Show46
This show has one of my favorite postscripts, soft humor between the three leads. It begins with Della pretending exasperation and emphatic patience with Paul and ends with Paul on the short end of a Perry bit. cgraul 4.3.12
If it was so necessary to interrupt Hickey's testimony so Lt. Tragg can testify and go to headquarters where he is needed, then why does Tragg sit at the prosecutor's table after his testimony while Hickey is called back? Submitted by Wiseguy70005, 7/23/12.
Did I hear correctly? Eileen was the first female to propose marriage to Perry? When they were children? At a farm in Oregon? Perry turned her down? Submitted by MikeM, 10/22/2012
+ Raymond Burr worked as a forest ranger in Oregon & fought fires there, as noted by Governor Mark Hatfield during RB's Person to Person interview [PM 50th Anniversary DVD]. Mike B. 6.3.16.
Another female in the case, Linda, has also been asking a man to marry her. And also has been turned down. Submitted by MikeM, 10/22/2012
We never do find out why Linda has been pursuing a man she says she loathes. DOD 07/04/19
+ It is rather implied why Linda wants to marry Frank. Given the hurried nature of why she wanted to speak to him that night. Why her business partner said she couldn't because of his condition. The fact she did marry her business partner just after not being able to see him. And when Perry purposely stops short of asking that direct question again once she says she "loathes him". Submitted by Kenmore 10/21/2020
+ OK, call me dense, but I still don't see why she wants to marry a man she hates that much. OLEF641 12/1/2020
I find the oft-quoted book The Perry Mason TV Show Book by Brian Kelleher and Diana Merrill to be rather amateurishly written, more on the fanatic side than fan ("by two of his greatest fans" says the cover). Rather than a serious look at the series it is more of a "every episode is the best, all the actors should have received an Emmy® for every episode" type of book. The attitude toward the New Perry Mason series ("The less said about this bomb, the better") starring Monte Markham ("journeyman actor") is especially childish. None of this explains the inaccurate episode summaries many of which have been corrected here. In this episode, it is stated that Danny is framed. Who framed him? Even the murderer stated that having Danny arrested was not intended. Submitted by Wiseguy70005, 8/25/13.
+ For the most part, I agree with Wiseguy70005. However, we must consider that the book was written in 1987, 26 years ago. At that time, the only way to see the show was to hope that a local station was showing the syndicated (often cut) reruns, and maybe videotape them yourself. The series was not available via VHS tape. There was no online IMDB or Wikipedia to give us info on the series. I remember when the book came out. I immediately ordered it. With all it's flaws, the book, at that time, was the most complete source of information on the show. I had my copy for many, many years, and enjoyed reading, and rereading it. Submitted, with fond memory, by Bill-W2XOY on 08/25/2013.
++ My dog-eared copy of the book has earned a well deserved retirement on my bookshelf; I agree it was better than nothing in the "good old days." Submitted by francis, 06/01/14
Re: the "Perry Mason TV Show Book", here is another oddity to ponder. In the book, there is a picture of Raymond Burr from the "Kingston Confidential" series with actress Dina Merrill. The co-author of the book is Diana Merrill. Any relation? Question by Bill-W2XOY on 08/25/13..
Plot Hole? Why was Frank Curran drunk when he walked in Luke Hickey's "choke 'n puke" restaurant? He was the big winner at the poker game--presumably he wasn't drunk then-- and he went from the poker game to the restaurant. So why was he drunk? It makes no sense other than as a plot device to implicate Danny Harrison. Submitted by 65tosspowertrap, 5/10/2014.
+ Perhaps alcohol was consumed at the poker game. jfh 17Jul2020
A Sign of the Times? This episode answers a question I have long had. There are several episodes of Perry Mason, including this one, where someone--usually Perry, Paul, or Tragg--learned someone's name and address from the vehicle registration displayed in their car. Usually the car was a convertible (popular in southern California) and the registration was typically on the steering wheel post or on the sun visor. The question I had was whether the law at the time required the registration to be so displayed. In this episode Perry, during his questioning of a witness about a car, says the law required the registration to be in the car, and that it was probably on the steering post. From a privacy and security standpoint this is a terrible thing to do, since, if the car is a convertible with the top down, anyone outside the car could learn the owner's name and home address by looking at the registration. In this episode it had tragic consequences for the murder victim, who was tracked down by the murderer who saw the registration in the victim's convertible. I don't know what the law is now, but I would be surprised if it still required the registration to be displayed in this manner. Submitted by 65tosspowertrap, 5-12-2014.
+ I also don't know what the law is now, but the current law was also featured a year or so later in the novel The Case of the Waylaid Wolf, chapter 14, where Perry says to Della: "Get the license number of the car that (Officer) Peter Lyons tagged for double parking. Then get Paul to start his men running down the registration of that car, or it probably will be on the traffic ticket itself since the officer would take the owner's name from the Certificate of Registration which the law requires to be either on the steering post or on some portion of the automobile that is clearly visible." Submitted by Wiseguy70005, 7/16/14.
+ I was a child in the 1950s and my parents 1953 Buick had the car registration in a plastic case wrapped around the steering column. So if it wasn’t legally required it seemed fairly common place. mikemcs1 7/2019
++ I am old enough to remember that, yes, California required that the car's registration slip be visible and readable from the outside. They used to sell holders for the form that were sort of like a luggage tag, made of cheap leatherette with a plastic window and a couple of metal springs that could be stretched around the steering column to hold it in place. I don't know when this was changed, but my best guess is some time in the '80's. OLEF641 11/22/2020
++ Until 1967, California law indeed required the registration to be visible from the outside, generally to make it easier for law enforcement to identify a vehicle's owner quickly, especially in the days before radio or phone communication with headquarters was commonplace. After years of complaints by citizens concerned about break-ins of their houses and by single women, the law was changed (I found a newspaper article):
Why did Tragg want to know about Harrison's gun? Our victim was not shot. DOD 0407/04/19
+ Because Harrison had pawned it the day before. Though that seems to have nothing to do with anything. But that's why Tragg asked. OLEF641 12/1/2020
I do not know which episode was filmed first (the prior episode TCO the Buried Clock or this) but the cabin interior wood panels from the prior episode are identical to interior panels in Luke's cafe. I assume they were just reusing sets. Submitted by Perry Baby 1/15/15.
Translation: "Cherchez la femme" means "look for the woman". It's a phrase used when a man has troubles the source is usually a woman. see http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/cherchez-la-femme.html Submitted by Kilo 6/15/2017.
Curran had 2 $500 bills in his pocket after the poker game? Wouldn't he be using smaller bills for a poker game? But, of course, the plot required those unique bills. In several PM episodes, characters have $500 bills ($500 in 1955 is worth about $4,000 today. Who walks around with that much cash?)--yelocab 15NOV18
+ To expand on that, the $1400 that Palmer lost in the game is the equivalent of just over $12,500 in 2020 money; no wonder the courtroom spectators gasp. OLEF641 12/1/2020
Killed by the "Maytag Repairman". Who would have thought? Submitted by HamBurger, 10/7/2017
How did Perry know that the wrong key was in the ignition, and that Tragg couldn't start it? Were ignition/trunk keys -that- similar that they could both be inserted? If it was a guess, Perry would have had a 50/50 chance of being right. --yelocab 15NOV18
+ Yes, on cars of that era the key to the ignition and trunk were on the same blank but were cut different. The heads of the keys were of different shapes, at least on my '66 Chevelle, one having a round head and the other an octagonal one -- I can't remember which was for which. I can recall having occasionally, when not paying attention, stuck the wrong key in the ignition. BTW -- the ignition switch also opened the doors and, I believe, the trunk key locked and unlocked the glove compartment. OLEF641 11/22/2020
++ I recall my family's 1967 Plymouth 'Barracuda' had a pentagonal ignition/door key, and a round trunk key; so based on this (admittedly small) sampling, and assuming you had the same, it would appear the trunk keys were round-headed. (It would certainly make sense: the different shapes could be clearly distinguished in the dark, and commonality b/w makes would be easier for car owners...not that companies would necessarily want to make it easy to drive another brand, of course !!) Notcom, 112320.