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Perry Mason is a fictional defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner. He appeared in over 80 novels and short stories, most (but not all) of which involved his client being put on trial for murder. Usually he is able to establish his client's innocence by showing another person was the guilty party. However, in some cases, he merely established the innocence of his client, and while he knew who the guilty party was, let the police figure it out for themselves.

Origin of the name "Perry Mason"

Long before Erle Stanley Gardner became an author, he was a child reader of the magazine Youth's Companion. The magazine, which is best known for producing the original Pledge of Allegiance in 1891, was published in Boston, Massachusetts by the Perry Mason Company (later renamed "Perry Mason & Co." after the founder died). The company name was completely fictional - Daniel Sharp Ford, a Christian socialist, made it up out of modesty instead of using his own name as the company name. When Gardner set about creating his fictional attorney, he borrowed the name of the company that published his favourite childhood magazine.

Original novels

In the books, Perry Mason is not the most ethical attorney, often confusing evidence, adding evidence, or otherwise pulling stunts to mislead the police away from his client. However, he always was portrayed as somebody who fought for his client, something common to Gardner's writings.

While the Mason novels were largely a form of pulp fiction of the sort that began Gardner's writing career, they are somewhat unusual in that the whodunnit mysteries usually involved two solutions: one which the authorities believed (in which case Mason's client was guilty) and an alternative explanation (in which Mason's client was innocent). Often, Mason's trial antics exposed the guilty party during court (though usually without the confessions on the witness stand that the television series was famous for), but sometimes was enough to get his client acquitted. Depending on how he felt afterwards, Mason would either advise the authorities, or just snub them, depending on how he and his client had been treated.

A point neglected in the television adaptations, but not in the novels, is how Mason finds the money to pay for helping penniless clients. He usually finds that their situation is due to the malfeasance of a party with deep pockets, and frequently (not always) contrives a way to make them pay. For instance, in one of the earliest Mason books, The Case of the Curious Bride, the dead man is ultimately shown to be the nexus of evil, but the husband of Mason's client, the son of a very wealthy Chicago businessman, dishonors his family name by his conduct and Mason induces his father, without taint of blackmail, to preserve the family honor and pay a sizeable "divorce settlement" to his daughter-in-law.

Finally, Erle Stanley Gardner's prefaces many of the later novels with tributes to real-life people, coroners and forensic pathologists, who have materially contributed to making sure murders are detected in the first place, let alone properly solved. Gardner inserts his ideas about the importance of proper autopsies into many of his Mason novels. In many other so-called legal thrillers, including television versions of the Mason books, details of the person's death are passed over without much scrutiny. In The Case of the Fugitive Nurse, for instance, close scrutiny of dental records in the identification of burned bodies is a key point. In that same story, the possible use of additives to track illegal resale of medical narcotics is examined.

On the big screen and other media

Warren William portrayed Perry Mason in four movies for Warner Bros. from 1934 through 1936. Donald Woods starred in 1937's The Case of the Stuttering Bishop .

The Perry Mason character appeared in radio adaptations, comic books, and a short-lived (October 16, 1950–June 21, 1952) comic strip. He was also the inspiration for The Whole Truth (1986) by James Cummins, a book-length collection of sestinas. The daytime soap opera The Edge of Night was originally meant to be a daytime version of Perry Mason, until Gardner had a falling-out with CBS network officials. He was later mollified enough to allow production of the most famous incarnation of the character.

Television

Series

The series also set a precedent for other mystery series in that it was the first detective show to feature either a tape or chalk outline to mark the spot where the murder victim's body had been found. The first time this appeared was in the episode "The Case of the Perjured Parrot" which aired in 1958.

Years later, a TV Guide interview stated that Raymond Burr was not the original choice for Mason, and that the producers were firmly against Burr, but they agreed to let him audition for Mason if he would also audition for Prosecuting Attorney Hamilton Burger. The part had originally been offered to Fred MacMurray, but MacMurray turned it down. As the story goes, Mason's creator, Erle Stanley Gardner happened to be sitting in on the auditions that day and excitedly shouted, "That's Perry Mason" upon seeing Burr. Erle Stanley Gardner made a cameo as a judge in the last episode of the orginal series.

An unsuccessful attempt to recreate the series was made in 1973. Starring Monte Markham, The New Perry Mason only lasted one season

The original series was a staple in syndication, running for many years on TBS and most recently on the Hallmark Channel. The official DVD release of season 1 is due July 2006.

Actor Raymond Burr, after he retired, donated all his 'Perry Mason' scripts and associated papers to McGeorge School of Law of the University of Pacific. Although the University of Pacific is located in Stockton, CA, the McGeorge School of Law is located in Sacramento, CA. These Perry Mason manuscripts hold an esteemed place in the McGeorge Law Library.

TV movies

Television producer Dean Hargrove resurrected the popular Mason character in a series of TV movies for NBC beginning in 1985. (He would create the Matlock series one year later.) Hargrove was able to bring back the two then-surviving major stars, Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale (reprising their roles as Mason and Della Street, respectively) for the first telefilm, Perry Mason Returns, in which Mason defended his own secretary, Della, on murder charges. William Katt (Hale's son) was cast in most of these films as Paul Drake, Jr. (William Hopper, who played the private investigator Paul Drake in the original television series, had died years earlier.)

The successful series of Perry Mason TV movies continued through 1993, the last of which (The Case of the Killer Kiss) being completed only weeks prior to Burr's death, and therefore dedicated to his memory. The last several of these films were set in Denver rather than Mason's traditional locale of Los Angeles; the character had moved there, but the real reason for the change was Denver's considerably lower production costs.

Other recurring characters in the Perry Mason universe include:

  • Hamilton Burger - District Attorney (played by William Talman on the TV series)
  • Lieutenant Arthur Tragg - Police homicide investigator (played by Ray Collins on the TV series)
  • Lieutenant Andy Anderson - Another police homicide investigator (played by Wesley Lau on the TV series)
  • Terrance Clay - Restaurateur and friend of Perry (played by Dan Tobin)
  • Sergeant Holcomb - Policeman often featured in the novels
  • Jackson - A junior attorney

    Title listings

    Novels

    Note: In certain cases, a book was not published until long after it was written. In such cases, the earlier date in parentheses indicates the copyright date, and the later date the date of first book publication.
    • The Case of the Velvet Claws (1933 William Morrow & Co, New York; 1934 UK) - A spoiled woman is keen to get what she wants, even if it costs Perry his freedom.
    • The Case of the Sulky Girl (1933 William Morrow & Co, New York; 1934 UK)
    • The Case of the Lucky Legs (1934 William Morrow & Co, New York; 1934 UK) - A mistake at a murder scene dogs Perry while he tries to represent a woman taken in by a con man.
    • The Case of the Howling Dog (1934 William Morrow & Co, New York; 1936 UK) - A nervous man absolutely must have the howling of the neighbour's dog who does not howl.
    • The Case of the Curious Bride (1934 William Morrow & Co, New York) — A woman claiming not to be a bride consults Mason about her 'friend' whose husband, long thought to have died in a plane crash, turns up alive.
    • The Case of the Counterfeit Eye (1935 William Morrow & Co, New York) - A man hires Perry to find out who stole a very expensive glass eye and substituted a cheap copy.
    • The Case of the Caretaker's Cat (1935 William Morrow & Co, New York)
    • The Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece (1936 William Morrow & Co, New York)
    • The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1936 William Morrow & Co, New York) — Mason gets a telephone call from a man who identifies himself as Anglican Bishop William Mallory, recently return from many years in Australia, and tells Mason that he will testify on the behalf of Mason's client, if Mason can find him.
    • The Case of the Dangerous Dowager (1937)
    • The Case of the Lame Canary (1937)
    • The Case of the Substitute Face (1938)
    • The Case of the Shoplifter's Shoe (1939)
    • The Case of the Perjured Parrot (1939)
    • The Case of the Rolling Bones (1940)
    • The Case of the Baited Hook (1940)
    • The Case of the Silent Partner (1941)
    • The Case of the Haunted Husband (1942) — A cigarette girl in San Francisco leaves her job and the city abruptly, and hitchhikes to LA, but gets in a car wreck with a would-be Romeo, waking up in the hospital to find herself charged with his death. Near the end, Mason shares, in the words of Paul Drake "a five minute talk on the philosophy of life and death I'll never forget".
    • The Case of the Empty Tin (1943)
    • The Case of the Drowning Duck (1944)
    • The Case of the Careless Kitten (1944)
    • The Case of the Buried Clock (1945)
    • The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito (1946) — Though published after the war, this is a "rationbook". Multiple attempts by independent parties to kill the same person, lead to a situation where, under California law, in the absence of collusion, only the person who actually caused the death can be punished. At one point in the book, 2 pairs of couples are about to get married, and Mason suggests that he and Della make it 3. Della's answer makes it clear why there's no romance then nor for the next 35 years of Mason stories.
    • The Case of the Crooked Candle (1947)
    • The Case of the Crying Swallow (short story) (1947/1974) — Major Claude Winnett, war hero, lives with his wife and mother on a vast sea-side estate. Some jewelry is missing, and his wife has disappeared.
    • The Case of the Black-Eyed Blonde (1948)
    • The Case of the Golddigger's Purse (1948)
    • The Case of the Half-Wakened Wife (1949)
    • The Case of the Cautious Coquette (1949/1955) — At the behest of Mason, who is representing a young man hit by a car, Paul Drake places an ad in the paper asking for witnesses to the hit and run. To Mason's astonishment, two different drivers are identified, one by a mysterious letter enclosing a key.
    • The Case of the Borrowed Brunette (1951)
    • The Case of the Fan Dancer's Horse (1952) — This story bears some similarities to Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Silver BlazeBoth involving theft of a famous race horse, concealed in both cases by a similar trick.
    • The Case of the Lazy Lover (1947 US, 1954 UK)
    • The Case of the Lonely Heiress (1952)
    • The Case of the Vagabond Virgin (1952)
    • The Case of the Dubious Bridegroom (1954)
    • The Case of the Negligent Nymph (1956)
    • The Case of the One-Eyed Witness (1956)
    • The Case of the Fiery Fingers (1957)
    • The Case of the Angry Mourner (1958)
    • The Case of the Moth-Eaten Mink (1958)
    • The Case of the Grinning Gorilla (1958)
    • The Case of the Hesitant Hostess (1959)
    • The Case of the Green-Eyed Sister (1959)
    • The Case of the Fugitive Nurse (1959) — When young Steffanie Malden, recently widowed by the death of her husband, the very successful surgeon Summerfield Malden, consults Mason, she wants the $100,000 her husband and nurse hid from his wife and the IRS in a love nest, but changes priorities when the authorities prosecute her for murder.
    • The Case of the Runaway Corpse (1960)
    • The Case of the Restless Redhead (1960)
    • The Case of the Glamorous Ghost (1960)
    • The Case of the Sunbather's Diary (1961)
    • The Case of the Nervous Accomplice (1961)
    • The Case of the Terrified Typist (1961)
    • The Case of the Demure Defendant (1962)
    • The Case of the Gilded Lily (1962)
    • The Case of the Lucky Loser (1962)
    • The Case of the Screaming Woman (1963)
    • The Case of the Daring Decoy (1963)
    • The Case of the Long-legged Models (1963)
    • The Case of the Foot-Loose Doll (1964)
    • The Case of the Calendar Girl (1964)
    • The Case of the Deadly Toy (1964)
    • The Case of the Mythical Monkeys (1965) — Gladys Doyle, secretary of underworld moll turned bestselling novelist Mauvis Meade, keeps an appointment in her employer's stead at mountaintop Summit Inn, but gets stuck in the mud on her way back.
    • The Case of the Singing Skirt (1965)
    • The Case of the Waylaid Wolf (1965)
    • The Case of the Duplicate Daughter (1965)
    • The Case of the Shapely Shadow (1966)
    • The Case of the Spurious Spinster (1966)
    • The Case of the Bigamous Spouse (1967) — Gwynn Elston finds herself implicated in the murder of her best friend's new husband.
    • The Case of the Reluctant Model (1967)
    • The Case of the Blonde Bonanza (1967)
    • The Case of the Ice-Cold Hands (1968)
    • The Case of the Mischievous Doll (1968)
    • The Case of the Stepdaughter's Secret (1968)
    • The Case of the Amorous Aunt (1969)
    • The Case of the Daring Divorcee (1969)
    • The Case of the Fabulous Fake (1969) — Trying to protect her brother, a woman tries to handle the person blackmailing him - only to be implicated in his murder.
    • The Case of the Crimson Kiss (1970)
    • The Case of the Phantom Fortune (1970)
    • The Case of the Horrified Heirs (1971)
    • The Case of the Troubled Trustee (1971)
    • The Case of the Beautiful Beggar (1972)
    • The Case of the Worried Waitress (1972)
    • The Case of the Queenly Contestant (1973)
    • The Case of the Careless Cupid (1972)
    • The Case of the Irate Witness (1975)
    • The Case of the Fenced-In Woman (published posthumously) (1976)
    • The Case of the Postponed Murder (published posthumously) (1977)

    1930s movies

    • The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1937)
    • The Case of the Black Cat (1936)
    • The Case of the Velvet Claws (1936)
    • The Case of the Lucky Legs (1935)
    • The Case of the Curious Bride (1935)
    • The Case of the Howling Dog (1934)

    TV movies

    • Perry Mason Returns (1985)
    • The Case of the Notorious Nun (1986)
    • The Case of the Shooting Star (1986)
    • The Case of the Lost Love (1987)
    • The Case of the Sinister Spirit (1987)
    • The Case of the Murdered Madam (1987)
    • The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel (1987)
    • The Case of the Avenging Ace (1988)
    • The Case of the Lady in the Lake (1988)
    • The Case of the Lethal Lesson (1989)
    • The Case of the Musical Murder (1989)
    • The Case of the All-Star Assassin (1989)
    • The Case of the Poisoned Pen (1990)
    • The Case of the Desperate Deception (1990)
    • The Case of the Silenced Singer (1990)
    • The Case of the Defiant Daughter (1990)
    • The Case of the Ruthless Reporter (1991)
    • The Case of the Maligned Mobster (1991)
    • The Case of the Glass Coffin (1991)
    • The Case of the Fatal Fashion (1991)
    • The Case of the Fatal Framing (1992)
    • The Case of the Reckless Romeo (1992)
    • The Case of the Heartbroken Bride (1992)
    • The Case of the Skin-Deep Scandal (1993)
    • The Case of the Telltale Talk Show Host (1993)
    • The Case of the Killer Kiss (1993)

    Pop culture references / Notable appearances

    • Folk hero David Hasselhoff appeared in Perry Mason: The Case of the Lady in the Lake
    • Alt rock band Pixies paid tribute to the show by incorporating part of the theme tune into their song Space (I Believe In) on the album Trompe Le Monde

    Triva (Spoofs)

    • In a 1960's Flintstones episode, there is a lawyer named "Perry Masonite"!
    • Mad Magazine did a story called "The Day Perry Mason lost a case" {Mason is led away in handcuffs by Lt. Tragg; Hamilton Burger tries to prosecute a case-but fails miserably}

    References

    External links

    Fictional detectives | Fictional lawyers | Comic strips | Series of books | CBS network shows | Crime television series | Drama television series | Legal television series | Television programs based on novels | 1950s TV shows in the United States | 1960s TV shows in the United States | 1970s TV shows in the United States | CBS Paramount Television shows

    Perry Mason | Perry Mason | Perry Mason | פרי מייסון | Perry Mason

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Perry Mason".

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