Perry Mason
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Perry Mason and Me, Part II
Returning to the series as an adult It wasn’t until the start of 2022 that I returned to the Perry Mason television show. A good friend who loved the show kept telling me how entertaining it was, and how clever and compelling the mysteries were. I decided to watch a few episodes on Paramount + with my wife and see how it stacked up to my childhood memories. I was in for a shock. My childhood memories of a grim, implacable Perry Mason, were at odds with the good-hearted, jovial attorney, who was serious and implacable when his client’s fate was on the line, but enjoyed teasing private detective Paul…
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Feeding My Mystery Muse
After returning from a visit with a friend yesterday, I watched two more classic Perry Mason episodes, and marveled again at the storytelling and dialogue, and the skilled way a mystery was laid out and solved in under an hour. The series is very much a product of its time, and yet feels fresh and modern in many ways. Good conflict is timeless, and Perry’s never-ending quest to help those in need is as relevant today as it was in the 1950s and 1960s. I’m also reading James Scott Bell’s entertaining “Neo-Pulp” mystery collection, Trouble is My Beat, featuring pulp writer and Hollywood studio troubleshooter Bill Armbrewster. It’s a cracking…
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Not Perry Mason
I grew up watching the classic Perry Mason television, starring Raymond Burr and a host of talented character actors. For many years, it ran at lunch time on our local independent station, Channel 12. My mother was a huge fan. I was young enough that, while I appreciated the peril the accused seemed to be in, I didn’t really understand the storylines all that well. Fast forward to last year and LeAnn and I decided to start watching it on Paramount+. We were both hooked right from the start. So much so that I picked up the complete set on DVD, since it includes two seasons and several other episodes…