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.

More recurring characters!

The Buried Clock isn’t an episode I watch often, so when I do, I seem to find some surprises!

When Perry talks to his client on the phone near the beginning, the show employs a tactic it rarely uses: a split-screen. It’s a fun way to see both ends of a conversation at once, but I believe Perry only used it two or three times, if not just this once. It’s definitely surprising, even jarring, to see it on this show, as its lack of usage makes it seem somewhat out of place. Still, it’s a change from the regular way telephone conversations are shown, and it’s fun to have a change.

Also, when the sheriff wanders in, Perry greets him as though he knows him. That intrigued me enough that I decided to find out if both he and the district attorney are the same characters from season 1’s The Angry Mourner. I knew that Paul Fix’s D.A. always had a preference for bow ties, but I was thinking I’d learned that his guest-spots did not all revolve around the exact same character.

Apparently I was wrong. The character in The Angry Mourner, The Buried Clock, and two other episodes (The Barefaced Witness and The Potted Planter) is always called District Attorney Hale, albeit his first name changes from Darwin to Jonathan. Perhaps they’re twin brothers!

As for the sheriff, he bears the same name in the two early episodes, Burt Elmore, but the actor changes from James Westerfield to Robert Foulk. The latter actor also plays a different law-enforcement character in Paul Fix’s final episode as Mr. Hale.

As I’ve often said, I love continuity in old television shows, especially since they often didn’t have any. I’m rather excited to discover more recurring characters, even if one of them changed actors and the other changed first names! They’re apparently meant to be the same people regardless. And I believe they’re the only (or at least, the first I’ve discovered) out-of-county recurring characters! Sergeant Landro doesn’t count, as he’s in the county, just not the city.

Personality-wise, I’ve usually remembered Paul Fix’s district attorney character by the fact that he’s played by Paul Fix rather than that he had a particularly unique way of handling things. The more I think about it, however, the more it seems to me that he not only did a fine and professional job, he did put an unusual spin on his prosecuting. He seemed to add a bit of a calm, small-town, Mayberry-ish flair instead of being very out-and-out forward and blunt and raising his voice. I’ve meant to watch the uncut Barefaced Witness sometime, as I have the feeling the television version may be one of the most chopped-up of the series, so perhaps this will give me the added push to actually do it. I’ll pay close attention to Mr. Hale and see how he comes across.

From what little I saw of the sheriff in The Buried Clock, he seems to be a fairly friendly sort and on good terms with Perry, which is rather interesting and not always usual. I’ve never seen either The Angry Mourner or The Buried Clock uncut, either, so I believe I shall embark on that quest to see more of what the sheriff is like.

And tomorrow MeTV reveals the complete Fall schedule! I’ve been anxiously waiting for it for several reasons. I’ll be sure to report on any changes that will affect Perry or other projects of interest to Perry fans, such as Ironside. I would love to see Ironside return, either in the morning or following the nighttime airing of Perry. I would also love to see the morning Perry airing return, but given the choice, I would rather keep Cannon and Kojak and have one of them fill the slot. I know they’re leaving the Sunday block and I’m afraid they’ll both be booted instead of moving elsewhere.

Tentatively I’d say that the most we can probably hope for is that MeTV will at least keep the nighttime Perry airing as they have hitherto done. It seems to be a staple of the station, as its weekday afternoon Westerns are. Hopefully it will stay that way. MeTV’s prints are certainly less chopped-up than Hallmark’s, and for me, MeTV is the only way to see all of seasons 7, 8, and 9 on the television since my local station has eliminated so many episodes from its run.