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#58: The Case of the
Caretaker's Cat
Original Airdate: 03/07/59

Summary Edit

From The Perry Mason TV Show Book
Peter Baxter had a plan to test the loyalty of his heirs. First he would pretend to change his will, cutting all of them out and leaving the estate to his caretaker, James Hing. Then Hing was to burn down Baxter's house and Baxter would substitute a medical cadaver for his own body. If anyone contested the will, he or she would really be disinherited. Hing does as his employer planned, but the body found in the ashes is really that of Peter Baxter. Tragg and Burger don't believe Hing's wild story, but Perry does. It's just too fantastic to be a lie. That means one of the heirs overheard Baxter planning, and really did kill him. The question is: Which one?

Raymond Bailey (Mr. Drysdale of "The Beverly Hillbillies") plays John Hilliard in this show. Also, science fiction movie fans will recognize actor John Agar playing Kenneth Baxter.

Credits Edit

Cast

Benson Fong as James Hing
John G. Agar as Kenneth Baxter
Robert Knapp as Stuart Baxter
Maxine Cooper as Edith Devoe
Judy Lewis as Winifred Oakley
Dick Crane as Dr. Douglas Keene
Raymond Bailey as Mr. Hilliard
Anthony Eustrel as Gordon Roland
Barney Biro as Judge
Bill Erwin as Paint Store Clerk
Michael Fox as Autopsy Surgeon
Anthony Jochim as Peter Baxter
George E. Stone as Court Clerk
Jacqueline Lee as Nurse Watson

Trivia Edit

CARS: No cars. From The Cars by Greg Cockerill.

Does Mr. Hilliard, the banker, look familiar? He might. That's Raymond Bailey who later achieved fame as banker Milburn Drysdale on The Beverly Hillbillies.

+Our little dark complected friend with the pencil thin moustache that often sits in the courtroom gallery appears again in this episode. He is in the right rear corner behind Perry, and again whispers. The difference this time is that when Winifred Oakley and Dr. Douglas Keene enter Beverly Hills Doctor Hospital early in the episode, he is also sitting in the waiting room. Submitted by PaulDrake 33.

Judy Lewis makes her only Perry Mason appearance playing Winifred Oakley. Judy Lewis was the daughter of Loretta Young and Clark Gable, the result of an affair on the set of the movie Call of the Wild in 1935. At the time Clark Gable was married to Maria Franklin Gable and Miss Young was unmarried. Submitted by PaulDrake 33.

Maxine Cooper plays Nurse Edith Devoe in this episode and portrayed Nurse Gladys Strome in TCOT Fugitive Nurse (#22). These were her only PM appearances, and she played a nurse in both episodes. Submitted by Charles Richmond, 10/24/08.

Comments Edit

This is without a doubt the most convoluted episode of all the Perry Mason shows. To think a wealthy man would try to come up with a cadaver, then burn down his own mansion with all of his relative's possessions contained within only to test his heir's fidelity defies belief. How about trusting your own judgement? Submitted by PaulDrake 33.

Both "Caretaker's Cat" and the previous episode "Jaded Joker" open with a piano tune. In Jaded Joker, Bobby Troup seems to be improvising a tune. In Caretaker's Cat, Judy Lewis is playing a finished composition. I may have a tin ear, but it seems to me both these tunes are very similar. Perhaps, they are different parts of the same tune? billp 2/22/09.

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