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#177: The Case of the
Elusive Element
Original Airdate: 04/11/63

Summary Edit

From The Perry Mason TV Show Book
This is another story of partners who don’t trust each other. Austin Lloyd and Dwight Garrett are partners in a reliability testing firm. But Garrett wants out when he learns that Lloyd is swindling a large aerospace company.

Faced with the dissolution of the partnership and knowing that his wife Bonnie is in love with Garrett, Lloyd plans to fake a poisoning attempt on his life, making it look as though Garrett and Bonnie tried to kill him so they could run away to Mexico. But Lloyd really does die. Perry is convinced that Garrett is innocent.

Credits Edit

Opening

Starring Raymond Burr
in The Case of THE ELUSIVE ELEMENT
Based upon characters created by Erle Stanley Gardner
Barbara Hale, William Hopper, William Talman, Ray Collins

Trailing

Directed by Harmon Jones
Written by Samuel Newman
Art Seid | Producer
Gail Patrick Jackson | Executive Producer
Jackson Gillis | Associate Producer
Samuel Newman | Story Consultant

Raymond Burr as Perry Mason
Barbara Hale as Della Street
William Hopper as Paul Drake
Wiliam Talman as Hamilton Burger
Ray Collins as Lt. Tragg
Wesley Lau as Lt. Anderson

Cast

Gloria Talbott as Bonnie Lloyd
Gerald Mohr as Austin Lloyd
Douglas Henderson as Dwight Garrett
George Macready as Roscoe Pearce
Douglas Dick as Ned Chase
Ronald Long as Myron Baker
Elaine Devry as Terry Clover
S. John Launer as Judge
Jon Lormer as Autopsy Surgeon
Tommy Farrell as Robert Fordney
Billy Halop as Man
Ollie O’Toole as Grocery Clerk
Ray Dannis as Radio Salesman
Michael Harris as Sgt. Bruce
Guy Standing III as Airline Clerk
Harry Fleer as Bank Teller

Uncredited Actors
Ralph Brooks as Burger’s Co-Counsel
Joseph Crehan as Courtroom Spectator

Bert Stevens as {	Maître d’Hôtel
	Bank Customer
	Courtroom Extra

Crew

“Perry Mason”
Director of Photography … Robert G. Hager
Art Direction … Lewis Creber
Assistant Director … Gordon A. Webb
Film Editor … John D. Faure
Casting … Harvey Clermont
Makeup … Irving Pringle
Hair Stylist … Annabell
Wardrobe Supervision … Ed McDermott, Evelyn Carruth
Set Decoration … Sandy Grace
Properties … Ray Thompson
Production Sound Mixer … Herman Lewis
Script Supervision … Cosmo Genovese
Theme Composed by … Fred Steiner

Perry Mason
Produced by the CBS Television Network in association with Paisano Productions

Trivia Edit

In the office, after the first scene in court, Perry reveals some poetic depth and doth quote “I am a little world made cunningly of elements.” This is from Holy Sonnet V by John Donne. Submitted by Steve Fox, 12/22/2004.

Location: About 19 minutes in, there is a quick shot of Los Angeles International Airport with a glimpse of the Googie styled “Theme Building.” It looks like a space-aged bug or flying saucer on legs. I have read it was the inspiration for buildings in the cartoon The Jetsons. I have eaten at the cool eatery at the top called the Encounter Restaurant. Also appears in episode #198. Submitted by Eric Cooper, 10 June 10. Some pictures here.

The man trying to cash the check in the grocery store is Billy Halop, who died fairly young. His alcoholism stalled his career, and when he died he had already left acting for nursing. Perhaps he is best known as the recurring cabdriver on All in the Family. Submitted by gracenote, 2/2/2011.

Sightings: At the supermarket, “Miss Carmody” is in the aisle behind Austin Lloyd’s, checking out her groceries with a a large handbag and a smile and a few nods. After an incident in the store, she is rather perturbed and talks rather excitedly to the clerk. Submitted by gracenote, 2/2/2011.
+ During the hearing, the Pencil Mustache Man lurks among the other spectators, but is never quite clearly shown. Submitted by gracenote, 2/2/2011. See below for uncredited actors (with names) also seated in the gallery.

Uncredited Actors: Bert Stevens is the maître d’hôtel at the restaurant where Garrett and Mrs. Lloyd meet. We also see a great deal of Stevens in the courtroom gallery (he’s in several cutaways). Another who appears without billing in the gallery is the prolific character actor Joseph Crehan, whom we don’t yet have on our Uncredited Actors page. Submitted by gracenote, 2/2/2011.
+ Stevens also appears as a customer at the bank where Mrs. Lloyd cashes a check. And character actor Ralph Brooks, although he never speaks, plays Burger’s co-counsel at the hearing. Submitted by gracenote, 7/28/2011.

As the sign reads on the cash register at the supermarket, Telecredit provides the electronic check approval. This was a real L.A. company, incorporated in 1961. Equifax bought it out, and now the check approval is done by Certegy. Submitted by gracenote, 7/28/2011.
+ Indeed, Telecredit consumer check verification was founded by Ronald Katz in 1961. Mr. Katz is the son of late musician and comedian Mickey Katz, brother of Academy Award winning actor Joel Grey, and uncle to actress and Dirty Dancing star Jennifer Grey. Submitted by Mason Jar 9/15/2011.

Typing: At time 5:41 into the DVD of this episode, Austin Lloyd’s secretary Terry Clover (played by Elaine Devry) is seated at her desk typing. But after the salutation of the letter, when you look under the typewriter bail, you see she is just typing ”asdfghjkl;asdfghjkl;asdfghjkl;asdfghjkl;“ over and over. Submitted by Charles Richmond, 11/23/2011.
+ I wish that this shot was in the broadcast rerun that I've seen! According to the later courtroom testimony, her typewriter should be the white (or very light-coloured) Selectric. The broadcast rerun does have a scene in Dwight's restricted-access office that shows the dark-coloured Selectric (in accordance with the later evidence).

Comments Edit

Hooray, it’s the second Space Age story in a row (Aerospace Reliability Associates is the firm), and yet somewhat noir-ish, especially with Bogie-wannabe Gerald Mohr in a major role. Macready gives the whole thing some gravitas, but I would have liked to have seen more of him. Submitted by gracenote, 2/2/2011.

I have to add that I just love the technology in this episode, especially the electronic check verification. Submitted by gracenote, 2/2/2011.
+ The enlargements that Burger later presents in court indicate that the checks were also perforated to thwart alteration, a form of check protection technology dating from the 1800s. A dot-matrix “3” and other perforated characters can be seen - somewhat like this , made by the Abbott Automatic Check Protector, patented 1889. More antique “physical check protection” here. Submitted by Gary Woloski, 30 November 2011.

For the umpteenth time this season, Ray Collins gets credit for playing Tragg, but does not actually appear. Submitted by gracenote, 2/2/2011.

The opening shot is of the California Spruce Medical Building at 500 Spruce Street in San Francisco (see for example Google maps), but the shot continues on to the sign for Aerospace Reliability Associates, which is at 653 N. Sixth Street in Los Angeles (per the “asdfgh…” letter that Miss Clover is typing). Submitted by masonite, 12/01/2011.

The Typewriter Evidence. With Lt Anderson on the stand, Burger presents enlarged specimens of legitimate and bogus Project Reports and cheques to show on which of two typewriters they were produced. The typewriters, also in court, are IBM Selectrics (electric typewriters introduced 1961). The Selectric was then unique in having a fixed carriage (paper holder) and a laterally moving printing element (a rotating “type ball”). Read about the Selectric here. How it works here (3:05 video). Selectric Museum here. The larger, square-shaped machines in the pile are mostly Selectric IIs (intro 1971); one blue Selectric III (intro 1980) is at bottom right. If the last link does not connect, try pasting selectric.org/selectric/ to your browser.
- Burger and Anderson remain totally unaware of the innovative features of the Selectric until midway through Perry’s cross-examination of Anderson. Until that point, everyone in the courtroom but Perry thinks that Selectrics are just run-of-the-mill typewriters.
- When Lt. Anderson types his comparison texts at Perry’s urging, you can see that the carriage is stationary and, if you watch very closely, you may catch a glimpse of the type ball moving across the page. The IBM logo plate on the top deck is well shown several times.
- When Perry quickly and expertly demonstrates how to exchange the elements, Anderson and Burger are confounded and struck speechless.
- The typeface in the courtroom enlargements appears to be “Adjutant“ (this shows a generic Adjutant font). Some ID points: prominent serifs, the numeral for “three,” shallow “v” in the capital “M.” A sample of the genuine IBM Selectric Adjutant is here.
- The passage in the legitimate “DEMOS” Reliability Report presented by Burger reads “therefore, the trade off analysis juxtaposing size, weight, and strength clearly indicates MIL - Q - 34D2b will be required for the structural frame of the payload package.” In the bogus substitute report, the b in the MIL-Q designator has been replaced with a c. A MIL-Q would have been a Department of Defense Quality Standard, at least for plot purposes.
- If you have an old Selectric in the basement, you may wish to check out the Yahoo! Golf ball typewriter shop.
- I think I heard a motor start to whir when Andy touched the first machine. What attention to detail! There had to have been great technical care and attention paid to this production. It was exceptionally well done.
With assistance from David Sadowski, Yahoo! Typewriter Group. Submitted by Gary Woloski, 28 November 2011.

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