The ups and downs of Perry fandom in 2017

It has been a sad year for Perry fans. The last surviving member of the original Core Five, the beautiful Barbara Hale, passed away near the end of January. Last week, she would have turned 95. It was an amazing honor to have her with us for so many years, but still very sad to lose her. She brought so much to Perry, truly making the role of Della Street her own. No one else has ever or could ever portray the character as did Barbara Hale. For many, she is synonymous with the character. We miss her deeply and pray for her family.

Those wanting to see her in the Perry reunion movies have a far greater chance now, with the box set of all 30 films. The price is lower now; Amazon has been selling it for $22! Wal-Mart carries it in-store for about $32. Both are incredible prices for this many films! Those wanting complete and uncut copies of the Perry movies would do well to pick one up while these prices last.

And MeTV has announced a special Perry tribute throughout the month of May, with theme weeks for the nighttime showings. Those preferring to watch the episodes in order can still do so with the morning showings. Details on the episodes planned are here: http://metv.com/stories/this-may-is-perry-may-son-on-metv

Many episodes I like, a couple I don't, and a few I'm more or less indifferent to. But either way, it's awesome to see MeTV planning something like this to keep the series fun and fresh and maybe introduce viewers to episodes they don't see as much (or ever). It's a very nice tribute to Raymond Burr's 100th birthday next month as well.

I know updates here have been scarce (what an understatement!) but I still love Perry and the characters and the actors and all the wonderful things and people that made up our show. And I still reply to comments whenever they come. I love hearing from the readers and viewers.

Birthday Tribute: Barbara Hale

I would certainly be remiss not to post and wish the wonderful Barbara Hale a happy 94th birthday! It is so awesome and special that she is still with us. I hope she has a lovely day with her family and friends!

Where would Perry Mason be without Della Street? It is incomprehensible to picture such a thing. Perry himself acknowledged that his office completely falls apart when Della takes a vacation. Della is faithful secretary, confidante, and always the loyal friend to Perry. (And a lot of fans think or wish she would also be his significant other.)

Of course, not just any woman could play such a character. It has to be someone who perfectly complements the man playing Perry. I remember seeing a screentest with someone else playing Della and reciting dialogue from one of the books. To me she seemed too much of a femme fatale, tough and cool, and I don't know at all if the series would have worked with her or someone like her in the part.

Barbara Hale made the character so perfectly her own. Della is certainly no pushover, but she's not brassy or rude. She is, as noted by a guest character in The Borrowed Baby, a lady. Barbara so expertly balanced Della's intelligence and sharp wit with kindness and consideration. Sometimes Della may be a little too kind, showing sympathy to some characters who probably don't deserve it. But that's part of what makes her who she is.

Barbara mused on how Della wasn't like her, at least in the way of practical joking. Barbara enjoyed such things. While Della is not a practical joker, however, she is definitely a teaser. Teasing Paul seems to be one of her favorite pastimes. I am not a teaser and am usually not fond of Perry or Della ganging up on Paul, but I do recognize that for them, it's just one of the ways they show affection. Della cares about Paul very deeply, even visibly breaking down and crying when Paul is seriously ill in The Carefree Coronary.

Della is never afraid to speak her mind, either with teasing or seriousness depending on what it is. Sometimes she will hold her tongue if she feels it's not her place to speak, such as with one of Perry's clients, or if she's trying to be polite. She doesn't usually get visibly angry, but one memorable occasion where she does is in The Dead Ringer. Both she and Paul become furious when Perry's client seems to believe that Perry tried to bribe a witness. They just won't have it.

Della loves children and also animals and interacts very well with them. She seems to long to have children of her own, especially in The Borrowed Baby, and I still say it's too sad to think she never gets to. That's just one of many reasons why the movies will never be canon to me.

While Perry always wants to see justice done, sometimes he longs for a vacation or doesn't want to take on a case for other reasons. Della serves as his conscience during these times, encouraging him to just see the person in need of help and hear their story. Naturally, he always ends up helping.

Barbara is one of the vital puzzle pieces of the Perry Mason formula. Perhaps an episode or two can get by without her when she wants a little more family time, but it always swiftly gets lonely when she remains absent. Her strong and soothing presence is very much needed and wanted amid all the defendant and suspect havoc and courtroom pyrotechnics. She brings a softness to the series, the woman's touch, and as a woman with a career who knows what she wants in life, she is a worthy role-model for women and girls everywhere.

Barbara and Raymond are the most constant of the Perry family, especially considering the long string of movies, and when Raymond sadly passed away Barbara remained in the last four movies as the one last link with the original Perry characters. She is still one of our last links to the Perry cast, and certainly the last link of the original Core Five. Here's to still more years!

Happy Birthday, Barbara Hale!

Happy Birthday to a wonderful and special lady, our own Barbara Hale! And Happy Birthday to Della Street as well!

I wonder if MeTV really did plan things on purpose, airing The Reckless Romeo on the night before Barbara’s birthday. For those on Eastern and Pacific times, it aired completely on the 18^th. For those on Mountain and Central times, it certainly ended on the 18^th. Barbara is 93 today! So awesome. And since she’s one of the few surviving Perry cast members, and the only surviving member of the original Core Five, it’s a very significant day for all Perry fans.

I loved the little subplot in the film about Della’s birthday. Perry’s exchanges with Ken about it were so amusing. And then the gifting scene at the very end was lovely. What a sweet close to the film, with the pearls, a hug, and a kiss. It was very enjoyable to see how close Perry and Della had become through the years, even though I don’t accept the movies as absolute canon.

As for the main plot, well, we got another guy who couldn’t seem to keep his mind off of fooling around with women. And his lecherous behavior eventually got him killed. It’s hard to feel too sorry for him, especially after he ruined the lives of all the women mentioned when they were trying to get their lives set in order again. I particularly felt terrible for Nora, who had wanted to run for Congress and then felt she couldn’t with the book blackening her reputation.

I was kind of surprised that the reporter, Charlie (or Charley?), ended up being a good girl. She was so obnoxious, the typical frustrating type of reporter that you just can’t seem to get rid of, no matter how hard you try. Even the cliché stunt of getting Ken arrested so he can’t follow her. Ugh. I loved how Ken realized and got back at her for that. And then Perry at last reveals that he actually likes her and she finally ends up shaping up, with her and Ken seeming to have some romantic interest in each other by the end. Of course, I doubt she’s seen in any other film.

I was thinking that the most obvious solution to the mystery was that the killer had to be Roxanne’s helper, since she was the only other person who knew about the dress. I was glad they didn’t go that route and instead had the real killer see the dress from a window.

As for the identity of the killer, it seemed to come out of nowhere again, although perhaps some people guessed it was the fiancée since when a character seems completely unbothered by someone’s actions, the reality is that sometimes they’re not. The bull statue seemed to come out of nowhere too. I don’t recall it being featured during the murder scene, or mentioned at all until Perry noted it was broken. I don’t know how he even knew it was a bull when it was in pieces like that. It seems like there should have been some mention of it early on, when it was together, so that it would make more sense when Perry identified it as a bull when it was in pieces.

The movie had some fun scenes. I loved when Perry showed how it was preposterous to think that Roxanne could have worn all the perfume the witnesses knew the killer wore. Yikes, that would be terrible, to break into a rash that severe from just a small dab of the stuff.

I did rather raise an eyebrow at his stunt with all the women in red. It was clever and amusing, granted. But it was definitely something akin to what Perry might have done on the television series, and I was surprised the prosecutor and/or the judge didn’t protest the courtroom theatrics!

Lieutenant Brock has been interesting to watch in both this film and last night’s. He was kind of insufferably obnoxious in last night’s, but then he did have some more tolerable scenes later on, and he was pretty good in this one. It’s nice to see that he’s on pretty good terms with Perry. I guess that kind of continues the pattern that the television series eventually fell into when the police got more relaxed and friendly with Perry and company.

Considering a subplot of this movie involved Della’s birthday, however, it seemed like she didn’t really have very satisfactory screentime. I wish she would be a little more prominent in some of these films, especially since she’s one of the only original cast members who appears in them. It seemed like she had better screentime in some of the earlier installments.

But in any case, it was a nice movie and a nice wrap-up to another Perry week on MeTV. Hopefully I can get to The Shooting Star soon and hopefully I’ll be aware ahead of time when MeTV does another Perry movie week (if they continue this feature for much longer).

Birthday Tribute: Barbara Hale

Perry fans may want to check out tomorrow night’s Love Boat movie on MeTV. Raymond Burr is one of the main guest-stars! He delivers an amazing performance ranging from comedic to dramatic as a gruff, alcoholic theatre teacher. We even get to hear him sing! (He’s quite good, too.)

I happened to see it recently and by accident, as it was on the same disc as the wonderful Richard Anderson episode (which I’m hoping to record some Sunday if it hasn’t aired yet). It was definitely a surprise treat to see Raymond and well worth watching, even if you’re not a Love Boat fan. (Me, I kind of like the wonderful 1970s cheese and adorableness of the show, and how it deals with serious issues in a respectful way, even though at other times the mushiness makes me roll my eyes.)

And for once let’s do this early instead of late! Tomorrow is Barbara Hale’s 92^nd birthday! Oh my goodness. It’s so wonderful to still have some of the original Perry cast members alive and well with us, especially as we’re losing more and more of the last remaining Golden Hollywood greats (R.I.P., Mickey Rooney).

This is a lovely fansite for Barbara: http://www.barbarahale.com/index.htm I had previously thought that Barbara either had some affiliation with it or that she was aware of it and came to look at the Guestbook comments. The website owner has a notice that says it’s an unofficial fanpage. That doesn’t mean Barbara isn’t aware of it and perhaps sometimes sees the Guestbook comments, however, so it might still be a nice thing to leave a birthday wish for her there. In any case, it’s a very nice place to visit, clearly a labor of love by a devoted fan.

Over the past year I have enjoyed seeing Barbara as Della on the main Perry Mason series as well as finally discovering her revival of the character in the television movies. I really love how the character grows through the years and how Della is depicted as so motherly in the movies. Della has always had that motherly, protective streak, as shown on the series whenever children are present or when she encounters someone else that she develops a certain fondness for (such as the defendant in The Sad Sicilian). And she serves as Perry’s conscience during those times when Perry is getting too swamped with work or too eager for a vacation to take a particular case. On the one hand, I feel sorry for Perry never getting to have a proper vacation. But when the people genuinely need help and Perry is likely the best one to give it, it is nice of Della to be thinking of their problems. Della doesn’t get much vacation/downtime, either. Many are the nights that she works far later than most other secretaries. Once she asks Perry if they will ever be able to leave earlier than midnight. (I think that’s the one with the amusing ending where they keep trying to hurry out the door before the clock stops chiming midnight and they keep having to run back because of forgetting to close the balcony doors or turn off the lights.)

Della is absent from only a handful of Perry episodes. While I often still enjoy them for their plots or favorite guest-stars (or for Hamilton being present, if they’re in-town episodes), Della’s presence is definitely missed. She’s an integral part of the cast, certainly made so by Barbara Hale’s amazing performance.

I still have to wonder why anyone thought a remake of Perry Mason would work so soon after the original stopped airing new episodes. Perhaps if they had waited longer people would have been more accepting, but only seven years later, the comparisons between the two series and their casts were inevitable. The show itself was very good, plot-wise, and I will forever praise Dane Clark and Harry Guardino, but some of the other casting choices bewilder me. Sharon Acker is a fine actress, but she just wasn’t a believable Della Street to me. Perhaps if I see more of those episodes I’ll change my mind, but of course I’ll always feel that Barbara Hale is the quintessential image of Della Street.

Happy Birthday, Barbara Hale! I hope it will be a lovely day spent with your family. The fans remember and love you and I also hope for still many more birthdays for you.

Perry actors on Ironside, and The Bouncing Boomerang

For those interested, remember that MeTV will show the Perry movie The Glass Coffin tomorrow night!

So I’m torn between complaining about how little screentime Richard had in the Ironside episode Monday and squealing with glee over what they did with the character in such a short amount of screentime. I was worried that he was going to be crooked, as Sergeant Brown’s friend seemed to think he was. But he refused to have anything to do with the crooked goings-on in the episode, as soon as he figured out what was going on.

I’ve noticed a really strange trend, though. Any time a guest-star from the main cast of Perry shows up on Ironside, they never seem to have a great deal of screentime. I would’ve thought that they would be the main guest-stars carrying the episode at least sometimes. Certainly I thought that would have been the case with Barbara Hale, and with Richard, too. There’s still two or three Richard episodes I have yet to see, but at this point I’ll be really surprised if he’s ever really one of the main guest-stars who is prominent throughout the episode. He has only appeared in three or even only two (sometimes quite short) scenes in all the ones I’ve seen him in. And in Wesley Lau’s appearance, which I found and saw quite some time ago, his role is extremely small and he hardly has any lines. Wesley is such an incredible actor that this is a terrible waste. Of course, the same goes for Barbara and Richard.

I’m certainly happy to see them pop up in any capacity, but I think they’re all being greatly underused. An episode featuring one or more of them in one of the main guest-starring roles would be just absolutely amazing. They could have done so much more with Barbara Hale than they did. And they could have had an episode with Richard as the guest-star in need of help. Or at least, certainly the characters I’ve seen him play could have been worked into the scripts more often. And Wesley could have had a larger part.

(Also, I hear that the new Ironside has already been cancelled. I feel bad for the cast and crew, who invested themselves in it, but I have to admit I rejoiced a bit to hear the news. That thing sounds like it was a complete abomination.)

Since there’s still a handful of out-of-town Perry episodes I haven’t seen, I randomly decided to watch one of them this morning. The Bouncing Boomerang was on MeTV the other morning, but I didn’t catch it, so I chose my uncut copy on the season 7 set. And . . . wow. That is one of the weirdest things I have ever seen. While I think The Betrayed Bride and The Hasty Honeymooner still hold the titles for weirdest Perry episodes, this one is certainly gaining on them.

So basically this couple lives on a beautiful ranch spread in the middle of nowhere and the wife isn’t happy and wants to leave. But she also wants a bunch of money and doesn’t think the offer on the place is enough. So she conspires with two other people to defraud the insurance company by getting one of the people to make a much higher offer that goes through and then fake his death, so that his insurance policy in the same high amount will get paid. Only she and the other conspirator decide to really kill the third member. Gah.

The poor guy; he’s a conman and all, but he doesn’t want anything to do with murder. He thinks they’re bringing in the body of someone already dead (by natural causes) to fill in for him, and that the body will be burned beyond recognition, the only identification being the spare bridge for his teeth. Then he thinks they’re going to kill the person and doesn’t realize it’s going to be him.

Originally I figured his death was going to be the customary murder and that Eula, the wife wanting off the ranch, would somehow be guiltless of the crime, even though it certainly looked like she was fully mixed up in it. Instead, yes, she and the third guy really killed the conman and then Eula herself ends up dead. The husband is thought to be the third member of the conspiracy and is arrested.

Eventually it ends up that the third member is the insurance agent investigating the conman’s death, and Eula’s death was an accident during an argument when she was getting so freaked out over all the crimes she was taking part in. But before we get to that revelation, we discover that the conman accepted the identity of a missing man and that there’s three teeth bridges and three dentists.

Everyone confused yet?

What a convoluted case!

Eula is certainly a teeth-grating villainess. Her poor husband is willing to cut her some slack and put most of the blame on the insurance investigator, but he’s much too kind. Eula may have grown increasingly nervous over her part in things, but she seemed to only be worried about being caught. I didn’t see any signs of guilt over anything she did, including help commit murder. Ugh.

I wonder if there are any other off-the-wall Perry episodes like that. The other out-of-town season 7 episode I haven’t seen, The Drifting Dropout, sounds a little more normal. I guess season 8’s The Grinning Gorilla is pretty weird too, really, but I had a lot of fun with that one. I wrote a fairly enthusiastic review on it sometime back.

I find it curious too that both The Bouncing Boomerang and The Hasty Honeymooner involve ranches. There’s some perfectly good episodes with ranches, but it isn’t really a common setting, so it’s amusing that two episodes with such a setting are so odd.

I don’t recognize the scriptwriter’s name, either. Arthur E. Orloff? Hmm, according to IMDB.com, he wrote one other Perry script, The Greek Goddess. Which is also a little weird, honestly, but nothing like this one! I will usually watch The Greek Goddess and I enjoy it when I do, although I still feel sad for the sculptor and how things worked out for him. But I don’t think The Bouncing Boomerang is an episode I will ever really enjoy, and certainly the fact of it being an out-of-town episode has very little to nothing to do with that.

About the only thing I got a kick out of was seeing Alan Hale as the conman. I had thought his only Perry episode was season 5’s The Unwelcome Bride. But his poor Perry characters certainly have bad luck. First he’s the murderer. This time he’s the victim!

Tim Talman, Barbara Hale on Ironside, and the L.A. Chronicle

I was shown this article on the subject of getting William Talman’s son Tim into the role of Hamilton in Robert Downey Jr.’s Perry movie: http://www.examiner.com/article/let-s-get-tim-talman-cast-the-role-his-father-made-famous

I still find it a very intriguing idea and it would be awesome if something could actually come of it. I’m hoping for good things from this movie anyway, and I would hope for even more if they made an amazing casting decision like that.

I think it would really be a feather in their cap overall. As the article points out, a large number of the viewing audience for this film would be people who have been watching the television series. By and large, a connection with the series such as William’s son being cast as Hamilton would be a very sweet and exciting thing for us and I believe it would increase popularity and anticipation for the project.

I saw the Barbara Hale episode of Ironside. Fans of the interaction between Perry and Della should definitely enjoy the scenes between Raymond and Barbara. It’s the only time I’ve seen them playing characters together other than Perry and Della, and the chemistry between them is still incredible and so perfect. You can tell they’re happy to be working together again.

But I was disappointed that Barbara really wasn’t in the episode that much. I was hoping it would be one of those occasions where the female guest-star was the main guest-star and would have copious amounts of screentime. Instead, unless something was cut, she only had about three scenes. They’re wonderful scenes, but they’re over all too soon.

The episode itself, I feel, isn’t even close to being one of the show’s best. It’s a theatre-centric piece and awfully cheesy, as it seems most theatre-centric scripts with Raymond are. It’s possible to have a theatre story that isn’t cheesy; I really enjoy the earlier episode Love, Peace, Brotherhood, and Murder as an example of this. But this one, Murder Impromptu, follows the way of the theatre-centric Perry episodes and drips with cheese. Considering that it’s Barbara Hale’s only Ironside episode, I can’t help wondering why it couldn’t have been much better (and featured much more of Barbara). Reuniting Barbara and Raymond should have been much more of a bells-and-whistles event!

And when I was watching creepy Perry episodes for Halloween, I noticed something rather odd. It seems that the respectable newspaper the Los Angeles Chronicle has degraded itself by season 9. It is apparently the paper for which that crummy reporter works in The Wrathful Wraith. Perry actually calls it a scandal sheet and mentions that no respectable paper will even handle that reporter’s stories!

So what happened to the poor paper? It seems like a very respectable paper in previous seasons, the constant friend by which the characters and viewers get all the news on cases. And of course in season 5’s opener The Jealous Journalist, we learn all about the paper and the struggles of those trying to run it. By the episode’s end, reader interest has increased and things seem to be going well for it again.

Did things go sour later and they ended up having to sell out to Theodore Marcuse’s character or another, similarly slimy person? Or was it just an accident that the Los Angeles Chronicle was used for close-ups of the reporter’s articles in The Wrathful Wraith and it wasn’t really the writer’s intention for that paper to have gone downhill? Perhaps it was used only in the interest of saving time and money and they figured no one would really notice.

I’d kind of prefer to think it’s one of the two latter reasons instead of that the paper spiraled out of control. But it’s hard to ignore the fact that it is indeed the Los Angeles Chronicle being used for the shots of the articles and hence, is dubbed a scandal sheet by Perry!

The latest MeTV Perry news

Happy Halloween!

I was a bit surprised when I turned on the television and discovered not The Envious Editor, but The Glamorous Ghost. But it only took me a minute to realize that it was not MeTV screwing up; it was their attempt at a Halloween celebration.

To my pleasure, The Envious Editor will show on Friday. I would be very irritated indeed if we were not getting our full showing of Deputy D.A. Sampson goodness on this round.

Actually, aside from the title and that eerie opening scene with the girl in white, torn clothes in the park, The Glamorous Ghost has little to nothing to do with anything related to Halloween or spooky subjects. I think a better choice would have been The Fatal Fetish, The Fatal Fortune, or The Wrathful Wraith!

MeTV is going to be celebrating Halloween all day and night and it’s going to be awesome. For Perry fans on October 31st, The Meddling Medium will air in the morning and The Dodging Domino at night. (One of these days I am so going to write a Perry story about a masquerade party. That title always makes me think that episode should have been about one.) Also, there will be a nice, creepy Ironside episode about a weird house.

Speaking of Ironside, Barbara Hale’s guest appearance will broadcast on Monday, November 4^th! That will definitely be something delightful for Perry fans to tune in for. I haven’t seen that episode before and am greatly looking forward to it. There should also be another episode with Richard Anderson coming up pretty soon, but I haven’t located it on the schedule yet. Actually, I’m a bit worried that they’re going to skip it, especially since they seem to have already skipped one early season 5 episode.

And MeTV’s movies have been all over the place lately. Following the second Columbo movie, they skipped around to show a Diagnosis Murder movie and then the pilot for Vega$. (I find it both clever and ridiculous at the same time that they use the dollar sign for the S.) November will continue in the same vein, with movies for The Mod Squad and The Andy Griffith Show on the first two Fridays.

However, we’re going to get another Perry movie on the third Friday in November! The Glass Coffin will broadcast on the 15th. Hmm, even though it’s about magicians, it’s such a creepy title and object that perhaps they should have scheduled it for this Friday instead!

You know, when it comes to the Perry Halloween episodes, one oddity I was recently thinking about is that James Forrest plays the murder victim in both The Meddling Medium and The Dodging Domino. And it gets weirder. Both characters are named Philip/Phil and both are rather obnoxious. But while Philip Paisley seems to have no particular redeeming qualities, Phil Schuyler does at least get a kick out of Halloween and wants to have things fun for the kids. And he’s a bit more amusing instead of just outright obnoxious (although some of his lines are cheesy as heck). I always feel kind of sad that he gets killed.

Both characters are also murdered in unusually brutal and cruel ways: Philip Paisley in the falling elevator and Phil Schuyler with an electric heater in the bathtub. Yikes.

And regarding actors from The Dodging Domino, I should do a spotlight on Robert H. Harris sometime. He pops up all over the place too, including in several Perry episodes. I’ve been running across him a lot lately.

Uhoh.

I finally got the next chapter of The Malevolent Mugging up. It’s more transitional, but does get into the beginnings of the next problems for everyone. Some parts are summarized, but only because I feel like that works best when taking into consideration my other ideas for the rest of the story. Normally I try to avoid a lot of summarizing.

And wow, I made quite an epic fail. I fully thought that Barbara Hale’s birthday was on the 22^nd. I totally mixed up the day with the year. Her birthday was on the 18^th. She’s 91 now. That is awesome! I hope she had a wonderful day.

I still hope to start a fanfiction story that would put Della in a central role, but I really want to finish The Malevolent Mugging first. And I worry a bit whether I’ll be able to carry a story with Della front and center, since I find her a bit more difficult to write than some other characters. But I have hopes that it will work out and do justice to my friend’s initial idea.

I haven’t seen Barbara Hale in anything new recently, but I’ve been trying to think of the Perry episodes where Della plays an especially important role. Sometimes it almost seems a bit like she and even Paul are taken for granted by the writers (and perhaps the viewers too) and not used a great deal in some episodes, yet even in reduced roles they add a great deal to scenes. I think the fact that I love oneshot characters so much and study them also lends itself to a fascination with observing the main characters in all types of scenes, even silent ones.

I always enjoy watching Della’s expressions as things unfold in court. It’s interesting to see her reactions to puzzling witnesses being called or Hamilton glancing at the defense table or Tragg making a gently joking comment between court sessions. It takes great actors to get involved in the part enough to react to even smaller things going on around them, things that the audience may not always notice until taking a closer look, and Barbara definitely always does that.

Then there are times when Perry uses Della to help with a particular clue or suspect in a scene or two, or when they share a bit of banter before or after a case. Oftentimes, the little scenes are just as or even more enjoyable than longer ones. Perry and Della certainly have a lot of memorable interaction throughout the series, often in small doses. Some of my favorite bits with them are in the epilogues, as the cases are wrapped up and Della is hungry from working so long and so hard.

I think I may have already tried to list episodes in which she played larger roles, perhaps even as recently as a couple of months back. So instead of possibly repeating a subject I will say that pretty much any episode with Della is sure to have some content with her that’s very enjoyable to watch. Even if for a lot of it she just observes.

Double Birthday Post!

Tomorrow is Raymond Burr’s birthday! He was born on May 21^st, 1917, in New Westminster, British Columbia. I have a reason for posting a day early, contrary to my original plans, and I will reveal that further on.

I’ve been pondering on exactly what to share in this post in honor of him. Usually on either the birth or death date posts, I’ve tried to give a bit of biographical information for the actors. But so much about Raymond seems to have been tall tales that I’ve all but given up on figuring out which is fact and which is fiction.

I’m rather amused by the stories he spun about himself. If he was trying to keep himself a near-complete mystery to the general public, he certainly succeeded. I can imagine him being amused himself as he thought of the various tales to weave.

EDIT: Okay, so the above would seem to be, from all known instances, incorrect. I won't change what I wrote, because then the comment session that follows below the entry won't make much sense.

Raymond seemed to not want to call a lot of attention to himself. He didn’t even want his vineyard named after him. I believe I read that he thought that would be too pretentious. After his death, his partner did rename the vineyard after him. I think it’s a nice memorial touch. But it impresses me that Raymond didn’t want that during his life.

From all that I’ve read, he was a friendly, compassionate man. As I’ve mentioned, I love how he made the Perry set such an enjoyable place. He was also quite a practical jokester. In addition to the brick wars and other amusing nonsense he had going with William Talman, he was often pranking Barbara Hale. According to her, once he even nailed her shoes to the floor of the courtroom set!

I haven’t seen anything else that he has been in since I made that post about the film Please Murder Me sometime back. However, I don’t think I ever mentioned that prior to that I saw a movie he made with Errol Flynn, Maru Maru. It was an adventure flick, with them in search of a jeweled cross. Raymond plays the bad guy, as he typically did in many of the films he did before Perry, and he is excellent, of course.

. . . And he was in Love Happy?! The same Love Happy that was the Marx Brothers’ last film? I think it’s time to dig that film out again. I haven’t seen it for years, probably not since I really became aware of Perry Mason.

I have seen some of his TV appearances, including the very first episode of Dragnet. He played the police chief. It was a very intense episode as it was, and Raymond made it even more interesting.

I have also watched more of Ironside. While I think Perry is my favorite of the two crime-solvers, Robert Ironside is awesome too. My favorite of the episodes I’ve seen so far is probably the one where it’s revealed that he had a relationship with a woman who can’t seem to stop being a thief. That caused them to part in the past, and when they meet again in the present, it isn’t able to last long then, either. It’s a very well-written and bittersweet episode. Raymond portrays Ironside’s conflicting feelings to perfection. My only complaint about the episode is that Wesley Lau is in it but they never arranged for him and Raymond to interact. What a missed opportunity. I hope they had a nice reunion off-screen, at least!

We lost Raymond on September 12^th, 1993. While he is buried in Canada, I believe there’s a memorial to him in one of the Los Angeles cemeteries. It’s nice when that sort of thing is done.

Raymond is still highly missed. He made the character of Perry Mason his own. Robert Ironside, too. And many assorted oneshot characters on television series and in movies.

On the 50^th Anniversary DVDs, Barbara Hale reveals that she met Raymond in the 1940s, sometime before Perry. In fact, it was partially Raymond being a part of Perry that made Barbara decide to give it a try (that, and she thought they were only going for 17 episodes. Ha!). She says that she and Raymond were dear friends for fifty years. And that is a beautiful thing. Friendships often don’t last even half as long as that. She also mentions that her kids all called him “Uncle Ray.” Adorable!

On Perry and also Ironside, Raymond’s stand-in was actor Lee Miller. Eerily enough, Lee was born May 18^th, 1917! (And from the scant information I’ve found, he may still be alive. That is awesome!) Born just three days apart? Wow. This has just come to my attention now, and I feel badly that I didn’t know in time to have dedicated Thursday’s post to Lee. I think Raymond would be happy to share this post with Lee, who most likely became one of his friends after so many appearances. So I have decided to post it today, between their birthdays, and dedicate it to them both.

Us Perry fans should be very familiar with Lee, as he appeared many times on-screen as Sergeant Brice (and a few times in other small parts). Although credited only 50-plus times, he was in many episodes uncredited. This may be because of Brice’s customary silence. He was often seen and not heard. I was actually surprised the first time I heard him speak!

There are several episodes where he has some interesting interaction with Tragg or one of the other Lieutenants. Brice was there through it all, with them all, from Tragg to Andy to Steve. He is an unsung hero, largely forgotten in the overall picture, yet he is so often there for those willing to look.

Usually Brice is a background character, content to let the Lieutenant take the lead. One season 3 episode I saw in the past week or two had Tragg expounding something in the crime scene to Brice. That happens in several episodes, but in this one they had more conversation than they typically do, so I found it especially memorable.

I just saw one again the other day where he has a more expanded role. In The Ugly Duckling, Brice calls Perry to tell him about his client’s car going over a cliff. Perry arrives at the scene and continues to converse with Brice until Andy shows up moments later. I found that one particularly interesting. I wonder what prompted the writers to give Brice more lines than usual?

Although Brice was almost always played by Lee, there were a couple of times early on where someone else took the reins. It always gives me a bit of a start to see another man called Brice wander on-screen. I like that the role later became Lee’s alone. It adds a nice bit of continuity, which is especially refreshing for a fairly minor character such as Brice.

It’s a pity the writers didn’t do more with him. He could have been very interesting in scenes with the Lieutenants, developing both his and their characters. But I am happy that the writers at least occasionally ventured out and gave him more to say and do than usual. The rest, well, that is up to fanfiction writers.

To Raymond and Lee, happy birthday from the fans who love and remember you both!

Happy Birthday, Barbara Hale!

Today is Barbara Hale’s 90^th birthday. This is awesome! She is one of only three still-living main cast members (Richard Anderson and Karl Held being the other two).

Barbara had a long and illustrious film and television career, in addition to an enduring marriage to fellow actor Bill Williams. They were married for over forty years until his death in 1992. During their time together they sometimes appeared in the same productions (although they may or may not have shared scenes). Bill was on Perry several times. They also appeared together on the religious anthology Insight and in an episode of the police drama Adam-12. And there are most likely others.

I have seen Barbara’s (and Bill’s) guest-spots on those series and enjoy them highly. As far as Barbara’s movies go, I’m sadly far behind. (My mother liked trying to see them all. I’m not sure if she succeeded!) Last year we stumbled across her as the leading lady in the second movie about singer Al Jolson, Jolson Sings Again. She turned out a splendid performance as the nurse Jolson meets during World War II who later becomes his second wife.

I must admit, most of the movies Barbara has been in I haven’t even heard of. I’m looking forward to taking up my mom’s goal of attempting to see every one of them.

And of course, Della. It’s hard for me to imagine anyone coming close to Barbara’s wonderful performance as the faithful secretary. As Della Street, Barbara portrayed a beautiful, intelligent, and compassionate woman. Her first interest is always in Perry’s well-being and happiness, and she is always ready to handle whatever bit of investigating or secretarial work he has for her.

Although she is fully on the side of justice, there are quite a few times she indicates sympathy towards some of the murderers. Some of them, having killed in self-defense or by accident, are more deserving of her kind feelings than others. Paul usually expresses bewilderment or amazement when she professes such compassion during their conversations.

Sometimes Della’s helpful nature gets her into trouble. More than once in season 1 she ends up in hot water with the police and Hamilton due to some aspect of her investigating for Perry. And who can forget when she tried to assist Janet Brent in season 6’s The Weary Watchdog and ended up threatened with a charge of accessory to murder?

Showing how three-dimensional and human of a character she is, her sympathy is occasionally ill-placed. I, like Paul, have had some raised eyebrows over Della’s choices of pitiable criminals. Perhaps her strangest moment is in season 8’s The Sad Sicilian. The good-natured but incorrigible young fellow accused of murder is a thief and a liar. By the end of the episode he shows no signs of changing his ways, or of feeling rattled at all by his experience. Della is fond of him throughout the episode, she claims because he’s Italian. I don’t know; I think there’s plenty of Italian men more appealing than he. It’s possible Della felt more of a motherly affection for him than anything else, but she shows no signs of being bothered by his behavior or of feeling he needs to turn over a new leaf.

(The whole episode is rather odd, and to be honest, one of the few way down at the bottom of my list, but that’s a discussion for another time.)

Of course, in spite of any fleeting interest in characters such as that, it’s clear that her deepest feelings are saved for Perry. They have a close bond, whether or not one chooses to believe they eventually confirm a romantic relationship. It’s often a random comment of Della’s that starts Perry thinking on the right path towards finding the murderer. And they have an entire series of silent signals and looks that they understand quite well between them.

Della and Paul are close friends too. They would have to be, to so smoothly and effortlessly engage in their innocent flirting and comebacks. The rapport between them and Perry as they interact is a joy to watch.

Less seen is Della’s interaction with the police or Hamilton. She seems to get along alright with all of them, in spite of any trouble she may end up in along the way. Although she can and sometimes does adopt a very cool tone of speech if she is displeased with the way they are handling some things. It’s difficult at times to really gauge what her feelings are for any of them. But it’s hard for me to believe that she doesn’t hold some level of fondness for them, due to the looks she sometimes shoots at them (and especially at Hamilton). It could be Barbara herself slipping out of character. Or it could be a mysterious side to Della we were sadly never given the chance to really see.

Della is a strong woman. Throughout the many tense situations she and the others end up in, and even when discovering many bodies with Perry, she rarely loses her cool. She does panic and exclaim in horror when she is alone to discover the body in The Reluctant Model. And when Paul is brought to death’s door in The Carefree Coronary, Della delivers the news to Perry while breaking down in tears.

She will not tolerate slurs and false accusations against her loved ones. When things look bad for Perry in The Dead Ringer and his client is ranting against illegal actions that Perry supposedly (and didn’t) commit, Della and Paul become visibly angry and staunchly defend Perry’s integrity. And when the robbery sergeant is frustrated and confused over Perry refusing to press charges on a juvenile who very likely helped to strip his car in The Twice-Told Twist (because Perry hopes to resolve things without bringing a life-damaging felony charge on a minor), Della lets the amazed sergeant know that even though it will be costly repairing the car himself, Perry doesn’t put a price tag on his conscience.

Della has a gift for interacting with children, another something I wish we had seen more of. The way she easily talks with the little boy in The Deadly Toy and makes friends with him is adorable. And she bonds so beautifully with the baby in The Borrowed Baby. As much as I have little interest in personally reading or writing stories where she and Perry finally get together, I do like to think that eventually they do, and Della gets to have the children she longs to have. Judging from Perry’s surprising and adorable interaction with a baby in The Deadly Toy, he would make a wonderful father.

Though I also have little interest in the Perry Mason reunion movies and can’t bring myself to consider them absolute canon, I do thrill that audiences got to see the beloved characters of Perry and Della shine in new adventures twenty years after the end of the original television series. The TV movies brought in some new fans, both young and old, who then went on to explore the other facets of the franchise.

On the 50^th Anniversary DVDs, there is an interview with Barbara where she is asked (approximately) how much like her Della is. She said that they really weren’t much alike; for one thing, she is a practical joker and Della definitely is not. I can’t picture Della going in for that sort of thing, it’s true, but she certainly likes a gentle tease when she gets the chance. She often teases Paul, and even occasionally Lieutenant Tragg (who may or may not have a crush on her, age difference notwithstanding).

Barbara’s website has a Guestbook where visitors can drop by and leave comments (using the password “Della” to prove themselves genuinely interested and not spammers). I suggest that everyone who reads this post head over there today and add a Happy Birthday comment. I’m intending to do so right now. Barbara, here’s to more happy years to come!

http://www.barbarahale.com/guestbook/guestbook.html

In Memoriam: William Hopper

My gosh, I feel horrible about this. It’s still the 6^th where I am, but just barely. I feel like I’ve done William Hopper a grave disservice by not getting this up in the morning or afternoon. That was my original plan; however, due to the way I shuffled all my projects around, it ended up like this instead. And by the time I finish writing this and post it, it will probably be the 7^th.

Anyway, this is a memoriam post for William Hopper. Born into a socialite life due to his extrovert and famous mother Hedda Hopper, William H. really wanted to go into a career other than acting, and tried more than once.

Rather than rebellious, he was shy, and felt much more at home away from the Hollywood spotlight. When he became an actor, as he said, because it was expected of him and was the easiest thing for him to go into, he did not like it. His parts were usually small, but that was just fine as far as he was concerned.

He served in underwater demolitions during World War II, returning home a hero after being injured in the Philippines. He tried being a car salesman for a while, which he said he was not good at. He returned to show business in 1953, beginning to appear on television as well as in the movies. It was during a live television performance that he at last was able to begin to overcome his anxiety of performing.

He had appeared in countless movies and some TV shows by the time he auditioned for Perry Mason. He tried out for the role of Perry himself, as well as for Paul. Watching those screen tests on the 50^th Anniversary DVD set is very interesting. He certainly does a good job as Perry, although I feel that placing him as Paul was the most ideal choice. He felt the same, and said as much in subsequent interviews.

Another of the most interesting and fun things available for Perry fans on the 50^th Anniversary set is a clip from the game show Stump the Stars, a sort of charades game. Raymond Burr, Barbara Hale, and the Williams appeared on it around 1963. It’s one of the only things available for fans to see how they interacted out-of-character, and it’s a true delight. The camaraderie and close friendship that they’ve each spoken of in interviews is very visible. And some of the comments as they try to guess each other’s assigned charades are hilarious. After Barbara makes one amusing quip about what Raymond’s charade might be, (“The Case of the Nose!”) William H. good-naturedly swats her on the shoulder.

Barbara Hale has said that she thought of the Williams and Ray Collins as “the boys” and they all treated her like a younger sister.

I can’t remember who said this, but William Hopper and William Talman shared a dressing room. They both said that they got along quite well (claiming they never had a disagreement, in fact). That makes me regret all the more that there were not more scenes between their characters on the series. It was definitely a missed opportunity; I’m sure their interaction would have been delightful to see.

In any case, William H.’s interaction with Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale was always wonderful. Perry, Della, and Paul were a trio of friends, out to solve the most complicated cases possible. And somehow, they always managed to succeed.

Paul Drake’s interaction with the police characters was very varied and interesting. With Tragg there was usually a sense of tension, no matter how friendly Tragg appeared on the surface. With Andy there was usually, but not always, a more relaxed atmosphere. As previously noted, Paul seemed to get along best with Steve. I wonder how William H. and Richard Anderson got along in real-life.

(And speaking of Andy, after watching The Careless Kitten again and seeing the context in which Paul was delivering his unfinished comment, I wish he had been allowed to complete it. It almost looked like he might have actually been going to say, “There’s nothing Andy likes better than to stay on top of things” or something similar. If he had been allowed to finish his thought, and it had been along those lines, it would have been the explanation I was complaining there wasn’t. Hamilton tried to explain something along those lines in his awesome scene, talking about the police department’s opinion in general, but it would have been compounded and more understandable if Paul had been able to explain more precisely about Andy in specific.)

Always content to play the sidekick rather than the lead, William H. departed this life March 6^th, 1970. (Forty-two years ago. . . . How does the time go by like that?) He is greatly missed. And he will always be remembered as our Paul Drake.