Birthday Tribute: Karl Held

Well, it’s another September the 19^th, which means it’s time for the most controversial post of the year: the birthday tribute to Karl Held!

I believe it was last year when someone finally explained to me the other main reason why Karl’s David Gideon character is so disliked. As I recall, it’s because the character has a tendency to sometimes act like he knows it all and/or tries to explain things that don’t need explaining? The person mentioned some occasions where he explains some things to Della and she has an expression like, “You don’t have to lecture me, David.”

I’ll agree that David does have those moments. And admittedly, I know some people in real-life who are like that. They are quite annoying. But on the other hand, I’m honestly a bit amused by them, because in general, they really aren’t trying to do anything wrong. They’re just sharing their enthusiasm and maybe letting it get a little out of hand. They don’t even really stop to think that maybe they don’t need to say this or that. So even that reason doesn’t make me dislike the character.

However, this much I will say: the commenter also noted that David does not act like that in The Grumbling Grandfather, in spite of his idolization of Perry. I do think it’s rather a pity that they changed the characterization in season 5, instead of sticking a little more with what the character was to begin with. Perhaps he wouldn’t be nearly universally disliked if they had taken a more season 4-influenced path and kept the character more as he was in his first appearance.

But regardless, it certainly wasn’t Karl Held’s fault that the characterization was altered. He just worked with the material he was given. Apparently those moments were actually in the script. I suppose perhaps delivering the lines differently could have made some level of difference, but maybe it was the director’s choice and not Karl’s to deliver the lines the way he did. There just isn’t enough information on that period of Perry to really judge what happened.

I wonder if anyone has ever even interviewed Karl about his time on Perry? It would be interesting to get the story from his point-of-view.

I still haven’t quite found a place for David in my Perry stories. I used him in The Case of the Spiteful Spirit two years ago and that is the only appearance he’s made in my official timeline. The Lux Aeterna stories on Livejournal remain nebulous as to whether they’re part of the official timeline. So as far as the official timeline goes, I have never explained where David disappeared to. Since I say that other characters who have disappeared onscreen are still around, however, perhaps David is just busy with law school and is still in Los Angeles, instead of leaving it as I said in Lux Aeterna.

While looking over the previous birthday posts, I saw I had an idea for David to maybe appear now and then, bringing Perry interesting problems that could sometimes turn into new cases. Perhaps I will use that idea for the next mystery story, if I continue the series after The Nefarious Necklace. I just hope that if I do decide to use David as a main guest-star in a story, that fact alone wouldn’t make a lot of readers decide not to bother reading!

It would have been neat, as I’ve said before, if there had been more canon scenes of Perry mentoring David in the ways of the law. Perhaps it could have been more like Perry’s relationship with Ken in the movies. Of course, I imagine that even if David’s characterization had been handled better, viewers wouldn’t have liked if the series had followed him to the end of his law school studies and had Perry take him on as another lawyer in the firm, as he did with Ken. That definitely would have changed the scope of the series a bit, probably unfavorably. I doubt I would go that route in my stories, but I would like to do some of the mentoring scenes. I will also likely try to characterization David a little more like in The Grumbling Grandfather.

I was a little worried that some readers might mistakenly think that the mechanic character in Necklace is supposed to be David and that he failed law school, but since there are many guest-star characters on Perry named David, I figured I would let it slide. The character is called David for a reason, so I didn’t want to try to find a different name that would work just as well. However, I did realize, much to my chagrin, that I accidentally started a pattern once I gave the character a surname. Both Davids have first and last names of Biblical characters: David Gideon and David Solomon! Oh well, it works.

As before, I feel that David Gideon is a character who had a lot of untapped potential. I’m glad that Karl brought him to life and gave it a good try for those nine episodes. I hope he has a very happy birthday!

Birthday Tribute: Karl Held

This must be the week of unpopular opinions, because today is the 19^th and it’s time to talk about Karl Held again!

And oh snap. I was just looking him up to make sure he’s still alive (he is; he’s 83 today!), and it said his wife just died this year. Gah. That is so sad. They married in 1964, which is awesome, but now he must be so lonely and sad without her.

Karl is unfortunately quite unpopular among Perry fans. If disliking The Jaded Joker is almost universal, disliking David Gideon seems to be even moreso!

Honestly, I think people are hating on the wrong character. David is a nice boy, despite getting sidetracked for a while and taken in by a femme fatale’s wiles. But Karl’s first Perry character, son of the titular Angry Dead Man, is really a piece of work.

I ordered some things on Amazon recently, and among them was the second half of season 4. I’ve been wanting that for over three years to have the uncut version of The Misguided Missile. Finally, it’s mine! All the Simon scenes are intact and I can watch them any time I want!

I have been watching the episodes I’ve never seen uncut before I go on to my beloved Misguided Missile. The first one I tried was The Angry Dead Man. And of the ones I’ve seen on the set so far from the first two discs, it has the biggest chunks taken out of it on television!

I gave the television set one very long, blank stare when it showed the scene with Lloyd Castle reading about Willard Nesbitt’s death at sea and his receptionist Helen comes in crying. Later, Lloyd is with his secretary Jenny and they are apparently romantically involved. The television version, to the best of my recollection, eliminated all scenes showing Lloyd and Jenny’s relationship, including this one and about two others. Lloyd asks Jenny to marry him in one scene, and this is discussed in court in another scene.

Also missing is a scene right after Willard Nesbitt reads in the paper about the mine and realizes his wife’s being cheated. He runs inside and calls Perry’s office, using a handkerchief to muffle his voice as he talks with Della, pretending to be an IRS agent. When the conversation doesn’t go as he hoped, he hangs up and rushes out to break into the cabin and look for the contract. A short scene where Della talks about the phone conversation is missing as well.

And some of Karl Held’s screentime is also among what’s absent, albeit only a small portion. After he and his stepmother Eve take the luggage outside to go back to the city, the uncut version shows them loading the luggage and getting in the car to drive away.

Bruce Nesbitt is a strange person. In his first scene, he actually seems nice. He holds Eve as she cries over the news of Willard’s (first) death and later tries to bring her a drink. Later, however, he behaves very obnoxiously and disrespectfully, not seeming upset by his father’s death and jeering at his stepmother. He remains obnoxious for the remainder of his screentime, criticizing Eve to Perry on the phone and trying to insinuate in court that she was playing around and that his father wanted him to spy on her because of it. Perry points out that Willard was likely only worried for Eve’s safety.

One of the criticisms against Karl Held is that his acting is wooden. I honestly can’t see anything wrong with it here. He portrays Bruce as a very nasty, selfish, repulsive boy who seriously resents his stepmother and seems indifferent about his father. If Karl’s acting was truly wooden, I doubt Bruce would be so despicable. I also doubt that David would seem much different from him.

But David is very different, and in mostly good ways. While he wasn’t always kind to his grandfather, he was nowhere near as terrible as Bruce, and he did improve. Thankfully, one complaint I’ve never heard against David is that he’s nasty, which is good since he isn’t.

David idolizes Perry and is eager to get back on track and finish law school. While naturally he makes slip-ups, I could really only find a couple in addition to the ones in his first episode. That’s quite different from what some of the fans will say, exaggerating that he’s “always” making mistakes!

There’s about three episodes where he offers helpful suggestions that move the plot along. The same role would have been taken by one of the other team members in other episodes, true, but this did give David something to do. And I thought it was good to have him try to contribute to the episodes instead of just being there like a bump on a log.

He also occasionally investigates, which may or not prove fruitful, just as it doesn’t always prove fruitful when Perry or Paul investigates. Now if David always had good luck, that might come off as more aggravating! Or if he always failed. Instead, as I recall, they seemed to try to have a balance, the same as with the other characters. And that, as far as I’m concerned, makes it fine.

I still wish they would have developed the idea a bit more of Perry teaching David the principles of the law. I really liked that angle. And honestly, David could have become a recurring character, popping in and out of the show perhaps once or twice per season, coming to Perry for advice or maybe even bringing a problem that would end up becoming the mystery for the episode. That would have been fun and perhaps the viewers wouldn’t have found him too intrusive.

Hey, maybe that’s how I could use the character in my stories, if I ever get The Malevolent Mugging finished and continue the mystery series. I also need to decide if I’ll be writing a Halloween Perry story this year. David might be in that if I do.

I’ve actually had an idle thought lately of making one of my screenshot music videos using the song Hallelujah (the Leonard Cohen song) and images from David’s episodes. Some things in the song definitely put me in mind of him, particularly his misadventure with the femme fatale. I don’t know whether I’d really make it, or if I’d post it anywhere if I did, but the idea does intrigue me (even if most people would detest it just for being about David).

David isn’t my favorite character, but I am proud to say I like him. I feel rather sad and puzzled that the dislike of the character is so rampant throughout the fandom. I’ve tried to understand why, but I just can’t seem to see what the problem is. I will agree that it probably wouldn’t have worked to have him there long-term, but since he’s around for only nine episodes, the dislike boggles my mind all the more. I guess it’s just one more of many ways that I am very unconventional.

In any case, I feel that Karl Held did a fine job bringing both Bruce and David to life and making them different as night and day. I’m happy he’s part of the Perry family and I hope he has a very lovely birthday!

Birthday Tribute: Karl Held

Today is Karl Held’s birthday! I hope he has a lovely day.

In trying to think of something fitting for a birthday post, I started pondering on my favorite episodes that feature David, and out of those, which have my favorite David scenes.

I enjoy David’s very first season 5 episode, The Missing Melody, for the plot, the guest-stars, and how David is brought into the script, with Perry and Della remembering him from the Grumbling Grandfather case. Continuity in classic television series is always a delight to behold, so it gives me a little thrill each time I watch this episode and see David acknowledged as having been around before.

Of course, one that I’ve cited before is The Renegade Refugee. True, that is the episode where David makes probably his worst slip-up, but he tries so hard to make it right. And I say he should be given credit for how quickly he listens to Perry and realizes exactly what his error was. A rebel he is no longer.

Also, often cut from the episode is one of the most excellent scenes where Perry defends Hamilton, when David is upset over Hamilton springing a surprise witness in court. Perry says that he and Hamilton are adversaries but not enemies, and says the system works so that each lawyer is pushed to be his very best.

David is very prominent in The Left-Handed Liar, being friendly with the defendant and even letting him stay at his apartment. David has an extensive encounter with Andy in that episode, which is exciting for being the first time Andy really has a long scene. But Andy doesn’t yet have his own dialogue, so he mostly sounds like Tragg all the way through it. A pity, since no one can carry that dialogue as well as Ray Collins, and since Wesley is deserving of having a separate speech pattern for his character.

I was, of course, wrong last year when I mentioned that David rarely does anything that really helps. Several episodes feature him having ideas that move the plot along in a positive way.

Of those episodes, my favorite is probably The Meddling Medium. It’s interesting to think of David knowing a parapsychologist. He’s the sort of fellow with whom Perry might be acquainted, since Perry knows such a collection of unique people from all walks of life. But, since the writers were trying to give David something to do, this time he is the one who knows the person and suggests that Perry make his acquaintance.

One of the most intriguing things about David’s suggestion is the fact that the person he recommends Perry visit was a real parapsychologist, Dr. Andrija Puharich. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrija_Puharich This marks one of only a couple of times when a real, living person is referenced on the show, and possibly the only time such a person is actually seen. (Perry mentions knowing Rod Serling in The Promoter’s Pillbox, but alas, Rod doesn’t make a personal appearance.)

I’ve been thinking for a long time about writing a sequel to The Meddling Medium, which would delve into several supernatural angles that I believe the episode hinted at but never outright said. I still think that Phillip eventually had contact with spirits and that was at least partially why he was so insistent at the end that he wasn’t a fraud, even while he was absolutely sloshed. Also, I realized that while I assumed that proving Bonnie has ESP would imply that she picked up the real murderer’s thought process, that was never actually stated. By proving she has ESP, the implication that she really channeled a spirit instead is just as strong a possibility.

I’ve thought of the story following my timeline (which is post-season 9), but on the other hand it seems more likely that it would take place shortly after the episode and hence, still be in season 5. It might be the perfect place to stick David in, as I’ve been wondering how I could fit him into a story other than my Lux Aeterna pieces on Livejournal. If I have it set during the season 5 period, that would also give me the opportunity to explore Tragg and Andy’s relationship a bit, and Andy getting to know the other characters, as it would be shortly after he becomes a main part of the cast.

This story is intended to be my main Halloween story for the year, and whatever the final plan where its details are concerned, I’m hoping to start work on it very soon now.

If I have David in it, I’m unsure of whether I’ll explore why he vanishes from the series in mid-season 5. In the Lux Aeterna stories, it’s mentioned that a friend of his grandfather’s invited him to stay with him to finish law school and get into a firm. But I’m not sure if I’ve decided that those stories are part of my main timeline. Regardless, I may ignore the mystery of David’s departure and just focus on him as the episodes did, leaving it off with him still around.

In general, although most of the David episodes do not inspire fanfiction story ideas, almost all of them are quite good and enjoyable to watch. I like The Posthumous Painter less than most of them, but it’s still a fairly good offering, and come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve seen it uncut yet. Episodes are always better uncut.

It’s funny that I never realized David appeared in out-of-town episodes until once I caught part of The Roving River. I still need to see that one in full, but from what I saw, it’s quite good too.

The Shapely Shadow I still have mixed feelings about (even though the plot is basically very intense and well-done), but I plan to see it again, and I hope that when I do, it will be the uncut version. I don’t recall taking issue with any of David’s scenes.

With several David episodes still having been viewed by me in only their cut states, I suppose some of the scenes people use to complain about him could be in the uncut versions only. But I’ve seen people complain about him using the cut versions alone, so I don’t imagine there’s anything even more frustrating in the uncut versions. In any case, I doubt there’s anything I personally would be particularly irritated about, and if there was, I further doubt that it would make me change my entire opinion on the character. I like David fine, and I’m happy that the writers tried to experiment with using him a bit, even if it didn’t quite work out in the end.

Happy Birthday, Karl Held! Thank you for your time as part of the Perry Mason family.

The Case of the Renegade Refugee (including missing scenes)

Happy Easter, everyone! In trying to come up with a subject that would be at least semi-appropriate for the day, I suddenly realized that I’ve never given The Renegade Refugee a spotlight post. (And I even forgot to include it in last year’s Easter post and had to add it later. Oy vey.)

Airing as part of season 5, The Renegade Refugee is certainly the most outright religious/spiritual episode the show ever did. Scriptures and prayers are quoted and a Franciscan retreat is a vital setting.

The episode opens with two intriguing and important facts: a Nazi war criminal is loose in a Los Angeles business, and a man named Harlan is very agitated and on the run. Someone is blackmailing him and a reporter is trying to find out where he served in WWII. Is he the war criminal? Or is there another reason for his anxiety?

Cut from the common syndicated version is an important scene that introduces us to all of the board members. Without it, the first time we see any of them is at the retreat, when Harlan greets one with, “It’s you.” Surely this has confused quite a few viewers. This episode is one of the ones that was cut up the very worst. That introduction scene should have been kept, but then again, so should some other scenes from later on. It seems like the episodes mangled the worst are always missing very important scenes, whereas some of the ones not cut up as badly are sometimes missing things not too important.

I imagine David haters are particularly irritated with this episode, as it’s the one where David tries to help Harlan when he comes to Perry’s office and Perry is still in court. When Harlan wants David’s help David is quick to point out that he’s not a practicing attorney yet, but he will do what he can. He suggests a few things to help Harlan with transferring his assets to his wife without her knowledge, culminating in David having a power of attorney form drawn up to give Perry the power to do what Harlan wants in Harlan’s absence. Unfortunately, David is unaware that he also needs to have Harlan write a letter detailing what he wants done, so the actions can’t be contested later.

Perry is so awesome with David, though. He’s very kind and patient as he explains the problem with what David did. He knows mistakes are made and he’s willing to give David another chance, knowing that David is a quick learner and won’t do it again. Maybe the writers didn’t always handle David the way that would have been best, but I still say it could have been pretty interesting if there had been more scenes like this between Perry and David.

David wants to make up for what he did wrong, so he hurries to catch Harlan and have him write the letter. Instead, Harlan blows him off and runs out, saying he’s going to take care of the problem himself. David finds a copy of a badly drawn map, presumably where Harlan’s off to, and David hastens to get Perry and catch up.

I have to wonder how anyone can find the retreat using that map. It’s so simple and badly drawn and bewildering. Basically it’s just a few lines and squiggles and a “Here” sign. How does anyone know where the lines and squiggles are without more details and names and places?

But Harlan somehow finds the St. Francis Retreat, discovers the other board members and that reporter are there, and is approved to stay there for the weekend by Father Paul.

Around here, another very vital scene is clipped. He and Father Paul talk at night about Harlan’s agonized feelings and Harlan admits he’s come there to kill a man. He thinks that surely Father Paul won’t still allow him to stay, but after a moment to digest the news, Father Paul bids him “Goodnight” and leaves.

When Harlan gets back to his room, he finds the reporter going through his things. They fight, until William Boyett’s character Buck Osborne comes in and chastises them with, “I don’t know what’s going on here, but remember where we are.”

The next time we see the reporter, he’s lying dead near the retreat and Perry, Paul, and David have found him.

I have to wonder why it took them so long to get up there. Were they doing other things before they could go or did it really take them that long to drive all that way? It surely couldn’t be that far away, because it’s still under the jurisdiction of the LAPD and not the Sheriff’s office.

As morning comes, Andy, Sergeant Brice, and other LAPD officers are milling around the retreat. Andy tells the group of businessmen about the murder and that they’ll be allowed to finish their weekend retreat, but then they’ll be escorted back to the city for questioning. He also tells Father Paul that he’ll need to leave a couple of police officers there, but he’ll see to it that they don’t get in the way. Father Paul is grateful.

Under Perry’s prodding, Harlan finally reveals the reason why he was running: he was an American soldier in WWII who ran in cowardice at the Battle of the Bulge. He was hurt by a mortar and left for dead, but woke up, exchanged dog tags with another soldier, and fled. He breaks down as he recites his name, rank, and serial number.

I love how compassionate David is towards him. Back at Perry’s office, Della comments that Harlan must have found it hard to live with himself. David tells her that to hear him, he had died a thousand times since then from his shame and guilt.

Paul goes to Washington to try to back up Harlan’s story. He only becomes further confused when he’s told that Lieutenant Philip Kuyper, which Harlan gave as his real name, was actually a hero and died saving another man.

Of course, Harlan ends up charged with the reporter’s murder. He also apparently embezzled $55,000 from the company. He insists he didn’t steal the money, even though the mysterious blackmailer tried to force him to do so, and that he didn’t kill the reporter either. The blackmailer believed Harlan was the Nazi, which Harlan didn’t contest since he was trying to hide his own past.

In court, one of the other board members, Arthur Hennings, declares that he saw Harlan throw a rock into the bushes on the night of the murder. This leads to another missing scene, as David is upset that Hamilton pulled this surprise witness and testimony out of nowhere without Perry having a chance to know about it and prepare for it. Perry tries to explain to David that it wasn’t wrong for Hamilton to do that. (Perry himself has certainly done it many times to Hamilton!) Perry goes on to say that he and Hamilton are adversaries but not enemies and they’re both working for the cause of justice.

Paul, meanwhile, is still absent, tracking down two survivors from Philip Kuyper’s unit. Perry confronts Harlan about his identity and Harlan insists that he is Philip Kuyper. He wonders if Perry doesn’t believe him but later muses that it sounds as though Perry does. Perry insists that he is examining every bit of evidence in this case as though Harlan is innocent. He says that Harlan should not have to pay the price for his past mistakes by taking the blame for a murder he did not commit. He sets out to try to get Harlan an extension on his self-imposed debt.

Perry drives out to the retreat, where he talks with Father Paul. Father Paul tells him the story of St. Francis of Assisi and how he sees parallels between that and Harlan’s desire to pay his debt. Perry asks Father Paul about the Nazi war criminal, whom Father Paul must know. Father Paul insists he can’t reveal the man’s name, but Perry says what he wants to know is whether the man will tell the truth if Perry gets him to realize that he is holding Harlan’s life in his hands.

In court the next day, Perry cross-examines Arthur. When at last he recites part of St. Francis’s prayer (“For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned. And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life”) and asserts that Harlan is innocent, Arthur is deeply moved. Holding his crucifix in his hands, he finally admits that he lied about Harlan and the rock because of being blackmailed by someone who realized he was the missing Nazi. He insists he would not have lied if he hadn’t believed Harlan was guilty and says he isn’t afraid any longer to admit to his true identity.

With this problem solved, Perry proceeds to uncover and identify the real killer, Denver Pyle’s Emery Fillmore, who breaks down on the witness stand when cornered. He admits to a confrontation between him and the reporter and that he struck the reporter, who had figured out not only the Nazi’s identity but that Emery had framed Harlan for a robbery and had embezzled money to invest in the company through a supposedly inoperative small company that he owned. Emery gets up amid orders from the judge to sit down, crying out that everybody should have thought it was an accident. He then collapses in tears exclaiming he’s so sorry.

The epilogue finally solves the mystery of what actually happened to Harlan and who he is. He is willing to turn himself over to the authorities on having run during the war, but Paul brings in one of Philip Kuyper’s friends, who immediately identifies Harlan as him and tells him that while everybody ran, it was only Harlan who ran in the right direction, to pick up a wounded man. They were both blasted by the mortar and thought dead. Harlan suffered a concussion and shock and could only remember running, which he could only equate with desertion. For fifteen years, he has been paying a debt that didn’t even need to be paid. Now, he is free at last. “Welcome home, Philip Kuyper.”

It’s one of my favorite episodes, not only of season 5, but of the entire series. I love the religious/spiritual content and the truth about Harlan’s past. It’s an episode that always encourages me and buoys me up. I just wish it wasn’t so cut up on television!

Birthday Tribute: Karl Held

I’ve been waiting a long time to do this post. Today’s date made for a perfect opportunity, so I’ve been planning to do it now for weeks.

Karl Held was born September 19^th, 1931. He’s one of the few cast members still alive today. Awesome. Happy birthday, Karl!

As previously noted, he may very well have been the Perry actor I was first aware of, as he had a small part as an FBI agent in the classic Disney comedy That Darn Cat! It was that movie that started me on a journey to find other old, live-action comedies by Disney and others, and it certainly played a part, to some extent, in sparking an interest in old television shows too.

Aside from that, and observing Karl in various guest-spots—such as on Sea Hunt—Perry is the main thing I’ve seen him in. He had a well-known role on the soap opera Falcon Crest for three seasons, but as I don’t tend to watch soaps, I doubt I’ve ever seen him there. I’m sure he did an excellent job, however!

I still really wish I could find Ready for the People. Karl Held’s character works for the prosecution in that, an intriguing switch. And Simon Oakland is the prosecutor!

I don’t know whether the ill feelings many Perry fans hold towards Karl’s main Perry character extend to the actor as well. I would hope not. And honestly, I feel that the harsh and negative views on David Gideon are unfair and his character’s faults exaggerated.

I can’t quite tell whether David is really disliked by the majority of the fanbase or if it’s just that his haters are among the most vocal fans. And naturally if someone is merely rubbed the wrong way by the character for a legitimate reason, that’s different. Some personalities don’t mix well. But when things become blown out of proportion, I do have to scratch my head and wonder.

I specifically studied David’s scenes as my local station went through season 5 again, looking for all of the evidence that the haters claim is there. To some extent, yes, it is. But some I couldn’t find much trace of. And most of it really doesn’t seem like grounds to detest him, even if true.

One charge against David is that he’s a virtually useless character who doesn’t do much. There’s no place for him in the series. True?

Admittedly, he doesn’t really do much. The great majority of the time, he’s along for the ride and his part could likely easily by filled by Paul (who is sometimes also there). But as for hating him because of it, well, it’s not even his fault. The writers are to blame for not using the character as well as they could have.

EDIT: There was at least one occasion where they tried to be more inventive, in The Posthumous Painter. David is aware of the device they can use to test the paintings and see how old they are, which becomes a key plot point. I suppose they could have had Paul or Perry mention it, especially since at least Perry is also aware of the device's existence, but it was nice to give that bit to David. I knew about this episode, and had seen it prior to writing this, but of course only belatedly remembered. Hmm, I think it works better when I write an entry over a couple of days instead of all at once....

It’s been mentioned to me that William Talman commented on how Gardner’s original characters took up the somewhat stereotypical roles in legal dramas—the defense attorney, the loyal secretary, the private detective, the district attorney, and the policeman. And it was further pointed out to me that David doesn’t occupy one of these roles and therefore, doesn’t fit into the formula.

Of course, my usual attitude is To heck with the formula! I think some elements of it could have, and probably should have, been played down or eliminated over time. But, objectively, examining things in that way doesn’t leave much room for David, it’s true. The stereotypical sidekick role, which could be taken by a young law student, is filled on Perry Mason by Paul as well as Della. And when David attempts to actively help with a case anyway, he ends up taking scenes away from Paul by investigating things instead of Paul. Which, I imagine, invokes the ire of Paul fans and fangirls. Perhaps not unreasonably, but still.

Then comes the issue of claiming that David is always screwing up. And here’s where I really get confused. I did believe the haters’ words on this at first, but after reviewing the episodes, I found hardly any of it. Unless, of course, some such scenes have been cut, which is always possible.

Discounting his first appearance, where he was tricked by a femme fatale and met his idol Perry for the first time, I could really only cite The Renegade Refugee as an instance where David made a glaring mistake. While trying to help Harlan Merrill, who is panic-stricken and wants to get his affairs settled as soon as possible, David suggests various options for his situation and at last hits upon the idea of giving Perry the power of attorney. He forgets to add that Harlan also needs to write a letter with specific instructions for Perry, so that his desires can’t be contested as mere hearsay later.

Honestly, I’m more than willing to give the guy a break. He was just trying to help, after Harlan specifically asked him for help when Perry wasn’t there. He didn’t for one minute pretend to be a practicing attorney, either; he made sure to tell Harlan he wasn’t one, yet. And he tried to rectify the damage after Perry pointed it out to him. It wasn’t his fault he couldn’t get Harlan to hold still and come back when he found him again.

I suppose some people might say David also screwed up in The Malicious Mariner, where he fails to learn much from a suspect and ends up rather drunk for his efforts. But Paul doesn’t always succeed in getting information, either. Some suspects are stubborn. Who knows whether he would have done any better in that affair?

I think some of David’s haters dislike him merely because they feel he’s an intruder or because they don’t like some young kid hopping into the cast. This may even really be the main reason, and also be why they sometimes magnify David’s faults beyond the truth. I’ve seen it before, time and again. Scrappy-Doo, anyone? And, for anyone aware of Japanese anime, Chibiusa/Sailor Chibi Moon? The exact same arguments are levied against those characters.

You know, the ironic thing about Scrappy-Doo is that, back in the late 1970s when he was first added to the Scooby-Doo cast, he saved the show. The formula was wearing thin and they needed to try something a bit different. Hence, in came Scooby’s nephew Scrappy. And that garnered enough new interest to keep it going. Nothing else changed.

Of course, some would say that the addition of the sixth cast member did entirely alter the show. I disagree. They still solved mysteries. The ghosts were still fake. Scooby and Shaggy were still terrified. The only real differences were that Scrappy was eager to charge ahead and could never believe that Scooby was really a big coward. Actually, I think Scrappy’s presence added a whole new dimension to Scooby. It’s intriguing, seeing him try to look out for his nephew and keep him out of trouble despite his own fears.

That all being said, I don’t necessarily prefer the episodes with Scrappy. I just feel that the hatred against him is blown way out of proportion and is quite ridiculous.

And I feel the same for David. There was some character potential there. It wasn’t ever quite tapped—again, because of the writers, not David himself. I like the idea of Perry mentoring a young law student who idolizes him. That could have been very interesting and character-developing for Perry. One of my favorite scenes between them is when David rants about Hamilton in The Renegade Refugee and Perry tries to help him see that Hamilton isn’t the bad guy. Oh, why does this scene so often have to be cut for commercials? Sigh.

The problem was, the writers were trying to keep the standard formula rolling while trying to figure out what to do with this new character, and they couldn’t quite make it all fit. Good or bad, people don’t like seeing formulas get changed, much of the time. If David had stayed with the show, and/or if the writers had tried to change the formula to get him to better fit, would he have cost them viewer interest?

I honestly have no idea. And I don’t think there’s any way to know for sure. I only know that some viewers, at least, didn’t like the formula of always having Perry win, but that’s a rant for some other time. The point is, maybe some tweaks in the formula, even with David, wouldn’t have rattled most of them up too much. Some viewers would have no doubt been lost, as probably happened whenever any real casting change was made, but others would have stayed. And new ones would have come aboard.

Anyway, in the end, David is only there for what, nine episodes? It kind of boggles my mind that people can hate on a character so much who was there so seldom.

An ironic note: Karl Held played a different character in his first Perry appearance, one who seems far more aggravating and obnoxious than poor David ever was. That fellow, in The Angry Dead Man, is very disrespectful and unkind to his stepmother in some of his scenes, and I can't recall if he ever actually shows his good side.

David may have gotten off on a bad path in The Grumbling Grandfather, but he tries to turn his life around and make something of himself. He’s basically a good kid. He’s young and he’s still trying. Yes, he’ll make some mistakes. And maybe he’ll be a bit over-confident. But that doesn’t make him horrible, only human. And he doesn’t give up. I like to think that he makes it through law school and becomes a good attorney in his own right.

Karl did an excellent job portraying two extremely different characters.

I wish there could have been an actual send-off for the character, even so much as a mention, instead of having him fade into obscurity after The Shapely Shadow. He is a part of the Perry cast, like it or not, and he deserved better than he got. But alas, it was common in those days for characters to quietly slip away. Tragg and Andy both did as well.

Next week, weekday posts should resume their spot on Thursdays. This weekend post will be a celebration of the series overall, in commemoration of the anniversary of the premiere on September 21^st, 1957. I’m undecided on whether that entry will go up ahead of time. I may try to slip it in halfway, on the 22^nd.

Season 5 overview

Season 5 is the first full season after William Talman was reinstated as a regular cast member. I find it a bit sad that just when we got that back to normal, Ray Collins’ health declined and he could no longer be present all the time as he had previously been. I had been looking forward to seeing him and William interact again.

Season 5 is an experimental season in several ways. We meet two new supporting characters, one of whom stays and one who quietly fades out. Perry returns to his season 1 roots on occasion and performs some eyebrow-raising stunts, such as obscuring his client’s fingerprints on a car by getting a group of teens to push it after deliberately flattening a tire. (That is totally tampering with evidence. Hamilton Burger would have blown a gasket if he had found out.)

The most important thing that happens in season 5 is that we meet a fellow named Wesley Lau. In the second episode he portrays the defendant, Amory Fallon—a troubled man who is certain his wife is messing around with his partner in business. Amory is a good person, as is his wife, and by the end of the episode they have reconciled. The show’s staff apparently saw something they really liked in Wesley, as it was not long before he joined the cast as a regular. But instead of Amory Fallon, his character became the stand-in for Lieutenant Tragg—Lieutenant Andy Anderson.

Andy is an interesting character, although in season 5 he doesn’t branch out much into his own territory. The writers largely gave him dialogue meant for Tragg. I don’t know if that’s because they were just lazy or if they weren’t expecting Andy to stick around very long. Or both.

He is often seen working with Tragg on cases, appearing in some scenes by himself so as to lighten the work load on Ray Collins. In other episodes he is alone throughout (albeit often assisted by good old Sergeant Brice). It’s most unclear whether he is always an associate of Tragg’s or if Tragg, being older and more experienced on the police force, is training Andy.

He hasn’t fully established himself as a friendlier, more easy-going person in season 5, but again, that’s largely due to him not having his own dialogue. In some episodes there is some sense that he is just not as dogged as Tragg in pursuing Perry and Paul in their law-bending, but that doesn’t really come into play until the next season.

The other character we meet is someone we already met at the end of season 4—David Gideon. Introduced in The Grumbling Grandfather, David is young, impulsive, and a former law student. After his experience as a defendant in a murder case, he takes up law again. Perry let him study from his own books while he was in jail.

In season 5 David is still a law student. He hangs out at Perry’s office, reading books in the library and sometimes trying to help out on cases. He investigates various angles and sometimes ends up in trouble, one time even getting drunk for his efforts. He is an eager beaver, wanting to please and to help. He usually manages to do so.

David is not popular with fans, at least not that I’ve seen. The usual complaints are that he is annoying. What actually constitutes this opinion, I am not certain. I frequently see it when a character younger than the rest of the main cast is introduced, in any series.

I have nothing against David myself. I think he was portrayed quite realistically and that he’s fine as an occasional player. As a regular, perhaps the show would have got overly crowded with his presence and he would have worn out his welcome. But I feel a bit sad that he’s last seen around the middle of the season and then vanishes altogether, with not so much as a mention afterwards.

(I admit I haven’t found a place yet for David in my stories, but I’ve thought about it long and hard. Like it or not, he was important in the first half of season 5, and I don’t want to ignore that he exists.)

Interestingly and perhaps amusingly enough, his actor Karl Held later joined the prosecuting side of the law. He appears as an assistant to Simon Oakland’s prosecuting attorney in Ready for the People, which I wish so very much I could locate and watch.

Season 5 brings us several more adaptations of Erle Stanley Gardner’s books, which became scarce the last season or two in favor of many TV series-only plots. Perhaps the returning book influence is the reason why Perry reverts to some of that law-bending behavior that Hamilton and Tragg find so frustrating. It was a frequent occurrence in the books, to my knowledge.

It may also be because of these season 1 influences that Hamilton is not as friendly as he was in seasons 2, 3, and 4. In 4, of course, he was rarely around because of the scandal with his actor. When he was around, however, the episodes almost always included some of those wonderful scenes I love so much that show his growing friendship with Perry. Perhaps that was a bit of real-life sneaking through, with William Talman and Raymond Burr glad to see each other again. They were very close friends. I believe William even said that Raymond was his best friend.

In season 5 the characters very rarely share friendly exchanges outside of court, which is surprising after the previous three seasons. Of course, season 5 gives us The Traveling Treasure, which is not only one of my favorites of the season but of the series as a whole. It features Perry and Hamilton working together to solve the case, as they often do in the seasons that follow. Their interaction is quite relaxed and congenial.

There are only a handful of other season 5 episodes that have scenes such as this. Most of them occur before the halfway mark and The Shapely Shadow. While it certainly bears an intriguing and intense plot, this episode also marks what is probably Hamilton’s worst day in court. I gave this episode a more detailed post in the past, so I won’t reiterate it all now, but I will say again how I cringed and felt sorry for him when he grew desperate to save his case and ended up making quite a fool of himself in front of the jury.

I can’t help wondering if he smarted from that defeat for the rest of the season. It would certainly fit with how the friendly interludes are all but gone. There is really only one in the latter half of the season, in The Promoter’s Pillbox. Then he finishes out the season with The Lonely Eloper and a comment that Della actually deems “nasty.” Della rarely ever says anything about him, and since that is the only time I’ve ever heard her speak against him, it seems significant.

Of course, I should also mention that, in spite of things such as The Lonely Eloper, Perry and Hamilton's interaction in season 5 is not especially antagonistic, either. It seems rather static, oftentimes neither good or bad. As I recall, many season 5 episodes unfold without even a clash in the courtroom. Others have such clashes, but they are not like the episodes of season 9 that I complain about, the ones that seem to throw all character development to the wind.

Overall, I wasn’t fully sure what to make of season 5. There are episodes I absolutely love, such as The Traveling Treasure and The Renegade Refugee. There are episodes I consider more average, but I’m not sure I want to name them now, as I feel they deserve a second viewing before I pass judgment. And there are episodes I could do without, such as The Lonely Eloper. (Completely aside from Hamilton’s comment, the defendant and titular character really quite irritated me. Of course, maybe I’d be more lenient upon another viewing.)

Naturally every season has its ups and downs. Sometimes I felt that season 5 had more average episodes than some other seasons. But I could have been merely shooting from the perspective of not liking that there were so few friendship scenes between Perry and Hamilton. After all, since that’s what attracted me to the show in the first place, I can’t deny that I find those scenes among the meat of the series.

I am not certain what the general fan consensus is on season 5 and how they feel its episodes hold up in comparison to other seasons. I will be taking special note of the episodes the next time they come around on my local station. I’m curious to see if my opinions still hold true, as far as I’m concerned. As it is, right now there are four things I’m especially grateful to season 5 for bringing us, with a fifth as runner-up.

First, William Talman as a regular cast member again.

Second, Wesley Lau.

Third, The Traveling Treasure.

Fourth, The Borrowed Baby.

And fifth, The Renegade Refugee.

I definitely plan to make posts on all of these episodes, and other season 5 ventures, in the future. Meanwhile, I am even more grateful for what came next. Season 6, as regular readers probably know by now, is just about my most favorite season ever (with the possible exception of 2).