The Case of the Season Finales

First, a note. The tribute week will start this weekend, kicking off with a post devoted to guest-star Simon Oakland. And I’ve decided that the only thing I could really feel good about on the 30^th would be to make separate memorial posts for William Talman and Wesley Lau, both posted on the same day. I’ll just have to make notations on each post that they are one of two for that day, to try to ensure that everyone sees both posts.

Yesterday I started musing on the Perry season finales. Shows these days usually try to have especially spectacular and intriguing season finales, to keep people coming back for more. I’m not fully sure what the idea was in the past. It seems to me that old shows’ season finales are not always a great deal different or more spectacular from the other great episodes in the seasons.

Nevertheless, there’s certainly some on Perry that are better than others. I tried to sort it out in my mind and break it down from favorite to least favorite. I think for this post I will make a countdown, starting at the lowest number and working up to the one I consider the best.

9. The Final Fade-Out (season 9)

Well, this should come as no real surprise to anyone who’s followed my musings for a while. When it comes to what I personally want to see from Perry, this episode falls very short. I don’t consider it the best send-off for the series that they could have made.

However, trying to look at it objectively, the in-jokes are amusing (particularly the one about being opposite Bonanza) and it’s neat that crew members walked on and off the camera in bit roles. Having Erle Stanley Gardner as the last judge seen in the series is a nice touch.

I do think Hamilton deserved a chance to finally explode and rant after nine seasons of taking defeat from Perry, but the only way I can really appreciate the scene as filmed is as another in-joke. I like to think that Hamilton is really ranting about the treatment he received from the show’s writers, forced to lose to Perry again and again. Otherwise I’m just cringing, because the scene should have happened a lot sooner in the series if it was going to exist at all. In season 9, after all the character development for both Hamilton and Perry, its placement just doesn’t make sense. But season 9 sometimes did seem to forget said development; this episode certainly wasn’t the only instance of it.

Steve is adorable, if I remember correctly. The episode let him shine very well, which was one thing season 9 did right. The only thing I can really remember about his screentime here was him saying he had to escape from Hamilton’s office because of how Hamilton was ranting so much about feeling that Perry had tricked and humiliated him in court.

It was nice to see Hamilton struggle to apologize to Perry at the end. And I liked seeing Perry, Paul, and Della discussing their next case. That was a nice closing shot, showing things just as they should be. Perry’s defending the innocent, Della and Paul are assisting him, and Hamilton and the police are around to lend a hand. All’s right with the world.

8. The Mischievous Doll (season 8)

No, I’m not going to list the episodes backwards all the way through the seasons. It just works out that my least favorite finales are from the last two seasons.

The plot is very interesting and convoluted, with one kind of obnoxious and unladylike girl pretending to be her own double. And William Boyett has a bit part, which is always a joy to see.

I suppose what bothers me most about this episode is that it was Andy’s last episode and it really doesn’t treat him very well. He’s made a fool of more in this episode than in any of his others, I think. The whole scene with the fingerprints and the points of similarity had me cringing.

And it got me thinking. Of course every one of the police are trying to do their best, but Tragg is the one the writers seem to put in more embarrassing situations than the others. Andy is a bit harder to fool, but being young and perhaps a bit trusting and naïve, sometimes it happens. (It seems a bit odd and out-of-character when it does, too, since it’s so infrequent. I suppose the argument could go either that he was being out-of-character or just plain human, whatever floats your boat.) Although with Steve, presumably the youngest of them all, I think Perry only managed to show him up once, in The Vanishing Victim (an episode that really doesn’t represent anyone’s roles by season 9 very well). Steve is tough and hardcore and doesn’t get shown up or fooled easily.

7. The Lonely Eloper (season 5)

Well, I’ve discussed this episode a bit in the past as well. The gal who became the defendant seriously irritated me. She’s twenty but acts fourteen, as is canonically stated. But with the life she grew up in, I guess it’s not much of a surprise.

Then there’s Hamilton’s comment in court that Della deems “nasty”. I was both amused and groaning at it at the same time. As Perry says, “Nasty, but accurate.” Aside from the wild accusations Hamilton makes in the series, most of his comments assessing the various situations are quite accurate. By itself the comment doesn’t bother me much, but in a season finale along with an aggravating defendant . . . yeah, not such a great mix for me. I’d rather see Hamilton shine in a season finale, instead of having one of his not-so-nice moments (which seem to be plentiful in season 5).

The plot itself is fine and intriguing. I remember watching it years ago, particularly the scene of Andy with the suitcase and opening it to find the bloodied clothing wrapped around the murder weapon.

6. The Witless Witness (season 6)

Now we move to the episodes that I really have no problems with.

This is a very interesting one involving a fiercely honest judge who’s framed into a dreadful situation that makes it look like he bought his way into office. He and Perry have a very intriguing and amusing friendship. They don’t agree on interpretations of the law and seem to quite enjoy bantering over it.

One thing I was puzzled about is why Hamilton doesn’t express any reluctance to prosecute the judge. I would think that with the judge’s staunch reputation Hamilton would be an admirer of his, as he seems to be of the General in The Positive Negative. The only explanations I could come up with are either that he was reluctant and the scene just wasn’t written, or that he was skeptical that the judge was all he was hailed as being.

5. The Ugly Duckling (season 7)

The defendant is one angry girl. Usually the Perry characters in her type of situation, pressured by family into being something they’re not all of their life, tend to be quiet and withdrawn. This one’s got a bad temper. I would hate to make her angry.

I’m not much of a romantic person, as I’ve mentioned; I prefer friendships. But I do have a romantic side and I kind of love the pairing set up here. The guy is a scoundrel who starts to seem nice, then appears to be a wretch, and then is proven good when all is revealed. He only pretended to be a cad while trying to protect the defendant, whom he really had fallen in love with.

Also, Sergeant Brice gets a really good and chatty scene with Perry, and William Boyett has another awesome cameo. Overall, it’s a very good example of why the later Perry episodes should be appreciated more.

4. The Rolling Bones (season 1)

Season 1, being the season in which everything was highly experimental as the writers tested what worked and what didn’t, is not my favorite season, character-wise. But plot-wise it is excellent! And this installment is no exception. It also has one of my most favorite moments in all of season 1, when Perry and company realize the office is bugged. Paul thinks Hamilton would be capable of doing it, while Perry is adamant that Hamilton would never stoop to such a thing. I am very sad this scene is sometimes cut from reruns.

3. The Flighty Father (season 3)

A really fun episode involving two men claiming to be one girl’s father, and how Perry unravels the whole mess. The solution is intriguing and surprising, and the epilogue is highly satisfying. This is Perry in top form.

2. The Guilty Clients (season 4)

Well, my romantic side rears its rarely seen head again with this one. I just can’t get enough of this episode, with the divorcing and squabbling couple that apparently, thoroughly loathes and detests each other. And yet the guy goes to all kinds of lengths to protect his former wife when it looks like she killed the victim, and the girl breaks down in tears during court exclaiming that she killed him, when things go bad after her former husband is arrested. I love it. There’s a scene in Hamilton’s office too, and a bit of interaction with him and Perry. Always a plus.

1. The Lame Canary (season 2)

An intense plot, revolving around a wife’s fear that her husband is trying to kill her, and as I see it, the most perfect epilogue. All of the Core Five gather in Perry’s office to tie up the loose ends and mingle. More than just about any other scene, this depicts the whole lot of them as friends. As the camera fades out while everyone laughs at Hamilton’s cheesy joke, there’s such a happy feeling of it being so right. They have conflicts, and they don’t always agree, but at the end of the day they’re all still friends.

Which may be what The Final Fade-Out eventually tried to achieve in its epilogue. But I like how this one did it much better.

Now, aside from all personal preferences, which season finale would I select that best represents our show’s awesomeness? That is a tough call. Tentatively I would break it down between The Rolling Bones and The Lame Canary. The writing is just excellent for both, with intense cases, engaging characters, and the Core Five all getting some good scenes in. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen The Rolling Bones in its uncut form, but I might select it overall.

First encounters

Next week there will be a lot of tribute posts. And I’m kind of wondering how to do the ones on the 30^th, for William Talman and Wesley Lau. Should I combine the tributes into one large post? Should I post twice that day, with them separate? Should I post one of them on the weekend and one on the 30^th?

I realize that in May, I ended up doing a combined post for Raymond Burr and Lee Miller, but that was only because I found out about Lee Miller’s birthday while checking up on material for Raymond’s post. Otherwise, the posts would have been separate (and on the proper days, too).

I feel like I want to do the memorial tributes for both William and Wesley on the right day. But I’m concerned that if I post them separately, even if on the same day, the first one may get lost in the shuffle. On the other hand, if they’re combined in one post, I’m not sure that would allot the same amount of attention to each one either.

It seems a problem without a perfect solution. This is the first time I’m faced with it, as last year I was unaware that they passed away on the same day (sixteen years apart). And that is sad and eerie and uncanny to begin with, as they are two of my three favorites.

Thoughts, anyone? What seems the most respectful way to handle this?

While checking up on some of the recurring cast and their birthdays, I stumbled across this: http://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=7782 I’ve been on this site now and then; they have some fun and rare pictures for various character actors. The picture of Karl Held they have up suddenly made me realize something. There are certain cast members from our show with whom I was at least aware of for years before I was introduced to Perry. Karl is one of them.

I honestly can’t remember when my dad introduced me to The Student Prince, but I am positive it was before I ever saw Perry. I also think it was before I developed an independent interest in old movies and television. If so, Richard Anderson may very well be the first Perry cast member I ever ran across. The more I think about it, the more I am very sure that his character Lucas was my favorite character from the film.

Isn’t it strange, how that works? He was my favorite, but I knew nothing about the actor, and by the time I became reacquainted with him years later I’d all but forgotten that initial encounter. And yet he managed to once again become a favorite due to Perry, with me not remembering the first meeting until after the fact. The same thing happened with Simon Oakland (whom I first saw on Perry years ago and immediately liked).

I guess it goes to show that my preferences have never really changed much, even after all this time.

As for Karl Held, well, my maternal grandmother had this magazine about cats that I just loved to read and re-read. One segment talked about cat movies. Disney’s 1965 classic That Darn Cat! was mentioned and I was intrigued. In 1996 I looked for it at the library and found it. I watched it, loved it, and my interest in old movies was sparked. It was the first old movie, aside from animated films and The Wizard of Oz, that I deliberately set out to see. That led to many more Disney comedies, and from there, an interest in similar fun family films.

I also watched the old movies my parents selected with greater interest and decided to seek out some of the awesome-sounding television shows my mom had talked about for years. I became so entranced with the golden oldies that for a time, I actually preferred things being in black-and-white to color! I generally prefer color again now, but some things really do look better in black-and-white for the shadows and mysterious effects.

Karl Held appears in That Darn Cat!, as an F.B.I. agent assigned to trail the titular character because there’s reason to believe the kitty knows where a kidnapped bank teller is being held. While he wasn’t my favorite of those agents, I enjoyed his part. The scenes of the agents tailing the cat are among my most favorites in the film.

(And I didn’t realize Karl Held has such pretty blue eyes. I’ve only seen him in black-and-white stuff other than this, I think. And I haven’t seen the film again since becoming better aware of who Karl is. Man, he looks good in a fedora. Of course, people generally do. It’s such a cool hat.)

I find it kind of neat that a Perry cast member was in the thing that sparked my interest in old media. And I’m one of the very few people who honestly isn’t bothered by David Gideon, so that makes it even better for me.

Offhand, I also remember seeing Raymond Burr in A Place in the Sun years ago. I want to say it was before I saw Perry, but I’m honestly not sure on that. It probably was, though, because otherwise my parents probably would have talked about the irony of him playing a prosecutor, and I don’t recall such discussion. What I do remember, very vaguely, is thinking he was very good in the part.

Ray Collins I met prior to Perry because of my love for the Ma & Pa Kettle films. I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw him in other things too. I remember The Magnificent Ambersons being on television sometimes and catching snatches of it.

William Hopper I would have seen in Rebel Without a Cause, but even though I liked that film, I cannot bring his character to mind. I regret that. I should get the film out again and refresh my memory.

It’s very possible that I saw Barbara Hale in things before Perry, too. With William Talman and Wesley Lau it’s more unlikely, since their films are sadly more obscure for the most part.

I would tentatively say it’s slightly possible that I saw Wesley in The Alamo, if that film was on television at some point. It’s probably one of the two most commercially available of all of his films. Of course, I also saw him in I Want to Live!, but I think I first saw that film after seeing Perry. I wish I could remember for sure. It’s also possible that even if it was after, it was before I saw any Wesley episodes.

I want to say that I thought the main character’s husband was very cute, in spite of the character being a deadbeat jerk. If that happened, it was similar to how I immediately liked Simon and didn’t want his Perry character in The Frantic Flyer to be hurt, even though he was . . . quite a nasty fellow. Instead of just being completely shallow, I think it was more that the actors themselves appealed to me, rather than their specific characters in those productions. Their goodness shone through.

(Albeit every now and then, I do become downright fond of a specifically antagonistic character, if the personality intrigues me in a certain way. I am extremely fond of Emil Sande in The Alamo and feel sorry for him when he is killed while trying to defend his weapon stockpile that Davy Crockett and the others show up to take. But that is a ramble for another place. Maybe on the 30^th, hmm?)

The Misguided Model: The writers were not misguided!

Oh my goodness! I don’t know if I’ll actually post this a day early, but I’m typing it up on Wednesday because I just couldn’t wait to rave.

(As it turned out, I saved it . . . but have been delayed getting it up while watching Wesley Lau and Richard Anderson in various guest-spots. . . .)

The Misguided Model from season 9 is . . . oh wow. So, so intense. It has just claimed its spot as one of the very few episodes without Hamilton that I will jump at the chance to watch. Last year I watched maybe a third of it, while I was half-asleep, and then stopped it to look for one with Hamilton, as I specifically wanted one with him right then. This time, despite knowing he wasn’t in it, I wanted to watch it because of Steve being in it.

I also discovered I know the deputy D.A. who is in it. Remember my musing on The Impetuous Imp? He’s baaaack. Say hello to Deputy D.A. Bill Vincent, eager beaver extraordinaire. (Nobody corrected me to let me know he was in other episodes, so I suppose nobody else remembered. Hmm.)

This is a very different Perry episode. It opens with a starlet-hopeful and her friend arriving at her apartment and discussing the fact that she is being threatened by a shady character she knows. When the door is opened, a fist comes flying at Duke, her friend, and he begins fighting with the man attached to it. The fight ends with the intruder, Art Grover, being killed and Duke going into hysterics over the thought of turning himself in for it. He has a phobia of being locked up, so even though it was a self-defense killing he begs for his friend Sharon to keep quiet about it. She’s more than willing; she wants the body out of there, as any scandal will hurt her chances at becoming the spokesperson for the conservative White Snow company. Duke carts it into an alley, where a thief tries to pick the pockets and ends up arrested for murder.

Meanwhile, Duke goes to Perry and tells him in confidence about the fight. Perry urges Duke to turn himself in, but Duke continues to refuse, both because of his fears and because he’s trying to protect Sharon. Perry compromises that he will try to find out what has happened and whether the body has been discovered, but tomorrow he wants Duke to go to the police. Perry also promises he will not break the confidence.

Perry and Paul visit Steve at the station and learn about the poor fellow who has been arrested. Perry immediately calls Duke and tells him he has to turn himself in now, but Duke still refuses.

This puts Perry in a horrible moral dilemma, reminiscent of The Capering Camera but infinitely worse. He doesn’t want to betray the promise to Duke. But he can’t let an innocent man be tried for murder.

I have to admit, I squealed and really loved Perry in this episode. I have nothing against him, of course, and I love his compassion and his dedication to his clients and the truth. But his legal tightrope-walking does frustrate me. I’ve made that very clear. I just don’t believe the end justifies the means.

In this episode, Perry is just wonderful. He tries and tries so hard to get Duke to come clean, but when Duke absolutely refuses and then disappears, Perry knows he has no choice. He goes to the hearing as a friend of the court and admits to what he knows in the judge’s chambers. Steve also speaks up and reminds them of the things about the case that he didn’t feel added up, such as Art being killed with a blunt object but the defendant not having any such thing on him when the police caught him in the process of pick-pocketing. The defendant is re-booked on a charge of robbery and the search for Duke begins.

Here I must pause and ponder on two things.

Why is William Talman credited when he is nowhere to be seen? William was denied the honor of always being included in the cast list when he was re-hired in season 4. The Misguided Model is the only episode since season 3 where he is credited while being absent. I have puzzled on that before and have never found an answer.

Could it be that he was supposed to be in it? Or even that he had scenes filmed, but for some reason they were changed? Why?

What is Bill Vincent doing here again? His main purpose seems to be to get reprimanded by the judge for his flimsy case against the hapless defendant. Certainly the same thing has happened to Hamilton, even as late as season 9.

Is there any possible chance that the writers or the director or someone else in the crew decided to have a little compassion on Hamilton and make Bill Vincent the scapegoat this time instead? His case is much flimsier and the judge’s reprimand much stronger than anything I remember where Hamilton is concerned.

This is something else that will likely never have an answer.

I cringe a bit to see that Bill is still the same eager beaver from The Impetuous Imp. (Or possibly even moreso!) Poor Hamilton; he really has his hands full with this fellow.

It kind of seems that the stuff with Bill was meant to be a sub-plot in season 9. Unfortunately, a sub-plot that never quite went anywhere. Since they knew season 9 was to be the last season, they should have worked harder to develop this angle once they introduced it. It could have been really interesting, seeing how Hamilton handled this young and impulsive deputy D.A. with Hamilton himself being older and wiser than he was when the series started.

As I’ve been discovering, season 9 was very good to the police. Steve has many scenes again. He shines gloriously!

We find more interesting tidbits into various aspects of his personality. In his first scene, he greets a lady in the records department by calling her “Honey”, to which she flatly informs him that she wants to be called by her name, which isn’t Honey. Ouch. Ha, poor Steve. Hence we have the first time any of the main police have tried to flirt (unless we count some of Tragg’s comments to Della as flirting).

He listens in the judge’s chambers as Perry tries to explain about Duke killing in self-defense. He feels that an innocent man would not run, and says that when they find him, he will try to remember Perry’s fine-line distinction between murderers and killers.

Steve is hardcore on the job. He demands answers from Sharon and doesn’t believe her when she insists she doesn’t know where Duke has gone. He also is very unimpressed by her insistence on not wanting her chances for being the White Snow Princess to be ruined. He is so frustrated and unimpressed that he can’t even care to get the name right. Twice he calls it “Miss Snow Plow”. I laughed out loud. Priceless.

Rudy, the fellow who seems to be Sharon’s agent, is contacted on the phone by Duke and directs him to a cabin. Upon hearing that Steve doesn’t believe Sharon is unaware of Duke’s whereabouts, and that he won’t keep silent about her part in things, Rudy rushes out to tell him about the cabin in spite of Sharon’s protests. Once the deed is done, however, she doesn’t seem too bothered. She just goes to her mirror and tries out the crown from her costume, looking enchanted.

Paul, meanwhile, goes up to Seattle and finds one of Art’s old cronies. He comes back with some shakedown information that makes Perry start to doubt that Duke killed Art after all, as impossible as it sounds. Hearing about the standoff at the cabin between Duke and the police, Perry knows they must act immediately.

They rush to the studio where Sharon is rehearsing after being chosen as the White Snow Princess. She’s good at the part, no doubt about that, but she is anything but the pure person the company wants for the role. To get the rehearsal stopped and have her come with them to the cabin, Perry and company arrange to put a picture of Sharon with a much older man on the screen. (A tactic that made me raise an eyebrow, I’ll admit.) I’m assuming the picture was among the stuff that Paul brought back, as it’s what Art was holding over Sharon and threatening to reveal. Sharon sees it and any sweetness is gone. She demolishes all of the sample products behind her, throwing them to the floor as she screams and yells. Perry, Della, Paul, and Sergeant Brice come in and escort her out with them.

I was wondering why good old Brice wasn’t with Steve at the canyon. I still don’t know why, but I am terribly amused at his bit part here. He drives everyone up there and rushes the car past an officer without slowing down or stopping to explain. Sergeant Brice the speed demon! Who would have thought?

At the cabin, Duke is hysterical. He has a rifle, from which he fires warning shots at the police cars. He yells that he doesn’t want to hurt anyone. Steve, ducking behind his car with an officer, finally allows his stern cover to fade for a brief moment. “We don’t want to hurt anyone, either,” he says softly.

Oh Steve, I love you.

They try twice to get some tear gas into the cabin window, but fail. Perry and company then arrive and Perry pleads with Steve to be allowed to try to get Duke to give himself up. Steve doesn’t want Perry to do it, certain that Duke will try to kill him, but Perry proceeds anyway.

Duke does threaten to kill Perry, and gives him ten seconds to leave. Perry stands his ground and tells Duke how he’s figured out the case. Duke really fought with Rudy in the dark apartment. Art was already dead behind the couch. Rudy was an accomplice to the real murderer, who did not want Art to reveal scandalous truths. She had him killed and deliberately set Duke up as the fall guy.

Sharon immediately speeds off in the squad car, being the last one inside after everyone else gets out. Steve sends out an alert and she’s captured at the roadblock.

I didn’t like Sharon from her very first scene. I thought she was too consumed by wanting to be the White Snow Princess and that she didn’t really care about Duke. I softened when she insisted on how she felt indebted to Duke, but was immediately suspicious again when she didn’t seem bothered by Rudy telling Steve about the cabin. I was kind of glad my dislike turned out to not be unfounded. But gah, poor Duke. What an awful “friend.”

At least Duke has real friends like Perry and Della. The epilogue has them all planning to go out for dinner.

This is definitely one of the best episodes of season 9. And I daresay it’s among my overall favorites. There is just so much good stuff in here, from Perry’s moral dilemma to Steve’s scenes to the standoff at the cabin and Perry trying to talk Duke down.

The only thing I question is the reappearance of Art’s crony. She comes down to L.A. after saying she did not want to be further involved. I don’t quite understand her purpose other than to have more screentime. Unless she’s the one Paul gets that picture from (and I don’t recall that she was), she doesn’t really do anything.

But that’s such a minor quibble. This episode is wonderful!

The Golden Girls: A golden episode, a gold-plated bomb, or just plain weird?

I’m not sure who keeps making these mistakes, but The Golden Girls is another episode whose IMDB page said for a while that Hamilton was not in it. That has been corrected now (but not by me).

It’s another one I’m just getting around to now. And I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it before at all. Somehow I think my local station might have always skipped it, for content, even though of course it’s very mild. (My station is quite conservative, which I appreciate.)

When reading the summary last night, my eyebrows shot a mile high at the mention of what the Golden Bear club was and what it was parodying. I’ve already seen the episode of the recent detective series Monk that parodies/comments on the same type of thing, and I was displeased with how it was handled there, so I became leery of watching The Golden Girls at all. But the pull of seeing a new episode was too strong. That, and my hope that things would be handled tastefully, considering both the series and the time period in which it was made. To my relief, I was not disappointed.

(And I’m not trying to be a prude by not naming certain names, by the way. I simply don’t want people searching for such keywords to find this innocent blog instead, due to those keywords registering in a search from their usage in this entry. Or for Internet filters to block the blog due to picking up the keywords….)

The Golden Girls is based on season 1’s The Vagabond Vixen. Well, the remake episodes are hit or miss, as I see it. And sometimes they forget their place as season 9 episodes instead of season 1. That was another reason I was leery. There was one such season 1-ish moment where Perry was concerned, but surprisingly, really nothing with Hamilton or Steve.

The basic plot of the shakedown scheme and the not-so-innocent traveler remains the same. But everything around it is quite different. Instead of movie people, the partners locked in conflict own the Golden Bear club. Originally it was a respectable men’s club, but one of the partners has warped it into a place where girls prance around as “Teddy Bears” (instead of Bunnies. Yes.). The other partner is repulsed and horrified, but everything he has tried to do to stop it and regain his control over the operations has failed.

It’s the gutter-minded partner who first picks up the crafty hitchhiker. She’s just come from the beach and has a two-piece swimsuit on. She looks a bit apprehensive, but he says he’s been around girls all the time with less on than that. (Not in the club, though; seriously, the get-ups the girls wear in the club cover more than the swimsuit does!)

He stops for a pre-arranged meeting and goes into the building. Soon the girl hears gunshots from inside. She runs and finds his partner at a gas station. She pulls the same routine with him, wanting a ride, and he agrees. Seeing his antique gun on the car floor, she takes it.

The next day, she shows up at the club with a note from the first partner, written last night, saying to hire her as a Teddy Bear. The conservative partner is not pleased, but there’s nothing he can do about it for now.

And here I must pause and just shake my head in disbelief at the whole Teddy Bear concept. It’s so silly. And I’m sure the writers knew that; we’re probably meant to take it tongue-in-cheek. I fail to see anything that sultry about girls dressed as bears, even the way they do it on the show. And the costumes are so plain. I suppose that’s to give things a rustic air, in keeping with the club’s roots, but still. So silly.

Well, so as per the episode it’s based on, the first partner is found dead. And the second partner is later arrested, after having been blackmailed by both the girl and a repulsive character claiming to be a reporter. Eventually the hitchhiker’s blackmailing partner beats her up and takes most of the money she got when blackmailing the defendant for his gun.

And concerning the season 1-ish content: Perry and Paul go to see the girl after she’s been beaten up. Della is already over there with her, concerned after she called up terrified from the beating. Looking out the window, they see the police coming. Perry says that they’ll high-tail it out of there, with the girl’s luggage, and after she talks to the police she should come to Perry’s office.

I’m assuming Perry wants to get out of there because his client’s gun is in the girl’s bag. (At least, they think it is.) And that definitely seems like concealing/withholding evidence to me. I have to admit, when the girl vanishes and they discover she was picked up by the police, I felt it served them right for trying to withhold the gun.

Hamilton behaves very maturely in court as he questions witnesses and exchanges conversation with Perry, which is just how I’d expect to see him by season 9. When Perry exposes the key witness’s perjury, Hamilton has to put the girl on the stand, which he had not wanted to do at that time. (It’s not mentioned here as it was in the original, but perhaps Hamilton was hesitant because of her tender age and was hoping it wouldn’t come to needing her testimony.) She reveals that Perry has the gun in her bag. Hamilton is shocked.

The bag is brought and Hamilton goes through it. Not finding the gun, however, he does not explode as he probably would have in season 1. Instead, he looks to Perry in utter bewilderment and calmly asks if Perry removed the gun from the bag. Perry says No, and starts to realize that maybe they have the wrong bag. (Either that or the gun was switched to another one; it’s not expressly said.) Getting an idea of who the killer is and how to trap them, he calls Steve over for help. They go to the club to find the right bag.

As in The Vagabond Vixen, the culprit is a woman who loves the defendant. I think she’s his secretary, but I can’t remember if that was said, either. She breaks down and confesses when Perry puts on a show of having to get the gun even though it will surely convict his client.

Steve has some wonderful scenes throughout the episode. Even Sergeant Brice gets to do a little something, as he holds back some people from entering the dressing room during the climax. They are both prominent all the way along, and then the epilogue brings us some more of Steve’s palling around with Paul, which is always fun to see.

One thing I was particularly uneasy about where the episode was concerned was how the men would react to the club. I did not want to discover that at least one of them was a secret patron of the place or some such thing. The writers decided, in their tasteful way, to not really say one way or another. No one gives an opinion, positive or negative, aside from the guest-starring partners’ conflicting views. That was probably the best way to do it.

The closest anyone in the main cast came to offering an opinion is in the epilogue. Clay brings a copy of the Golden Bear magazine, which has been naughty since the one partner assumed control. Della comments that she didn’t think Paul would be interested in the thing. Paul then tells her that this is the first issue under the new-old format, where it has returned to being a magazine about California and the wilderness and wildlife.

Amusingly, he and Steve then engage in a bit of good-natured teasing as Paul discovers the centerfold. He reacts as though it’s a picture of a girl. Steve leans over and whistles. Della wants to see, and when Paul turns it around, it’s a sketch of a big furry bear, a “real” Golden Bear, says Paul. Ha!

During court, there is a point where Hamilton asks a witness if what the deceased did with the club and the magazine brought them out of bankruptcy (and phrasing it to indicate he thought it did). It’s denied. Hamilton, however, was just trying to find out the facts and did not really express an opinion one way or another either.

All in all, aside from that bit of season 1-ish/book-inspired material with Perry hoping to get away with the gun bag, I really enjoyed the episode. I appreciated how tastefully the subject matter was done and the way the writers chose to handle the cast’s reactions. Perhaps it’s not an episode I would like to watch over and over, but it certainly isn’t the worst of season 9, despite its oddness and tongue-in-cheek elements. And the core plot, underneath all the new twists, is very similar to The Vagabond Vixen. I find that interesting rather than an insult to the viewers’ intelligence, as I saw from at least one review.

Birthday Tribute: Richard Anderson

The weekday post is a day early this week to honor Richard Anderson on his birthday today! He was born August 8^th, 1926, and he is one of the few regular Perry cast members still alive today. That is awesome. Here’s to many more years!

I believe the first thing I ever saw Richard in was The Student Prince, years and years ago. It’s one of my dad’s favorite movies; the music really buoyed him up when he was feeling very discouraged one time. I didn’t know who Richard was at that point, but I did know I liked the character he played. His character, Lucas, is the leader of a corps and is probably the prince’s closest friend when he enrolls at the school to loosen up. I think Lucas may have always been my favorite character in the film.

I wish we could have heard Richard sing a solo in the film! The closest we get is when he and the fellow playing the leader of another corps at the university sing a duet about their favorite barmaid.

The next time I encountered Richard may very well have been on Perry. I’m still having trouble recalling exactly what I thought of either Steve or Andy years ago, but I’m pretty sure I liked them both a lot.

Of course, I love Steve now. I realized that he moved into the top tier of my favorite Perry characters, along with Hamilton and Andy. I’m not quite sure where anyone else fits on the scale anymore, other than that I still love all of the characters very dearly.

On that note, I realized that season 7's The Accosted Accountant is the only time where all three of my favorite Perry actors are present, even though Richard isn't playing Steve that time. It's one of my favorite episodes, for the intense plot, the Perry and Hamilton scenes, and the only time Richard interacts with his predecessor Wesley Lau.

It’s been very interesting observing the three main police characters and picking out their individual personalities. A lot of their dialogue could be interchangeable, it’s true, especially during season 5 when the writers weren’t sure what to do with Andy.

I’ve noticed that they didn’t seem to have much of that trouble with Steve. Right away, they established him as a by-the-book policeman on-duty and a relaxed, easy-going friend off-duty. I wish we could have seen him transition into things; season 9 opens with him already a part of the new Core Five and a very good friend of Perry and company. I would love to see his and Paul’s first meetings. It’s clear to me that Paul feels more at ease around Steve than he ever did around Tragg or Andy. And that fascinates me.

Over the years I’ve seen Richard in many things, some of which I’ve probably forgotten. More recently (last year) I saw him first in the second Kolchak: The Night Stalker movie, The Night Strangler, where he played the Big Bad, and in Scaramouche, where he played a good guy revolutionary. Although I’d like to see the latter again, I’m not sure I’m up to seeing his poor character die any time soon!

Those were accidental finds. Over the past months I’ve made many deliberate finds. I’ve seen Richard play both good guys and bad guys perfectly. Of course, my preference is to see him play a good guy (who survives!), but he’s wonderful and amazing no matter what part he takes.

I was very excited by another accidental find, when I stumbled across him in The Wild Wild West episode The Night of the Headless Woman. He’s the Big Bad again, but I loved his character so much before the reveal that I decided the fellow was really a good guy and he had an evil double. The episode itself actually supports my theory, due to a costuming mistake! The character, James Jeffers, is wounded on the left side of his head. Later, in the scene where he is revealed as the Big Bad, the wound has somehow magically moved to the right side of his head! Ooops!

I want to see The Rifleman episode The Lariat so bad. I’ve only seen a clip of it. The disc is on “Short” Wait at Netflix (and has been for probably over a month!) and I’m waiting for it to appear on MeTV. I wouldn’t be surprised if they get to it before Netflix does!

They aired the One Went to Denver episode last Friday. I enjoyed it very much! It was very interesting, to see Lucas McCain friends with a notorious outlaw like Tom Birch, and even more interesting and awesome that Tom really did still have good in him. I love the friendship between them.

And I’m intrigued by the similar backstories for Tom Birch and Lariat Jones, where their friendships with Lucas McCain are concerned. I’m starting to have a theory where the characters are twin brothers and Lariat changed his name so as not to be associated with the infamous Birch gang.

I think my favorite of Richard’s guest-spots is probably in The Big Valley season 1 finale, The Last Train to the Fair. It’s legally available for watching on Hulu, and I’ve been recommending it all over the place. It’s just beautiful. The plot involves the Barkley kids off to join their mother in Sacramento, but Audra ends up stricken with appendicitis. Richard plays a doctor who tries to help out, in between dealing with people who have followed him to the train trying to kill him. This is one thing I honestly don’t want to reveal spoilers for, so I’ll just do some more recommending and encourage everyone to watch it! There are some surprise twists and an incredible, intense climax.

In fact, here’s the link: http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi1007551257/

One more notable thing about the episode: You can see Lee Majors interact with Richard about eight years before they become part of The Six Million Dollar Man.

Of course, no tribute to Richard would be complete without talking about his most famous and well-loved character, Oscar Goldman. I’ve just started watching both The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman as of last month, and I love them both. Good, clean 1970s fun. There’s generally a moral point (that isn’t pounded into your head but comes naturally) and I don’t think I’ve ever heard any swearing in either show, even though by that time swearing was being introduced into television. It’s lovely.

Oscar is a character whom I’m certain my friend Crystal would love, if she could find the time to watch an episode or two. He’s wonderful! Oscar is the classic serious man with a heart of gold. Although mistaken for being too stern, he knows when he really has to be stern to get the job done and done right. He’s friendly with and protective of both Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers, and over the seasons you can really watch as their friendships develop. It’s so powerful in the last episode of The Bionic Woman when Oscar and Jaime embrace and Oscar tells Jaime that he loves her and she is probably the closest thing he has to family. That whole episode is just filled with awesome Oscar scenes, including one where he gets tough with a couple of bureaucrats. I’m looking forward to watching every episode of both series.

Richard has brought these and so many other stellar characters to life. Richard, I want to wish you the happiest birthday today, and to thank you for all of the amazing productions in which you have participated. You have brought many happy times to fans!

Two McVeys?!

It’s one thing for the same actor to play various characters with the same or similar names on different series. That’s odd enough. But I’m not sure I’ve ever encountered a scenario where the same actor plays different characters with the same name on the same series!

In season 4’s The Case of the Misguided Missile, after Captain Caldwell’s death, an officer is assigned to investigate and see whether there’s a case against Major Reynolds. The officer assigned is Captain McVey of the Air Police. Friendly and amiable, he associates with Perry and Paul and tries to be fair to both the defense and the prosecution. He’s quite a major player throughout, appearing off and on right up to the epilogue.

When I wrote The Spectral Stalker and needed the military police to become involved, I briefly considered making a random character of my own before realizing that Captain McVey was already an ideal choice. Perhaps, since he had investigated Captain Caldwell’s murder, they would choose to call him in to investigate the bizarre reports of Major Jerry Reynolds being stalked by Caldwell. I did give him a character of my own as an aide, but the spotlight is mostly on McVey. I enjoyed writing for him and involving him in the story’s events.

Last week my local station ran season 5’s The Crying Comedian. My jaw dropped when I saw a familiar face at the police station and Tragg introduced him as Lieutenant McVey. (And then the cast list gets even more bewildering when it lists him as Sergeant McVey! I think I’ll trust Tragg over the cast list. . . .)

This fellow is definitely not of the Air Police, but of the LAPD. And he is definitely played by the same man, Med Flory. Very strange. Maybe Captain McVey has a twin brother!

I know the writers in those days were notorious for not paying attention to oddities with previous episodes. No one imagined that the shows would still live on as they have, with steady re-runs and video and DVD releases. But goodness, the coincidence is so bizarre it’s laughable. And the episodes really aren’t that far apart; The Misguided Missile is one of season 4’s last, while The Crying Comedian is one of season 5’s first. I wonder how far apart they were written and filmed.

There’s something else about Lieutenant McVey that should be of interest—he appears throughout the episode, even taking the customary place in the gallery where Andy and Steve always sit. I have to wonder if they were considering him as a possible choice for the steady policeman position, once they knew Ray Collins could no longer carry it all on his own.

Upon re-reading an article about Wesley Lau, it’s mentioned that Gail Patrick Jackson was impressed by his performance as Amory Fallon and asked him if he would be interested in playing a policeman on the series. But it doesn’t say if she asked him alone or if they were possibly considering others as well before deciding on him. Considering that Lieutenant McVey behaves as more than the typical oneshot policeman, even having a whispered exchange with Hamilton, I am starting to suspect that Wesley was not the only choice.

If that could be true, it makes me wonder why they decided on Wesley. Did they think his character would have more presence? Andy is certainly more interesting than Lieutenant McVey, albeit the fact that Andy started with dialogue written for Tragg. But Captain McVey, despite being a oneshot character as Lieutenant McVey is, is a very interesting person too. They developed him a lot more than they did the Lieutenant. Med Flory certainly had the talent necessary to play a steady role, even though they did not allow him to display his full acting abilities as Lieutenant McVey. He would have been a fine choice.

Nevertheless, I have to admit, I’m glad they chose Wesley Lau. When I encounter something in a movie or television series that deviates from the original source material but is something I find just as good or better, I tend to say that whoever came up with the idea is a genius. I feel that way about both Andy and Steve, and their actors. I’m thrilled that Gail saw the talent in Wesley. He’s a vastly underrated but absolutely excellent actor. And whoever wanted Richard Anderson later, when they needed someone again, was also a genius. Andy and Steve are both marvelous additions to the cast, and their actors are perfect in the parts. The only thing I regret is that the reason they each came in was because their predecessor was phasing out.

Also in that article was a bit about Wesley’s frustrations at not really having much to do in the episodes. Now I’m wondering if he left on his own, hoping to find something better whether or not he had something lined up. And yet I’m not sure he would have done that, when he mentioned how welcome the money was for his little family. Unless he actually thought he was going to get a better deal, and had one ready to go, it doesn’t seem that he would leave such a steady-paying job.

As I’ve been watching some season 9 episodes on Saturdays, it’s started to occur to me that it sometimes seems as though Steve often has what Andy rarely ever has. Steve is a semi-major to a major player in several season 9 episodes. Richard really had a lot of opportunities to play the character’s many fascinating facets, especially in The Silent Six and The Sausalito Sunrise. He also has some wonderful scenes in The Bogus Buccaneers and others.

Andy does have some good screentime in season 5, but that was before they figured out how to make him different from Tragg. After he gains his own personality, he really only ever has The Hateful Hero to play a highly significant role. He does appear quite a bit in The Tandem Target too, at least at the beginning. A couple of times in season 8 he has better-sized parts as well, yet still not as important to the plot as Steve’s episodes. And those episodes of Andy’s are spread out over seasons, while Steve’s several big episodes are, of course, all concentrated into one season. Did the crew wise up? Or, possibly, was one positive aspect of going back to a more season 1-ish formula the fact that the policeman character would frequently have significant and character-developing screentime, as Tragg used to?

Ah, more questions that I would love the answers to, but shall probably never have.

(EDIT: Thinking further on the matter, I think Steve got an even bigger spotlight than Tragg ever did. As I mentioned, Tragg never really had a spotlight episode, even though he had some great scenes in many of them. But I think without a doubt, The Sausalito Sunrise is totally a Steve-centric episode, and in many ways, so is The Silent Six.)

In any case, I regret that Andy hardly ever received the attention he deserved. He, like his actor, seems to have been vastly underrated. I lavish attention on him whenever possible.

I am highly enjoying my current mystery story, The Malevolent Mugging. Along the way I try to develop Andy’s character in ways the show did not, such as explaining exactly why he never seemed to dine with Perry and company. That bit is one of my favorite soliloquies.

Andy had been a curious and capable new lieutenant upon his arrival. Amiable but businesslike, he had soon managed to adapt to the swing of things, striking up friendships with Perry and his crew as well as with Tragg and Hamilton.

Andy was not, however, quite as ease about it as Steve was. Sometimes Hamilton had the sense that Andy had been conflicted about how to handle being friends with Perry and company while not becoming caught up in any of their law-bending. The dilemma had stressed him more than once, and he had very rarely associated with Perry, Della, and Paul in social contexts such as lunch or dinner—unless it was a group dinner and Tragg and Steve were going as well.

I try to read between the lines in episodes to come up with theories such as this. I find it highly stimulating and fun. Season 8 provided inspiration for this one. It may or may not be true, but we shall likely never know one way or the other.

And the weekday post will be going up on Wednesday this week!

Perry-related Memorabilia

As a collector, I am absolutely thrilled and delighted by memorabilia for my favorite things. Naturally, this started me wondering what kinds of merchandise had been released for Perry Mason. Eliminating all talk of the original books, I will focus solely on what I’m aware was released for the television series. Also, I won’t really make too much mention of the videos and DVDs; surely we all know about those. And they’re not exactly what I would consider memorabilia; videos and DVDs, as far as I’m concerned, are a must. It’s mainly the fun but unnecessary little (or big) collectibles that I see as memorabilia.

Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to learn much of anything about the collectibles that do exist. Some of them are extremely rare. And even with those more common, people don’t seem to provide a great deal of helpful information about them.

There were two items called Mystery Magazines released by comic company Dell during 1964. I really don’t understand why they were called such; they were just regular-length comic books. “Mystery Magazine” implies something much bigger and more exclusive, at least to my way of thinking.

I can’t learn anything about issue #1, other than what’s written on the cover picture: “A gun! A glass eye! Perry Mason must solve the case with only two clues…” It sounds like either an original story or possibly an adaption of a book that was never an episode. (Anyone know of a storyline involving a glass eye?)

Issue #2, according to my scant findings, was an adaption of episode #5 The Sulky Girl. There are scans available on this website: http://comics.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7063&lotIdNo=127010 for at least a few of the pages, but you have to join in order to see them properly. The artwork looks fairly good, from what I can see, but I don’t want to judge the storyline until I can examine the entire adaption (if that ever happens).

The comics seem to be among the most expensive of the memorabilia. When I see issues listed, they can go as high as several hundred dollars.

This article here: http://vintages-antiques-collectibles.knoji.com/perry-mason-tv-show-memorabilia-values/ mentions a drinking glass with the show’s logo and a picture of Lady Justice. That sounds interesting, but I confess I’ve never been very interested in merchandise with only a logo on it. I want characters’ pictures!

And then there are the games. It seems Perry Mason was a fairly popular thing to adapt into games.

Around 1959 we had something called The Case of the Missing Suspect. Instead of me trying to explain all the rules, here’s the extent of the information I’ve found on it (which isn’t much): http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/5633/perry-mason-game-case-of-the-missing-suspect It sounds quite fun. Eight different cases to solve, clues, questioning witnesses, trying to find the missing suspects. . . . It reminds me a little bit of Clue.

Then in the eighties, there were two more games: the afore-mentioned computer game and another board game. I’m assuming the reunion movies are what sparked the interest enough to do this. To my relief, the games take place in the television series universe instead of the movie universe, and hence, seem to feature all of the original characters in some form or another.

The board game was just called The Perry Mason Game. http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3688/the-perry-mason-game Hamilton made it onto the cover and the board itself, which geekily pleases me! It sounds like in this game, you actually act out being in court, which is awesome. And someone tells me that there are two mysteries for the game: The Stuttering Bishop (book version?) and The Tandem Target. (I also wonder if Andy is around, even if unnamed, since he was very prominent in The Tandem Target episode.) It actually is referred to as being like Clue.

(… And excuse me, I have to interrupt this entry to cheer. My area finally has a MeTV affiliate! It just started this week. YES! A station that won’t skip seasons seven and eight of Perry! And so many other oldies shows are now open to me! I’m so excited right now! Now I have all three of the broadcast oldies channels: Me, Antenna, and THIS!)

Ahem. Okay, sorry. Now, if I can concentrate long enough to go on with what I was saying. . . . (Which is starting to look unlikely. . . .)

The computer game, being made in 1985, was for DOS. Hence, it was mostly text. They did occasionally insert illustrations, from the sixteen minutes I saw of someone’s walkthrough (which only got them to the beginning of the court case). Della looked the most like herself in her illustration. I think they were trying to portray William Talman’s and Ray Collin’s versions of Hamilton and Tragg in the illustrations, too, although I wasn’t quite sure. And Tragg’s description, as previously mentioned, did not sound like Ray’s Tragg. There was also a Sergeant, but it wasn’t Brice. (Poor, neglected Brice.) It was someone I’d never heard of. Why didn’t they just use Brice?

And as for the gameplay, well, apparently you type commands and then receive descriptions based on those commands. For instance, if you want to read a suspect’s dossier, you type something like “Read ____’s File.” If you’re searching a room, you type the locations where you look. It’s very interesting. If you type something that doesn’t make sense, you’ll be told to try again, “Counselor”. Being mostly text-based, it’s really like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, leaving much to the imagination.

It’s fascinating and intriguing, to see how they handled things back then, but I can’t help wishing they would get the bright idea to make a Perry computer game now. Wouldn’t that be awesome? There’s so many innovations in 3D technology, they could really come up with models that look like the characters from the series! (If they could get permission to use the likenesses, of course.) I would so buy a game like that!

Heck, I’d buy the original game, if we had a working computer with the disk drive to fit the size of disk it came on. (And if I could buy it for a decent price.) Come to think of it, I think at least one of those computers does still work.

There have been non-fiction books written about Perry. I suppose the most well-known is The Perry Mason TV Show Book. Despite its inaccuracies, and me having some serious disagreements over some of the authors’ personal opinions on characters, I love the book and am often going back to re-read parts of it. I’m not sure why they decided to put it online, but I was thrilled the first time I found it there years ago. http://www.perrymasontvshowbook.com/

Some time ago, I noticed this little thing on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Perry-Mason-Milestones-Thomas-Leitch/dp/0814331211/ref=wl_it_dp_o_piT1_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=2ELK10PKQ7BY2&coliid=I29J1HLKFX9P3B But I’ve searched high and low and I can’t find any real information on it. Does anyone know what it is and how good it is?

Then there were, of course, articles and books written on some of the actors involved with the series. A couple of books were done about Raymond Burr, but I question the level of their accuracy and I won’t get into that here. There are a few old magazines with articles listed on that list of ten bits of memorabilia. I imagine there are others. I’ve got a few old TV Guides with full and half page ads for some of the reunion movies. And even though I don’t consider them canon, I find that neat.

There are quite a few 1950s and 1960s articles written about Perry and the cast members that can be found in old newspaper archives, as demonstrated to me by someone from the Perry Yahoo Group. He very graciously typed up many of them for the members to read. The originals were taken from online newspaper scans here: http://www.fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html (And hopefully there are other articles of interest to be found there as well.) I highly encourage perusal!

Now, where the video and DVD releases are concerned, of course Columbia House released theirs before CBS did any of their boxsets. Columbia, unfortunately, did not get around to releasing all of them, and they never released in any specific order. At least, not to my knowledge, even though they do have themed tapes for some series. But Columbia’s releases are important for one little thing: there are a few episodes of seasons 7, 8, and 9 available from them that are not currently available anywhere else (unless you have Me or another channel that shows those seasons in full!). This well-known and well-loved website lists which ones were released: http://www.storrer.com/masongardner/pmesg.htm

CBS has currently released up to all of season 6. I am highly anticipating the first half of season 7 this month!

There are other kinds of memorabilia. There are press photographs, both signed and unsigned, available on eBay and other locations. I like checking eBay every now and then to see what’s available. There’s quite an impressive selection!

There are scripts and props and things like Emmy Award statuettes. I would love some scripts of the episodes I particularly adore. So far I haven’t located any of those, but this website does have copies of three out-of-town season 8 episodes, if you just want the script contents and don’t care about having an original: http://www.crossovers.net/makeitgoaway/ I’ve communicated with the people before and got hold of a copy of a Monkees script. I have been very impressed with their services!

You can find a purchasable and downloadable MP3 of the theme song, Park Avenue Beat, at Amazon.com and probably on iTunes as well. It’s a full-length version, very interesting.

CBS has a site where they sell T-shirts of many CBS series: http://www.shoptvcity.com Unfortunately, there aren’t any of Perry! They mostly just have logo stuff too, but some series do feature character shirts! I’ve emailed asking about the possibility of Perry shirts in the future. If all of the interested fans could show them that there’s a definite market for Perry shirts, perhaps they would make some.

If anyone is aware of any other Perry memorabilia, let me know! Meanwhile, I’m dancing off to Livejournal to squeal over having MeTV at long last.