Show177
This is the only episode with co-defendants. jfh 13Mar2017.
+ Actually, no: (what is believed to be) the very first episode - TCOT Motheaten Mink - featured them as well. Commented by Notcom, 031417.
++ Also, to correct my initial statement: In The Case Of The Sausalito Sunrise Perry represents another set of co-defendants. jfh 30Mar2017.
In the office, after the first scene in court, Perry reveals some poetic depth and doth quote “I am a little world made cunningly of elements.” This is from Holy Sonnet V by John Donne. Submitted by Steve Fox, 12/22/2004.
Location: About 19 minutes in, there is a quick shot of Los Angeles International Airport with a glimpse of the Googie styled “Theme Building.” It looks like a space-aged bug or flying saucer on legs. I have read it was the inspiration for buildings in the cartoon The Jetsons. I have eaten at the cool eatery at the top called the Encounter Restaurant. Also appears in episode #198. Submitted by Eric Cooper, 10 June 10. Some pictures here.
+ The Perry shots of the Airport Theme Bldg. are Aerial & Far-away; the "Dear Mummy" episode of Quincy shows the Space-Age building from a Ground-level, Close-up Perspective [1981: IMDb]. Mike Bedard 4.28.15
The man trying to cash the check in the grocery store is Billy Halop, who died fairly young. His alcoholism stalled his career, and when he died he had already left acting for nursing. Perhaps he is best known as the recurring cabdriver on All in the Family. Submitted by gracenote, 2/2/2011.
+ I will always remember him as one of the Dead End Kids (also mentioned in notes to episiode 153). Added by H. Mason 2/10/15
++ LA's fastest altho a necessary - or at least a useful - plot point, his apprehension by the police was ridulously fast: only if they were literally right outside the door would they arrive that quickly. Notcom 061622.
Sightings: At the supermarket, “Miss Carmody” is in the aisle behind Austin Lloyd’s, checking out her groceries with a a large handbag and a smile and a few nods. After an incident in the store, she is rather perturbed and talks rather excitedly to the clerk. Submitted by gracenote, 2/2/2011.
+ During the hearing, the Pencil Mustache Man lurks among the other spectators, but is never quite clearly shown. Submitted by gracenote, 2/2/2011. See below for uncredited actors (with names) also seated in the gallery.
There is a "Sergeant Parnell, special agent", but we only see the back of his head. Added by BobwloCB, 1/2/2015.
Uncredited Actors: Bert Stevens is the maître d’hôtel at the restaurant where Garrett and Mrs. Lloyd meet. We also see a great deal of Stevens in the courtroom gallery (he’s in several cutaways). Another who appears without billing in the gallery is the prolific character actor Joseph Crehan, whom we don’t yet have on our Uncredited Actors page. Submitted by gracenote, 2/2/2011.
+ Stevens also appears as a customer at the bank where Mrs. Lloyd cashes a check. And character actor Ralph Brooks, although he never speaks, plays Burger’s co-counsel at the hearing. Submitted by gracenote, 7/28/2011.
S[aul] John Launer was in 33 PMs (12.1% as Judges: 1958-66), 6 Dragnets (1 Chief, 2 Deputy Chief) & 5 FBIs [IMDb]. Mike Bedard 2.11.15
As the sign reads on the cash register at the supermarket, Telecredit provides the electronic check approval. This was a real L.A. company, incorporated in 1961. Equifax bought it out, and now the check approval is done by Certegy. Submitted by gracenote, 7/28/2011.
+ Indeed, Telecredit consumer check verification was founded by Ronald Katz in 1961. Mr. Katz is the son of late musician and comedian Mickey Katz, brother of Academy Award winning actor Joel Grey, and uncle to actress and Dirty Dancing star Jennifer Grey.
Submitted by Mason Jar 9/15/2011.
Typing: At time 5:41 into the DVD of this episode, Austin Lloyd’s secretary Terry Clover (played by Elaine Devry) is seated at her desk typing. But after the salutation of the letter, when you look under the typewriter bail, you see she is just typing ”asdfghjkl;asdfghjkl;asdfghjkl;“ over and over. See picture here. Submitted by Charles Richmond, 11/23/2011.
+ I wish that this shot was in the broadcast rerun that I've seen! According to the later courtroom testimony, her typewriter should be the white (or very light-coloured) Selectric. The broadcast rerun does have a scene in Dwight's restricted-access office that shows the dark-coloured Selectric (in accordance with the later evidence).
"DIMOS" (pronounced DEE-MOSS) is the "10-year long range space project" that the companies are competing for. Roscoe tells Perry that DIMOS stands for "Delta Interplanetary Manned Orbital Satellite". The acronym can also be seen later on the project binder held by Ned in Perry's office. Added by Gary Woloski, 12/23/12.
+ It could also be a clever play on the word "Deimos," which is one of the moons of Mars. Submitted by 65tosspowertrap, 10/21/2013.
++ Not to be (too) nitpicky, DIMOS is the "Delta Interplanetary Manned OrbitING Satellite", the implication being that Mars is the planet that is the destination. And since the acronym is being pronounced exactly the same as the moon Deimos (dee-mohss), I think it is safe to say that Mars was indeed the target. There were obviously issues with the project that cropped up after the episode was broadcast, since we still haven't put people in orbit around Mars ;-) OLEF641 6/2/21
Two Background Cars, no Cast Cars. There are fleeting glimpses of just two vehicles:
- (a) When Austin Lloyd goes to the liquor/deli mart, the Right-Rear side of a parked car is visible through the "OUT" door: watch while the cops nab the check-bouncing Man at 05:24. What you see is almost certainly this, part of a light-color 1963 Mercury Meteor Custom.
- (b) A 1957 Plymouth Savoy 4-Door Sedan approaches the LA airport “Theme Building” at 18:47. The episode car's 2-tone paint looks the same as that on the car in the linked image. Identify make & year by the distinctive fin/taillight combination; sharper images here & here.
It appears that Car (b) doesn't have the new '63-issue black-plate. Exactly the same shot opens the next episode and it's clear there that the car still has the old plate. Added by Gary Woloski, 9/21/13.
The changeable ball was a key feature of the legendary IBM Selectric Typewriter. It may have been new to people during this time so the element aspect may not be common knowledge. They were never cheap. You can even see the IBM logo during the court scene. Submitted by Perry Baby 7/29/16.
+ I noticed the IBM logo on the typewriter too, very prominent. There is also a computer in the episode (presumably an IBM too), so I wonder if this was product placement for IBM. —yelocab 05APR18
+ If you're referring to the punched cards being sorted, and then Dwight Garrett taking one out to look at, this was not a computer, it was just a card sorter. Submitted by Clothears, 21-Jan-2022.
This is the second of three PM appearances for Elaine Devry, who was born in Compton CA and was married to Mickey Rooney from 1952-1958...MikeM. 12/5.2016
This is the third of four PM appearances for Gloria Talbott, who was born and died in the LA suburb of Glendale...MikeM. 3/13/2017
Wheels within Wheels: After watching this episode, I began to ask myself "Why do so many plot elements in Perry Mason stories seem to repeat themselves?". One reason is Erle Stanley Gardner's use of "plot wheels" as discussed in blog.karenwoodward.org/2013/10/nanowrimo-erle-stanley-gardner-perry-mason-plot-wheels.html.
At one time Gardner used 4 such wheels to help him in plotting and to make it less likely that he would repeat himself too often. The wheels used by Gardner each had about 16 choices on each one, which were turned at random in advance of writing, resulting in 65,536 possible plots.
The weakness in this was that with only 16 choices for each wheel - which variously represented Red Herrings, Complications, Obstacles and Solutions - one of the sixteen parameters of each wheel would recur in each story, only in 64K different combinations.
To get down to cases, take this episode, show #177. Although not credited to Gardner, he did have a strong influence on the selection and adaptation of scripts. On his plot wheel number 4 ("Solutions") parameter #6 is "villain hoist by own petard", and parameter #7 is "villain killed while trying to frame someone". Which is exactly the solution to this episode's mystery.
This solution also occurs in Perry Mason novel TCOT Runaway Corpse, and in TV episode TCOT Frantic Flyer, as well as in other Gardner books - for example "Pass the Gravy"- a Bertha Cool / Donald Lam novel - where a husband and wife conspire to defraud an insurance company by killing a derelict and then abandoning his body together with the husband's wallet and papers, in a lonely place where identification would soon become impossible. But the husband gets cold feet at the last moment and the wife suddenly realises that if she kills her husband for real, she can have all the insurance for herself. Written by cspoleta on 3-13-17
This is the second of five PM directing credits for Canadian-born Harmon Jones, who was nominated for an Academy Award for film editing in 1947. His son and granddaughter would also later be nominated for Academy Awards for film editing...MikeM. 4/2/2018
This episode is old home week for Perry Mason alumni. Of the top 7 actors listed, the fewest PM appearances is 3 and the most is 7.
Talbert - 4, Mohr-4, Henderson -6, Macready-4, Dick-7, Long-3, Devry-3. DaveH 12/21/18
+ Also, Billy Halop was in three PM episodes, this was his second. OLEF641 6/2/21
Music Maestro, Please: at 10:02, in the restaurant, with Dwight and Bonnie, we hear Johann Strauss's famous waltz, "Tales from the Vienna Woods" ("Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald") which premiered in 1868 and was dedicated to his Highness Prince Constantin Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst (1828-1896). The selection used starts at around 3 1/4 minutes into the 12-minute composition. I have no idea what it is doing here, but i like it a lot. Submitted by catyron, July 31st, 2021.