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#103: The Case of the
Provocative Protege
Original Airdate: 11/12/60

Summary Edit

From The Perry Mason TV Show Book (Revised)
A washed-up, lovesick concert pianist takes a dive in his car over a cliff. Insurance and financial woes complicate the matter. Perry must clear the pianist's protégé of any suspicion.

Credits Edit

Opening

Starring Raymond Burr
in The Case of THE PROVOCATIVE PROTEGE
Based upon characters created by Erle Stanley Gardner

Barbara Hale as Della Street
William Hopper as Paul Drake
Ray Collins as Lt. Tragg

Trailing

Directed by Laslo Benedek
Teleplay by Herman Epstein and Seeleg Lester
Story by Herman Epstein
Seeleg Lester || Producer
Gail Patrick Jackson || Executive Producer
Arthur Marks || Associate Producer
Produced by The CBS Television Network in association with Paisano Productions
Jackson Gillis || Story Consultant
Raymond Burr as Perry Mason
Barbara Hale as Della Street
William Hopper as Paul Drake
Ray Collins as Lt. Tragg

Cast

Virginia Field as Anita Carpenter
Robert Lowery as Andrew Collis
Kathie Browne as Donna Loring
Robert Karnes as Deputy D.A. Chamberlin
Charles D. Cooper as Eric Sturgis
Gregory Morton as David Carpenter
Harry Jackson as George Worthington
Donald Foster as James Gracie
Barry Cahill as Sgt. Binns
Morris Ankrum as Judge
Jon Lormer as Autopsy Surgeon
George E. Stone as Court Clerk
Cindy Courtland as Alice

Uncredited Actors
Don Anderson as Courtroom Spectator

Robert Wegner as {	Police Officer
	Courtroom Spectator (spotted by gracep 10/21/2010)

Crew

Art Seid, A.C.E. || Assistant to the Producer
Production Supervisor … Dewey Starkey
Director of Photography … Frank Redman, A.S.C.
Art Direction … Lewis Creber
Assistant Director … Robert G. Stone
Film Editor … Richard H. Cahoon, A.C.E.
Casting … Harvey Clermont
Makeup … Irving Pringle
Hair Stylist … Annabell, S.C.H.
Wardrobe Supervision … William Zacha, Evelyn Carruth
Set Decoration … Charles Q. Vassar
Sound Effects Editor … Gene Eliot, M.P.S.E.
Music Editor … Gene Feldman
Properties … Ray Thompson
Production Sound Mixer … Herman Lewis
Script Supervision … M.E.M. Gibsone
Sound … Glen Glenn Sound Co.
Titles and Opticals … Pacific Title

Perry Mason \ A Film Presentation
A CBS Television Network Production

Trivia Edit

Anomaly: Kathie Browne is listed as Donna Loring but is called Donna Ross. [Tom Rankin].

In the office scene where Perry is dictating to Della from a book, when he says “California State Penal Code, section 1362, dealing in competency as evidence when witness uh...,” he is speaking of an actual and appropriate section of the CSPC. Submitted by Steve Fox, 10/20/2004.

The piece playing at the episode’s opening (with Carpenter at the piano) is Beethoven’s Sonata in C minor, Op. 13, No. 8, also called the Sonata Pathétique. The closed captions coupled with the syndication print incorrectly list this as the overture from Beethoven’s Fidelio. Submitted by gracep 10/21/2010.
+ See also comments below regarding Donna’s piece.

Sightings: Appearing in the courtroom gallery are Distinguished Gentleman #1 and the Little Old Lady in a Hat on the defendant’s side, along with Quiet Old Man #1 and “Miss Carmody” on the prosecutor’s side. A pencil-mustached man peers through the crowd as well (prosecutor’s side). Can you see them? Read more about these favorite frequent faces and why we are trying to spot them. Submitted by gracep, 10/21/2010.

Uncredited Actors: Robert Wegner gets two appearances in this episode. He's a frowning spectator on the prosecution side, and he seems to be a uniformed policeman at the desk outside Tragg’s office when Tragg, Mason, and Worthington meet. Submitted by FredK, 20 Nov 2010.
+ Don Anderson is among the second-row spectators on A.D.A. Chamberlin’s side of the court. Submitted by FredK, 20 Nov 2010.

Comments Edit

When Perry visits Donna just ahead of Tragg, she is playing a classical piece on the piano. Perry can’t “quite place it.” Later, Perry writes a note to Donna in jail and comments to Della that “I just remembered the title to a beautiful Beethoven overture.” The title in the note looks like “Fidelis” but it's “Fidelio” (compare the “o” to the “s” above) as is confirmed in the closing scene. Now, Fidelio is an opera and does have an overture, but isn’t this an odd piece for piano solo? So what was Donna playing? Submitted by Steve Fox, 10/20/04.
+ The music misidentified as Fidelio in the first scene, with Carpenter at the piano, is definitely the first movement of the Sonata Pathétique. In the scene Steve mentions, the closed captions claim Donna is playing an arrangement of Fidelio, but it sounds like no part of an orchestral recording I have reviewed. Lastly, as Perry Mason writes his note and Donna reads it, I cannot recognize the music playing as from the Fidelio overture, either. Submitted by gracep, 10/21/2010.

+ When Mason visits Donna in the cottage and remarks on her gifts, though he cannot name the piece, the music heard is a piano version of one of Beethoven’s Leonora Overtures. Since Beethoven was not especially comfortable writing for voices, he composed only one opera, Fidelio, and labored on it for some time. He wrote three different versions of the original overture which are now known as Leonora Overtures Numbers 1, 2 and 3 (Leonora was the heroine of the opera who disguises herself as a boy, Fidelio, to help her imprisoned husband). After all this effort, Beethoven eventually composed a completely different overture for opera performances. The Leonora Overture #3 is a well-known concert piece and is also sometimes played between acts of the opera; #2 is rarely played, #1 very rarely. The section Donna plays could be from either #2 or #3. Technically, therefore, Mason is incorrect identifying it as Fidelio. Submitted by FredK, 20 Nov 2010.

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