If there’s a case to be defended, then you want Perry Mason on your team!
Perry Mason is one of the most popular American TV shows of all time and remains a staple
of courtroom dramas and legal thriller shows.
But even a show like Perry Mason had its faults – in fact, not only did it have its faults,
it also had its bloopers.
While bloopers can be edited here and there, many scenes weren’t edited and if you look
just a bit closer, you’ll notice the bloopers.
When Perry Mason aired, there were no video recording systems so audiences could have
missed it.
Now you can stream the show, pause, and look in awe at the bloopers that even Perry himself
missed out on!
Join FactsVerse to see some of the most popular Perry Mason blooper scenes you may have missed…
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IS THIS NEWSWORTHY?
Many of the plots in Perry Mason included showing a newspaper article that pertained
to the case.
But if you look a little bit closer in some episodes, the text of the newspaper article
had quite a few errors.
For example, in the episode “The Case of the Haunted Husband” the story revolves
around a truck driver who was hit by a car.
But if you look at the newspaper in the episode, it states that a soldier was hit by a car!
Perhaps the scriptwriters should have had a chat with the journalists!
But this isn’t the only newspaper error from the show.
There was one episode where we can visibly see a newspaper but it was completely blank!
One can only guess that there was truly nothing newsworthy that particular day!
WHERE’D THE BLOW GO?
There was one episode called “The Case of the Crooked Candle” in which a man is murdered
due to a massive blow on the head.
But when his body is examined, we don’t see a single blow on his bald head.
One can only imagine the blow was blown away!
This is something that wouldn’t fly in a TV show today.
But we must remember that when Perry Mason aired, reruns were rare and video recording
technology hadn’t been invented.
The average viewer simply wouldn’t notice and if they did, they wouldn’t have a platform
like the one you’re watching right now to raise the issue.
So, these types of bloopers continued and they didn’t spoil the show.
But, as we mentioned, it simply wouldn’t fly today.
And speaking of things that fly…
THAT’S A NERVOUS FLY
There’s a fantastic episode of Perry Mason called “The Case of the Nervous Accomplice.”
But who is this mysterious nervous accomplice?
There’s one scene when Perry and Della are discussing the case.
As they do, a fly shows up on the screen for a few seconds.
This is because a fly got stuck in the camera lens!
Because this was obviously shot on film, it’s not something that could be easily or cheaply
re-shot.
Perhaps that fly was the real nervous accomplice!
LIEUTENANT TRAGG DECIDED TO STAY AFTER ALL
In the episode “The Case of the Married Moonlighter,” there’s a tense scene in
a courtroom – as there were in many Perry Mason episodes.
In that scene, Lt. Tragg states that he must leave the courtroom immediately for an urgent
matter.
He takes the stand, gives his testimony, and then hurries out of the courtroom.
However, if you look closely, he actually remains seated throughout the entire scene
– he doesn’t actually leave the courtroom.
He continues to sit there during the entire court session.
Perhaps the urgency was to get back to his seat!
ALWAYS CARRY YOUR RUNNING SHOES
One of the most pleasantly named episodes is the episode “The Case of the Negligent
Nymph.”
In this episode, we see a woman arrive at a house wearing high heels.
As she gets closer, it seems that her presence is noticed.
A man and his dog begin chasing her.
Luckily, despite the fact that she’s wearing high heels, she manages to get away.
That’s because, all of a sudden, she’s not wearing high heels!
When she starts running you can see that she’s clearly wearing flats.
A smart decision on the lady’s part no doubt.
But how the heck did she change from high heels to flats so quickly?
And wouldn’t have it been wiser to bring a pair of sneakers instead?
TAKE A SEAT…OR TWO!!
In the episode, “The Case of the Crying Comedian,” there’s a character who is
sitting at a bar.
However, in the next frame, we see her sitting at a table.
Then, without a moment’s notice, we see her in another frame sitting at the bar again!
I guess she couldn’t decide which was the better seat!
DOES PERRY KNOW HIS GRAMMAR?
Lawyers have a great reputation for being well-spoken and having an aptitude for rhetoric.
They use the English language to convince the jury of their client’s innocence.
Such marvels of the English language are scene in episode after episode of Perry Mason.
However, even Perry Mason made a huge grammatical blunder in many episodes of the show.
He often uses the word infer or a variation of the word when he should be using the word
‘imply.’
This is because implying is what someone says and inferring is what someone does after listening.
Still, his skills in the courtroom ain’t bad!
Now let’s look at a few fascinating trivia tidbits about Perry Mason.
PERRY MASON TRIVIA
Perry Mason came to life when Raymond Burr was cast.
The character already existed from the original novels but once Raymond Burr was cast in the
show it was hard to imagine anyone else but him in the role.
In fact, fans stopped seeing him as Raymond Burr and only saw him as Perry Mason.
In fact, there was one incident when Raymond Burr was walking on the street when an elderly
lady stopped him.
The lady stopped him and asked him how come he always won his cases.
Raymond Burr laughed and stated that it was because the lady only watched the cases that
would be aired over the weekend!
Oddly enough, Raymond Burr actually wanted to play the character of Hamilton Burger.
But it was decided that he was the right man to play Perry Mason.
This was a wise choice as this was the role that made him a star!
In fact, actor William Hopper had auditioned for the role and was about to become Perry
Mason.
But after Raymond Burr auditioned and was chosen, William Hopper was cast as Paul Drake
instead.
Ray Collins played Lt. Traggs on the show.
He sadly had to leave the show early due to health issues.
However, out of respect, his name continued to be mentioned in the credit of the show
until he died.
One reason why his name was always mentioned in the credits was so that his union would
send him money for medical care.
The entertainment industry has always had a moral streak at one point or the other and
has often pushed aside entertainers who didn’t match up to the moral code of the day.
This was the case with actor William Talman.
He had attended a party that was raided by the police.
There’s not a lot of detail as to what happened at this party but its safe to say, it wasn’t
family-friendly!
This was enough to tarnish his reputation and got him fired from the show.
Sadly, he didn’t receive a lot of acting work for the rest of his career.
If you watch the show closely, you’ll see that very few episodes are a trial with a
jury.
Most of the cases were a preliminary hearing.
This is because a trial would require hiring 12 more actors to play jurors.
Smart thinking on the accountant’s behalf perhaps?
It’s interesting to note that in many of the episodes, the witnesses never swear upon
the Bible as was the norm and still is in many courtrooms.
The phrase “so help me God” is never uttered in many places in the show.
This might not be interesting but it must have caused some controversy in the more traditional
era that the show was made in.
Every single episode of Perry Mason had the words ‘The Case of’ in the title.
Normally, ‘the case of the…’ was the title of the episode.
There were only 3 episodes that didn’t have this extra ‘the.’
But the scriptwriters always wanted to stay consistent with “the case of” theme to
add intrigue to the show.
This consistency isn’t something we see with modern shows and might even seem lazy
by today’s standards.
But actually, this tells you directly what each episode is about and draws you in.
Perry Mason had it’s bloopers here and there but at the end of the day, even if you notice
them today, it doesn’t detract from the classic show that it is.
The show ran for 271 episodes and became an American institution.
Both the novels and the show remain popular to this day and they’ve inspired a new remake
which has gained some popularity.
While some purists will always prefer the original version, others will be open to the
remake of Perry Mason.
All we can hope for, is that we won’t see a nervous fly show up on the camera lens.
And will we see some jury trials?
If they can’t hire 12 actors – surely AI can do the trick?
Are you a fan of Perry Mason?
Did you know about these bloopers and have they affected how you view the show or your
favorite episodes?
In fact, here’s what we’d like to hear from you:
Do you think that Perry Mason still holds up as one of the best legal dramas to this
day?
Or has it now become dated and doesn’t stand up to the test of time?