* a Perry Mason thread *

The Case of the Missing Button....

You can see why Raymond Burr got the part of Mason. In the scene where he’s Burr, he wipes Tod Andrews as Mason off the screen. Burr is a much more interesting actor.

Burr had been an exceptionally creepy B movie villain, and even as Perry Mason he had a faintly malevolent vibe. He was often nasty and patronizing with female clients, and always high-handed towards the police. It’s just of the many factors that makes this show so watchable all these years later.

A dramatic scene....

Yes, Burr stands out in the first clip but keep watching, there's one where he is Mason, some bad actress is Della Street, and he isn't quite as good. Could be the scene, in the books my impression was he was much more flirty with Della and here, the end of the scene where he opens her fur coat, well that wasn't TV Mason.

The first season of Perry Mason, Perry, in addition to being a brilliant attorney, seems to be a little sleazy and probably fucks his clients and Della (if you follow the subtext and read between the lines). In later seasons, they seem to turn him into a boy scouts and make Paul Drake the bachelor playboy type.

Bill Hopper and Raymond Burr were fucking, but some lousy Hollywood columnist covered the whole thing up.

Some ladies making an appearance.....

William Hopper's mother was Hedda Hopper, one of the most important gossip columnists of the day, so maybe that was taken care of "in house" as it were. The whole show was based on the atomic tensions at the center of a menage a trois: Perry loves Della, Della loves Paul, Paul loves Perry.

During the early seasons, someone obvious, like the butler, did it. In later seasons it was always the most unlikely person or the guest star who always played "All American" types. Dick Clark played the guilty party, cast against type, in one of the last episodes.

One of the greatest TV shows of all time. I was riveted to it as a child in its first run, then re-watched it all as reruns in college while totally stoned. It still stands up today.

R9, I agree that the personal tensions really made the show, but I've always thought the energy flowed in reverse: Perry loved Paul, Paul loved Della, Della loved Perry. Della and Paul had some on-again-off-again thing while Della was waiting for Perry to wake up and propose, but he was never going to do that . . .

[quote] Della and Paul had some on-again-off-again thing while Della was waiting for Perry to wake up and propose

Della allowed Paul to finger her on her lunch break, but that’s as far as it went.

So its two leading men were both gay in real life. What about Bill Tallman? Was he a party boy too?l

I always love seeing so many Hollywood stars before they hit it big. "Hey, is that...?"

Robert Duvall

Burt Reynolds

Robert Redford

Louise Fletcher

Ellen Burstyn

Leonard Nimoy

Gary Lockwood

Norman Fell

Gavin MacLeod

Perry's friend, Constant Doyle.....

R15, more than you know. In 1961, Talman was fired from the show. He had been caught at some party where there was marijuana and nudity. He was replaced by various DAs for about 6 months, but Raymond Burr lobbied hard for the producers to bring him back. They finally did.

That's right R18 I heard Talman was lying around nude and stoned out of his mind when the police raided the place.

The charges included "lewd behavior".

Ray Collins (Lt. Tragg) was in failing health and, after not being able to continue acting, was replaced by Wes Lau (Lt. Anderson), who was replaced by Richard Anderson (Lt. Drumm).

Perry Mason was the first primetime TV series to have a female executive producer, Gail Patrick Jackson, who was also president of Paisano Productions, which made Perry Mason. She created Paisano with Erle Stanley Gardner, who wrote the Perry Mason series of detective fiction.

From Wiki:

Talman was fired from Perry Mason for a short period in 1960. Sheriff's deputies, suspicious of marijuana use, raided a party on March 13, 1960, in a private home in Beverly Hills at which Talman was a guest. The deputies reported finding Talman and seven other defendants either nude or seminude. All were arrested for possession of marijuana (the charge was later dropped) and lewd vagrancy, but municipal judge Adolph Alexander dismissed the lewd vagrancy charges against Talman and the others on June 17 for lack of proof. "I don't approve of their conduct," the judge ruled, "but it is not for you and me to approve but to enforce the statutes." Despite this Talman was fired by CBS, which refused to give a reason. Talman was later rehired after Perry Mason producer Gail Patrick Jackson, staunchly supported by Talman's friend, Raymond Burr, made a request to CBS following a massive letter-writing campaign by viewers.

Gail.....pre-Jackson

I watch Perry every night on MeTV. I love seeing those old character actors.

^^^^^ whoa, wrong thread!!

Miss Gail Patrick....

So Daddy Burr used his power - and as of the second season, he had a lot - to make the workplace a safe enclave for homo actors and actresses, including guest stars like John Dall, Elliott Reid, and Connie Ford.

Connie's at r8, r27.

R22, Gail Patrick Jackson made it hard for CBS to refuse to rehire Talman by not permanently recasting the role of the DA. Instead, they had a revolving circus of guest DA's, nearly all of whom were disagreeable, terrible or forgettable. Even the judges on the show seemed to dislike them.

I love this show. It's one of my go-to comfort TV programs, and, when I have no idea what to watch (because there are so many choices), too often I find myself watching a couple of PM episodes that I've seen many times already. Why is Perry Mason among the most popular old TV shows? What do you find appealing about it?

For me, it's the slice-of-life view we get of LA in the late 50s/early 60s - the clothes and cars, the mid-century decor, the more formal manners. Also, I find men of that era attractive. They're clean cut and masculine in a way you don't see so much today.

It also helps that CBS or whoever has done such a fantastic job of remastering the images. Perry Mason in full remastered glory reminds the viewer of how striking and beautiful black and white can be. In fact, it looks a lot better than it would have on a regular TV set when it was originally broadcast.

What was Raymond Burr’s illness that made the guest defense attorneys (like Bette Davis) necessary?

I was a fan of the books, but never watched the show. How does the show Mason compare to the books Mason?

I’ve seen a couple of colorized episodes on MeTV. I prefer black and white.

Even as a kid, I secretly hoped Paul Drake would give me a good roughing up.

[quote]I’ve seen a couple of colorized episodes on MeTV.

There are no "colorized" episodes. One episode (the one with Victor Buono as a Fagin-like character) was filmed in color in anticipation of CBS going to color the following season. But since "Perry" was cancelled, they never did another one.

Here's the Wiki page. I thought this part was interesting...

Each episode's casting interviews were conducted by Gail Patrick Jackson, producer Ben Brady, and the director. Episodes typically employed 10 featured players in addition to the principal cast and extras.[17] Numerous actors famous for past and future roles in film and television made guest appearances on the show.[18]

"Many were people I'd worked with in movies," said Gail Patrick Jackson. "They were grateful and delivered on time—and powerfully. … Gloria Henry, Vaughn Taylor, Hillary Brooke, John Archer, Morris Ankrum, Don Beddoe, Fay Wray, Olive Blakeney, Paul Fix, Addison Richards. We also had newcomers like Darryl Hickman, Barbara Eden. The trick was to only use them once a year. People like Fay Wray came back several times, but as other characters."[3]

Patrick made it a point to hire her Hollywood acting contemporaries whenever possible. Some were semiretired and financially well-off, but still enjoyed performing.[19] Character actor George E. Stone[e][20] was impoverished, and for years he appeared on Perry Mason regularly in minor roles until his health made it impossible for him to work any longer. Patrick went to considerable lengths to find a part for an actress who had become paralyzed on one side; she played with her good side toward the camera.[19]

"This isn't being the least altruistic," Patrick said. "They are all fine performers and bring to the shows something interesting and vital — even when they only have one line."[19]

Also....

After a series of Warner Bros. films and a radio series he despised, author Erle Stanley Gardner refused to license his popular character Perry Mason for any more adaptations. His literary agent was advertising executive Thomas Cornwell Jackson, who had, in 1947, married actress Gail Patrick. She had studied law before she went to Hollywood "for a lark" and appeared in more than 60 feature films including My Man Godfrey (1936), Stage Door (1937), and My Favorite Wife (1940). She stopped acting in 1948, started a family, and began to talk to Gardner about adapting the Perry Mason stories for a television series.[3]

"We kept talking about what kind of a series he'd want and how much creative control he needed," Gail Patrick told journalist James Bawden in 1979. "I just think he came to trust me and I'd kept up my contacts in show business."[3]

Gardner regarded Perry Mason's personal life as irrelevant and wanted the series to concentrate on crime and Mason's fight for the underdog. "You must remember," Patrick said, "Erle was in love with the law and its finer points."[3]

Patrick, her husband, and Gardner formed a production company, Paisano Productions, of which she was president.[4] When she first tried to sell Perry Mason to CBS, the network wanted it to be a live hour-long weekly program. "That would have been impossible — it would have killed the actor playing Perry," Patrick said. "And I Love Lucy had taught the value of filmed reruns." Paisano Productions absorbed the costs for a filmed pilot.[3]

In February 1956, CBS announced its new series, Perry Mason, anticipating it would begin that fall. The network obtained the rights to 272 stories by Gardner, including Perry Mason and 11 other principal characters. The rights were purchased from Paisano Productions, which would film the series in association with CBS[5] and own a 60% interest in the films.[6]

Perry Mason was Hollywood's first hour-long weekly series filmed for television.[7] Gail Patrick Jackson was its executive producer.[4] "We were the first bona fide law show and we spent two years preparing Perry for the television bar," Patrick said.[8]

[quote]One episode (the one with Victor Buono as a Fagin-like character) was filmed in color in anticipation of CBS going to color the following season

CBS actually went to color that very season, 1965-66, following the season prior of showing only cartoons and sports shows in color. There were only three or four shows that stayed in black and white in 1965-66, "Perry Mason" being one of them, "The Dick Van Dyke Show" being another.

R30 captured the way I feel about PM. It's funny how some shows are timeless, while others are unwatchable years later. I could never watch "Ozzie and Harriet" or "Father Knows Best" now, but I could watch reruns of "Leave It To Beaver" and "Andy Griffith" a million times over. "Perry Mason" originated in the fifties, was always black and white, had no diversity, and had an unrealistic premise (He won every case). Raymond Burr's second series was just as successful (8 years),originated in the late 60s, was in color, had a diverse cast, was more realistic. Yet nobody remembers Ironside, and everybody remembers Perry Mason.

I still enjoy Father Knows Best, r39.

To his credit, r39, he played them differently. Ironside was a real crab.

There was one Father Knows Best episode that I still remember. There was a storm and everyone was playing some kind of murder/hide-and-go-seek kind of game. It was kind of scary. The “killer” turned out to be the least expected one, and was extremely clever, too.

Watching those tests with Raymond Burr, you realize what a compelling actor he really was. The pauses, the expressions, the body language....he was REALLY good. And I've read in many places that he could memorize pages of dialogue effortlessly.

The colorized episode I saw was not in the mid sixties. I know what colorized looks like.

R43, Burr was compelling and intense in many scenes. Sometimes, when Perry has finished questioning a witness who has blatantly committed perjury and demonstrated that they are a cad, a creep or a psychopathic opportunist - no episode would be complete without at least one of the three (it's a surprisingly dark show for one that always has a happy ending) - he'll pause and just stare unblinkingly at them for a moment before he says "no further questions." It's very effective.

I don't think Burr was especially good at humor, though. The "funny" moments at the end of most episodes often feel excruciatingly forced. Talman and Hopper seem to be the most naturally humorous, at least to me.

Another thing I like about the show is that it seems to have been a happy set, which shows in the characters' interactions. They all seem to like each other, even when they're adversaries, which may be why it's such a comfortable show to watch.

PM does have some "oh, dear" moments, though.

For example, what's with the the lawyers always saying "connect UP". They don't connect seemingly irrelevant testimony to the case. They connect it UP. The judge tells them to connect UP their line of questioning or an objection will be sustained. They all say it - Hamilton, Perry, the judges. The "up" is redundant; it drives me nuts. (I know ... MARY!)

Worse is Burr's consistent confusion of "infer" with "imply". Every time he means to say "imply", he says "infer". You'd think sooner or later somebody would have corrected him.

R16

Episode television from 1960's well into 1980's was a mix of young and or new actors/actresses on their way up; others were older and or either "on way down" so to speak or just not getting work in film or theater roles like they once did.

Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Thriller, Colombo, Mannix, Cannon, 77 Sunset Strip, The Twilight Zone, and so many others you see this blend old mixing with new.

Estelle Winwood, Elsa Lanchester, Mary Astor, Jo Van Fleet, Robert H. Harris, John Qualen, Gladys Cooper, and so many more "veterans" of stage and screen mixing in with Robert Redford, Gena Rowlands, David Cassidy, Bob Newhart, William Shatner, Tony Randall, James Caan, etc....

End of studio system left more than a few actors in need of paychecks. No longer on paid contracts they now needed to work, and thankfully television allowed a good number to keep wolf from front door.

Love watching PM reruns on MeTV!

Find it refreshing to see a time when people actually dressed up to go into court. Even just to watch proceedings, but especially if being called to testify.

You notice subtle class distinctions. Wealthy women looking down at PM and deeply resenting his questions (on the stand or in their homes) as if he was beneath their contempt. Those ladies always show up in court dressed to the nines; hat, gloves, dressmaker suit, jewels.

They always utter lines like "Mr. Mason, I'm not accustomed to discussing my private life with strangers...."

Speaking of fashion, r48....

A fashion designer on live TV negates a deal her husband/partner brokered with another firm. Later, before their fashion show she takes a pill with champagne provided by her husband and shortly falls to the floor saying she was poisoned.

R49, as I recall that episode, a comely young woman was charged with the murder. Half or more of Perry's clients were comely young women. If you were an attractive girl in Los Angeles in 1960, you really had to keep Perry on retainer because you were likely to be accused of murder at any moment. Life was much more exciting in those days!

That's Leslie (Daisy Mae) Parrish, r50.

The ill-fated Judy Tyler....

J'adore Marie Windsor!

The even more ill-fated Karyn Kupcinet. She was strangled to death before her episode even aired! (And only six days after the JFK assassination.)

Was Kupcinet a victim, a murderer, or a witness?

Burr really did not project much range in Perry Mason. Hopper and Hale were the ones who injected life. The premise did get tiresome and the ratings dropped significantly across the last 3 seasons.

Love all those 1960's "wash and set" hairstyles from early 1960's, a holdover from 1950's if not before.

Bet "Mr. Gerard" was booked solid on Saturdays!

Were most of them not wigs/falls?

Some were wigs or "wore hair", others you can clearly see it is their own.

Annabell Levy (credited as Annabell) was the hairstylist for entire PM series IIRC.

How much work she did on female cast members likely varied. We're not talking about a Hollywood film with a huge budget every week. So imagine major part of hairstylists work concentrated on the stars; others may have shown up perhaps needing only a "brush out" or minimal to no attention.

Considering how many veteran of stage and screen actors/actresses PM used, am going with a good part knew a bit about how to do their own make-up and hair.

R46

Understand where you're coming from, but at least in early 1960's "connect-up" was used by courts, attorneys and others.

Yes, CBS filmed one episode of PM in color before season 10 as a test. But show as cancelled after 9th season so that was that.

Neat to see Roxanne Arlen, the onetime Mrs. Red Buttons.

The show had little cast change. Aside from Talman's (temporary) firing and ill health forcing the withdrawal of Lt. Tragg's portrayer, there was great consistency. I am curious, though, about the addition of Karl Held, who played a new law clerk of Perry's for about a dozen episodes. He seemed to have been brought in to add a young face to a show that had some mileage. He didn'tlast long, though. I think fans felt he was taking time away from the Paul Drake character.

I think there were about five actors/actresses who did the trifecta: they played the killer, the victim and the defendent in 3 different episodes.

The people who replaced Burr during his various illnesses were Walter Pidgeon, Hugh O'Brian, Bette Davis and Mike Connors.

I made it up in my head that Karl Held was one of Burr's boy toys and then he got fired when Burr was done with him.

Most only know Mike Connors as Joe Mannix, but the actor had a pretty impressive CV before landing that role.

If am up that late always do the MeTV late night rotation; Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Mannix, and maybe Cannon if still awake.

Speaking of actors who "wear hair" (see Tom Cruise thread), took a while before caught on that Joe Mannix was wearing a "rug".

If you look at his hairline it never changes throughout the series. Nor does that glorious thick hair ever move much in the wind, part at the scalp, or reveal same even when wet (Joe Mannix takes plenty of dives into pools, oceans, rivers, etc...).

Received confirmation of this reading some bio page shortly after Mike Connors passed on.

Only reason one watches that Ironside (that other Raymond Burr crime series) is to look at young Don Galloway.

Mike Conners was the client of the infamous agent Henry Wilsson.

R64

[quote]If am up that late always do the MeTV late night rotation; Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Mannix, and maybe Cannon if still awake.

You forgot "The Twilight Zone" which comes on after Perry Mason. They went through the entire original series and then showed the episodes from "The New Twilight Zone" beginning with Season 1 / Episode 1 (September 27, 1985) which contained 2 episodes, the first of which "Shatterday" starring a very young Bruce Willis.

Barnaby Jones airs after Cannon on MeTV. Then Highway Patrol after that. Love seeing those old Hollywood bungalows.

All those Della auditions were whorish.

Who were Ray Burr's boytoys?

I believe you mean Michael Rennie, r62.

Then why did the Emmy go home with me, r65?

Burr was such a hot daddy.

R68

Yes, MeTv finally gave "77 Sunset Strip" the push, thank God!

Walter Pidgeon replaced Raymond Burr? Did Scotty Bowers know ?

R70

Don't know about "toys", but Raymond Burr's life partner was Robert Benevides

More:

R66, aha! That would explain why he was initially known as "Touch" Connors. See the credits for "The Day the World Ended" (1955), starring my favorite '50s sci-fi hero, Richard Denning.

Hot daddies!

We know that, r60, but r44 upthread got quite huffy and insisted he KNOWS what colorization looks like, and the episode he saw was colorized.

The only problem is, Perry Mason has never been colorized. Ever. Only that one episode you mention was in (real) color.

Unless there's some outfit that does cheap bootleg colorizations, but PM is still under copyright.

WHERE ERLE STANLEY GARDNER CREATED PERRY MASON IN 1932- part 1/3

Allison Hayes did five episodes of PERRY MASON.....she and Raymond Burr had become friends when they appeared in COUNT THREE A PRAY in 1955...

Of course in 1958 she was the infamous 50 Foot Woman.....

I think Denver Pyle of Doris Day Show/ Dukes Of Hazzard/Andy Griffith Show fame set the record for Perry Mason appearances. It seems like he's in every third show.

Miss Jeanne Cooper did a few.

[quote]I think Denver Pyle of Doris Day Show/ Dukes Of Hazzard/Andy Griffith Show fame set the record for Perry Mason appearances

I just saw him in one last week. He was playing a sophisticated, cultured type. It was weird to see and hear him sounding so upper class compared to the way he usually sounds.

I remember reading somewhere that Denver Pyle was the only person who was a victim , murderer , and defendant.

There were 11 actors that hit the "trifecta".

Robert Armstrong was another one who played all three.

Here's a list of the number of appearances by every guest actor. Not counting judges and incidental characters, the highest number seems to be 9 for H.M. Wynant. He doesn't stand out in my recollection, but two who got to 8 do: Les Tremayne and Dabs Greer.

Dabs Greer. You'll recognize him.

Les Tremayne. Sorry for the small image. It's the only one from the right period I could find. He was a distinguished-looking man.

Connie Gavin's a five timer!

R77 Ray and Bob met when they were in a play. Together more than 30 years when Ray died. Bob has sold the winery.

I really enjoyed that show. He was quite a showman and it seems all his associates got along with him!

Dabbs Greer was a guest on virtually every drama and quite a few sitcoms from the late 50s to the 70s.

Here's the only color episode on Vimeo. I wish they had done the whole final season in color. Even more, I wish someone had had Lucille Ball's smarts and knew how much more valuable the series would be in color, and started filming it that way in 63 or 64, even if it wasn't going to be broadcast that way. That's what Lucy did with The Lucy Show, starting with the second season.

I like the black and white.

It's not like there is a lot of beautiful scenery.

R96, what you say makes sense, but there's just something so right about the black-and-white. It just works for PM.

Speaking of old-timers with multiple appearances, how about Hugh Marlowe and Fay Wray?

Now I've got to find that episode where Paul Drake is shirtless!

Even better is the one where he’s pantsless, r98.

R98, there were two, as I recall.

In one, Paul is in a steamroom, and I think the other actor in that scene was Whit Bissell. In the other, he's poolside, and I'm pretty sure the other actor is Bruce Bennett.

Bennett and Bissell both made multiple appearances on PM, so for the moment I have to leave it to you sort out which ones featured a shirtless Paul Drake.

By the way, have you seen the episodes, or the stills from same? In his 40s during the series' run, Bill Hopper had a really nice body - I don't mean "for his age" or "for the era", either. He had a nice body, period; he had a big, robust, athletic build and a very hairy chest.

... just in case you needed motivation to identify the specific episodes. :-)

Three years before Perry Mason, Bill Hopper was sharing Tab Hunter’s bed in “Track of the Cat.” Here’s Bill, pants undone, telling Tab they can’t possibly fuck again when there’s a dangerous cat on the loose.

“As Paul Drake, William Hopper was called on to be the most versatile of the principals in the Perry Mason cast," wrote Brian Kelleher and Diana Merrill in their chronicle of the television series

“He was not only the careful investigator, the duke-it-out tough guy, the ladies' man, and the hipster, but also the fall guy, the strikeout artist, the "eating machine" and "the big kid." Hopper's Drake alone provided the comic relief for the show. And, despite being a rather late bloomer to the acting field, he played all the parts surprisingly well and believably. His appearances made fair shows good, and good shows better.”

Whit Bissell was everywhere in those days.

Hopper gave pretty one note performances. Like his mother, he was destined for bit parts in B-movies. The show was low-key except for the emotional confessions in the last scene.

The demon spawn of William Hopper....

William Hopper's World War II service was in underwater demolition....you know, the guys that go in to remove obstacles BEFORE the troops landed.

Consider this...

[quote] Hopper served with the United States Navy during World War II, as a volunteer with the Office of Strategic Services and as a member of the newly created Underwater Demolition Team. He received a Bronze Star and several other medals during operations in the Pacific. Operations on Pelelieu, Anguar Island and the Occupation of Ulithi as well as other Islands in the Caroline Islands and on the Invasion of Leyte and the Lingayen pre-landing activities. He set the official and un-planned record for staying underwater:

[quote] "It was the day before the troops were to hit the beach and we had been assigned the pleasant task of swimming into the bay and removing the floating markers the Japanese had secured to the ocean floor and upon which they had zeroed their mortars and machine guns. Every time we stuck our heads above the surface the Jap gunners would pour everything they had at us. Needless to say the bottom of that bay looked pretty good to us- oxygen or not."

The divine hats!

That's Miss Allison Hayes!!!!!

She wore hats exceptionally well, r108.

Here's a link to 20 minutes of screentests from 1956. I had read that Burr originally auditioned to play Burger, and you can see that audition here. There are also several tests of him as Mason and also Bill Hopper trying out for the role of Mason.

Hopper actually does a credible job as PM, but there's no doubt that Burr inhabited the role right from the beginning. It's an interesting video to watch, but it's also vaguely disturbing, especially the pre-Barbara Hale Della wannabe. It's like bizarro-Perry Mason. Familiar and yet so, so wrong.

Yes R109 she did.

Huh. What's that about?

R110, fascinating to watch those auditions. Hopper was pretty good as Mason, but he was a much better Paul Drake. Ray Collins looks good here, and was always devilishly good as Tragg. It's a shame he aged so fast in the role.

Nice R112.

One of the most stupendous hats was worn by Jeanne Cooper. Unfortunately I couldn't find a photo, but it comfortably ensconced this architectural marvel of a hair-do.

Query for you elder gay attorneys.....

Perry Mason makes great use of "isn't it true..." and or "isn't it also true..." when cross examining witnesses; isn't that considered leading questioning?

That's the one thing about PM, r116. Thanks to all the law procedurals, especially the Law & Order franchise, modern TV viewers are a lot savvier regarding the law and lawspeak than they were back in the 1950s. Frequently I'll see a Perry Mason and think "that would NEVER be allowed in a court of law!"

I always forget, too, that what we are viewing in PM is usually the preliminary hearing, not the actual trial.

R117, in some cases Perry Mason seems "off" because it reflects criminal law circa late 1950s/early 60s. Defendants had no Miranda rights then, for example. That's why the avuncular, vaguely corrupt/sinister Lt. Tragg is always angling to question suspects before Perry can get to them.

[quote]I always forget, too, that what we are viewing in PM is usually the preliminary hearing, not the actual trial.

That's because they couldn't afford to pay extras to appear as jury members in too many episodes.

In the books it was also mostly preliminary hearings. I assumed it was to show that PM was so good, he didn’t let his cases go to trial. I remember only one book when he made a point of having his client go through trial (she was acquitted, of course), but only because she was actually guilty. The Case of the Howling Dog I think it was called.

I don't think Allison Hayes wore any hats in this cinema classic from 1958.

Isn't Robert Downey jr. doing Perry Mason on HBO. But first we get to see him in the exciting Doctor Dolittle.

Leading questions are allowed on cross examination, R116. It’s your own witness you can’t (usually) ask leading questions, unless they’re declared a hostile witness by the court. Then, leading questions are allowed even of your own witness. They actually explain the hostile witness thing on the show in one or two episodes.

Matthew Ryse (?) from The Americans is playing PM on HBO.

Further to R37 's post, Erle Stanley Gardner loathed the radio Perry Mason series because contrary to the pitch made by CBS, it was made into a soap opera (sponsored by Proctor & Gamble), 15 minutes in length, Monday to Friday. It was done live in New York on CBS. As with a number of radio shows, CBS decided to move Perry Mason to television, but in a half hour format, performed live in New York, as a soap opera (or as they referred to them then as "serials"), five days a week. Everything was in place except for one thing--Gardner's signature on the contract. He refused, and because he resented CBS for making his character into a daytime serial hero, he waited until the last minute to give CBS his refusal to teach them a lesson.

The TV soap opera version of Perry Mason was revamped slightly, names were changed, and it was given a new title. The Edge of Night.

True R121.....but did anyone notice she didn't?

^^ HAAARRRRY!!!!! ^^

Go on out to the lobby....

Those hats!

Chris Chalk, the new Paul Drake

Juliet Rylance, the new Della Street

R124, the show will be set in 1930s LA, which is when Earle Stanley Gardner started writing the books. (TCM occasionally shows Perry Mason movies made during the 30s).

Allison did a bit of bearding for Ray.....

I wish I could wear this type of hat. Unfortunately they make me look like a floor lamp.

Enough with the fucking hats.

I thought Elaine Stritch was dead...and here she is posting on Datalounge.

We have both a hall monitor and hat monitor at R135.

She is risen, r136!

Get off my thread, r135.

Have I mentioned.....the hats?

The woman wearing the hats, is very glamorous and elegant.

I like them, keep it up who ever is posting them.

[quote]The woman wearing the hats, is very glamorous and elegant.

Well, maybe not the bug-eyed gal at R140.

Did Raymond Burr wear a hat to match his negligee.

That's shameful, r143.

If the actresses wore hats, Annabelle the hairdresser didn't have to tease their hair so much.

So...much...teasing.

Hats on women were a tradition back in those days just like most of the men on the show wearing gold pinky rings on their left hand.

The original Perry Mason and Della.

R147

Hats were gone or largely so by 1970 (which means decline probably began late 1960's); hence that famous line from Follies "does anyone still wear, a hat?"

Oh dear, r149.

[quote]Hats were gone or largely so by 1970 (which means decline probably began late 1960's); hence that famous line from Follies "does anyone still wear, a hat?"

That's from "Company," you twit.

R149, the decline in hat-wearing actually started toward the end of the '50s and really accelerated in the early '60s because of the bouffant hairstyles that were not hat-friendly. Women still wore hats on formal daytime occasions (which includes going to court, if PM is to be believed) and for church longer into the '60s.

We now live in a world of individualism now. Everyone wants do their own thing.

The trend of men ceasing to wear hats started in the early 60s after Kennedy was elected president. He didn’t like hats so he wouldn’t wear them. He’d carry it instead.

I’m watching the series on Prime.

I do remember my dad wearing hats to work in the early and mid-'60s, but it pretty much stopped after that. (He worked through the '80s.)

I remember that by the early '60s, my Catholic mother even stopped wearing hats to church, instead just placing a back veil over her hairdo. (Women were required to cover their heads during Mass back then.)

They actually made hats to accommodate beehives, r152. Miss Jeanne Cooper wore one over this in her opening scene. It was quite architectural. For bouffants, a ring with veiling and bow usually did the trick.

Nice bouffant

Suitable for a beehive....

That episode was significant, r159, in that it was never mentioned that her character was a Conehead.

R161 LOL!

I was about to reply to R159 that I remember the episode, and that hat looked like a helmet for an alien astronaut ... but, then again, so did her hair.

Practically speaking, the problem with hats and bouffant hair wasn't so much the height but the airy fullness of the hair all over the head, like a big, light, fluffy bubble. Any hat at all would crush down the teased, sprayed confection that Mr Vincent down at the Cut 'n Curl had worked so hard to create. Also, I think the hairstyles themselves were so elaborate that they sort of replaced the hat as a woman's crowning glory.

When your hair looks like this, it's a shame to smash it and hide it with a hat.

R155, hooray! The quality of the remaster on Amazon is amazing, and the episodes are complete and uncut, unlike MeTV. Be aware, though, that not all episodes are included. There are some missing from every season. I don't know why CBS did this.

Alas, only Seasons 1-5 are available streaming, but the DVDs for Season 6-9 are also remasters and great quality. Once again, though, not all episodes are included.

How many dead bodies did Perry Mason find anyway?

Please Murder Me....She Wrote.

Perry was a serial killer

r163 Why would there be episodes missing from the DVDs? The box set is labeled "The Complete Series."

R166, that would certainly explain why he knew all of his clients were innocent.

CBS Sunday Morning - Almanac: Perry Mason - The case of a TV lawyer

As of 1/1/20, CBS has removed Perry Mason from Prime. Now you need a CBS All Access subscription 🤬

^ Amazon Prime took Perry Mason off on 12/31/19. I’m pissed.

Still get it on MeTV weekdays at 9:00 am. Today's episode:

Perry Mason

TODAY, 9:00 AM ON KDOCDT3 56.3, 1 HR 1963 TV-PG

SEASON 6 • EPISODE 23 • THE CASE OF THE LOVER'S LEAP • DRAMA / COURTROOM

The victim of a swindle finds his troubles multiplying when he's accused of murder. Valerie: Julie Adams. Roy: John Conte. Mason: Raymond Burr. Brent: Carleton Carpenter. Willie: Richard Jaeckel. Burger: William Talman. Drake: William Hopper...

I’d like to watch Perry Mason while I’m working. Just let the episodes run. Now I got to find something else to keep me company while I work.

R172, just saw that episode. Didn't Julie Adams just die recently? She was really over the top on the witness stand. Loved Richard Jaeckel (the real murderer). He's always been hot to me...love those short, stocky, clean-cut types. Wonder if he ever did nudity over his long career?

I don't know, r174, but he should have.

[quote] Didn't Julie Adams just die recently? She was really over the top on the witness stand.

Half the fun of watching "Perry Mason" is the over-the-top performances on the witness stand. There were lots and lots of them.

Julie Adams died last February. She was 92.

The really annoying thing about this change is that they STILL have only the first 5 seasons available streaming, and even then some of the episodes are missing. If they're going to start charging, they should at least make the entire, complete series available.

I was surprised to see Lt. Tragg in today's MeTV episode. I think it was season 6, and I was sure he was gone by then. I did see they had hunky (if humorless) Lt. Anderson do most of the police scenes, though.

Did we ever find out why they introduced (and then got rid of) Perry's legal assistant Karl Held? It originally looked like they were grooming him for bigger things.

R170 it's on MeTV at 11:30 PM, too.

R170 it's on MeTV at 11:30 PM, too.

It may be on, r181, but at 11:30 pm I'm...off.

Lt. Tragg started fading in the 5th Season.

I knew a whore who used to trick with perry, nice guy it seems, sent his limo for the guy quite often.....

Has this been posted?

RAYMOND WAS NICE TIPPED WELL JUST TO SUK ON MY ASSHOLE FOR 15 MIN WHILE HE CAM

"Perry Mason" is also on cable network FETV with back-to-back episodes every night.

HBO's new Perry Mason premiers this Sunday!

More:

In what world is Mathew Rhys anything like Perry Mason? Paul Drake maybe, if you squint and it’s dark and he’s sitting.

A TV station manager in Seattle said that when they stopped running Perry Mason reruns they were inundated with letters; not just from the usual crop of old ladies and shut-ins, but from people like architects and lawyers. It was the one show that people of that professional caliber would take time out of their busy day to watch and they missed it so much they took the unusual step of writing to the station about it.

KTLA in L.A. ran the show every day at noon for decades.

The fact that lawyers would watch a 30-year-old legal drama was quite a compliment to the show too.

If had a dollar for each time Perry Mason says "isn't it also true......" would be very wealthy.

R192

Perry Mason is very tight with their legal footing, well at least for a television court room drama.

Just these past few weeks learned about Donatio Mortis Causa, and that children born to a married couple regardless of subsequent annulment or divorce are considered legitimate under CA law.

OTOH it is always funny how Perry Mason somehow always manages to get the real killer, or person who committed crime that his client is accused of to conveniently confess while under oath on witness stand. Who would actually do something like that?

[quote] "Perry Mason" originated in the fifties, was always black and white, had no diversity

Well, SOME diversity.

Here's a handsome 22-year old George Takei from 'The Case of the Blushing Pearls (1959). The episode featured several Asian actors, including Nobu McCarthy, Rollin Moriyama, and Benson Fong, not playing a restaurateur or a gardener, but a pearl expert.

There's even an inter-racial romance, which must've still been pretty daring only 14 years after the war.

There were several Asian-centric episodes, all conventionally postwar-liberal in their approach. Perry Mason, both the TV character and the TV show, were generally tolerant and liberal within the bounds of the premise without hitting the viewer over the head with their politics. (I'm looking at you, Rod Serling, Mr. How Many Nazis and Nukes Can I Cram Into One Season.)

R193, if I had a dollar for every time a client said some variation of "he was dead when I got there, Mr. Mason, I swear!", I'd be even richer than you.

This was on over the weekend. It's very funny...