The Ides of Perry Mason 60

Intro: On the 15^th of every month, we examine a topic related to Our Favorite Lawyer. Unbelievably, this is the 5^th birthday of this column. After 60 pieces, I’m stumped coming up with a new angle I can put a protractor to. Perhaps a spirited debate as to which was the cooler car, Mason’s 1957 Ford Fairlane Skyliner (TCOT Restless Redhead) or Mason’s top of the line 1958 Edsel Citation (TCOT Buried Clock)? Debate seems pointless since the correct answer is, obviously, the Edsel, even more strangely beautiful than a mid-seventies Rambler Matador.

The Case of the Restless Redhead - Erle Stanley Gardner

Published in 1954 after being serialized in the Saturday Evening Post, the 45^th Perry Mason mystery is a mixture of the good and not-so-good in Gardner’s novels starring America’s favorite lawyer.

On the minus side, the story is hyper-convoluted. PI Paul Drake and secretary Della Street have but small parts to play. Lt. Tragg is totally absent, but his lowbrow minion Sgt. Holcomb shows up in his sarcastic glory. Hamilton Burger appears, exasperated to the point of bursting his temporal artery, which minimizes dissatisfaction with the conclusion but doesn’t dispel it completely.

As in the pulpy novels of the 1930s, Mason performs dubious acts to confuse the evidence. His client Evelyn Bagby had been chased in her car by a hooded attacker in the other vehicle. As any red-blooded American worth her salt would, she took a shot at him with a revolver she happened to have to hand, sadly, one that had been planted in her apartment. When the cops lead by Sgt. Holcomb find the attacker dead from a bullet wound, Mason goes out on a limb for Evelyn by firing a revolver of the same make and model at the scene of the crime. Ah, nothing like hijinks with two guns in a Mason story, giving us fans that comfy been-there feeling.

Also on the plus side, Gardner hooks the reader not with a break-neck plot but with the exceptionally sympathetic title character. Aspiring actress Evelyn has been conned by a hustler who stole all her money with promises to make her a star. Then she is persecuted by the criminal justice system when she is falsely accused of stealing the jewelry of a Hollywood starlet and her rich friend. Mervyn Aldrich is the usual snot that hassles and hectors Gardnerian Little Guys and Cinderellas.  Luckily Mason gives timely advice to Evelyn’s greenhorn attorney which gets her off.

We readers also get on Evelyn’s side because she doesn’t frustrate us by lying to Mason or leaving out inconvenient facts. Evelyn also follows Mason’s directions about dealing with the cops. Let’s all repeat to get it by heart:

Don't talk to the cops. Ask to speak with an attorney. Get competent legal advice before you answer the cops’ questions. Remember, it’s legal for the cops to lie to you.

And unlike clients who rarely thank Mason for keeping them out of the gas chamber, Evelyn is tearful and grateful that Our Favorite Lawyer gets her off. Gratitude is a beautiful thing to behold.

Gardner used a Dictaphone and had secretaries take down the novels. This practice lead to natural-sounding dialogue that is breezy, snappy, earthy, and as American as deep-fried ice cream. While Gardner is less scintillating when it comes to description, clothes, weather, and word choice, this is balanced by well-structured chapters of perfect length and content to keep the story moving.

I think this is a better than average Mason story. Evelyn’s story is the perfect illustration of Gardner’s principle, “People derive moral satisfaction from reading a story in which the innocent victim of fate triumphs over evil.” 

This story was the basis for the script of the first episode of the Raymond Burr television series, aired on that happy day of September 21, 1957. It was the first of eight appearances for Vaughn Taylor, who could play both amiable and disagreeable. Plus, the beautiful and talented Whitney Blake played Evelyn.