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#209: The Case of the
Drifting Dropout
Original Airdate: 05/07/64

Summary Edit

From The Perry Mason TV Show Book
Barry Davis, a college-dropout-turned-drifter, has problems keeping steady employment. Mayoral candidate/junk dealer Mort Lynch, once a friend of Barry’s uncle, feels he owes the kid a favor and gives him a job.

Barry is still negative on meaningful labor, however. He quits his new job but quickly gets another, working as a reporter for a newspaper publisher who has a grudge against Mort Lynch. But when in the course of his reporting Barry learns that his uncle was a crook, he grows despondent. Things get worse when someone crushes Mort’s skull with a monkey wrench, which is found in Barry’s car.

Credits Edit

Opening

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

Trailing

Directed by Arthur Marks
Written by Jackson Gillis
Arthur Marks \ 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
Ray Collins as Lt. Tragg

Cast

Cynthia Pepper as Annalee Fisher
Malcolm Atterbury as Dell Harper
Carl Reindel as Barry Davis
Vaughn Taylor as Sanford Harper
Natalie Norwick as Miss Standish
Ted de Corsia as Mort Lynch
Neil Hamilton as Grove Dillingham
Blair Davis as Prosecutor
Harry Holcombe as Judge
House Peters, Jr. as Plainclothesman
Don Haggerty as Police Chief
Alex Montoya as Neighbor
Seamon Glass as Officer

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
Automobiles Supplied by … Ford Motor Company

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

Trivia Edit

Paul examines a counterfeit 10-dollar bill. Later, Perry looks over the plate used by the counterfeiters. Oops! Maybe not. See here. Submitted by Markus Raab, 3/8/2003.
+ Additional information regarding the the printing plate has come to light! Use the link above to see it. Submitted by Roger Kirk, 1/1/2004, and Charles Richmond, 6/6/2004.

Location: Much if not all of the beach scenes were shot at Leo Carrillo State Beach in Malibu, CA. The final scene has them parked on the beach access road with PCH (barely visible) running horizontally and Mulholland Highway bisecting it in the background. Submitted by Eric Cooper and Linda Shockley, 23 July 2010. Some pictures here.

Sightings: Davis’s apparent landlord, played by Distinguished Gentleman #1, leads Perry Mason to the young man’s apartment. Later, a bespectacled Gentleman chats with a ladyfriend in a booth in bar. Submitted by gracenote, 3/21/2011.

Character Names: The plainclothesman’s first name is Joe. Submitted by gracenote, 3/21/2011.

Although credited, Ray Collins makes no appearance. Submitted by gracenote, 3/21/2011.

Uncredited Actors: It’s a little indistinct in the syndication print, but Don Anderson plays a uniformed officer who speaks to the plainclothesman at the junkyard. A little later he takes a piece of paper from the Police Chief at the scene of the crime. Submitted by gracenote 8/19/2011.

Although familiar to PM fans from his seven episode appearances, Neil Hamilton is most familiar world-wide from his role in the still-syndicated campy Batman series, in which he played Commissioner Gordon. Submitted by cgraul, 11/1/11.

Barry's Car, later referred to as an "old sports car" by a witness in court, is a TRIUMPH TR3 (produced 1955-1962). This lower-price sports car is the right type of car for a '60s Drifting Dropout but it wasn't really that old since its exterior door handles and relatively extensive trim (eg, fender mirrors) identify it as '58 or later (TR2s and early TR3s only had handles on the inside of the doors). Barry's car is what was popularly called a TR3A (1958-on) and might even be the last year's TR3B ('62). See Ep#178 Trivia for the design progression of the Triumph "TR Series" 1953-'76. TR2s and all the TR3s looked somewhat similar and can be misidentified. See this TR2/TR3 Spotter's Guide.

• A 1956 upgrade of the front brakes from drum to disc-type made the TR3 the first-ever British production car with front disc brakes as standard equipment, yet
• TR2s, TR3s and TR4s came with a hand-crank ("Starting Handle") as a standard toolkit item for starting the engine in case of battery failure! You can see the guideway/insertion point in the bottom-centre of the grill/front air intake of these cars. Very quaint, Wot?

A TR4 appears in another four episodes; see Ep#213. Submitted by Gary Woloski, 6 Jan 2012.

Comments Edit

I suppose that Irving Pringle tried "pretty hard" with his makeup kit, but even Miss Standish's hat and glasses on top of Pringle's best effort couldn't disguise the natural beauty of Natalie Norwick. Wow! Natalie also made an hilarious appearance in PM ep#28 as elevator-operator Mavis, a "unique, if weird, witness who has a photographic memory and can identify people by their shoes." I am surprised that we haven't seen much more of Natalie on the small & big screens. Other than b:1923 and d:2007, I can find no bio info. The most complete listings of her screen appearances (1952-'75) seem to be here and here. Maybe she was raising a family? Submitted by Gary Woloski, 4 Jan 2012.

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