Show175
The awful acting by both Eva and Carl is beyond embarrassing. Both dissolve into unnatural sobs whenever they are caught in a lie. How awkward it must have been for those on the set to watch. The regular players have natural acting abilities. Carl and Eva seem as though they were there because somebody at the studio thought they were nice looking. It certainly wasn't their acting ability.
But the thing that really makes this such an awful episode is that everyone Perry comes in contact with treats him shabbily. He is threatened, insulted, and snapped at by every single character in the show. From the pathetic, too old to be a damsel in distress Eva, to her abusive husband, to her boyfriend who has no real reason to treat Perry this way when he's only trying to help. But it was Andy that really overstepped his bounds when he sternly ordered Perry to leave his client's home. This temporary power trip would probably have jeopardized any future case against Eva by violating her right to counsel. Andy seemed to forget that his job was to see justice was done. Nobody could ever say that Perry did not ensure the right person was punished despite the best efforts of the LAPD and DA's office. It's the reason Andy ran to Perry when his cousin was in trouble. It was an extreme overreach for Andy to behave like he had any control over who was in the home a private citizen. Particularly when he just alluded to Perry that he was still considering Eva a suspect. Even Eva's servants behave snottily even though they knew he was helping the woman who is now their boss! I'm not sure whether ESG wrote it this way or if it was the PM scriptwriters. It certainly is not endearing to the fans to see the popular hero of the show kicked around by the rest of the cast. Were they trying to make us hate every character? It was not difficult to do. The only saving grace was Della's eye rolls when the Mrs Robinson wannabe was hanging all over Perry. Submitted by DellaMason
Worst...client...ever!!!!! :) and 'Perry darling':
That was an astonishingly gullible police officer that Eva Belter convinced to move his squad car and allow her to leave the night club. Wouldn't it have been his duty to check on the condition of the man in the car covered with the raincoat? - Submitted by 10yearoldfan, 30 November 2013.
+IMHO the officer did not know there was anyone hiding under the raincoat; the story was that the husband was home waiting for the doctor, she was on her way to the pharmacy. jfh 01Dec2016.
+ Eva is my wife's most hated client because of the nauseatingly sick term she uses in this episode "Perry darling". My wife tells me every time she uses that term she just wants to punch that woman or something. (kind of like something Della wants to do to her based on her facial expressions when Eva is talking to Perry in the office) ;-) Submitted by HamBurger 8/9/2014
+ TCOT Nauseating Nymph I agree with your wife, HamBurger. "Per-wee, dar-wing, I'm so irwesistible...not!" Patricia Barry is my least favorite vixen on PM. Not attractive, not seductive, and a terrible actress. She does, at least, echo how unappealing the character is in the novel. No matter how many times ESG says how sexy she is, all that comes across is that she's creepy. She's no better at flirting on the page than on the screen. So...well done, Ms. Barry? Thank goodness, this is the last of her three PM appearances! (Luckily, the PM era was rich in gorgeous and talented actresses who wow us in other episodes!) Submitted by JazzBaby, 04/03/2019.
+ Agreed. She is very unlikable. And overacted. She would be great in a comedy. But here she's just annoying. —yelocab 14MAY19
+ It's good to see others commenting on this Nauseating Nymph. This may be one time when it would have been good to see Perry lose a case and send that wench to jail ;-) Submitted by HamBurger, Jul. 21, 2019
+ The only redeeming moments of this episode are watching Della's caustic glares and eye rolls during Eva's antics in Perry's office. (Or perhaps Barbara Hale is cleverly expressing her displeasure over the lousy script and Patricia Barry's hammy acting?) Either theory works for me. Third_Generation_Fan, 1/14/2021.
Also the fact that she uses Perry's first name over and over right after meeting him. It took about 2 years for Della to call Perry anything other than Mr Mason. We've seen characters who hate each other and even get into physical fights still use the term Mr. As others have said, the woman was not at all sexy or alluring. She seemed far too old to behave like some kind of a sexpot. Maybe that was the way her character was written? At one point, she gave Andy a little look like she thought he was going to be her next prey. Then the slap heard round the world was overshadowed by her awful acting as she literally fell on the floor in hysterics. Has anyone ever done that in real life? Don't think so. The other actors just stood there blankly watching this gross display of phoniness. By 1963, her style of acting was on the way out. Not sure why kept showing up on the show like a bad penny. Submitted by DellaMason 11/30/23
I expect my elected representatives to be good judges of character. Any politician who fell in love with Eva would never get my vote! Submitted by Paul's Operative. 2/1/2024.
Telephone 1: How did Eve get Perry Mason's home number? Submitted by H. Mason 2/4/15
+Easy: she looked it up in the phone book! (Remember how Della could't find Eva's number (under whatever fake name she was using) at the beginning: "She wasn't in the phone book"). These were the days when everyone was in the phone book, unless you paid to have an 'unlisted' number. Or she called the operator. —yelocab 14MAY19
Yet another appearance by that elaborate staircase set.
+Also, I have noticed the bookcase with the circular carvings at the top (In Belter's home office) in the past few episodes I have seen. —yelocab 14MAY19
Under California law, I don't believe it is possible to completely disinherit a spouse, although if anyone deserves disinheriting, it is Eve.
With that mustache, Harry Jackson looks like Paul Whiteman DODay 12/05/17
At nearly 45 minutes in, I believe this is about the latest we have an arrest. DOD 01/14/21
Telephone 2: When Perry got the phone number at the switchboard was he listening to the dial? He didn't seem to be looking at the operator make the call. Submitted by H. Mason 2/4/15
+ For #1: I don't know either, but I can imagine that Eva was able to con it out of the Drake Agency's switchboard operator. For #2: See for example the 2011 Paramount DVD at about 14:44. Perry clearly sees the rotary dial as the operator dials the number. He writes down the number. lowercase masonite, 3/3/16.
OUCH!: Perry gets slapped good in his office. Sorry Perry, but it does look funny when you watch it all in slow motion (over and over)! ;-> Submitted by mesave31, 04/05/15.
+ Far more painful than that slap, in my opinion, is Patricia Barry's unbearably--unforgivably!--terrible acting in that scene! By the time she collapses on the floor, I am longing for Burr and Lau to kick her for shaming their profession! Submitted by JazzBaby, 04/03/2019.
Attorney With An Axe: This story is unusual, in that Perry has his own personal motives in settling the hash of the publisher of SPICY BITS. His anger is barely concealed when recounting the suicide of his friend. I would not want to be in his way, guilty or not. Do we know what ever happens to SPICY BITS? JohnK, 13 January 2018
+ At the end of the episode Perry says something to the effect of "Spicy Bits has published it's last...and I'm going to help bury it." (He then tells a smirking Della that yes, he'll be staying on as Eva's attorney.) Perhaps it was cut from the version you saw ... or maybe your real question is can Eva really be trusted to give up a lucrative title just because that's the right thing to do?? What...you don't trust her ?? Replied by Notcom, 042619.
Once again, nothing seems to done about battered women in this series. Eva shows Mr. Mason a bruise in order to persuade him to help her, but what he should have done is call the police re assault. The fact that Eva turns out to be very dissembling and manipulative, even poisonous, as Della describes her later, doesn’t change what a person should do when he sees evidence of assault and battery, no matter if the victim is related to the assailant. In fact, if Perry had done so, he wouldn’t have found himself in the predicament he was mired in. And anyway, it turns out that her “poison” came out of desperation and fear, and the ever-gallant Perry shows keen understanding of this ultimately. Submitted by g, 1/31/2011.
+ If the victim willingly returns to the abuser, not much can be done by the authorities or by observers. jfh 01Dec2016
+ Well, times and thinking were different back then. She returned to her husband, and she was a grown, strong woman capable of going to the police herself. And, although that's terrible, a bruise on her upper back might have not seemed as serious as a black eye or something else. Up until the 1990s, for example, in some states, a husband couldn't be prosecuted for raping his own wife. —yelocab 14MAY19
+ I love how Della's glare shoots daggers through Eva. It's a good thing Della didn't see what Eva did to Perry at the end; she might have been facing a murder charge herself! Submitted by DellaFan, 11/15/2013.
+ Yes, and Della should have called the police when Eva slapped Perry. Nothing seems to be done about battered attorneys in this series! Submitted by francis, 6/9/12.
This is one of my episodes. Patricia Barry plays the role well and some actors would overacted it to the point of being ridiculous. She always plays the femme fatale roles well. I alo thought the foot play in the car while leaving the casino where she teases Burke with her toes and he snaps at them was interesting for TV during this time. Submitted by Perry Baby 6/12/16.
+ But my favorite hardboiled female in the series is the actress who played "Mauvis Meade" in TCOT Mythical Monkeys. Submitted by Carl S. 03/27/18