Show126
Except for the opening & closing credits, all the incidental music in the episode is done by a jazz quartet. Submitted by Kenmore, 9/12/2010.
+ How about "A Walk in the Black Forest"? Submitted by 65tosspowertrap, 10/5/2013.
Sightings: The ever-present Distinguished Gentleman #1 got an invitation to the wedding. He strolls in with a lady escort, and he laughs with others in the back pew. Must be a friend of the family! But then he reappears in a blackmail photograph as a hotel clerk. He certainly gets around! Submitted by gracep 11/22/2010.
+ The Pencil Mustache Man also steps outside the usual spectator role to play a waiter at the nightclub where Ms. Baker (Constance Towers) sings. Apparently both of the above gentlemen decided to attend the hearing, as they sit in the back row of the courtroom gallery. Little Old Lady #1 and “Sasha Magaloff” join them as well. Submitted by gracep, 11/23/2010.
++ "Sasha Magaloff" is now known to be the actor Mitchell Rhein. Submitted by catyron, November 16, 2020.
+++ Distinguished Gentleman #1 also reappears in another photograph as a gambler and in the nightclub as a patron in a back table. Lastly, also appearing in the coutroom gallery are Quiet Old Man #1 and Little Old Lady #2. Read more about all these fascinating people on the Who Is That? page. Submitted by gracep, 6/4/2011.
++++ DG1 appears once again at the very end, in the second wedding ceremony. JohnK, 11 October 2015
+++++ Distinguished Gentleman #1 is now known to be the actor Rudolph Salinger. He played characters named "Rudy" twice in the series, but neither were speaking parts. Submitted by catyron, March 27, 2021.
Anomaly: Although listed as “Jonny Baker,” Constance Towers’ character is addressed throughout the episode as Joanie. Submitted by gracep, 11/23/2010.
+ Maybe they're saying Joanie but it is definitely "Jonny" as seen on the billboard promoting her and The Eddie King Quintet at 10:00 on the DVD. Submitted by Kilo 6/27/2018.
For the second time, Karl Held plays law student David Gideon. He will continue to play this role seven more times, for a total of nine. Submitted by gracep, 11/30/2010.
+ Also this was the first time an actor that was Perry's client returned as the same character. Added by H. Mason 11/11/14
According to Wikipedia, Constance Towers attended the Julliard music school. So I suppose that she did her own singing for the episode (which I rather like). Ed Zoerner, 5/17/2011.
+ This will be the first of five appearances for this Constance, who is not to be confused with the other Constance (Ford), despite sharing the same name, similar hair styles and - IMHO - appearances. Miss Towers is younger (objectively), better looking (subjectively), and doesn't always play a grump. Submitted by Notcom, 122015.
Music Alert: The music playing in the scene where Perry discovers the tape in Bongo's room is "A Walk in the Black Forest" by Horst Jankowski. It reached #1 on the US easy listening chart, #12 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and #3 on the UK Singles Chart, in 1965! How many times has a major hit song appeared on TV four years before it charted? Mr. Kessel is credited with all the incidental music. Did Horst lift it from Barney, or vice versa? One of the great TV music mysteries of all time, in my humble opinion. Submitted my Masonite, 6/27/2011
->This is indeed very strange. Perhaps this episode should be titled "The Case of the Stolen Melody"! 65tosspowertrap, 8/9/2013
A plausible history of 'Eine Schwarzwaldfahrt' and lawyers: Per forgottenhits60s.blogspot's November 13, 2013 post here, which lists 4 1961-1962 US TV shows that used Horst Jankowski's memorable tune, he had ignorantly sold the rights to his tune (and 3 others) for 125 Deutsch Marks "which seemed OK at the time". Per this page, in 1961 there were about 4 Deutsch Marks to the US dollar. The entire forgottenhits article is worth reading before you sell your next big hit. (It took Jankowski 7 years and lots of money before he got the rights back, and he ultimately earned nothing from his #1 hit.) Submitted by (lowercase, with a comma and period) masonite, 03/09/19.
CARS. (1) 1961 Buick LeSabre Convertible, light color, top down, Eddie King. Seen in the opening shot with "Just Married!" decoration, in front of church. Appears again when Eddie arrives at George Sherwin's apartment building (18:47).
- (2) 1961 Mercury Comet 4-Door Sedan, light color, Polly Courtland. Eddie sees Polly get into this car as he's about to enter Sherwin's apartment building (19:18). Also, an identical-looking car, with only driver aboard, drives by Eddie's decorated Buick and the church in the opening shot; it's not meant as Polly's car in this shot, however.
Background Cars. (a) 1961 or 1960 Ford Falcon 4-Door Sedan, light color. Parked in front of Sherwin's apartment building for the location-establishing shot used at 12:20 & 28:17, but it's replaced by Polly's Comet when Eddie arrives at 18:47.
- (b) 1960 Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe 2-door hardtop, white, parked across the street from Sherwin's apartment.
- (c) 1956 Thunderbird, white, no top, parked across the street from Sherwin's apartment.
- (d) 1959 Buick LeSabre 4-Door HardTop, white roof/med body. Seen as Eddie goes up the steps of Sherwin's building. It might have been scripted as Templeton Courtland's car (Eddy sees Templeton leaving by the front door just as Polly departs; also seen is the street address# "1745").
The views establishing the location as Sherwin's apartment building at 12:20 & 28:17 use exactly the same film footage. The camera is across the street from Sherwin's building pointing across the trunk of Car (b) and the hood of Car (c) towards the front steps and Car (a). When Eddie arrives at 18:47, the Falcon is gone and Polly's Comet is parked in front of the building. Comet and Falcon were made by different Divisions of Ford Motor Co and are mechanically almost the same car but with different bodies. In 1960, their first model-years, they both achieved good sales figures and were changed very little from '60 to '61. Added by Gary Woloski, 1/10/13.
A real-world Automobile Registration form is seen strapped to the steering column of Eddy's Buick as he turns the headlights off at 18:51. The shot is similar to this image. What can be seen is definitely more detailed than the Paisano prop and I bet that the Calafirnia DMV didn't misspell "Convertible". Added by Gary Woloski, 1/10/13.
The final frame of the Closing Credits of this episode has two new features:
- A modernized Westrex Recoding System logo appears. Up to ep#125 it consisted of the edgy Westrex script with "Recording System" underneath. The new logo is as shown at the bottom/left of this 1970 ad (note the address - a block from 1040 N Las Palmas!). The "li" motif to the left of "Westrex" is for Litton Industries, which acquired Westrex in 1958.
- For the first time in the series, an "Automobiles Supplied by..." credit appears. This credit did not automatically appear in every further episode (examples: Ep#s 129 & 131 have no Fords and no credit). Also, Ford didn't gain exclusive appearance rights; in this and many further episodes, the show gives more effective Product Placement to Ford's competitors!
Also see gracep's "Comment" regarding the new music over the closing credits. These changes support a notion that ep#s 124 & 125 were hold-overs from Season 4's filming and that this ep#126 may have been (one of) the first filmed in the Season 5 shooting-season. Added by Gary Woloski, 1/11/13.
SEASON PREMIČRE. CBS advertised this Episode #126 as the Season Premiere (Season 5) in the THE NEW YORK TIMES issue of Saturday, September 30, 1961, page 51. The ad is three columns wide and runs half the length of the page (the bottom half of the three columns is an ad for CBS's GUNSMOKE, 10:00-11:00 PM, "New Season", "now a full hour"). Below a pen-and-ink portrait of a pensive Perry Mason is the text:
NOW IN FIFTH YEAR
PERRY MASON
Raymond Burr, starring as the celebrated lawyer,
begins a new season tonight with a suspense-filled
story of bookmaking and blackmail. It's set in the
cool world of modern jazz and throbs with the beat
of bongo drums. "The Case of the Missing Melody."
7:30-8:30 PM ON CBS
<CBS eye>2
"2" is WCBS Ch2, New York. The NYT daily program listing, also on page 51, is:
- "
7:30-8:30 -- Perry Mason: 'The Case of the Missing Melody,' with Raymond Burr (Season's Premičre) - (2)."
As a check, the Toronto GLOBE AND MAIL listing for Saturday, 30 Sep 61 is:
- "
7:30 4 - Perry Mason (Season debut). Perry investigates a blackmailer's murder."
Channel 4 for Toronto was WBEN TV Buffalo, then a CBS TV affiliate.
I think this leaves little doubt that the two preceding episodes aired in Sep 61 (124 & 125) were "holdbacks" from Season 4 and that this ep#126 was the first-aired of the episodes from the Season 5 production. Added by Gary Woloski, 2/21/13.
+This makes sense since two episodes of the third season were also held back to the following season making the fourth season have only 26 episodes when those 2 episodes are returned to the third season (which only had 26 episodes). Now that two episodes are taken from the 30-episode fifth season, the fourth season has regained 2 episodes and no season has fewer than 28 episodes. Submitted by Wiseguy70005, 3/18/13.
Walter Burke appears in this episode again with Bobby Troup. Previously they were in TCOT Jaded Joker Submitted by HamBurger 10/05/2014
There is a strange line which seems to be cut off. When Templeton Courtland is discussing the previous night with Perry in his office he says "I heard [Polly] accept an invitation to go nightclubbing with Sherwin and ..." It almost sounds as if he said Enid but she wasn't there then. Since he mentions Sherwin and Midge, the only other person with them was David Gideon. Even the closed-captioning doesn't attempt to fill in the blank. Submitted by Wiseguy70005, 1/7/15.
Lorrie Richards' birth year: The current IMDb page for Lorrie Richards (who played 17-year old Midge) gives her birth year as 1921, which would make her about 40 years old at the time of this episode! This would be 18 years before Jo Morrow, who played her older sister, was born. This must be a mistake. Perhaps it should have been 1941. All her acting credits are in 1961-62. Submitted by Wiseguy70005, 1/7/15.
+ Her IMDB page also states that her "stage name" was created by using the first names of her two children, Lorrie and Richard, so I think that 1921 could be correct. Based on that info, it seems like she started her career after raising her two kids. Submitted by mesave31, 01/12/15.
+ You don't have to be 40 to have two kids. Why would they hire a 40-yr old actress to play a part with a specifically-mentioned age of 17? No 20-yr old actresses in Hollywood at the time? Submitted by Wiseguy70005, 1/14/15.
+ According to the current IMDb, this episode was the only PM appearance for both Jo Morrow and Lorrie Richards. According to IMDb, Morrow and Richards were born about a week apart in 1939. Morrow's birthplace is listed as Texas, while Richards' birthplace simply says USA...MikeM. 12/30/2016
+ IMDb update: Jo Morrow was born in Cuerro, Texas; Lorrie Richards in Anaheim, Ca. jfh 19Jan2018.
+ Since IMDb corrected its earlier error, we now know that Lorrie Richards was 22 years old when she played 17 year old Midge. Submitted by catherine yronwode 1/20/2018
Another (minor) Three Stooges connection: In addition to Kenneth MacDonald and Connie Cezon (and a few others) appearing with the Stooges, Jo Morrow acted in the "Doctor Death: Seeker of Souls" movie (1973) which included Moe Howard's final film appearance. Submitted by Wiseguy70005, 1/7/15.
Another phony night scene: The 2:30 am scene outside George Sherwin's apartment building had lots of shadows...from the sun. Submitted by Wiseguy70005, 1/7/15.
This is the only PM appearance for Tony Mafia...MikeM. 9/23/2016
It's also the only appearance for James Drury. A year after this episode, he would begin a (rather Burr-esque) nine-year run as The Virginian. The New York native died just this week. Notcom, 041220.
This is the third of three PM appearances for Grant Richards who, according to Wikipedia, died on 4 July 1963 in Los Angeles, the result of a car accident...MikeM. 12/30/2016
TCOT Curious Coffee Set: Templeton Courtland has possession of the Curious Coffee Set in his mansion at 8:08. Then at 42:20, Della enters Perry's office (from the outer office) with the Space Age metallic carafe, wearing a party dress (!) and serves coffee to everyone from the curious cups. Submitted by catherine yronwode 1/20/2018
TCOT Precarious Pomade: I recognize and respect the many complaints about this episode (in particular the musical ones), but mostly I like it. But in watching for the umpteenth time, I noticed that in the wrap-up, in the chapel after the vows are struck, Perry and David, both loaded with Brylcreem or Vitalis, are standing perilously close to a candelabra trio of flaming candles. I hope the crew was standing by with precautionary CO2. Dutifully reported from New York City, JohnK, 11 May 2022.