Show11
CARS: 1957 Ford Skyliner retractable, black, top down (Mason), 1957 Mercury 4dr hardtop wagon, medium color & white 2-tone. From The Cars by Greg Cockerill.
When Sands goes to the boat (at night), Harper hears Sands on the boat and hides his lamp. Yet Sands never saw the lamp from outside the boat through the porthole, and he is surprised to see Harper inside the cabin. cwgraul 5.29.20
And how did Harper get to the Mary Belle? No sign of a rowboat. DOD 06/14/21
In the final scene Paul is sporting a tuxedo, heading out on a date. Submitted by PaulDrake 33, 30 July 2009.
+ Perry gives Paul $75 date money. The equivalent amount in 2014 would be about $600. Hard to believe. Submitted by 65tosspowertrap, 3-22-14.
++ More than dinner and a movie? Submitted by HamBurger, 8/6/2017
+++ In a tux? in LA? Probably not unreasonable. jfh 08Jan2021
The script for this episode is dated 12 September 1957. The scripts for at least 15 episodes predate this. It may be this episode was the 16th filmed. Submitted by billp, 4 November 2009.
+ Here we have a "Skyliner" episode dated in Sept. It appears these early episodes see-sawed back and forth between GM and Ford cars. Submitted by HamBurger, 9/20/2020
Sightings: Pencil Mustache Man appears to be assisting Hamilton Burger in this episode. He is sitting next to him in Court, at the prosecution table, shuffling papers. More about him and other recurring extras here. Submitted by evelyne, 15 February 2011.
+ Also assisting Burger is Little Old Lady #2, in her capacity as stenographer. She reappears as just another courtroom spectator (first in the back row and then in the front), along with several other familiar faces. These are Distinguished Lady #4 (back row, in a distinctive hat), Distinguished Gentleman #1 (in the back corner), and a mustached “Sasha Magaloff.” Now who are they again? Submitted by gracenote, 9/2/2011.
++ "Sasha Magaloff" is now known to be the actor Mitchell Rhein. Submitted by catyron, November 16, 2020.
Character Names: We learn that Rita’s maiden name is Wassell. Nikolides’ first name is George. Submitted by gracenote, 9/2/2011.
+ ... and Rita's current last name is Bradford. jfh 08Jan2021
Bad marriage: Second episode in a row featuring an affluent, childless, unhappily-married couple. Submitted by 65tosspowertrap, 3/22/2014.
+ Actually, two unhappy, childless marriages. jfh 13Mar2023
Goof: I was watching MeTV and I have to agree with this episode's IMDB.com listing, as it pertains to when Perry and Della spend the night alone in the lower level of the boat. After it completely tilts and they are leaving, when Della climbs the ladder to the deck to leave the boat (with Perry still waiting to get on the ladder), you can clearly hear Della softly say "Excuse me" to someone unseen above her. Submitted by mesave31, 04/03/15.
+ For the life of me, I cannot hear her say that line even though the closed-captioning says she did. Wiseguy70005, 2/08/24.
This is the only PM appearance for prolific character and voice actor Henry Corden, who became the voice of Fred Flintstone when Alan Reed passed in 1977. Henry Corden was also the singing voice for Fred prior to 1977...MikeM. 7/23/2016
This is the only PM writing credit for Robert Tallman, who was given an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America for Best Radio Drama of 1947...MikeM. 5/4/2018
Actresses Jean Arthur and Doris Singleton have something in common. They both played "the Ex- Mrs. Bradford," Arthur in the 1936 comedy-mystery movie of the same name and Singleton in this episode of PM. Submitted by BobH, 13 May 2018.
This is the first of three PM roles for Nancy Gates. Ms. Gates - who left us just this past March - is perhaps best known for not being in Sunset Boulevard (that was Nancy Olson)...tho she did star in the (admittedly less famous) film Suddenly. Notcom, 061319.
This is the first of 8 Perry appearances for Frank Wilcox who has, according to IMDb, 388 credited and uncreditted roles in movies and TV, including a feaatured role in "Lady Gangster" starring Faye Emerson. jfh 29May2020
GOOF Paul reports to Perry that the first Mrs. Bradford was married to Bradford in 1945 and divorced from him in 1948. Huh? Why would she think she was still married if she did not experience amnesia until 7 years after their divorce? Did I miss something? Submitted by JazzBaby, 7/3/2019.
> It gets worse: we're later told "your husband divorced you over a year ago", which of course would be c. 1956. One might think the comment was simply lifted from the book, but it was published in 1944, so that hardly explains things (and it would be remarkably sloppy for the screenwriters not to have noticed the incongruity). And Paul's actual remark is "...divorced Calexico, 1948" which in itself makes little sense: perhaps this was meant to imply the notorious Mexican divorce, but Calexico is in California. A rare example of thoroughly muddled dialogue. Notcom, 101320.
A piece of pegboard for a modesty panel screwed to the front of the famous Perry Mason's desk? Rather tacky.Joe B.03/12/2020
+And in the same scene we see a couple of odd sitting positions. Paul Drake is sitting with leg over the armrest. I know he is described sitting in that manner several times in the novels but I don't recall seeing it in the TV series. And Perry's position sitting behind his desk almost has him kneeling on the floor. Wiseguy70005, 2/08/24
Gavel Tally: The judge "gavels" as he adjourns court at Burger's request due to Nikolides' absence from court -- yet Nikolides does not appear on the stand the next day. OLEF641 11/18/21