<< Blind Man's Bluff | Episodes | Difficult Detour >>

#115: The Case of the
Barefaced Witness
Original Airdate: 03/18/61

Summary Edit

From The Perry Mason TV Show Book (Revised)
This offbeat episode should be a delight for hard-core Perry-watchers. The fact that Paul is arrested early on for the crime of “not wearing a beard” is just one of the oddities in the show. There is almost a faint hint of The Twilight Zone in the mood and setting of the story, a small town somewhere in California where, at least for a few days, all males must wear beards.

The plot itself is routinely complicated. The town’s former bank president returns from prison after being convicted of embezzling $33,750—money that was never found. A former client of Paul’s asks him for the second time to try and locate the loot. Perry becomes involved and later, after Paul finally does find the money—and a body—the lawyer travels to the town to help his detective friend straighten the whole thing out.

The flavor of the 1950s is everywhere in this episode. When one character sits down to eat in a restaurant, the menu features ground sirloin steak for 95¢; fish and chips for $1.00, and fried jumbo shrimp for a whopping $1.25.

Also, blooper fans will spot a strange black band that appears at the top of their television screens during the opening shots of the episode. As the scenes look like on-location shots and involve characters entering and leaving stores, possibly the blackout was put there at the last minute by the producers not wanting to give actual store owners a plug on TV. The show stars Adam West, who went on to play Batman.

Credits Edit

Opening

Starring Raymond Burr
in The Case of THE BAREFACED WITNESS
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
Written by Robert C. Dennis
Arthur Marks | Producer
Gail Patrick Jackson | Executive 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

Paul Fix as Prosecutor Hale
Josephine Hutchinson as Miss Sarah
Malcolm Atterbury as Alfred Needham
Roy Roberts as W. L. Picard
Adam West as Dan Southern
Enid Janes as Iris McKay
Russ Conway as Fred Swan
Eloise Hardt as Marta Wiltern
Lewis Martin as Judge
Tom Fadden as Beller
Charles Briggs as Policeman
Russ Bender as Chief Hagerty
Rosemary Day as Secretary

Crew

Production Supervisor … Dewey Starkey
Director of Photography … Frank Redman, A.S.C.
Art Direction … Lewis Creber
Assistant Director … Robert G. Stone
Film Editor … Otto Meyer, A.C.E.
Casting … Harvey Clermont
Makeup … Irving Pringle
Hair Stylist … Annabell
Wardrobe Supervision … Ed McDermott, 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

Location: In the scene where Paul is on his way to W. L. Picard’s office, two California state highway signs can be seen, one for route 23 and the other for route 118. These roads actually converge in the city of Moorpark, not in the “Pinon City” of the show. See here. Submitted by Steve Fox, 10/7/2004.

That Mysterious Black Bar that appears in the scene with the roadsigns is there to cover up a sign. More here. From a post to the Perry_Mason Yahoo! group by Rich Erickson, 12/16/2006.
+ I scanned this episode on the Perry Mason 50th Anniversary DVD for the scene of the Mysterious Black Bar and find that there is no black bar. It looks like the scene has been stretched vertically to eliminate the bar. Tricky! Posted by daveb, 4/8/2008.

Goof: I noticed a blooper in the opening scene. When Adam West looks at the registration for the truck, it says it is a “Ford Pickup.” In the next shot, when the truck pulls up it can clearly be seen that it is a GMC truck. Submitted by J Fleming, 12/31/2009.

In another entry of TCOT All-Purpose Address, the above truck registration indicates that Fred Swan is yet another resident of 1040 N. Las Palmas in LA (also used in episodes #78, #89 and #100). As daveb mentioned, Hollywood Center Studio is the long-time tenant of that address, and at their website the Mason series appears in the “Featured List” of TV productions filmed there. Submitted by FredK, 1/3/2010. There’s more about this on the Location Trivia page.

Eloise Hardt makes her only Perry appearance here as Marta Wiltern. When I initially watched the episode, I thought she was Barbara Bain, the resembleance is remarkable. In 1968 Eloise Hardt’s only child, Marina Habe, a 17-year-old college student, was kidnapped and murdered. The murder was never solved, but a lot of people believe it had something to do with the Manson crowd. Submitted by PaulDrake 33, 29 January 2010.

Neither D.A. Burger (William Talman) nor Lt. Tragg (Ray Collins) appears in this episode. Collins, however, appears in the credits while Talman does not. Submitted by gracep, 11/8/2010.

Character Names: Although left out of the credits, Miss Sarah’s last name is McKay, and Prosecutor Hale’s first name is Jonathan. The prosecutor refers to a officer named Gene Barr, but it may or may not be the same Policeman in the credits. Submitted by gracep, 11/8/2010; updated 7/7/2011.

Sightings: The food at Mr. Needham’s restaurant in Pinon City must be awfully good, because it lured Distinguished Gentleman #1 from L.A. to the little town. We see him sipping tea and talking enthusiastically to his companion as Iris McKay (Enid James) storms in. One of the few times he is so emotive! Submitted by gracep, 11/8/2010.
+ Read about all our favorite frequent faces and help us spot more! Submitted by gracep, 11/9/2010.

Less than five years after this episode was first shown, Adam West sported a cape in the memorable title role of TV's Batman series, which first aired on January 13, 1966, and ran for three seasons. Submitted by Fifty-Niner on July 12, 2011.

Miss Sarah's "The Machine" appears to be a 1939 Packard Touring Sedan. Car picture here. Observe these Identifying Points: radiator/grill shape, especially across the top, radiator cap/mascot, cased spare wheels on fenders, and windshield shape. Some pictures from the episode here (scroll down to mid-page). Submitted by GaryW, 28 Aug 2011, via email.

Comments Edit

I noticed several people pronouncing the name of the city as [PIN-yon] — as if it were spelled “Piñon.” But there is no tilde (~) above the ‘N’ on any of the signs. Don’t know if it’s really a goof or if a it’s a California thing to keep a quasi-Spanish pronunciation but drop the diacritical marks. Any comments? Submitted by New York GraceP, 11/5/2010.
+ I think this not a goof. It’s just the way it was. I grew up in SoCal in the 1950s, and I don’t remember seeing many tildes yet we pronounced things the Spanish way. One I recall was the city of La Canada. Now joined with Flintridge, their website can’t seem to decide about the tilde. Submitted by daveb, 3/10/2011.

The scene described where Drake is arrested for not wearing a beard is NOT in the syndication print, so the whole thing does not make any sense when Paul references it later. Submitted by gracep, 11/5/2010.

Note the sign about 7:20 into the episode on the DVD. Behind Adam West and Iris at the Pinon City train depot the sign reads “Unbearded Men Will Be Pinched.” Submitted by Eric Cooper, 3/10/2011.
+ The same sign is behind W. L. Picard’s secretary’s desk. Submitted by gracenote, 7/7/2011.

Raymond Burr sounds like he had a cold the day(s) this episode was filmed. Submitted by gracenote, 7/7/2011.

<< Blind Man's Bluff | Episodes | Difficult Detour >>