Help!

Merry Christmas, everyone! And Happy Holidays!

The first order of business is H*E*L*P! A week ago I received a communication from an NPR producer in search of a specific scene between Perry and Hamilton. I should have appealed to the readers here on Thursday, but I was still hoping that we would get a response from a source that we tried first. We have had no success there, and I just can’t find the scene, so I beg of you, dear readers, if any of you remember what episode the following scene is in, please comment to this post! The scene is needed by the second week of January. She says:

The episode I’m looking for is connected to something Justice Sonia Sotomayor mentioned during her confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court:

“She cited an episode in which Perry Mason, after winning yet another case, consoles beleaguered prosecutor Hamilton Burger by noting it must be hard to expend such effort only to have charges dismissed. ‘No, my job as a prosecutor is to do justice, and justice is served when a guilty man is convicted and an innocent man is not,’ she quoted the prosecutor as saying.”

I’m sure I remember the scene, but I can’t bring to mind when and where it happened. The only other clue someone was able to give me is that he thinks it was in season 7 or the first half of season 8. And that narrows down the possibilities a good bit, since I’ve watched many of those episodes lately without coming across it. I haven’t, however, seen the season 8 uncut in a while, and possibly it’s only available in the uncut version of whatever episode it is. I really want to help track this scene down, but I am rather at my wit’s end on where to begin. I’ve gone through the detailed summaries at Storrer’s site, without anything popping out at me as seeming to be the one in question.

I haven’t been able to think of any appropriate holiday topics for today’s post, but I did start curiously wondering which Perry episodes aired the closest before Christmas each season. A check of the airdates brought up the following list:

1. 21/Dec/57   The Case of the Baited Hook

2. 20/Dec/58   The Case of the Perjured Parrot

3. 19/Dec/59   The Case of the Lucky Legs

4. 17/Dec/60   The Case of the Larcenous Lady

5. 16/Dec/61   The Case of the Unwelcome Bride

6. 20/Dec/62   The Case of the Polka-Dot Pony

7. 19/Dec/63   The Case of the Badgered Brother

8. 17/Dec/64   The Case of the Blonde Bonanza

9. 19/Dec/65   The Case of the Golden Girls

That’s an interesting and highly assorted list. None of the episodes particularly have any connection with Christmas, of course. I can’t even recall if any of them take place in the winter. I suppose of these choices, my favorite ones to watch at Christmastime would be The Unwelcome Bride and The Polka-Dot Pony. They both involve family togetherness, with a rift being mended in the former and a girl searching for her mother in the latter. Several of the others involve families too, particularly The Baited Hook and The Badgered Brother. And I’m not really sure what I think of the final Perry episode to air around Christmas being the very odd and playfully tongue-in-cheek The Golden Girls.

There are other episodes good for holiday viewing. MeTV is going to air The Borrowed Baby for the morning Perry on Christmas Day, which is a sweet choice. Also, on Christmas Eve night, it just so happens to be The Hateful Hero’s turn to air. Family togetherness with Andy and Jimmy sounds great for the holidays.

I always like to write at least one Christmas-themed story each year. This year, I haven’t had too much chance to plan one. I wrote something short and cute for a Yu-Gi-Oh! Secret Santa exchange. And on the Perry front, that piece I shared involving Gene Torg and Pearl Chute takes place at Christmastime, although that was more of a background addition and not a driving force behind the plot. I was idly thinking of writing a scene for my time-traveling Wild Wild West story, meant for a later chapter, which focuses on Christmas, but I don’t know if I’ll get to that. I would like to finish the story’s current chapter before Christmas.

I haven’t really written a Perry Christmas story where Christmas is a central part of the plot. Last year, I was working on The Broken Ties around this time, but Christmas was, again, just a background feature. If I found it easier to draw the Perry characters, I might make Christmas fanart instead. But, alas, I’ve found it mostly impossible to draw characters from any of the live-action shows I love. Or I should say, mostly impossible to draw them looking even vaguely recognizable.

I have decided to put that Bogus Books-related piece on my account at Fanfiction.net: http://www.fanfiction.net/~LuckyLadybug. I’ve added another scene with Andy at the beginning and tweaked a few things slightly around. (Please check the provided link in a little while if you want to see the additions.) And it looks like that will be the extent of my Perry Christmas stories this year, unless a good idea hits me in the head between now and Tuesday. I did attempt starting a piece involving Sampson, but while it sounded great in my head, it was going nowhere in the word processor. I may, however, try again if I get the spare time to tinker with it. 

However you celebrate, or even if you don’t celebrate, I hope every one of you has a wonderful December 24th and 25th!