Perry Mason (1957 TV series)

American legal drama (1957–1966)

Perry Mason is an American legal drama series originally broadcast on CBS television from September 21, 1957, to May 22, 1966. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner. Many episodes are based on stories written by Gardner. Perry Mason was one of Hollywood's first weekly one hour series filmed for television, and remains one of the longest running and most successful legal themed television series. During its first season, it received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Dramatic Series, and it became one of the five most popular shows on television. Burr received two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, and Barbara Hale received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal of Mason's confidential secretary Della Street. Perry Mason and Burr were honored as Favorite Series and Favorite Male Performer in the first two TV Guide Award readers' polls. In 1960, the series received the first Silver Gavel Award presented for television drama by the American Bar Association. Perry Mason has aired in syndication in the United States and internationally ever since its cancellation, and the complete series has been released on Region 1 DVD. A 2014 study found that Netflix users rate Raymond Burr as their favorite actor, with Barbara Hale number seven on the list. The New Perry Mason, a 1973 revival of the series with a different cast, was poorly received and ran for 15 episodes. In 1985, Burr returned to play Mason in a successful series of Perry Mason television films airing on NBC. A total of 30 films were made; Burr starred in 26 of them before his death in 1993. Another series focusing on Perry Mason's origin story began airing in 2020 on HBO, with Matthew Rhys in the title role.

Perry Mason is a distinguished criminal defense lawyer practicing in Los Angeles, California, most of whose clients have been wrongly charged with murder. He is ably assisted by his confidential secretary Della Street and by private investigator Paul Drake. The innocent suspect is usually prosecuted by district attorney Hamilton Burger, though the prosecution is handled by a local district attorney when the murder takes place outside Los Angeles County. In the early seasons, the police investigation is usually led by the homicide detective Lt. Arthur Tragg. (Later, other homicide detectives appear with increasing frequency.) In a typical episode, the first half of the show introduces a client, who often hires Mason on non murder related business, or becomes acquainted with him in some other way. The prospective murder victim and other important figures in the case are introduced, and then the client finds himself or herself wrongly accused of murder. Once the crime has been committed, while Tragg and Burger work to gather evidence against Mason's innocent client, Mason, Paul Drake and Della Street engage in a parallel investigation in order to exonerate him or her. In the second half, Mason and Burger spar in the courtroom. This usually takes place during the preliminary hearing because Mason's technique is to clear a client before they are bound over for trial (based on novels). Jury trials are rarely seen, with "The Case of the Terrified Typist" being an exception. As the courtroom proceedings advance, while Burger and Tragg often uncover new evidence or a new witness that would seem to seal the fate of the accused, Mason's team continue their parallel investigation in what seems to be an increasingly hopeless effort. As the investigation or examination progresses, Mason and sometimes Burger uncover the morally ugly or even illegal conduct of some of the witnesses or participants, thus complicating the moral and legal intrigue of the case. Eventually, some detail is uncovered, a different interpretation of the evidence is found, or a remark is made inside or outside the courtroom which gives Mason the clue he needs to discover the identity of the real murderer. (For example, in "The Case of the Lazy Lover", the prosecution's case relies on a complicated set of footprints left at the crime scene. Mason notices that the prints left by a neighbor's dog were inconsistent with Burger's interpretation, leading Mason to realize that the neighbor's testimony was contrary to the truth.) Armed with this new insight, Mason then usually embarks upon a line of questioning that reveals the surprise perpetrator, often causing them to break down and confess to the crime in the courtroom. In the closing scene or epilogue, Paul and Della, and sometimes Burger and Tragg, ask Mason what gave him the clue he needed; after Mason explains, he or someone else makes a humorous remark.

Erle Stanley Gardner had already allowed his Perry Mason character to be portrayed in other media. A series of Warner Bros. feature films was produced between 1933 and 1937, starring Warren William in four and Ricardo Cortez and Donald Woods in one each. A seventh Warner adaptation, based on Gardner's novel The Case of the Dangerous Dowager, was filmed in 1940 as Granny Get Your Gun, with the Mason character written out of the story entirely. A radio series followed, which Gardner despised because it emphasized romance over legal matters. The radio series, without the Mason character, would be adapted for television as the long running crime soap opera The Edge of Night. After the film and radio ventures, Gardner refused to license his popular character Perry Mason for any more adaptations. His literary agent was advertising executive Thomas Cornwell Jackson, who had married actress Gail Patrick in 1947. She had studied law before she went to Hollywood "for a lark" and appeared in more than 60 feature films including My Man Godfrey (1936), Stage Door (1937), and My Favorite Wife (1940). She stopped acting in 1948, started a family, and began to talk to Gardner about adapting the Perry Mason stories for a television series. "We kept talking about what kind of a series he'd want and how much creative control he needed," Gail Patrick told journalist James Bawden in 1979. "I just think he came to trust me and I'd kept up my contacts in show business." When she first tried to sell Perry Mason to CBS, the network wanted it to be a live hour long weekly program. "That would have been impossible—it would have killed the actor playing Perry," Patrick said. "And I Love Lucy had taught the value of filmed reruns." Paisano Productions absorbed the costs for a filmed pilot. and own a 60% interest in the films. Perry Mason was one of Hollywood's first hour long weekly series filmed for television. Gail Patrick Jackson was its executive producer.

Gail Patrick Jackson was immersed in auditions throughout 1956. In mid June, Hopper reported that the Jacksons had left on their annual trip, after stating that Perry Mason would not be ready for TV that fall. The role of Perry Mason proved the hardest to cast. Richard Carlson, Mike Connors, Richard Egan, and William Holden were considered; Patrick saw hundreds of actors audition in April 1956. "We couldn't afford a big star," Patrick later said. Raymond Burr initially read for the role of district attorney Hamilton Burger, with Tod Andrews standing in as Mason. Burr was more interested in the Perry Mason role and told associate producer Sam White, "If you don't like me as Perry Mason, then I'll go along and play the part of the district attorney, Hamilton Burger." Patrick had been impressed with Burr's courtroom performance in the 1951 film A Place in the Sun, and told him he was perfect for the title role in Perry Mason, but at least 60 pounds overweight. Over the next month, Burr went on a crash diet. When he returned, he tested as Perry Mason. Burr's tryout performance as Mason was a triumph, according to White: "He was so great that everybody looked at each other and said, 'What do we do now? This guy is far superior. He'll give this thing a dimension that Zimbalist could never give it.'" By July 1956, word was out that Burr had the role, and an announcement was made at the beginning of August. William Hopper also auditioned as Mason,efn|Hopper's audition as Perry Mason, along with Burr's auditions for Burger and Mason, were included as special features on disc four of the 2008 "50th Anniversary Edition" Perry Mason DVD set. but was cast as private detective Paul Drake. Patrick recalled, "When Bill Hopper came in to read for Paul Drake he blurted out, 'You hate my mother.' And that was Hedda Hopper. Well, I disliked what she stood for, but 'hate' is something else—and anyway he was perfect as Drake, and we got him." "Many were people I'd worked with in movies," said Gail Patrick Jackson. "They were grateful and delivered on time—and powerfully. Gloria Henry, Vaughn Taylor, Hillary Brooke, John Archer, Morris Ankrum, Don Beddoe, Fay Wray, Olive Blakeney, Paul Fix, Addison Richards. We also had newcomers like Darryl Hickman, Barbara Eden. The trick was to only use them once a year. People like Fay Wray came back several times, but as other characters." Character actor George E. Stone make up artist Mel Berns, cinematographer Frank Redman, editor Richard Cahoon and sound mixer Harry M. Leonard. All but one of the episodes in the series were filmed in black and white. The episode "The Case of the Twice Told Twist", an episode heavily influenced by Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist, was the sole exception. The president of CBS, William Paley, commissioned the color episode so he could see what the show would look like in color, should it be renewed for a 10th season (the season most prime time shows went color).

Perry Mason is set in Los Angeles; interior scenes were filmed on the 20th Century Fox Western Avenue studio lot, and most exteriors were filmed at Fox Studios in Westwood, California, or the Movie Ranch in Malibu Canyon. In the early years of the series, filming would be done on location in and around Culver City and a few downtown locales. In one episode, Drake gets out of a car on Wilshire Boulevard and goes into an apartment building; in the distant background, the lights and cameras from the set filming an episode of Peter Gunn are visible. Numerous establishing shots are used, including the iconic Civic Center, Los Angeles, the Hall of Justice building and the Los Angeles County Court House which is now the Stanley Mosk Courthouse. All of these buildings are still standing. Mason's offices are in the Brent Building, Suite 904, phone MAdison 5–1190. In Season 8 the number for the office is 272 2199. Although the Brent Building is fictional, the series used the entrance and exterior of the former Superior Oil Company Building,efn|The first time this Brent Building location is seen is in "The Case of the Sulky Girl" (Season 1, Episode 5); earlier episodes used a set. a modern structure in downtown Los Angeles completed in 1956. The building was registered in 2003 as a historical landmark and is now a hotel
Scattered throughout the run were episodes that would take place beyond Burger's jurisdiction as Los Angeles County District Attorney. In 1960, when William Talman, who played Hamilton Burger, was suspended for allegedly violating the morals clause in his contract, several assistant prosecutors were seen in court. Talman had attended a party at which he was charged with having engaged in indecent activities. The charges were later dropped, and largely through the efforts of Burr, Jackson and Gardner, along with audience requests, Talman was reinstated. Composer Fred Steiner set out to write a theme that would project the two primary aspects of Mason's character—sophistication and toughness. "The piece he came up with, titled "Park Avenue Beat", pulsed with the power of the big city and the swagger of a beefy hero played to perfection by actor Raymond Burr," wrote the Los Angeles Times. Described by Steiner as "a piece of symphonic R&B", the Perry Mason theme heard at the opening and end credits became the composer's best known work. Much of the incidental music was drawn from the CBS TV Music Library. This included music by Bernard Herrmann, who went uncredited since the cues were stock music that was edited into the score. Herrmann's music has been identified in the following episodes: "The Case of the Restless Redhead", "The Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece", "The Case of the Nervous Accomplice", The Case of the Drowning Duck", "The Case of the Calendar Girl", and "The Case of the Mythical Monkeys".

Perry Mason aired on CBS from September 21, 1957, to May 22, 1966. Saturday at 7:30 p. m. ET September 21, 1957 – May 26, 1962 (Seasons 1–5)
Thursday at 8 p. m. ET September 27, 1962 – May 16, 1963 (Season 6)
Thursday at 9 p. m. ET September 26, 1963 – May 21, 1964 (Season 7)
Thursday at 8 p. m. ET September 24, 1964 – May 13, 1965 (Season 8)
Sunday at 9 p. m. ET September 12, 1965 – May 22, 1966 (Season 9)

At the time of its cancellation, Perry Mason was or had been airing in 58 countries, subtitled in ten languages and dubbed in ten more. The series was distributed by CBS Films, then Viacom Enterprises, Paramount Domestic Television and CBS Paramount Domestic Television, CBS Television Distribution, and now by CBS Media Ventures. CBS posted full 60 minute episodes on its website from the first and second seasons for viewing. Prime Video streams episodes on its website from seasons 1 9 for viewing.

A 2014 article in The Atlantic that examined how Netflix categorized nearly 77,000 different personalized genres found that Perry Mason star Raymond Burr was rated as the favorite actor by Netflix users. Barbara Hale was rated seventh. Christian I. Nyby II, the director of many of the television movies, and his father Christian Nyby, who directed many episodes of the TV series, led the list of directors. Todd Yellin, vice president of product innovation for Netflix and the person who designed the system, was at a loss to explain what journalist Alexis Madrigal called "this weird Perry Mason thing".

"Perry Mason was television's most successful and longest running lawyer series," wrote TV historian Tim Brooks. "It remains, I think, the best detective series ever made for television," wrote film historian Jon Tuska. "The definitive portrayal, of course, was by former screen heavy Raymond Burr on the CBS series (1957–1966) in scripts faithfully based on Gardner's novels", wrote mystery writer Max Allan Collins.

In Region 2, Paramount Home Entertainment has released the first three seasons in complete sets on DVD in the UK.