Show22
CARS: Cameo: 1955 Chevrolet Nomad, black. From The Cars by Greg Cockerill.
In this show Phil Reese (Woodrow Chambliss), while testifying, is asked to describe the clothes worn by Hamilton Burger. He notes that D.A. Burger is wearing a gold necktie with black stripes. Burger would wear this necktie in several other episodes. Submitted by PaulDrake 33.
In his early scenes at the airport, Reese (Chambliss) speaks in a rather stilted and overly precise fashion, perhaps suggesting that in addition to his photographic memory he has a bit of an Obsessive/Compulsive disorder. It would be interesting to know which scenes weere filmed first and whose idea it was to change his manner of speaking. Submitted by FredK 29 December 2011.
Bad Accent Dept.: Just to add to Fred's comments about Mr. Reese's "accent" in this episode, which not only appears only when he gets to court, but comes and goes at that. A most unconvincing performance. To top it all off, it would be odd indeed to hear a Scottish burr coming from someone named Reese, a proud Welsh family name. Submitted by francis, 5/22/13.
He may have a photographic memory but not sure he is a good mechanic. When he is working on the aircraft, he appears to be tightening something in counter clockwise manner before walking away. Are certain bolts in an airplane left threaded? Of course, all would be torqued using a torque wrench which he was also not using. Submitted by Perry Baby 10/1/17.
According to Wikipedia, Woodrow Chambliss was once a drama exchange student in England....MikeM. 8/8/2016
This episode of Perry Mason (TCOT Fugitive Nurse) is based on an Erle Stanley Gardner novel of the same name. The season nine episode titled TCOT Vanishing Victim (#221, 7.17) is also based on this same ESG novel. So this ninth season episode is often considered to be a "re-make" of TCOT Fugitive Nurse. See here. Submitted by Charles Richmond, 26 April 2013.
Sightings: Distinguished Gentleman #1 appears as court reporter. Posted by daveb, 8/13/10. More info on the Who Is That? page.
+Distinguished Lady #2 is in the back row of the court behind Perry. Submitted by BigBill767, Nov 12,2016.
Uncredited Actors: Lee Miller as a Police Officer. Submitted by BigBill767, Nov 12,2016.
This is the first of six episodes featuring veteran character actor Dabbs Greer, perhaps best known as Rev. Alden on Little House On the Prairie. Among his many roles on TV and in film, Greer appeared in The Dick Van Dyke Show episode entitled “One Angry Man,” portraying a defense attorney named “Mr. Berger” up against a D.A. named “Mr. Mason,” played by Perry Mason alumnus Lee Bergere. (Other Perry Mason actors in the Van Dyke episode include defendant Sue Ane Langdon, judge Howard Wendell, and juror Herb Vigran.) Greer could move effortlessly between dramatic and comic roles, and was a solid performer in all styles. Among the preachers he portrayed were the army chaplain who wedded Rob and Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show, and the minister who united Mike and Carol Brady and thus “created” the Brady Bunch. Submitted by alan_sings, 10/01/2010
+ Many in my generation will know Greer from the very first TV episode of The Adventures of Superman, where he played an airport delivery man carried aloft by an airship mooring line and saved from his earthward plummet by the Man of Steel. Submitted by francis, 6/05/14.
++My favorite role Dabbs Greer played was as the sweet storekeeper Mr. Jonas on Gunsmoke. It's a complete contrast to the many sketchy characters he played on PM. Submitted by JazzBaby, 7/8/2019.
About 1:30 into this episode we see a Fountain in front of an apartment building. The same Fountain appears 1 minute 50 seconds into #37, TCOT Black-eyed Blonde, in front of possibly the same apartment building. The Fountain appears in one other episode but I can’t seem to find it. Can anyone help? Submitted by Eric Cooper, 13 January 11.
+ I checked episode #37 but didn't see the fountain. Did I miss it? There's a picture from this episode here. Submitted by daveb, 2/2/11.
+ While I can't identify the specific other episode(s) they are likely early episodes when the series filmed at Fox Studios on Pico Blvd. The fountain and 'apartment building' are offices on the Fox lot near the music scoring stage and the Tennessee Ave. Gate.Submitted by Phil 5/22/18
In her first appearance on the Perry Mason TV series, Jeanette Nolan played Mrs. Kirby in this episode, “TCOT Fugitive Nurse.” In the last appearance of Jeanette Nolan on Perry Mason, she played Emma Ritter in #253, “TCOT Fugitive Fraulein.” Both episode titles had the word “fugitive” in them. Submitted by Charles Richmond, 31 January 2011.
Diet: Perry smiles while he graciously refuses lunch when speaking with Mrs. Kirby at her Drive-In, and says that he is on a diet...made me smile too, especially knowing about all of his weight issues, and this being only episode #22...then at the end he starts scarfing the food Della brought! ;-> Submitted by mesave31, 04/20/15.
In some notes I made a couple years ago, I find that this was the last episode in which Raymond Burr wore a hat. Does anyone know of a later one? In the books Mason wore a hat (though he hated umbrellas). Evidently Burr hated his prop hat, for though he wore one in a few early episodes, he usually held or carried it before putting it on the bust of Voltaire when he entered the office. Submitted by FredK 7 April 2011.
+ Thank you; I always wondered who that was! The Irony is that I teach my Western Civ. students about Voltaire's commitment to Religious Tolerance: I'm more familiar with his Ideals than his Image! Mike Bedard 4.20.15
++ Conversely, Tragg was Usually Hatted. Mike Bedard 4.20.15
+++ Tragg is better dressed in this episode than in any I can remember.
Submitted by Hamilton Burger for Governor 07/08/2020.
++++ The bust in Perry's office is supposed to be English jurist and judge, Sir William Blackstone, as was written in ESG's novels. But Blackstone busts are harder to find than Voltaire busts, so it may be Voltaire. There is a bust of Blackstone (supposedly) at the William and Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia. You can find the image online...MikeM. 5/21/2018
Syndication cuts: Dave Kirby opening the safe, his conversation with Mrs. Kirby and opening the sales tax box; scene with Janet, Gladys and Dave, Janet asking Gladys to give up her husband and Gladys asking Janet to give him a divorce; Tragg informing Mrs. Kirby of her husband's death and showing her the medallion; Mason telling Della he may ask for a continuance. Additional Hallmark cuts: Scene with Tragg and Reese at the airport; Burger's examination of Tragg on the stand; Burger's statement that Mason was going to bring Dr. Morris to California and he would have qualified to testify for the defense but objects to his testifying for the defense; Mason asking the Nurse if she was familiar with the apartment Dr. Morris rented and the argument of whether it was under an assumed name. Submitted by Wiseguy70005, 7/15/12.
Recycled newspaper: The copy of the L.A. Chronicle Della had while waiting in Perry's office came from episode 8 TCOT Crimson Kiss. Submitted by H. Mason 9/28/14
Thug In Training: Appearing in this episode under the name Anthony Lettier, as Arthur Strome, the brother of the eponymous nurse, is a young Al Lettieri. He went on to play many evil men on the screen, the most sinister of which was Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo in The Godfather -- the bad guy's bad guy. JohnK. 1 October 2015
+ According to Wikipedia, Al Lettieri may have had a connection to mobsters through an in-law. Lettieri passed of a heart attack at the age of 47, per his Wiki...MikeM. 8/8/2016
++ While Virgil 'The Turk' Sollozzo was a dope peddling gangster in "The Godfather", and was his most prominent role, it was not Al Lettieri's most sinister role. He portrayed a sociopathic, remorseless hitman in "Mr. Majestyk", and a double crossing bank robber in "The Getaway." Submitted by Chief Kurtz 5 March 2024
Information? At approximately 44:15, when Della uses the pay phone outside the courtroom to call Directory Assistance, the number she dials is 113. Submitted by Dan K, 8/9/16.
+ This is true in other episodes as well. Apparently 113 was used for Directory Assistance in some areas (including Los Angeles) before these areas switched to 411. More info at 4-1-1 – Wikipedia. Added by Dan K, 12/13/16.
+Early on, Mrs. Morris is packing when Tragg visits and advises her to get a good lawyer. She also dials 1-1-3 asking for Mason's number. Of course, Tragg supplies it off the top of his head. Jared 25May2021
Real Life Pitkin Comment has been offered previously on ESG's fondness for implausible names created by combining (what are normally) two surnames; one would have to think he smiled at seeing the (apparently actual) name of the lead actor here...Sheppard Strudwick. Observed by Notcom, 081016.
+For a period of time in the early 1940s, Sheppard Strudwick changed his acting name to John Shepperd (a la "TCOT Gilded Lily's" Binney Denham (novel)/Arthur Binney (episode) moniker makeover). He later decided to embrace his inner Pitkin and went back to Sheppard Strudwick.
Submitted by BobH, 22 October 2016.
Trope in Training This is the first example of what would become a PM staple: he/she isn't really dead, where a person would use someone else' death (or in one case a simulated death) to drop out of site. Planes, cars, a train and a ship would all be utilized as venues for these shenanigans (and I suspect if Perry had been more well traveled a Venetian gondola and a rocketship eventually would have been as well) Observed by Notcom, 090117.
This is the first of two PM appearances for Maxine Cooper, who made her film debut in 1955 playing the secretary of detective Mike Hammer in Robert Aldrich's "Kiss Me Deadly"...MikeM. 5/21/2018
This is the first of three PM appearances for actress and writer Bethel Leslie. Her father was an attorney and her mother was a reporter. Bethel Leslie worked until her death in 1999 at the age of 70...MikeM. 5/21/2018
George Davis, playing Frederick the cook, appeared in more than 260 films according to Wiki, including "In A Lonely Place", the famous film noir starring Humphrey Bogart and also featuring frequent Mason judge Morris Ankrum. Joe B. 06/10/20
Coffee with a Kick: Once again, someone is undone by a warm beverage delivered by a loved one. JohnK, 20 June 2021
In Perry's office, Perry pronounces Gladys Strome's name with a long-o sound, while Drake pronounces in with a short-o sound. Later in the courtroom Drake says it with a long-o sound. Wiseguy 70005, 2/26/24.
MRS. KIRBY discusses D.A. BURGER while... fixing burgers. Wiseguy70005, 2/26/24.
DVD Closed-Captioning discrepancy: When Mason asks Dr. Morris if he'll return to Los Angeles to testify for Janet he says "I will not" while the closed-captioning displays "Certainly not." Wiseguy70005, 2/26/24.