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#196: The Case of the
Capering Camera
Original Airdate: 01/16/64

Summary Edit

From The Perry Mason TV Show Book
Perry faces a tough ethical question in this episode. His client confesses to him that she was present, gun in hand, when a man was murdered, but the police think the man committed suicide.

What should Perry do? Tell his client’s story to the police or just keep quiet?

Credits Edit

Opening

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

Trailing

Directed by Jesse Hibbs
Written by Jonathan Latimer
Arthur Marks / Art Seid | Producers
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
William Talman as Hamilton Burger
Ray Collins as Lt. Tragg
Wesley Lau as Lt. Anderson

Music Composed and Conducted by Richard Shores

Cast

Elaine Stewart as Irene Grey
Margo Moore as Judith Blair
Paula Raymond as Katherine Ames
Karyn Kupcinet as Penny Ames
Byron Palmer as Harper Green
Mark Dempsy as Norman Ames
Kurt Kreuger as Karl Kadar
Edmon Ryan as Lewis Ames
Eric Feldary as Jacob Kadar
John Harmon as Fingerprint Expert
John Zaremba as Coroner’s Physician
Grandon Rhodes as Judge
Len Hendry as Police Photographer
Margaret Mason as Receptionist
Lee Miller as Sgt. Brice

Crew

“Perry Mason”
Director of Photography … Howard Schwartz, A.S.C.
Art Direction … Lewis Creber
Assistant Director … Gordon A. Webb
Film Editor … Al Clark, A.C.E.
Casting … Harvey Clermont
Makeup … Irving Pringle
Hair Stylist … Annabell
Wardrobe Supervision … Ed McDermott, Evelyn Carruth
Set Decoration … Carl Biddiscombe
Properties … Ray Thompson
Production Sound Mixer … Herman Lewis
Script Supervision … Marshall Schlom
Theme Composed by … Fred Steiner

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

Trivia Edit

Karyn Kupcinet, who played Penny Ames, was murdered not long after she made this episode. The murder is unsolved. Her body was found by Mark Goddard who appeared in two Perry Mason episodes. More here. Submitted by Mitch English, 2/3/2005.

Okay, just this once: Elaine Stewart, who plays Irene Gray, is married to Merrill Heatter who was executive producer of the game show Runaround which was hosted by alum Paul Winchell which gives her a Mason number of 2 in the Six Degrees of Perry Mason. Submitted by Thom Smith, N8DXR, 7/17/2005.

Location: When Miss Blair drives away from the scene of the crime (about 5 minutes) into the episode, you can see several shots of the “Swiss Cleaners” sign across the street. Swiss Cleaners is at 7219 Sunset Blvd. She travels East on Sunset. You can catch a glimpse of the Saharan Motor Hotel which is still there and “Original Sound” which was owned by famous DJ Art Laboe. Art and Dick Clark (who starred in another episode) promoted the first rock and roll concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Miss Blair turns south on La Brea. You can see the neon sign for Carolina Pines Jr. which was a Googie styled 24-hour coffee shop on Sunset and La Brea. Sadly, it was knocked down for a mini-mall. As Miss Blair continues a few yards south to her left is Paisano Productions the home of the show at 1416 N. La Brea. Charlie Chaplin built the small studio, CBS owned it in the 1960s and now it’s home to Jim Henson Studios. Submitted by Eric Cooper, 6/22/2009.

Judy Blair's car is a 1959 or 1960 Corvette (Lic No. WC 534), which certainly is consistent with a pretty Blonde, Sunset Blvd & the Googie architecture! 'Vette ID:

• The '59 and '60 Corvettes had some distinct differences but were virtually indistinguishable by external appearances alone.
• You can ID Judy's car as 59-60 when she turns in to the driveway: '58 has two chrome strips on trunk lid (absent on Judy's) and '61 has the duck-tail rear end (Judy's is rounded).
• To ID Corvettes by year, click on the "Corvette: Year by Year" index here at The Corvette Story.

This is the first of two consecutive episodes in which an attractive Blonde driving a flashy convertible ditches her tail in L.A. Submitted by Gary Woloski, 30 Dec 2011.

Paula Raymond makes the last of 5 appearances here on Perry playing Katherine Ames. Her fourth appearance was in April 7, 1962 on “TCOT Angry Astronaut.” After that appearance on 20 August 1962, Ms. Raymond was a passenger in an automobile accident that severed her nose. Cosmetic surgery brought her back to near normal. See if you can tell any difference between the before and after appearances. Submitted by PaulDrake 33, 3 September 2009.

Sightings: If we look carefully, we can spy the Pencil Mustache Man and Distinguished Lady #2 in the courtroom gallery, watching Perry in action. But who are they? Submitted by gracenote, 3/4/2011.
+ A blurry “Miss Carmody” is also visible among the courtroom spectators. And the aforementioned Gentleman reappears as a member of the crew at a movie set. Submitted by gracenote, 8/9/2011.

In this episode, Lt. Tragg and Lt. Anderson investigate the murder as a team. This was Ray Collins’ last screen appearance in the series. As I incorrectly noted in Trivia to Episode 178, Collins appeared as the prinicpal police investigator in 105 episodes and paired with Lau in 15 others for a total of 120. Submitted by FredK, 7 April 2011.

Comments Edit

The music is absolutely fantastic! It really adds to the excitement of the show. Submitted by gracenote, 3/4/2011.

You have to love the euphemism “calendar-art pictures” used throughout the show. Nowadays, it seems such pictures don’t have same kind of power to ruin lives, and sometimes even help show-biz careers (at least in the short run). Submitted by gracenote, 3/4/2011.

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