned that ridiculous festival the town was having. And since that was kind of pivotal to the whole plot, even being brought up in the episode’s title, it’s absolutely preposterous that those scenes were removed!

I think that concerning that subject, the cut version of The Barefaced Witness only keeps the scene in the café where Paul looks at the list of the nine clean-shaven people arrested during the festival week. But it’s so weird for that to be the only mention of the festival. That makes it seem such a throwaway thing when it’s actually important to the solution of things. I don’t recall the opening sequence at all, which showed the silly signs about clean-shaven people being arrested and guys walking around with beards. And the scene with Paul arriving and ending up being forced to take part in the mock arrest for being clean-shaven was certainly missing.

Paul sure was a good sport about that. The police were pretty nice, contrary to the visions that have been dancing through my mind for years, and it all seemed to be in good fun. I wonder, though, what would have happened had someone not wanted to participate in the silliness. Someone could have arrived not knowing about the festival and have needed to meet someone in a hurry, and I doubt they would have liked being sidetracked into being arrested and fined for such a nonsensical reason! And it wouldn’t have seemed very fair, either. It didn’t seem fair as it was to fine people who didn’t even know anything about it.

One thing that seriously amuses me is that the local reporter played by Adam West apparently refused to be part of things. I suppose he was fined, but he must have been okay with that and preferred it to wearing a fake beard all week or growing a real one.

Adam West’s Perry characters seem to follow a pattern of being very protective of the girls they like. Both this guy and the character Adam plays in The Bogus Books are like that.

One intriguing thing about this episode, which isn’t as clear in the cut version, is that it’s really a Paul vehicle. Perry appears in the scene where Paul’s client wants the folder found, and then he goes to look for it when Paul isn’t available, but other than that, he doesn’t even appear again until they’re actually in court! There’s not even a scene of him talking to the defendant before court convenes. The whole mystery starts because of a past case of Paul’s, as the client is coming to him about some new twists, and Paul is the main player until the case goes to court. That’s neat; I like episodes that cast more of the spotlight on the other characters.

Another thing I was specifically looking for in this episode was the district attorney, Mr. Hale. I found it interesting that the first witness says his name straight-out while being questioned. It certainly shows how laid-back and familiar they are in that town. But I wonder if it was also there because the writer wanted everyone to know that yes, the D.A. was indeed Mr. Hale from earlier episodes and not just another character played by the same actor.

I like Paul Fix and his character is interesting in how he definitely brings a rural, laid-back manner to the courtroom. I wonder if that was why they used him multiple times, to make quite the contrast with Perry the “big city” lawyer.

The episode has never been a particular favorite of mine, but that’s always been partially due to being so puzzled by the cut version. Knowing it’s a Paul episode makes it more intriguing to me. And I like Adam West, both from The Bogus Books and from Batman, so I enjoy seeing him guest-starring. It will probably never rank among my most favorite episodes ever, but in its uncut form I will probably enjoy seeing it now and then, especially in order to see a lot of Paul in action.

And today is Joseph Campanella’s 90^th birthday! Awesome! I wish he was a Perry alumnus, but unfortunately he never appeared on our show. He does have a Raymond Burr connection, having appeared on four Ironside episodes. I saw The Happy Dreams of Hollow Men last month when MeTV aired it and I was thoroughly impressed anew by his acting abilities. He and Raymond Burr are the main players and carry most of the episode alone. It’s highly intense, as Joseph’s character descends into drug withdrawal and desperation and Ironside tries to keep him grounded in reality.

I’m still repulsed by the character flipping out and pitching Ironside to the floor, and later threatening him with a rifle, and it shows what a wonderful and loyal friend Ironside is, to keep believing in his friend amid all of that. The way the episode ends, with Ironside going to him as he sobs on the floor in despair and telling him to lean on him as they leave, is very powerful and poignant.

I will always wish Joseph had been on Perry, but I’m glad to have the four Ironside episodes to showcase his interaction with Raymond Burr and the other excellent cast members.

Exciting News!

I learned two pieces of exciting Perry-related information in the last few days!

First, that memoir I heard Richard Anderson was writing a couple of years ago is definitely coming! It’s finally on pre-order here: http://www.bearmanormedia.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=802 I wish we didn’t have to wait until March to read it, but I’m thrilled to finally have a release date! The co-author of the book contacted me to let me know last week.

I have to say, I love that part of the title is “At Last”, after anxiously waiting for a couple of years or so!

Then, Fedora, one of the readers here, made an exciting discovery. All the Perry books are available to read online here: http://bpsc.bih.nic.in/Books.htm I think this is an Indian site? But the books are in English. They are PDF, which isn’t my favorite format, but I am totally willing to brave that to check some of these out, especially The Shoplifter’s Shoe! Finally, I can see how the book version of Deputy Sampson is written!

Hopefully I will get back to regular blog posts soon. October was really hectic and November is starting out likewise. I unfortunately failed to get a Perry Halloween story written, but that was not entirely because of the hectic goings-on. I have never quite figured out enough of the plot of the masquerade story to actually get it written without getting stuck. I am definitely thinking about it and maybe I will write it anyway, even after Halloween, if I suddenly figure out the missing links.