But this night I stumbled upon an old episode of PERRY MASON on MeTV. By old I mean black-and-white from the late ‘50s/early '60s. I always enjoyed Perry Mason when I came across it but never loved it like my parents and grandparents. If there was a Western on another channel I was gone. But it wasn't written for me back then.
PERRY MASON was on the air well into the late ‘60s. In much the same way that NCIS and LAW & ORDER are sort of comfort food TV, PERRY MASON was a very popular show, regularly pulling in 30,000,000 viewers a week.
It was clearly formulaic. There would be a murder, Perry would defend the leading suspect, there were always four or five others who could have done it, and ultimately Perry corners the real killer into admitting the crime. How District Attorney Hamilton Berger kept his job I’ll never know because he always lost.
Raymond Burr played Perry and had all the things you need to be a TV star – very likable, good looks, and a giant head. The writing was pretty decent. Perry generally figured out who the killer was before you despite you being privy to the same clues.
The acting was generally terrible. Very melodramatic and overblown. Burr was the only actor who didn’t recreate the death scene from CAMILLE any time anybody was asked to state their name on the witness stand. But it was cheesy nostalgic fun.
And looking back, there are great cameos by actors who went on to become big stars and young directors like Arthur Hiller would cut their teeth megging episodes.
But the thing that struck me about the show, and why I ultimately think it became such a big hit for so many years was this – We as a country celebrated intelligence back then. Perry Mason won because he was SMART. He was smarter than anyone else. His super power was his brain. America, regardless of the State color, admired his ability to see through smokescreens and find the truth. The “comfort” comes from justice always winning out. We had faith in our institutions and those sworn to protect them.
So even though there are a thousand channels and another few thousand options on streaming sites, it was fun to watch a 60 year-old program and long for the days when justice and education were actually valued. And Angie Dickinson looked amazing in 1959.
Mason's creator Erle Stanley Gardner had real conviction in the ideals of his character. In cooperation with other legal figures, he established "The Court of Last Resort" to investigate actual cases where defendants, often from backgrounds of poverty, may have been unjustly convicted. At the height of his success, Gardner was spending as much time on the "Court" as he did writing mysteries.
ReplyDeleteAccording to a teaser trailer on HBO last night, they have a new version of "Perry Mason" coming in 2020.
ReplyDeleteI think something like Perry Mason, despite having an intelligent central character, wouldn't fly today because it would be considered too simple. The characters weren't flawed. I think the closest recent analogue that succeeded and gained widespread public appeal may have been House, MD. It seems similar in that the central character was practically a medical detective who went against what everyone else believed and nearly always prevailed. But I doubt House would have succeeded if not for his myriad character flaws.
ReplyDeleteAmen. About intelligence. And Angie.
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I have been binge-watching "Perry Mason" recently. Many of the episodes are on Amazon Prime. We enjoy the plots and writing, but also looking at all the mid-century fashions, cars, etc.
ReplyDeleteWe like it so much that for her birthday gift, I hunted down a few '60s-era Erle Stanley Gardner paperbacks, which are a hoot. For some reason, every time a character is mentioned, it's by full name. You'll read, "Della Street entered..." even on page 87, after we've met her a dozen times already. Gardner really was a lawyer who spent his spare time helping spring falsely-convicted people from prison, so he knew whereof he wrote. He was also unbelievably prolific, churning out mountains of novels under a variety of pen names.
And according to Wikipedia, he gave us this quote, which I nominate as the credo of all us freelance writers:
"At three cents a word, every time I say ‘Bang’ in the story I get three cents. If you think I'm going to finish the gun battle while my hero still has fifteen cents worth of unexploded ammunition in his gun, you're nuts."
What an amazing quote Lol
DeleteMegging? Is that the Variety term?
ReplyDeleteI liked Perry Mason and am curious about the reboot. But I’m more of a Diagnosis Murder kinda guy.
ReplyDeleteAs I'm guessing 40 people will point out before me Perry Mason is being revived with Matthew Rhys as the title character.
ReplyDeleteDick Clark made an appearance in Perry Mason's courtroom. No kidding.
ReplyDeleteRaymond Burr - Perry Mason - made an appearance in Jack Benny's television program. No kidding.
SPOILER ALERT
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Clark was the murderer in the series' final episode
TV was young back then and as I see it, people were saying the same things about it as they say now about social media.
ReplyDeleteA new version of Perry Mason has been in the works for a while. It's supposed to debut on HBO in 2020, with Matthew Rhys as Perry M., and Juliet Rylance as Della Street.
ReplyDeleteI understand this new version is supposed to be more about how Gardner created Mason...
DeleteThe Perry Mason drinking game:
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1: Who gets killed? (Hint: they usually deserve it)
Question 2: Who gets falsely accused? (Hint: often the the blonde)
Question 3: Who did it? (Hint: often the brunette)
Question 4: How did Perry know (this is where the brains come in)
Bonus question 5: Does the perp confess with a bang ("I could have killed him a hundred times") or a whimper ("I-I had to do it. Don't you understand? I had to do it.")
I was a Los Angeles County prosecutor for 40 years and I can answer your question about Hamilton Burger in just two words, civil service.
ReplyDeleteAs William Talman stated, it's wrong to say Burger loses every case because that defines "victory" as sending an innocent person to jail (or worse death row) and his job is to see justice is upheld. And there are times where he chooses not to object to Mason's questioning of a witness because he realizes Perry is on to something and wants to see where it leads- I know that's not the way it works in real life, but it should be.
ReplyDeleteWell said!
ReplyDeleteWe live a soup of lies, ignorance and conspiracy theories. What led us to live in Stupidville USA?
We started rewatching The X-Files start to finish. All 11 seasons.
The number one take away is that is is consistently the best cinematography on a network series ever. Absolutely masterful camera work and direction. But...
I wonder how much of The X-Files drumbeat of government conspiracy and deep state evil has seeped into the collective unconcious? This show got very popular and, as you know, many people think what they see on TV is real. Look how the actress who played Walter Whites wife on Breaking Bad got death threats for the way her character treated Walt. People think Donald Trump is a savvy, successful business man.
I think that Perry Mason's toughest case was when he had to reluctantly defend Godzilla for that little skirmish in Tokyo.
ReplyDelete...Oh, wait. Maybe I'm confusing that with something else.
I'll bet the President wishes he had an lawyer like Perry Mason. Rather than his real life attorney, Rudolph Giuliani. Although, P.M. didn't win every trial.
M.B.
@Mike Bloodworth
ReplyDeleteYou don't know what you are talking about.
Perry Mason's toughest case by far was getting himself off that bum rap of killing his wife when he was I'ded by some guy with a broken leg, some binoculars and his blonde girlfriend from their window across the courtyard.
Perry Mason gets the entertainment across without utilizing:
ReplyDelete*Rapid edits
*Shaky cam (or the camera falling over)
*Five minute ending montage under a pop song
But it does give me the urge to buy any Colgate-Palmolive product.
Brian O.
Right. So sick of all those cliches. Give me the straightforward approach of old television anytime.
DeleteAnd for a weird coincidence...
ReplyDeleteRaymond Burr was the best man at my aunt and uncle's wedding. The three of them attended classes together at the Pasadena Playhouse and were very good friends.
I loved Perry Mason. He and his law practice compatriots exhibited class, dignity, respect, empathy and humanity.
Those were the days.
And the theme music. They don't write them like that anymore. Often, they don't write anything.
ReplyDeleteI am also curious about the meaning of 'megging." I can gather some from the context, but can you tell us what you mean by it?
ReplyDeleteKen, here's a little Friday topic for you:
ReplyDeleteDoes it bother anyone in Hollywood that, in the remake of this famously American show, both Perry Mason and Della Street are being played by Brits? Or that half of the Little Women in the new movie are not Americans? Most recent cinematic American Presidents are British, which would certainly bemuse the founding fathers, and even Spiderman and Superman and several more Othermen are being portrayed by Brits. How come? It's seeming to reveal American producers' laziness, or a distrust of American actors, and/or a certain provincial-inferiority complex.
The new Perry, the heretofore seething, coiled, dour Matthew Rhys, would seem wrong for the role, unless the producers rejigger the character. That being said, I don't fault Brits and Aussies for seeking American roles. (Outside Meryl Streep and Renee Zellwegger's Bridget Jones, though, there doesn't seem to be much reciprocity.) But I'm sure that Streep would agree that assuming an accent is no guarantor of great talent. That's a deeper thing she possesses that a comparative handful can match. It seems to me that we're not exactly fostering new Streeps or Hepburns, Robards or Brandos, Barrymores or Barbara Harrises by automatically denying them work for moderately talented folks who can't normally use a hard R.
The upcoming HBO miniseries is a prequel of sorts about the roots of the Mason character. It takes place in 1932 Los Angeles, and last week I saw location shooting near 5th and Broadway, with vintage cars; Angels Flight, which in the day was half a block north on Bunker Hill, has also been used for the series.
ReplyDeleteMason portrayals went far beyond Gardner's books and Raymond Burr. In the '30s, Warners made half a dozen Mason films, most of which starred pre-Code icon Warren William. Gardner had little say over the movies and he was cool to how Perry was portrayed, believing Warners was trying to make the character too much of a Nick Charles type.
In the '40s, Mason moved to radio (though I've never heard the series), and in the mid-'50s, with Golden Age "other woman" Gail Patrick ("My Man Godfrey," "Stage Door") as executive producer, Gardner -- this time with full control -- revived the character. (In the 1970s, Mason returned to TV in the form of respected actor Monte Markham, but the audience wouldn't accept him; later, Burr returned to the character for several TV movies.) My late friend Francine York appeared on a few original Burr episodes, and enjoyed the experience.
More on Mason at https://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/218641.html
Burr was still doing "Ironside" at the time of the Markham revival in 1973.
DeleteAs a boomer born in 1951, Perry Mason ranked as my favorite show (as it was my Dad’s) from approx ages 9 to 14. These days, I’m in the UK and loving the fact that the original series airs daily (very appropriately on the CBS Justice channel). Yesterday, I viewed the excellent ‘64 episode The Case of the Simple Simon, focused on a traveling theatrical troupe and set in Flagstaff. AZ, L.A. and Santa Barbara (where the murder and trial occur). Featured actors in the episode include James Stacy (later the star of the series Lancer, who is portrayed in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and the great Victor Buono (who amazingly plays an ageing character in his 50s or so, although he was only 26 in 1964). To top it all off from my perspective, the first name of the murder victim, a venomous old-time theater critic, is “Ogden”, the same as my last name! (haha) Great Stuff !!
ReplyDeleteWhen ESG created Perry Mason back in the '30s, he didn't give him a bogus "origin story".
ReplyDeleteThat's what HBO is trying to do.
That's why it won't work.
Period.
The TV show Perry Mason preserved a vision of 1950s/1960s era Los Angeles the way Naked City used and preserved that era in New York. Both cities were quite different back then, though Los Angeles is more changed.
ReplyDeletePerry Mason is perfect comfort food. I have the complete Perry Mason series on DVD and all of the books. It's perfect, satisfying watching or reading when I'm not up to anything more challenging.
BTW Bette Davis, of all people, stood in for Raymond Burr on at least one show. The rule for watching is that if you think you recognize a young X, odds are you are watching a young X.
It's Burger, as a couple of people ahead of me wrote but did not correct. I watch the reruns every night, M-F, and enjoy the heck out of them despite the egregious cuts made to satisfy the greed of the station.
ReplyDeleteI would disagree with the fellow who said the acting was awful. True, there were a couple of episodes where one of the characters left fang marks all over the scenery, but for the most part the acting was fine, and the regulars were excellent. There is a clip on YouTube showing auditions for PM with such things as William Hopper trying for the Mason role and Burr auditioning for Burger's part. Thank goodness everyone landed where they belonged.
If I remember correctly, Perry Mason didn't win all his cases. I think Hamilton Burger won two of them. And just once on the series I wish someone would have shortened up his first name and called him Ham Burger.
ReplyDeleteI'm currently watching two other old black and white series that hold up well- The Saint, and Peter Gunn.
ReplyDeleteLove Peter Gunn. Craig Stevens was TV's Cary Grant.
ReplyDeleteAs a couple of people mentioned HBO is remaking Perry Mason. From what I understand the books were much darker than the tv series. I am looking forward to watching this.
ReplyDeleteSome fun facts from the Mason series.
ReplyDelete1. Supposedly Natalie Wood was in love with Raymond Burr, who probably treated her better than any man in her life, but unfortunately for her, he was gay.
2. Barbara Hale, who played Della Street, was the mother of William Katt, who went on to star in "The Greatest American Hero."
3. William Hopper, who played private detective Paul Drake and whose acting was stiffer than the sets, was the son of gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, who probably never had a bad word to say about Burr (who I'm sure she knew was gay) or the series.
4. William Talman, who played DA Hamilton Burger, late in his life battling cancer did a PSA against smoking. Part of the script, he said while he lost all those cases to Mason, cancer was one case he didn't want to lose.
5. Ray Collins, who played Lt. Tragg, was a longtime member of Orson Welles repertory on radio and TV. Collins has to leave the series in 1963, yet producer Gail Patrick to continue to include his name in the credits each week up until his death in 1965 because she knew he watched the show.
I have been watching Perry Mason on MeTV for many years.I am totally hooked.I was fairly young when Perry Mason initially aired but I do remember watching back in the day.The central characters are excellent.And I do love the smirk on Lt. Tragg's face when he thought he had a one up on Perry.Of course,he never did.Just classic.
ReplyDeleteAaron Sorkin's HBO series "The Newsroom"started off with a bang in the very first scene of the very first episode about why America isn't great anymore.
ReplyDeleteThe entire scene is incredible with Jeff Daniels delivering an incredible monologue where one of his lines is "We used to aspire to intelligence,it didn't make us feel small."
A couple of asides: wouldn't Jon Hamm made a great Perry? He has the presence, look and voice, to pull it off.
ReplyDeleteAlso: Ken, here's something you might want to comment on. Having experience working with several long-running series, there's something unique about Perry Mason. Over its nine year run from 1957-'66, Raymond Burr totally overhauled his acting technique -- while playing the same role.
When it debuted on TV, Burr -- and his co-stars Ray Collins, William Talman and William Hopper -- all over-emoted and over-articulated, as if they were trying to project to the back row of the theater (where Burr and Collins had begun their respective careers). Then, every year, they gradually "dialed it back," relaxed, and became more conversational as they projected to the camera and microphones just a few feet away. You might not notice as the series airs in chronological order on MEtv -- except every year (usually late summer) when they jump from the final episode (#271, The Case of the Final Fadeout) to the first (#1, Case of the Restless Redhead) in just 24 hours. POW! Watch these talented cast members un-learn TV acting. Quite fun.
Jeff, that is exactly how it works in real life. It's TV and movies that lead people to think otherwise. In real life, the innocent ones very rarely even reach that stage, having been weeded out at prelim or even at the filing review.
ReplyDeleteErle Stanley Gardner had his law practice here in Ventura (the "Gardner Building" still exists on Main Street, downtown) when he created Mason. The character in the old movies (played by the wonderful Warren William) was quite different -- tougher, for one thing - from the character created for the Burr series.
ReplyDeleteCBS filmed one episode in color that aired in early 1966 -- the network was going full color that fall and wanted to see how viewers would respond to a color Mason episode, but in the end the network decided against a Season 10, and Perry ended up paralyzed and in a wheelchair up in San Francisco. Or something like that.
ReplyDelete(The color opening is of course posted on YouTube, as is the original screen test for Raymond Burr for the role of Perry ... and for the role of Hamilton Burger -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv22BnAMJUg )
One of the oldest, more informative, show biz interview podcasts is
ReplyDeletehttp://www.stusshow.com/. Mr Levine and his partner have both guested on the series.
All episodes are live and free; past audio versions are archived and available for 99 cents apiece
or four for $3.00.
Many Perry Mason tv actor interviews are to be found in the archives, but an essential listen for fans of the
series is this episode :
“Remembering Perry Mason’ “
with its producer/director ARTHUR MARKS and author JIM DAVIDSON ("Perry Mason: A Comprehensive Guide to America's Favorite Defender of Justice"). A detailed look at how the series got on the air, how it was cast, written, directed, and how it became one of the greatest hour-long programs in the history of television. (Running time: 169 minutes)
http://www.stusshow.com/archives.php/archives.php?y=2015
Blake Edwards had a "thing" for Cary Grant: Craig Stevens in "Peter Gunn" and John Vivyan in "Mr. Lucky" -- based on a 1943 movie character portrayed by Grant.
ReplyDeleteTV Guide used to have fairly detailed listings, especially for prime time programs. There'd be a little blurb about the subject of the episode, followed by a list of three or four actors and the names of the characters they were playing, under a heading that read Guest Stars.
ReplyDeleteThe murderer on Perry Mason was always the second person on that list.
If there was a Western on another channel I was gone.
ReplyDeleteA "giveaway" if I ever saw one - (at least) two TV's in the house in the early 60's!
Although both of my parents had secure, well-paid, school-district jobs, getting a second TV never occurred to them - and we had two channels back then.
Megging - Hollywood slang for "directing"? Is there an additional modifier/narrower meaning?
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteIf the luminous Natalie Wood couldn't convince a man to "switch teams" - nothing/no-one could.
See "Raymond Burr's Secret Life"
https://shepherdexpress.com/film/i-hate-hollywood/raymond-burr-s-secret-life/
According to "Hiding in Plain Sight: The Secret Life of Raymond Burr "... secrecy was second nature to the actor... Burr kept his own counsel through the end. He was actually once married, briefly, and went on to invent no less than two dead wives and even a dead son to fill out the blank spaces in his life story. Along with false reports of his service during World War II, he repeated these additions to his autobiography so long and so often that they found their way into his obituaries. In the 1950s he was “romantically linked” with rising starlet Natalie Wood. They were genuinely fond of each other but sparks never flew. Burr met his life companion, onetime actor Robert Benevides, in 1957 on the “Perry Mason” set. They were together through Burr’s death.
People think Perry Mason was the greatest lawyer of all time because he won every case for his clients..
ReplyDeleteDon't forget - Everyone of Perry's clients was a wrongly accused innocent person.
He would have been a crappy lawyer if he DIDN'T win the case!
I love PERRY MASON too, Ken. He always seemed to conveniently have rich clients, so there was never any worry about a fee, I presume. He also evidently kept costs down since he was always trying these complicated murder cases with only TWO people working for him! PS- That theme music always scared me as a kid.
ReplyDeleteMy Mom threw away my massive collection of 1950s/60s TV Guides after I split for college in 1969, so I’m unable to verify that bit of info! Drat! :(
ReplyDeleteDisney, Perry Mason, surf music and Shindig were what originally alerted me to LA as a kid growing up in the NYC and Toronto areas in the 50s and early 60s. Then I spent part of the summer of ‘66, staying with unruly cousins in Orange County as a 15-year-old, immersed in weed, Boss Radio, Dylan-Byrds-early Zappa, and the Laguna Beach scene, and I was really hooked!
ReplyDelete"Anonymous John Hammes said...
ReplyDeleteDick Clark made an appearance in Perry Mason's courtroom. No kidding."
More than just an appearance. Dick Clark was the murderer in the final episode of Perry Mason, "The Case of the Final Fade-Out."
"TCOT Simple Simon" Fun Fact:
ReplyDeleteYou noticed James Stacy and Victor Buono, but somehow you didn't notice Tom Conway, George Sanders's less successful brother (aka The Falcon).
Raymond Burr did this a lot: he'd hear about a vet actor who was having a rough patch, and get him a Mason gig.
For a few seasons, George E. Stone (Boston Blackie's Runt) was the court clerk.
Mike, I did note Tom Conway in the episode and wondered if he was connected with Tim Conway of McHale’s Navy (no). Tom’s Wikipedia page contains details of his sad fade out. It seems that this PM episode was just about his last gig. He appears in bad shape which fits the role of an actor in the twilight of his career.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I should also have mentioned the Carol Burnett Show in connection with Tim Conway!
ReplyDeleteThe story in brief:
ReplyDeleteTim Conway was originally Tom Conway, TV director from Cleveland.
Rose Marie saw him doing adlib comedy with Ernie Anderson, recommended him to Steve Allen, who was putting together a sow for ABC.
A handful of his early Allen shows ID him as Tom Conway.
Someone finally remembered that Tom Conway (Sanders) was still around (barely), so Steve Allen suggested that his Conway "dot the 'o' ".
The rest is history.
Ken, I must admit that the original black and white Perry Mason series is my all-time favorite TV show. I'm 60 years old. I re-discovered it in the last 2 years. I actually like the acting, the clothes, the girls, and the cars. I love Raymond Burr's portrayal. Color me a huge fan!
ReplyDeleteI took Perry Mason far too seriously, eventually dropping out of Law School, and passing the Calif Bar Exam over a decade later. Too bad, I had few court skills to compare with the poetry in motion that was Perry Mason!
ReplyDeleteSeen all the episodes a dozen times, even Season 6 when Burr's hospitalization led others, like Bette Davis, to play the perfect lawyer.