This was a humdinger, chiefly because of Stu Erwin's portrayal of Clem P. "Sandy" Sandover. He was a mild-mannered accountant who'd been systematically embezzling from his employers during his 20-year tenure with the firm. He had tucked away over $200,000 and was making his get-away when events intervened.
We missed the first few minutes of the show because the news channel we were listening to doesn't wrap up their broadcast at 10:30. What's with this rambling on? LohMan noticed it was 10:38 so we switched over to MeTV. Here are a couple of lines from the Livedash transcript that I would have enjoyed hearing for myself. From the tone this had to be an exchange from a flamboyant company officer and Lita Krail (victim-to-be). (Livedash doesn't identify speakers, just gives time and dialogue. I am guessing here as to who said what.)
Lita: Sandover, whose dumpy little wife used to be Mr. Devro's boss lady.
Mr. Banks: Sandover?
Lita: He's been with us almost twenty years. Sellers says he's the only man in the company who's never had an expense-account trip.
Mr. Banks: You're the number one sparkplug now, so spin the wheels, roll 'em down the runway.
Lita: Your necktie is crooked, Mr. Banks.
A guy is on the shoulder working on his truck, which is loaded with strawberries that he was taking to market. He broke down just across from the house that was Paul Drake’s destination.
PD: Having trouble?
Guy: Oh, no, I do this for exercise. It helps my strawberries get ripe.
Perry Mason was an old friend of Beth Sandover, wife of the embezzler. The part of Beth was played by Virginia Christine (Mrs. Olson from Folger's). In no way does she seem like a "Beth."
Beth had been an important employee in the firm but had quit two years earlier, when she and Sandy got married.
Beth: He couldn't stand it that I had a more important position in the firm than he did.
Perry continues to probe, trying to find out the state of things between Beth and her husband.
Beth: If I'm unhappy, or even if you think I've made mistakes, it's still my business, isn't it?
Mr. Banks: Mason, you’ve been shooting apples off my head ever since you came in.
We see a man attacking a woman again and again and he confesses to killing Lita Banks. But it turns out she was already dead by another means.
PM: Well, it’s not specifically against the law to try to kill someone who’s already dead.
The firm that Sandy and Beth Sandover and all the others worked for was just a hotbed of gossip and questionable behavior.
Burger: And what did the defendant then say to you when you told her that her husband was busy in the office of the deceased, Lita Krail?
Miss Adams: Well, she said, "that little alley cat" and then another word that I really didn't listen to.
PM: It's true, is it not, that six months prior to your wife's death you were occasionally seen in the company of other women?
Frank Sellers: My wife was an invalid for 15 years and I took care of her. Any woman I was “seen with” was ... a good friend.
...
Sellers: I know Beth. For 15 years! We could never do -- but I know Beth.
HB: If it please the court, the state has unearthed new evidence which will, I am happy to say, clarify once and for all just exactly who was doing what.
PM, confronting the killer on the stand: There was a truck outside that had just broken down and it stayed there and stayed.
In a spectacle I never thought I'd see on Perry Mason, the confessor gets out of the witness box and strolls around talking to the prosecutor, the judge, the spectators. Even Showboater Hamilton Burger is dumbfounded. If there ever was a time for the "incompetent" shout, that was it.
We missed the first few minutes of the show because the news channel we were listening to doesn't wrap up their broadcast at 10:30. What's with this rambling on? LohMan noticed it was 10:38 so we switched over to MeTV. Here are a couple of lines from the Livedash transcript that I would have enjoyed hearing for myself. From the tone this had to be an exchange from a flamboyant company officer and Lita Krail (victim-to-be). (Livedash doesn't identify speakers, just gives time and dialogue. I am guessing here as to who said what.)
Lita: Sandover, whose dumpy little wife used to be Mr. Devro's boss lady.
Mr. Banks: Sandover?
Lita: He's been with us almost twenty years. Sellers says he's the only man in the company who's never had an expense-account trip.
Mr. Banks: You're the number one sparkplug now, so spin the wheels, roll 'em down the runway.
Lita: Your necktie is crooked, Mr. Banks.
A guy is on the shoulder working on his truck, which is loaded with strawberries that he was taking to market. He broke down just across from the house that was Paul Drake’s destination.
PD: Having trouble?
Guy: Oh, no, I do this for exercise. It helps my strawberries get ripe.
Perry Mason was an old friend of Beth Sandover, wife of the embezzler. The part of Beth was played by Virginia Christine (Mrs. Olson from Folger's). In no way does she seem like a "Beth."
Beth had been an important employee in the firm but had quit two years earlier, when she and Sandy got married.
Beth: He couldn't stand it that I had a more important position in the firm than he did.
Perry continues to probe, trying to find out the state of things between Beth and her husband.
Beth: If I'm unhappy, or even if you think I've made mistakes, it's still my business, isn't it?
Mr. Banks: Mason, you’ve been shooting apples off my head ever since you came in.
We see a man attacking a woman again and again and he confesses to killing Lita Banks. But it turns out she was already dead by another means.
PM: Well, it’s not specifically against the law to try to kill someone who’s already dead.
The firm that Sandy and Beth Sandover and all the others worked for was just a hotbed of gossip and questionable behavior.
Burger: And what did the defendant then say to you when you told her that her husband was busy in the office of the deceased, Lita Krail?
Miss Adams: Well, she said, "that little alley cat" and then another word that I really didn't listen to.
PM: It's true, is it not, that six months prior to your wife's death you were occasionally seen in the company of other women?
Frank Sellers: My wife was an invalid for 15 years and I took care of her. Any woman I was “seen with” was ... a good friend.
...
Sellers: I know Beth. For 15 years! We could never do -- but I know Beth.
HB: If it please the court, the state has unearthed new evidence which will, I am happy to say, clarify once and for all just exactly who was doing what.
PM, confronting the killer on the stand: There was a truck outside that had just broken down and it stayed there and stayed.
In a spectacle I never thought I'd see on Perry Mason, the confessor gets out of the witness box and strolls around talking to the prosecutor, the judge, the spectators. Even Showboater Hamilton Burger is dumbfounded. If there ever was a time for the "incompetent" shout, that was it.