Show246

Goof: See the dog jump into the water and swim towards the boat? Why would he do that? To get the girl? Not at all. He’s just fetching a ball somebody threw out there. See here. Submitted by Tammy, on the phone, c. 3/8/2004.

Richard Webb (pictured) makes his second and final appearance on Perry Mason. Richard Webb’s most famous role was as Captain Midnight for 3 years and 38 episodes in the 1950s. Submitted by PaulDrake 33, 14 October 2009.

Frank Marth makes His 2nd & Final appearance on the original PM. Frank was in "The New Perry Mason: TCOT Murdered Murderer" in 1973, the same year as his only "Ironside" role in "The Best Laid Plans" [IMDb]. Mike Bedard 2.11.15.

This episode of Perry Mason (TCOT Impetuous Imp) and the first season episode TCOT Negligent Nymph (#12, 1.12) are both based on the same Erle Stanley Gardner novel titled The Case of the Negligent Nymph. So this current episode is often considered to be a "re-make" of the first season episode TCOT Negligent Nymph. See repeated episodes here. Submitted by Charles Richmond, 26 April 2013.

Dog Handlers: Two humane society attendants capture the “vicious” German shepherd. One is clearly an animal handler. The other is Don Anderson, who lets the poor dog out the closet and then pretends to be helping while letting the real handler put the loop around the dog. He turns up later as a spectator in the courtroom gallery. Submitted by gracenote, 5/13/2011.
+ The German shepherd is named Fritz, but he receives no credit. Submitted by gracenote, 5/13/2011.
++ Anderson's active partner is played by Rand Brooks who should have known all about handling German shepherds from playing Corporal Boone on the Rin Tin Tin show from 1954-57. Submitted by FredK 28 Dec 2011.
+++ This dog is pretty obviously one of the TV Rin-Tin-Tin line of German Shepherds (unrelated to the original Rinty), and the overdubbed barking comes from the TV show as well. Submitted by catyron, July 21st, 2018
++++ 'Fritz' was (at least) the fourth animal to "testify": a parrot, a burro and a myna bird(?)had appeared in court previously, while a lame canary gave evidence ex curia. Notcom, 081319.

Character Names: When Lt. Drumm comes to arrest Miss Carter, he addesses her as “Diane” rather than “Diana.” Submitted by gracenote, 5/13/2011.
+ It sounds as though Helga, in her restaurant talking with Perry, Della and Paul, also calls Ms Carter "Diane". jfh 10Mar2017.

Sightings: In cutaways to the defendant, we find a blurry Pencil Mustache Man. Also, Quiet Old Man #1 is visible on prosecutor’s side, in the back. Little Old Lady #1 is very prominent in a number of shots of Lt. Drumm. More about these folks here. Submitted by gracenote, 5/13/2011.
+ That looks like Miss Carmody sitting behind Lt. Drumm in court. Submitted by JazzBaby, 6/21/2019.

This is the second of two PM appearances for Bonnie Jones (Diana Carter), who had a recurring role as Lt. Barbara Bannerman on the television series "M*A*S*H"...MikeM. 3/10/2017

This is the fourth of seven Perry appearances for Don Dubbins, and the first in which his character is associated with the District Attorney's office. jfh 10Mar2017.

Continuity: In the opening scene when Diana jumps out the window she grabs at her shoulder as if her dress is caught but it's clearly not. After the cut shot now her dress is snagged on the window. Later, she is seen running with a bottle but when she dives into the water the bottle is missing. She swims to Perry's boat with free hands but when she gets to the boat suddenly she has the bottle again to hand to Perry. Submitted by Kilo 1/21/2018.

Just watched this scene carefully - hard to tell, but she may have the bottle in her right hand as she swims, although it switches to her left hand climbing into the boat. DOD 03/26/19
+ You made me go back and take a closer look. She is, indeed, holding the bottle in her right hand as she swims toward the boat. It is mostly obscured behind her forearm. Using pause and zoom I stand corrected. Kilo 7/27/2019. PS, upon this closer examination I see that the person who dives in off the dock is a stuntwoman/man. (Longer hair, muscular arms) Kilo.

Perry's boat (the Cerberus?) is extraordinary. The below deck area is huge compared to the exterior shot. There's a separate room (for changing out of wet clothes) and a port hole complete with curtains! I also notice a stuffed toy horse on the shelf. And oddly, there's the record player that was in Bob's dorm room in the previous episode, TCOT Cheating Chancellor. Submitted by Kilo 1/21/2018
+ I believe the Cerberus is Diana's boat for two reasons: 1. when Diana boards Perry's boat, she says her own boat is around the bend and I believe she calls it the Cerberus; 2. because, as Diana is coming out of the changing room, Perry says he's been reading Diana's manuscripts, he would not have her manuscripts on his own boat so they must have been aboard hers. [Interesting (to me, anyway), in Greek mythology, Cerberus is the monstrous multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from leaving.] jfh 20Jul2018.
++ You are correct, jfh. I re-watched this episode today and heard Diana call her boat the Cerberus in the opening scene. I also must confess confusing Perry's boat with the Cerberus in my description above. Kilo 10/26/2018.
+++ Absolutely, they are on her boat the Cerberus in the changing scene! She wouldn't have had clothes to change into on Perry's boat, for one thing. And it's hard to imagine Perry having a stuffed toy horse on his fishing boat! Submitted by JazzBaby, 6/21/2019.

This is the final of four PM appearances for Stuart Erwin (Henry Simmons), who received an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor in the 1937 film "Pigskin Parade". The movie marked the feature film debut of Judy Garland, playing Stuart Erwin's sister. Stuart Erwin died of a heart attack in 1967, at the age of 64...MikeM. 7/20/2018
+ In all four appearances (The Case of the Impetuous Imp (1965), The Case of the Scandalous Sculptor (1964), The Case of the Double-Entry Mind (1962), The Case of the Posthumous Painter (1961)) he seems to play the same nervous-, high-strung-type character. jfh 20Jul2018.

This is the only Perry appearance for Jeff Cooper, who had many television credits including a semi-recurring role (19 episodes from 1979-81) as Dr. Simon Ellby on the nighttime drama Dallas. jfh 20Jul2018.

Michael Fox, Coroner for Hire Out of the 25 PM episodes in which Michael Fox appeared as the Autopsy Surgeon / Coroner's Physician, this is one out of 3 in which he is NOT either unnamed or is named Dr. Hoxie. He is Dr. Lund in this episode, Dr. Samuel Anders in TCOT Prodigal Parent, and Abe Heyman in TCOT Bogus Buccaneers. He also played Coroner George McLeod in about 25 episodes of Burke's Law. Submitted by catyron, July 21st, 2018

Inflationary "Access Fees" - The $10 Paul initially offers for a ride to the beach side of the Simmons Estate would be about $85 today (2021); the $25 he ends up paying ("I could go round-trip to San Francisco for that!") would be nearly $225. Incidentally, I checked prices for a round-trip ticket to SF; the lowest unrestricted fare, leaving today, was on Southwest and cost $373. OLEF641 9/7/21
+ Paul was speaking literally (or close to it) Notcom 090721.