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#258: The Case of the
Vanishing Victim
Original Airdate: 01/23/66

Summary Edit

From The Perry Mason TV Show Book
Dr. Stacey Fielding is supposed to be flying his own plane to Salt Lake City on business. Monkey business is suspected when the plane crashes and the body is found with Veronal poisoning. Miriam Fielding is arrested since the last thing Stacey drank was whiskey from a flask she had given him.

On further investigation, Miriam is cleared and even Perry is surprised to find out that the man who really died in the crash was Al, the airplane mechanic. He had switched places with Fielding at the last minute. So where is Dr. Fielding?

Credits Edit

Opening

Starring Raymond Burr
in Erle Stanley Gardner’s
The Case of THE VAINISHING VICTIM
Based on The Case of the Fugitive Nurse
Barbara Hale, William Hopper, William Talman

Trailing

Directed by Harmon Jones
Written by Ernest Frankel & Orville H. Hampton
Arthur Marks \ Art Seid | Producers
Gail Patrick Jackson | Executive Producer
Ernest Frankel | Story Consultant
Orville H. Hampton | Associate Story Consultant
Raymond Burr as Perry Mason
Barbara Hale as Della Street
William Hopper as Paul Drake
William Talman as Hamilton Burger
Richard Anderson as Lt. Steve Drumm
Dan Tobin as Terrence Clay

Music | Richard Shores

Cast

Lisa Gaye as Laraine Keely
Jeanne Cooper as Miriam Fielding
George Wallace as Stacey Fielding
Richard Erdman as Jud Bennett
Russell Arms as Reed Kavanaugh
John Matthews as F.A.A. Investigator
S. John Launer as Judge Telford
John Goddard as Al Dolby
Carl Prickett as Operations Clerk
Carol Brewster as Ruth Kavanaugh
Tom Vize as Process Server
Lee Miller as Sgt. Brice
Glen Vernon as McGill

Uncredited Actors

Don Anderson as {	Police Officer
	Courtroom Spectator

(spotted by FredK, 12/24/2010)

Crew

Director of Photography … John M. Nickolaus, Jr.
Art Direction … Lewis Creber
Assistant Director … Robert G. Stone
Film Editor … Richard W. Farrell
Casting … Harvey Clermont
Makeup … Irving Pringle
Hair Stylist … Annabell
Wardrobe Supervision … Bob Wolfe, 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

Location: About halfway through the episode Perry and Paul go to the Burbank Airport and you can see the exterior of the terminal and parking lot. I confirmed this with Les Copeland, president, of the Burbank Aviation Museum. Burbank Airport is now called Bob Hope Airport and is also featured in episodes #39, 99, 165, and #220. Posted by Eric Cooper, 25 September 2009. Some pictures here.

Jeanne Cooper makes her final of 5 appearances here on Perry playing Miriam Fielding. Since 1973, Ms. Cooper has been essaying the role of matriarch Katherine Chancellor on the daytime drama The Young And The Restless. She is probably most famous, however, for being the mother of Corbin Bernsen. Submitted by PaulDrake33, 10/27/2009.

Uncredited Actors: This episode is another three-timer for Don Anderson. In the first trial of Mrs. Fielding, he’s seen as spectator leaving the courtroom after the dismissal. Mid-episode he appears as a uniformed policeman at the airport standing behind Burger and Drumm as they escort Kavanaugh off the plane. Finally, in the last trial, he’s a spectator in the front row behind the defense table. This time he wears the dark-rimmed spectacles he’s been using in the latest episodes. Submitted by FredK, 24 December 2010.

Sightings: Turning up at the first evidentiary hearing are Quiet Old Man #1 and Little Old Lady #1. In the second hearing they are joined by “Miss Carmody.” Read about these and other regulars here. Submitted by gracenote, 6/1/2011.

Continuity Error: The Little Old Lady mentioned above magically teleports from one side of the courtroom gallery to the other depending on the shot. Submitted by gracenote, 6/1/2011.

Deja Vu If the plot device seems somewhat familiar, it is because the "faked death via airplane crash" had been previously used in TCOT "Frantic Flyer" in Season 3. cgraul 1.10.12

Miriam's Muscle Car. Soon after the flying mishap, Miriam arrives at the airfield driving a dark, full-size, fast-looking car (Lic No. MGZ 035). The car's sharp, swept-back lines and the absense of visible headlights look identical to those features of the one-of-a-kind George Barris "Villa Riviera" which appeared in 1963's Mason episode#188, TCOT Bigamous Spouse. It is not, however, the same car. Miriam's is an unmodified, standard-production 1965 Buick Riviera. 1963 & '64 Rivieras had conventional headlight placement but for 1965, Buick introduced "Clamshell Headlights"; see the Clamshells operate here (12 sec video). For more details see "Frank Grimes' car" in the Trivia at Episode #188. Submitted by Gary Woloski, 29 Dec 2011.

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