Show171
Location: The Laff in the Dark ride featured in this episode was at the Long Beach Pike. The “airport protest” scene was staged outside the lobby of the Long Beach Arena, a few blocks from the Pike. Show pictures here. Submitted by D. A Supernaw, 6/21/2005.
+ If you listen carefully, you'll notice they even try to enhance this illusion aurally by dubbing in jet sounds !! (Unfortunately the effort crashes and burns just a few second later, when the arriving parties transfer to cars, and downtown Long Beach is seen in the background... just a block away.) Restored by Notcom, 052517
Goof: When Elihu meets a former agent, the latter repeatedly mentions the Tunnel of Love as the ride in which a certain transaction will take place. However, it is not the Tunnel of Love but rather Laff in the Dark (see above), which is more of a light horror show, not at all romantic. Submitted by gracep, 1/27/2011.
+ Speaking of goofs, when Hugh O'Brian's character is explaining the short circuit with the crowbar, he fails to mention that the crowbar would need to be removed before the fuse is replaced, otherwise there would be another blown fuse! Submitted by Ham Burger, July 14, 2019
Uncredited Actors: At the airport, Don Anderson appears momentarily as a uniformed cop standing behind Lt. Tragg. Bert Stevens is one of Schreck’s (Charles H. Radilac’s) bodyguards, clearly visible as they are leaving the terminal and later as Schreck boards the Laff in the Dark. (He could, however, be a plainclothesman.) And Sgt. Brice (Lee Miller) is among the plainclothes contingent escorting Schreck. Submitted by gracep, 1/27/2011.
+ Anderson also appears very briefly as one of the line of officers providing security at the amusement park. Submitted by FredK, 27 January 2011.
+ And another gallery appearance for the fellow I am convinced is Leonard Nimoy's brother, Melvin. JohnK, 10 January 2018
+ From Melvin Nimoy i know nothing, but i am convinced there is shared DNA there. That hairline! Submitted by catyron, 05/05/18.
Sightings: Several favorite frequent faces turn up for this hearing of international import: “Miss Carmody”, Pencil Mustache Man, Distinguished Gentleman #1, and the Little Old Lady in a Hat. Read more about why we are spotting these people here. Submitted by gracep, 1/27/2011.
+ Continuity Error: At times, those last two spectators magically teleport from one side of the courtroom to the other, from one cut to the next. Submitted by gracep, 1/27/2011.
In the Sightings Department: When Elihu Laban and his Contact enter the darkened "workroom" in the Laff in the Dark ride, there's a crate in the middle of the floor with a spotlight trained on it (12:36). Hey! It's one of the crates from the Claver Collection! Elihu's Contact turns the overhead light on and moves the (now empty) crate to gain access to the trap door. Referring to the linked "Extras/Show127" page, it's the exact-same crate as the one:
- in the Bottom Right Corner of the first image (from ep#118) and
- to the Right of Della's Right Elbow in the last image (from ep#127).
In addition to the original Ep#118, these things have now turned up in Ep#s 127, 152, 166 and this Ep#171. Added by Gary Woloski, 8/15/13.
Location: The porch of a house with the address of 1432 is used for scenes at the Laban residence as well as a scene in #218, TCOT Bullied Bowler. I don’t know what street this was but the 1400 block would be just a few blocks north of the studio in Hollywood. Submitted by Eric Cooper, 28 April 2011.
+ It also serves as Floyd Grant’s house in #167 TCOT Bluffing Blast. Submitted by gracenote, 7/25/2011.
“Didn’t Papa Bear want to see Disneyland?” asks Anderson. He’s referring to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, who visited the US in September 1959. He was supposed to visit Disneyland, but because of security reasons, it was skipped. Submitted by gracenote, 7/25/2011.
Nice try by the producers to insert the recuperating Mason into this episode: His scene “together” with O’Brien’s character was shot separately. Note the different lighting and the fact that they never appear in the same shot. Submitted by Francis, 12/11/2011.
+ Raymond Burr's hair is significantly shorter than usual and seems greyer in this episode than usual. Perhaps someone else, not Annabelle, did his hair while he was away. Submitted by catyro, 05/05/18
Also, if that is Perry’s apartment, it is very different from previous episodes, most noticeably that florid wallpaper. DOD 01/08/21
Robert F. Simon and Werner Klemperer both appeared in episode #27, 1958's TCOT Desperate Daughter. Submitted by Wiseguy70005, 6/25/12.
Who's Who in News? The Cast List contains two Reporters and a "Commentator":
- "Commentator" (opening scene), played by William Woodson, does the newscast from Volney's funeral in Europe. In his four other PM appearances Woodson plays medical men. (+ he adds BIG VOICE narration to It Came From Beneath the Sea, on the Svengoolie rotation as of March 2019.)
In front of Laban's house, shortly following the opening funeral scene:
- "T.V. Reporter", played by Henry Travis, is the TV reporter holding the microphone (it looks like the same microphone as "Commentator" had in Europe!). He asks the first question when Laban comes out on his porch. I could find only one image of Henry online: here he is as "Colonel Frogley" in The Brain From Planet Arous (on youtube, 1:11:04). He looks much better in this episode than he did in The Brain! Henry Travis also appears in ep#s 183 & 222.
- "Reporter No. 2", played by Walter Mathews, is the second of the reporters to ask Laban a question. Mathews makes five more credited appearances in Perry Mason, mostly as newsmen. You may remember him from later years giving you advice about oil filters.
Their voices impressed me and I wanted to know who was who. Added by Gary Woloski, 8/27/13.
+William Woodson was the Narrator for "The Winds of War" & "War and Remembrance" mini-series. Mike Bedard 2.5.15.
CARS. The car identifications are somewhat uncertain because, other than for the two '63 Ford taxis, the camera did not catch much sharp, identifiable detail on the vehicles in this episode.
- (1) A light-color 1963 Ford Galaxie 4-Door Sedan SUNSHINE Taxi, Lic No YLH 025 (yellow-plate, numerals indistinct). Following the opening newscast from Europe, the taxi takes Zenas from the "airport" to Laban's house. Zenas also makes two more trips in it later. The taxi's apparently blacked-out high-beam headlights indicate that this car probably left the factory as a police special, see Comments section. Rates painted on the front door are the same as previously seen in the series: "25¢ first ⅕ mile, 5¢ each additional ⅕ mile".
- (2) A KNXT remote broadcast unit is stationed at Laban's house when Zenas arrives at 1:43. Watch the background as Zenas exits the taxi and read "KNXT CHANNEL 2" on the van's side. It's a special-purpose Step Van similar to this with an opened cable bay in the rear, like this. The TV industry calls this an Outside Broadcast or OB Van. The TV camera on Laban's front lawn is also marked "KNXT", like the camera pictured here at the CBS Television City ribbon cutting, 15 Nov 1952. More on KNXT in Comments section, below.
- (3) Rear view of a light-color 1962 Mercury Meteor 4-Door Sedan approaching the amusement park at 11:00. It might be Laban's car but, if so, why are there two people in it? In the next shot Laban is walking to Laff in the Dark alone. It could be a '63 Meteor but it's more likely to be the same '62 Meteor that appeared in ep#s 169 &170.
- (4) A black 1962 Cadillac Fleetwood Series Seventy-Five Limousine or Sedan waits for Franz Schreck in front of the "airport" (14:36). A security escort, (5) (6) (7), is waiting with it:
- (5), (6) Two Motorcycle Police with their 1958 or later Harley Davidson Duo-Glide police bikes are in front of the limo, and
- (7) An indeterminate large, black, US-made luxury sedan that looks most like a 1963 Buick Sedan is behind Schreck's limo (problem: Buick's 3 or 4 venti-ports seem to be invisible). The car's shape is also right for a '63 Oldsmobile but the front bumper looks wrong.
- (8) Paul & Della are tailing Zenas in Paul's black 1962 Thunderbird Convertible (top down) at 40:42. Not enough of the car is shown to distinguish it from a '61 or '63 TBird so I rely on series context for the year identification (eg, Paul's TBird in ep#174 is indubitably 1962).
Background Cars. The other light-colored taxi that appears in the background at least once is also a 1963 Ford Galaxie 4-Door Sedan. An inter-city bus of unidentified make/model/year/livery is the backdrop to Schreck standing by his limousine at 14:38. Added by Gary Woloski, 8/30/13.
The TELEVISION CAMERA deployed by the KNXT NEWS mobile unit is almost certainly† an RCA TK-30 or, alternately, a TK-10 or TK-30A. The TK-10 and TK-30 were both introduced into service in 1946 and were virtually identical in external appearance. The TK-30 was the field version of the TK-10 but was also used in studio. These cameras were used until at least 1964, as confirmed at eyesofageneration.com (scroll down to "CBS Section", look for Jackie Gleason). Also look for CBS network president "paint em grey" Frank Stanton who ordered that RCA insignia be removed from CBS cameras and that they all be painted a uniform grey. Photos of a surviving example here. Added by Gary Woloski, 8/26/13.
† ID is based on comparison of the episode video with online images. I have no qualification or personal experience in vintage TV cameras! I have, however, consulted more sources than just those used here as links and found them all to be 100% mutually supporting with no contradictions. GSW
Goof: Schreck was supposed to enter the amusement park at noon; but by the shadows seen at 14:54, it must be sunrise. It just dawned on me that they must have filmed the amusement park scenes early in the day, before the park opened to the public. --submitted by 10yearoldfan, 15 November 2013.
Hugh O'Brian: Was the star of the ABC television show The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. Original episodes were broadcast for six seasons from 1955 to 1961. Submitted by H. Mason 1/17/15
Interesting that Hugh O'Brien's Bruce Jason has to explain the meaning of the word doppelganger to Werner Klemperer's character when the actor was born in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s.
+ I know. That was DUMB. Submitted by catyron 01/05/18
++ Actually, Klemperer was playing a Balkan national, who may have had no familiarity with the German language, so it actually can make sense. OLEF641 5/25/21
Kenneth MacDonald's 32 appearances as a PM judge started in 1957 with S1 E2 and ended in 1966 with S9 E30, when MacDonald was Judge #1 and ESG was uncredited as Judge #2...MikeM. 3/23/2018
This episode may hold the record for the most actors with multiple Perry Mason appearances. In the first scene on the yacht with 6 actors, one actor had 2 appearances, 2 actors had 3 appearances, one had 6 appearances and two had 7 appearances! And that is not counting Werner Klempler who appeared 3 times.