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#242: The Case of the
Laughing Lady
Original Airdate: 09/12/65

Summary Edit

From The Perry Mason TV Show Book
In this episode, Perry proves at last that murder is no laughing matter.

A judge asks Perry to defend a self-destructive young woman named Carla Chaney, who is being held for the murder of Gerald Havens, a smalltime art critic. The woman has led a troubled life and refuses to trust anyone. It's not surprising that no one believes her story about the fatal night when Havens was stabbed to death. Carla claims she saw a woman standing over the body laughing in a high-pitched maniacal tone. Moreover, Carla says she saw the woman on television during the grand opening of the Devore Gallery. The other woman is Leona Devore, a well-known member of the jet set.

Through it all, Perry believes Carla. To get her acquitted, he has to find out who really did the laughing.

Credits Edit

Cast

Constance Towers as Leona Devore
Jean Hale as Carla Chaney
John Abbott as Dr. Durwood Tobey
Bernard Fox as Peter Stange
John Dall as Roan Daniel
Allison Hayes as Cho Sin
Mickey Manners as Lenny Linden
John Gallaudet as Judge
Shirley O'Hara as Superintendent
Michael Rye as Commentator
Irene Anders as Matron

Trivia Edit

Listen closely to the testimony of Leona Devore (Constance Cummings) and Peter Stange (Bernard Fox). During Burger's cross examination of Devore she says "I ran back to the car and started off ... and then, as the lights swept across the house, I heard her laugh, a mad hysterical laugh." It was, of course, the laugh of the Mynah bird. Later, during Perry's questioning of Stange, we learn that the bird "was outside where you left him when you heard Leona Devore's car coming." These two accounts don't jibe but no one in court seemed to notice. Submitted by Charles Richmond, 7/27/03.

When Perry goes in to have his first talk with Carla Cheney, she is "under restraint" for causing a disturbance in the jail the night before. We see her in a bed, wrists tied to the bed frame and her arms tightly covered by a restraining sheet. Carla spits venom throughout the interview and toward the end they cut to her and her arms are on top of the restraining sheet (wrists still tied). In the final cut of the scene, Carla's arms are once again safely tucked beneath the restraining sheet. Submitted by Elsie of the Perry_Mason Yahoo Group, 5/13/08.

Comments Edit

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