The Ides of Perry Mason 37

On the 15th of every month, we publish something about Our Fave Lawyer.

Tribute to Jeanne Bal & Kathie Browne

Watch enough Perry Mason on MeTV and FETV and start seeing familiar faces from the original Star Trek. The greatest TV courtroom drama of all time employed players who later performed on the 1960s version of the greatest science-fiction[1] TV show of all time.

Two actresses in particular – Jeanne Bal and Kathie Browne - must have been favorites in the Perryverse Casting Department since they each appear in no fewer than four episodes.

Jeanne Bal played salt-loving Nancy Crater in 1966 The Mantrap. Anticipating the setting of the final frontier, Bal played in two Masons that capitalized on the hot issue of the space race The Case of the Misguided Missile (1961) and The Case of the Angry Astronaut (1962). In the former she plays two-timing schemer Helen Rand who, as a serious security risk relative to blackmail, never should have been allowed on base. In the latter she’s dedicated psychiatrist Dr. Linda Carey who gives her patient placebo to overcome anxiety. In both parts, whether siren sexpot or thoughtful professional, Bal gave the impression of depths that asked for sympathetic understanding before judgement.

In The Case of the Telltale Tap (1965), as executive assistant Vera Wynne, Bal lights up the monochrome screen with a ripping performance. Her character is proficient and ruthless in the business world, but in her personal life she makes unfortunate miscalculations as to how much a younger man feels for her. Again, Bal brings to the character the suggestion that the outside Vera seems to have it all together, but on the inside lurks and glowers unstable craziness from which those seeking a quiet life should flee. That she becomes a fury not to be denied amazes all unwary enough to come into contact with her.

In The Case of the Wrathful Wraith (1965) Bal calmly plays the seemingly faithful friend Rosemary Welch to Louise Sellf played by fragile ice queen Marian McCargo. Still, to keep the viewer guessing about suspects, the part calls for Rosemary to keep her own counsel, perhaps nursing her own hidden agenda or secret sorrow. In this melodramatic episode, Selff has been successfully defended by Perry from a charge of murder but she gradually cracks up under the strain of publicity, a cynical reporter, an earthy spiritualist, a creepy PI,  and the idea that her missing presumed dead husband is haunting her. Geraldine Wall plays a memorable scene on the stand as middle-aged landlady witness who intones “Louise, Louise.” I find this one highly entertaining though I’d understand if so-called regular people thought it was really corny.

Kathie Browne played speeded-up Queen Deela in the 1968 episode Wink of an Eye. Clad in a garment that made the viewer wonder hopefully if a wardrobe malfunction was in store, she played an alluring but pitiless alien. Browne’s first appearance in the Perryverse was in The Case of the Provocative Protege (1960). Though Browne was 30 when played Donna Loring Ross, her taut blondeness and the prim manner of a classical pianist persuade us that Donna really is a naïve 20-year-old, shocked to learn that an insecure middle-aged man would have feelings for her. Like most innocents on the show, she ends up accused of murder.  Always reliable are Virginia Field as the hard-pressed wife and Harry Jackson, who made a half dozen appearances on Perry as the blackmailing louse.

In The Case of the Mystified Miner (1962) Browne plays another naïve young’un, Susan Fisher, secretary to a boss that expects her to punch in on Saturday while he spends the day on the links. She’s dedicated to doing a good job, but the situation spirals out of control after the boss’ little boy brings to the office a shoebox full of benjamins. Smart but young enough to be gullible too, she ends up accused of murder, looking in court like she belongs in a pew in church.

In The Case of the Festive Felon (1963), her part as secretary Carla Eden is relatively small but she makes the most of it. There is a funny but cringe-inducing scene in which Paul Drake impersonates a talent scout; he scams her with the ‘you ought to be pictures’ line and grabs her face. Generally speaking, men commit a lot of battery against women in the show. It’s something, like the constant smoking, that makes us shudder in our more enlightened era.

Finally, Browne plays the central character of Lona Upton in The Case of the Thermal Thief (1965). She’s good but the episode is weakly written. It is one of the half dozen or so episodes without Raymond Burr who was undergoing jaw surgery. Instead, we get ponderous Barry Sullivan whose appeal always escaped me.

Jeanne Bal retired from acting in 1970, at the age of 42. She passed away of breast cancer in 1996, at the age of 66. Kathie Browne became tired being stuck in ingénue roles and retired in the late 1970s. She married TV actor Darren McGavin, best-known for an early version of the X-Files called Kolchak: The Night Stalker. They were married more than thirty years, until Browne’s death at 72 in 2003.

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[1] Science fiction explores the human condition in situations not of our current world (original Star Trek), while sci-fi is about square-jawed heroes battling aliens and killer robots and driving star cruisers and shit blowing up in non-stop action that makes you feel sick and tired by the time you escape the theater (rebooted Star Trek).