Note: Contemporary TV dramas often rely on frequent recaps and flashbacks, catering to viewers who are half-distracted by their phones. By contrast, the classic Perry Mason series offers no such concessions: miss a few minutes, and you risk losing track of a crucial relationship or plot twist. The show assumes - and rewards - your full attention.
The Best Episodes of Season 6 (1962-63)
The Case of the Shoplifter's Shoe. Grown up Margaret O’Brien plays an earnest niece who feels compelled to clean up the messes of her batty aunt, played by Lureen Tuttle with her usual ease. O’Brien gets to do her signature crying and semi-hysteria both in a cell and on the stand. James Millhollin plays yet another fussbudget in a brief scene. So much fun. It’s satisfying to see actors playing the parts they are good at. But in a refreshing change, it’s also cool to see Leonard Nimoy playing an obnoxious hood who’s also an abusive husband. The fine acting makes up for unsound plot twists in a feverish episode.
The Case of the Witless Witness. A respected judge accepts the nomination to be Lt. Governor. We viewers must wonder why a gifted man of probity and integrity in an influential position of power would want such a ridiculous job as Lt. Governor. But we are distracted from these skeptical musings when the judge is accused of fraud and poisoning the witness against him. With the intensity of a movie, this is the most sophisticated episode in that it examines scams and corruption in high places during WWII, the spite of unrequited love, and the wages of overweening ambition. Robert Middleton plays the judge with an appealing blend of legal intellect and gravitas but lacking in emotional intelligence. Jackie Coogan plays a naughty fixer. Our buddy Vaughn Taylor has good scenes before he’s ushered from this vale of tears, sloppy drunk and babbling. This one is in my Top Five Fave Episodes.
The Case of the Double-Entry Mind (11/1/62). Clem
“Sandy” Sandover is played by Stu
Erwin, who used his basset hound face and manner to portray Every Man, from
mild-mannered school principal to small town little guy. In this one he plays a
conniving worm of a bookkeeper who has looted his company of $201,000. He has
done so to win the affections of greedy sly Lita Krail, the office manager of
the company. Erwin pulls out the stops in incredible scenes. In the famous in film noir Bradbury
Building, his descent of a cool Art Deco staircase while his mini-tape
recorder mocks him with his own voice symbolizes his descent into madness and
violence. When he realizes that Lita has betrayed him he wails, “And I bought a
sport coat!” Oddly enough, his wife is one who ends up defended by Perry. This
episode is also in my Top Five Fave Episodes.
Honorable Mention: In TCOT Potted Planter, Constance Ford plays a scheming sister-in-law in a dramatic story of passions and hatreds in a small-town. In TCOT Velvet Claws, Patricia Barry plays a mendacious femme fatale who manages to stick with her bald-faced lies until merciless Perry breaks her down to a sobbing mess on the floor in the most amazing interrogation scene of all 271 episodes.
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