Show258
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.
+ Note that over the main entrance it says "Lockheed Air Terminal". At the time of filming this was still the name of the airport. Interestingly enough, though long known colloquially as "Burbank Airport" that has never been its legal name.
Though apparently still legally Bob Hope Airport as of 2021, it was re-branded in 2017 as Hollywood Burbank Airport, with even their website, hollywoodburbankairport.com, using that designation. Over the course of its existence BUR has had seven different names, being called United Airport when it opened in 1930. OLEF641 9/15/21
> BUR seems to be a remarkably vivid example of an airport where urban growth has pushed development up to the very legal/functional limits (compared to something like DEN...which occupies a space the size of a small state) Historic aerials indicate this process predated the show, but still it would have been interesting to view it from the ground. Unfortunately, PM seems to have not made it much beyond the parking lot. Lamented by Notcom 091521.
+++ When the airport was founded in 1930, the San Fernando Valley was mostly farmland -- and commercial airplanes were much smaller. It was WWII that converted the SFV from farmland to suburbia, Most of the development in the immediate vicinity of the airport is industry of one sort or another, and the process was complete by the time of the filming.
Every few years another kerfuffle breaks out over aircraft noise under the landing pattern, but I'm afraid I have no sympathy for the complainants; it's not like the airport and its traffic weren't already there when the complaining residents moved in!
LAX is similarly "built up around", but take-offs, which are noisier than landings, go west towards the ocean. There used to be a residential neighborhood between that airport and the ocean, but some time ago all the properties were purchased and the houses torn down. OLEF641 9/23/21
While the later scenes were filmed at Burbank Airport, I believe the earlier airport scenes were filmed at Whiteman Airport, a general aviation field nearby. Burbank is a commercial airfield and the type of aircraft seen tied down in those earlier scenes doesn't fly out of there, as a rule. OLEF641 9/23/21
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.
This episode of Perry Mason (TCOT Vanishing Victim) and the first season episode TCOT Fugitive Nurse (#22, 1.22) are both based on the same Erle Stanley Gardner novel titled The Case of the Fugitive Nurse. So this current episode is often considered to be a "re-make" of the first season episode TCOT Fugitive Nurse. See repeated episodes here. Submitted by Charles Richmond, 26 April 2013.
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.
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 Gillette's Car” in the Comments at Episode #188. Submitted by Gary Woloski, 29 December 2011.
Lisa Gaye makes her final of 7 appearances on Perry Mason playing Laraine Keely. Submitted by Perry Baby 1/12/14.
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. Submitted by cgraul, 1/10/2012.
+Deja ReVu. It also bears more than a little similarity to the Second Season Premier TCOT Corresponding Corpse, including the most obvious of all: in both Jeanne Cooper plays the non-victim's wife. Added by Notcom 071117.
This is the only PM appearance for Carol Brewster, who recovered from a bout with polio in the 1950s...MikeM. 3/28/2017
This is the 32nd of 33 times S.John Launer judged a PM episode. According to IMDb, Launer's last career role was as a judge on the 1987 television movie "Billionaire Boys Club"...MikeM. 4/3/2018
This is probably one of the few PM episodes where the word "Vietnam" is spoken. Ruth Kavanaugh tells Paul that her husband had been called back into the Air Force, and that he had served in World War II, Korea, and now, Vietnam...MikeM. 4/3/2018
Continuity: The plane being (supposedly) flown by Stacey Fielding is not the same plane that was being worked on by Al Dolby in the opening sequence. Kilo 8/8/2019.