The Original Perry Mason Television Series

In 1923, lawyer and fledgling writer Erle Stanley Gardner submitted one of his novels to a popular pulp magazine. It was so awful that the magazine's staff turned it in to the circulation director as a joke, proposing the novel as a featured piece worthy of a special publicity campaign. Thinking his staff had gone mad, the circulation director bounced the story back with a scathing memo, ripping Gardner's novel to pieces. One of his kinder comments read: this plot has whiskers like Spanish moss. After the laughs, Gardner's novel was mailed back, accompanied by the customary boiler-plate rejection letter. In a twist of fate, the circulation director's note was included by mistake, confronting Gardner with the brutal truth. Many writers might have thrown in the towel at this point, but Gardner rose to the challenge. He reworked the story until his fingers were literally bleeding, and sent it back. Impressed that Gardner had taken the criticism to heart, the magazine bought the story, thus launching the writing career of the author who would go on to create the most memorable attorney in crime fiction history.

It's hard to imagine anyone other than Raymond Burr as Perry Mason. And who besides Barbara Hale could fill the shoes of his faithful secretary, Della Street? Yet ironically, neither actor was the first choice for these career-defining roles. Popular character actor Fred MacMurray was originally tapped as Perry Mason, but eventually turned it down. Erle Stanley Gardner offered the role of Miss Street to the show's executive producer, Gail Patrick Jackson. She declined, but hand-picked Barbara Hale for the role based on a screen test audition. Raymond Burr was initially considered for the role of Hamilton Burger, but made a deal with producers to audition for the Perry Mason role as well. On the day of the audition, Erle Stanley Gardner was so impressed with Raymond Burr's portrayal of the fictional lawyer, he jumped to his feet exclaiming, That's Perry Mason!

Handsome William Hopper came to the attention of Perry Mason producers when he, along with scores of other actors, auditioned for the title role. When Raymond Burr was selected as Perry Mason, the role of Detective Paul Drake was given to Hopper. He later admitted he would probably not have done justice to the role, as demanding as it was, and agreed with everyone else that Raymond Burr was the perfect choice. But just as Raymond Burr defined the role of Perry Mason, William Hopper will always be Paul Drake.

The New York Times referred to his character as "the built-in loser," but in real life William Talman was an accomplished director, screenwriter, and stage, film, and TV actor before he went on to portray the hot-tempered L.A. District Attorney Hamilton Burger. Erle Stanley Gardner based his Burger character on the thundering, embittered D.A.s who annoyed him as a young lawyer, but Talman made Mason's adversary a likeable character. His portrayal so pleased Gardner that he once remarked, "Bill Talman is really a wonder. He actually looks as if he expects to win a case." Although William Talman and Raymond Burr played rivals on the show, they were close friends behind the scenes. When Talman was fired from the show in 1960, Burr campaigned tirelessly and sucessfully for his friend's reinstatement.

Ray Collins had more than 50 movies under his belt when he joined the cast as the hard-working, resolute Lieutenant Tragg. Generous with his experience and knowledge, he was known to purposely blow his lines just to help a struggling young actor feel more at ease during big scenes. Viewers could always count on Tragg showing up like clockwork at crime scenes, as well as regularly threatening to have Perry disbarred. Collins played Lieutenant Tragg for six years, until he became very ill with a lung condition in 1964. He died of emphysema the following year, at age 75.

Perry Mason is a fictional character, a defense attorney who originally was the main character in numerous pieces of detective fiction authored by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason was featured in over 80 novels and short stories, most of which had a story line which involved a client of his being put on trial for murder. Typically, Mason was able to establish his client's innocence by demonstrating the guilt of another character. Gardner was one of the best-selling authors of all time, and had 135 million copies of his books in print in America alone in the year of his death (1969). The character of Perry Mason was portrayed each weekday on a long running radio series, followed by the well-known depictions on film and television, including "television's most successful and longest-running lawyer series" from 1957 to 1966, another series in 1973-1974, and more than 25 made-for-TV movies from 1985 to 1993.

Other than what we learn of his character from his actions in the novels, we know very little about Perry Mason. We are told nothing about his family, his background, his personal life, or his education. In Season One of the television series, Perry helps out an old friend from World War Two. He mentions that he was in a company that was at D-Day. Paul Drake seems to be his only friend, and Della Street his only (unacknowledged) romantic interest. We only know that he lives in an apartment because he is occasionally wakened from sleep to go to his office -- he does not entertain anyone at home. We know his tastes in food, because many scenes take place in restaurants, and that he is an excellent driver, because he participates in the occasional car chase. Other than those scanty facts, there is so little physical description of him that the reader is not even really sure what he looks like.

The Case of the Wary Wildcatter
The Case of the Treacherous Toupée
The Case of the Envious Editor
The Case of the Barefaced Witness
The Case of the Counterfeit Crank
The Case of the Shoplifter's Shoe
The Case of Constant Doyle
The Case of the Deadly Verdict
The Case of the Bountiful Beauty
The Case of the Twice Told Twist
The Case of the Dead Ringer
The Case of the Final Fadeout

Photo: Bette Davis, The Case of Constant Doyle

I have most of these episodes recorded on tape, but they're crudely edited and many are missing critical scenes. Don't even get me started about the tacky late-night 900-number commercials! These DVD sets are mastered from the original film elements and are complete 52-minute versions in glorious black and white. It often puzzled me why some of the episodes didn't make sense. I've watched each of these Perry Mason DVDs as they've been released, and have discovered several scenes for the very first time. They were ruthlessly cut from the original shows to accommodate too many commercials. Once you see the uncut episodes, you'll never go back to the inferior, botched versions!

The Case of the Restless Redhead
The Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece
The Case of the Nervous Accomplice
The Case of the Drowning Duck
The Case of the Sulky Girl
The Case of the Silent Partner
The Case of the Angry Mourner
The Case of the Crimson Kiss
The Case of the Vagabond Vixen
The Case of the Runaway Corpse
The Case of the Crooked Candle
The Case of the Negligent Nymph
The Case of the Moth-Eaten Mink
The Case of the Baited Hook
The Case of the Fan Dancer's Horse
The Case of the Demure Defendant
The Case of the Sunbather's Diary
The Case of the Cautious Coquette
The Case of the Haunted Husband

Photo: Barbara Eden, The Case of the Angry Mourner

The Case of the Lonely Heiress
The Case of the Green-Eyed Sister
The Case of the Fugitive Nurse
The Case of the One-Eyed Witness
The Case of the Deadly Double
The Case of the Empty Tin
The Case of the Half-Wakened Wife
The Case of the Desperate Daughter
The Case of the Daring Decoy
The Case of the Hesitant Hostess
The Case of the Screaming Woman
The Case of the Fiery Fingers
The Case of the Substitute Face
The Case of the Long-Legged Models
The Case of the Gilded Lily
The Case of the Lazy Lover
The Case of the Prodigal Parent
The Case of the Black-Eyed Blonde
The Case of the Terrified Typist
The Case of the Rolling Bones

Photo: Angie Dickinson, The Case of the One-Eyed Witness

The Case of the Corresponding Corpse
The Case of the Lucky Loser
The Case of the Pint-Sized Client
The Case of the Sardonic Sergeant
The Case of the Curious Bride
The Case of the Buried Clock
The Case of the Married Moonlighter
The Case of the Jilted Jockey
The Case of the Purple Woman
The Case of the Fancy Figures
The Case of the Perjured Parrot
The Case of the Shattered Dream
The Case of the Borrowed Brunette
The Case of the Glittering Goldfish
The Case of the Footloose Doll

Photo: Nita Talbot, The Case of the Pint-Sized Client

The Case of the Fraudulent Foto
The Case of the Romantic Rogue
The Case of the Jaded Joker
The Case of the Caretaker's Cat
The Case of the Stuttering Bishop
The Case of the Lost Last Act
The Case of the Bedeviled Doctor
The Case of the Howling Dog
The Case of the Calendar Girl
The Case of the Petulant Partner
The Case of the Dangerous Dowager
The Case of the Deadly Toy
The Case of the Spanish Cross
The Case of the Dubious Bridegroom
The Case of the Lame Canary

Photo: Kasey Rogers, The Case of the Calendar Girl

The Case of the Spurious Sister
The Case of the Watery Witness
The Case of the Garrulous Gambler
The Case of the Blushing Pearls
The Case of the Startled Stallion
The Case of Paul Drake's Dilemma
The Case of the Golden Fraud
The Case of the Bartered Bikini
The Case of the Artful Dodger
The Case of the Lucky Legs
The Case of the Violent Village
The Case of the Frantic Flyer

Photo: George Takei, The Case of the Blushing Pearls

The Case of the Wayward Wife
The Case of the Prudent Prosecutor
The Case of the Gallant Grafter
The Case of the Wary Wildcatter
The Case of the Mythical Monkeys
The Case of the Singing Skirt
The Case of the Bashful Burro
The Case of the Crying Cherub
The Case of the Nimble Nephew
The Case of the Madcap Modiste
The Case of the Slandered Submarine
The Case of the Ominous Outcast
The Case of the Irate Inventor
The Case of the Flighty Father

Photo: Beverly Garland, The Case of the Mythical Monkeys

The Case of the Treacherous Toupée
The Case of the Credulous Quarry
The Case of the Ill-Fated Faker
The Case of the Singular Double
The Case of the Lavender Lipstick
The Case of the Wandering Widow
The Case of the Clumsy Clown
The Case of the Provocative Protégé
The Case of the Nine Dolls
The Case of the Loquacious Liar
The Case of the Red Riding Boots
The Case of the Larcenous Lady
The Case of the Envious Editor
The Case of the Resolute Reformer
The Case of the Fickle Fortune
The Case of the Waylaid Wolf

Photo: Edward Platt, The Case of the Larcenous Lady

TV.com
EpGuides.com
LegalZoom.com
The Fifties Web
The Isle of Squid
National Public Radio
The Perry Mason TV Series Site
The Perry Mason TV Show Book
SquidBoomers: Sunday, April 27, 2008
The Museum of Broadcast Communications
The Internet Movie Database ~ Perry Mason TV Series

© 2009 Kim Giancaterino

This Squidoo Lens by Kim Giancaterino is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.


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