A fellow managing a played-out mine in the Mojave is the victim in this episode of Perry Mason. He's barely on camera. His function was to be a pawn in the swindle of a firm that is owned by an elderly woman who spends most of her time in South America.
The business manager for the Corning Company is a pompous ass (Bartlett Robinson), chastising his secretary, Miss Fisher.
Campbell: You’ve made up this whole thing to cover some of your peculations.
PD: The Department of Internal Revenue takes a very dim view of people who keep such large amounts of money hidden.
PM: Morning, Paul, want the Sunday funnies?
PD: I am the funnies.
Paul pays a visit to the victim-to-be out there in the desert.
PD: Every month, you've been sending in a payroll bill of almost $30,000. Then the Corning Company sends you the money. Who do you pay it to – gophers?
Sophia (poor relation): This is Gomez, Alfredo Gomez. I met him on a boat once. He plays mahvelous shuffleboard.
Perry gets some youths to push his client's rental car a short ways and change a flat tire. His intent was to add a bunch of extraneous fingerprints to the car. Always thinking! The next day Perry goes in to work and finds Lt. Tragg using a desk in an outer office.
Tragg: We are asking Miss Fisher a few questions and we thought it might be a good idea to ask Della some of the same questions, from a different room, that’s all.
There is discussion about the rental car.
PM: You’ve located the car. Are you waiting for them to bring it into the office?
Tragg: I am waiting for a phone call.
Phone rings. Tragg picks it up, smirking at Perry: May I?
PM: No.
Tragg answers anyway, since it was for him: How many prints? Oh, that can’t be. Skip it!
Pomposity on the witness stand, being snide about his secretary (Perry's client).
Campbell: So far, at least, I am not accused of killing anyone to cover my defalcations.
PM: So far.
What a takedown this was. You really had to be there to see Raymond Burr in action. Miss Jackson is a hotel maid who testifies that she saw the defendant acting suspiciously.
PM: How many conversations have you had with the police, Miss Jackson?
Miss J: Well, several. I think, maybe, about --
PM: As many as 10?
Miss J: Well, maybe.
PM: So you weren't quite positive about what you had seen when you were first interviewed?
Miss J: Well, I keep remembering details. You know -- you know what I mean.
PM: Then you weren't as positive in your ninth conversation as you are now.
Miss J: I was.
PM: Then why have the tenth conversation?
Miss J: I don't know.
PM: Let's take the eighth conversation. Are you more positive now than you were then?
Miss J: Well, I guess, maybe a little.
PM: What about the seventh conversation? More positive in the seventh conversation than the sixth?
Miss J: Well, maybe.
PM, rapidfire now: More positive in the sixth than you were in the fifth? More positive in the fifth than you were in the fourth? More positive in the fourth than you were in the third? More positive in the third than you were in the second? More positive in the second than you were in the first?
The business manager for the Corning Company is a pompous ass (Bartlett Robinson), chastising his secretary, Miss Fisher.
Campbell: You’ve made up this whole thing to cover some of your peculations.
PD: The Department of Internal Revenue takes a very dim view of people who keep such large amounts of money hidden.
PM: Morning, Paul, want the Sunday funnies?
PD: I am the funnies.
Paul pays a visit to the victim-to-be out there in the desert.
PD: Every month, you've been sending in a payroll bill of almost $30,000. Then the Corning Company sends you the money. Who do you pay it to – gophers?
Sophia (poor relation): This is Gomez, Alfredo Gomez. I met him on a boat once. He plays mahvelous shuffleboard.
Perry gets some youths to push his client's rental car a short ways and change a flat tire. His intent was to add a bunch of extraneous fingerprints to the car. Always thinking! The next day Perry goes in to work and finds Lt. Tragg using a desk in an outer office.
Tragg: We are asking Miss Fisher a few questions and we thought it might be a good idea to ask Della some of the same questions, from a different room, that’s all.
There is discussion about the rental car.
PM: You’ve located the car. Are you waiting for them to bring it into the office?
Tragg: I am waiting for a phone call.
Phone rings. Tragg picks it up, smirking at Perry: May I?
PM: No.
Tragg answers anyway, since it was for him: How many prints? Oh, that can’t be. Skip it!
Pomposity on the witness stand, being snide about his secretary (Perry's client).
Campbell: So far, at least, I am not accused of killing anyone to cover my defalcations.
PM: So far.
What a takedown this was. You really had to be there to see Raymond Burr in action. Miss Jackson is a hotel maid who testifies that she saw the defendant acting suspiciously.
PM: How many conversations have you had with the police, Miss Jackson?
Miss J: Well, several. I think, maybe, about --
PM: As many as 10?
Miss J: Well, maybe.
PM: So you weren't quite positive about what you had seen when you were first interviewed?
Miss J: Well, I keep remembering details. You know -- you know what I mean.
PM: Then you weren't as positive in your ninth conversation as you are now.
Miss J: I was.
PM: Then why have the tenth conversation?
Miss J: I don't know.
PM: Let's take the eighth conversation. Are you more positive now than you were then?
Miss J: Well, I guess, maybe a little.
PM: What about the seventh conversation? More positive in the seventh conversation than the sixth?
Miss J: Well, maybe.
PM, rapidfire now: More positive in the sixth than you were in the fifth? More positive in the fifth than you were in the fourth? More positive in the fourth than you were in the third? More positive in the third than you were in the second? More positive in the second than you were in the first?