Show23
That $1.00 cup of coffee would ring in at $7.35 today. How much does a cup of coffee cost at some of those well-known coffee shops today? (I’m not a coffee drinker). Submitted by billp, 1/1/2009.
+ A tall (12 ounces, the smallest size) "freshly brewed coffee" at Starbucks is $1.85 as of 8/30/17. That's more than double the 5 ounces that was the customary serving in Perry's day! Let's hope they got free refills ;-) OLEF641; 8/30/2017.
++ Another way of looking at it: what would it run in an expensive (French) restaurant in LA today ?? Le Comptoir has it priced at $8...la plus ca meme... Catered by Notcom, 083017. I see it's currently up to $15!! Now I'm with Perry: just what are they putting in there ?!?! Updated by Notcom 111221.
+++ Reality Check, please: When I was a kid, probably 1964 or so, I remember my father's indignation over the $1 a cup he had to paid for coffee while staying at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. John K, 30 August 2017
Marian Fargo is being blackmailed for $1000 ($7,350.35) a month. So far she’s been taken for $10,000 ($73,503.46). Now the blackmailer wants a lump sum payment of $10,000. Marian would be out $147,006.92 today if she paid that lump sum. Submited by billp, 1/1/2009.
+ After watching dozens of Perry episodes in which pathetic weaklings give in to blackmailers, it's nice to see Gallagher handle it right for once by giving that two-bit gumshoe the bum's rush. Vladimir Estragon 081524
The plot point about Charles being a fugitive is reminiscent of that terrific Paul Muni movie “I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang”. DOD 06/16/20
Perry’s $500 retainer amounts to $3,675.17. No wonder they scoot out of the bistro. Submitted by billp, 1/1/2009.
In one scene on the DVD (normally cut from TV), Paul calls Perry from a phone booth while keeping a date waiting in the car! It’s one of the few times that Lothario Paul enjoys success (though perhaps temporary) with women on-screen! Submitted by Ed Zoerner, 5/10/2009.
+ Seems odd that Paul stops with his hot mink-draped date in the car at a phone booth to check in with Mason. He is the kind of guy who today would at least turn his cellphone off for a couple of hours in that situation. MFrench 8/27/16
Trench coats play a prominent role. At about 15:16 on the 2006 Region 1 Paramount DVD, Marian's husband takes his coat off the coat rack by the front door inside Samuel Carlin's house. Given that Marian was due to stop by at that time, wouldn't she have recognized the coat? Or do they all look alike? Soon after, Paul joins Perry in a stakeout of the house across the street. (How many cigarettes per hour does Perry smoke? There are at least 8 butts on the ground.) Perry is partially hidden behind the bushes and wearing a dark trench coat. Professional detective Paul shows up, in a very light-colored trench coat. (Shades of Victor Laszlo in Casablanca?, where Ferrolds waiter Jean Del Val was working as a police officer.) Submitted by (lowercase, with a comma and period) masonite, 07/22/13.
+ It's not at all suspicious that a man in a dark raincoat is lurking on a residential street, smoking, for a full hour, staring at a house that subsequently blows up. Nope, perfectly innocent. Vladimir Estragon 081524
Speaking of conspicuous consumption, Marian's brother Charles tells Della that "while I was in prison I picked up TB" just before he takes a healthy drag on a coffin nail. In the next scene, back in his (flimsy motel?) room, after he ejects a visitor and slams the door, he starts coughing. Submitted by (lowercase, with a comma and period) masonite, 07/22/13.
+ He coughed at the beginning of that scene as well. In addition, he lights a second cigarette (which was just sitting on the desk) while still smoking the first one! He finally puts the first one out in the ashtray before finishing it and the second one after Daniels leaves without smoking it much at all. He could have just finished the first one and had the same amount of cigarette. Submitted by Wiseguy70005, 11/18/13.
++ Believe it or not, until 1964, cigarettes were recommended as beneficial for certain complaints: "Tobacco companies hosted dinners at fancy restaurants for throat specialists, where the practitioners were encouraged to recommend cigarette brands to patients with coughs and other complaints." (source: http://www.healthcare-administration-degree.net/10-evil-vintage-cigarette-ads-promising-better-health/)
OLEF641; 8/30/2017
In both the novel and the episode Perry states that the unknown woman sounded "terrified" (novel) or "frightened to death" (episode). However, Angie Dickinson doesn't sound like she is in either condition. Submitted by Wiseguy70005, 11/18/13.
When Della and Perry arrive at the restaurant, watch Della carefully as she spots Marian. The look on her face is priceless. (Perry, ever the gentleman, keeps his eyes straight ahead.) The subsequent shot of Marian and Della at the reservation desk is almost visual overload. Submitted by DellaFan, 4/8/2014.
When Marian telephones Perry at the café, she tells him Carlin has a file concerning a man named Charles Gallagher. She says, “Please examine it closely. Unless it is complete and authentic, you’re not to pay for it.” Perry doesn’t know the identity of the woman speaking to him, has never met Charles Gallagher, and has no idea what Gallagher may have done or what the file may contain. How is he to know whether or not the file is “complete” before handing over ten grand? And then there is the virtual certainty that Carlin would have made copies. Submitted by Dan K, 26 Sept 2018.
The governor chose Not to extradite Charles. The Constitution & Articles of Confederation have EXTRADITION clauses: any person who "shall flee from justice"..."shall" on "demand of the...[governor] of the State from which he fled, be delivered..to the State having jurisdiction" [Article 4 in Both; ourdocuments.gov]." Mike Bedard 4.21.15/rev. 5.3.16.
+`The governor who has "no desire to extradite Charles Gallagher" is the one in the state from which he absconded as a juvenile, since he feels Gallagher "has proved he can be a good and useful citizen" which is the supposed point of juvenile detention. OLEF641 10/29/2020
Paul had a date; as a Single person, I appreciate that Perry, Della & Paul were all Singles in the '50s when Marrieds were more typical. Mike B. 5.3.16.
Director Howard Hawks supposedly cast Angie Dickenson in her breakout film, "Rio Bravo", based on seeing her in this episode. Submitted by Kenmore 06/01/2021
+ This episode was also directed by Christian Nyby, who was Hawks's protege and the director of "The Thing from Another World" in 1951, which starred Kenneth Tobey (Perry episodes 4.3, 4.7, & 6.9), Robert Cornthwaite (Perry episodes 1.3, 3.6, 4.6, 5.28, & 8.8), and Robert Nichols (Perry episode 2.29). You think they all had the same agent or something? Vladimir Estragon 081524
In the novel Carlin and Pierre had similar body types which made the identification easy to confuse. In the episode Pierre and Carlin don't look anything alike with Carlin several inches shorter and stockier. Submitted by Wiseguy70005, 11/18/13.
+ Actually, they're practically the same height; each is almost exactly the same height as Mrs. Fargo. Pierre is not quite as thickset as Carlin, but figuring out the heft of a "badly burned body" would be difficult I would think. OLEF641; 8/30/2017.
++"The Case of the Faceless Man?" Coincidentally, in the very same year that this episode aired, actors Luis Van Rooten (Carlin) and Jan Arvan (Pierre) also appeared in the B-horror movie, "Curse of the Faceless Man" (which starred Richard Anderson). One can only surmise that Arvan's "badly burned body" in this PM episode would have been "faceless" as well, given the quickness with which the authorities mistakenly concluded that the body was Van Rooten's. Submitted by BobH, 3 November 2017.
Why is Carlin in the courtroom at all? Was he that curious? Submitted by Wiseguy70005, 11/18/13.
+ Not only is he in the courtroom, but as the final courtroom scene opens, he's seen--from a distance, of course--sitting immediately next to his accomplice. And in a not exactly impenetrable disguise: a toupee, a false moustache, and glasses. Submitted by BobH, 30 January 2016.
This is the second episode in a row that a small private airplane is part of the story.
Also the second episode in a row wherein a body is misidentified. DOD 06/16/20
So Diana, Pierre, Carlin, and Arthur are all somehow involved in a blackmail scheme. I’m still not sure how they all connected. DOD 06/16/20
>> It's pretty simple: the former were all confederates, hired by the latter to extort money from his wife, after learning about her brother. What's unclear to me is what part - if any - the pilot played: did he deliberately misidentify Marian, and if not was the point of the scene where he does so simply to increase tension ?? Why didn't Perry make an effort to impeach him ?? Notcom 111221.
Della and the Gangster: It seems unusual for Barbara Hale to have an extended scene without Raymond Burr in it, but that two-hander with Paul Picerni was just great. Gallagher told his tale without too much gangster bravado, and Della was visibly torn between being a little scared of the guy and utterly captivated by his story. Nice job all around. Vladimir Estragon 081524