I found this to be a highly entertaining, charming episode of Perry Mason. I think it was Pippa Scott’s fault. And Karl Swenson’s, too. He was an interesting character. Or maybe it was the real charmer: Michael Conrad in the title role.
Gwynn Elston (Pippa Scott) sells children’s encyclopedia. It could have been Compton's but I immediately thought: Childcraft. She is living with a married friend, Nell, whose husband is gone a lot. She has a serious prospect and pays a call to a potential buyer. While setting up, she sees a photograph of her friend’s husband. He’s married to the lady of that house, too. And he’s gone a lot.
Back at home Gwynn has an edgy confrontation with her friend's husband, known at this address as Felton Grimes. Felton has put the moves on Gwynn more than once, so she was already uneasy about him. But after seeing his photograph at the home of Mrs. Frank Gillette, she tries to feel him out a little.
Felton Grimes: Sure, kid, I know. Just the visiting wallpaper.
Gwen Elston: It’s just that Nell’s so sensitive. Maybe you’ve been married to other women before who aren’t –
Back at the Gillette home, Gwynn is closing the sale on the encyclopedia.
Mrs. Gillette: Do you know the trouble with you, Miss Elston? You work too hard. You’re much too nervous. What you need is a good husband.
Gwynne Elston: He might be dangerous.
Caretaker (Karl Swenson): Me, too, lady. I’ve been caretaker here for years. I’ve been running ‘em off in batches.
The police find the body of Frank Gillette aka Felton Grimes. Paul Drake stops by to see what's going on. There was a monogrammed compact under his body.
Lt Anderson: Just tell us. Who is G E?
PD: General Electric?
I'm reading The Case of the Howling Dog, the fourth in the E.S. Gardner series. Della chastises Perry because he takes such an active interest in the legwork on his cases.
Perry takes the fingerprints of two men in this episode. Were these people who they say they were? Did they have criminal records?
Frank Gillette’s father died in a small town the day before his son. Perry and Della go up there to see what they can learn. Perry tells the undertaker the deceased might be his long-lost uncle but he will have to look at the body to be sure. And he gives the man $500 toward funeral expenses, which buys him some good time alone with his "uncle."
PM: Della, let me have your lipstick. Hurry.
(He goes into the viewing room where the casket is and comes back out a couple of minutes later. He hands Della some paper.)
PM: There you are, Della. Have the taxi driver take this straight into Los Angeles, right to Paul’s office.
DS (quizzical look).
PM: Well, go on. It’s the old man’s fingerprints.
Later, at the office Perry polishes up some smooth surfaces in preparation for a visit. Cigarette lighter. Ash tray. Desktop. Barware.
PM: Della, it’s almost time for lunch. Why don’t you fix us a drink?
DS: Mr. Baxter, what will you have? Bourbon or scotch?
Mrs. Gillette: Frank was a good man.
HB: I’m sure he was, Mrs. Gillette, in your eyes. In the eyes of the law, he was a bigamist.
PM: How did your husband earn his living, Mrs. Gillette?
Mrs. Gillette: I don't know much about his job, but a little less than a year ago, he started to do a good deal of traveling. It could have been in sales, I think. It was quite a good job. I do know that.
PM: But, of course, he was really only traveling as far as another wife. So, is it possible that that new job, which enabled him to afford such luxuries, was more likely in some business like blackmail?
HB: Your honor!
PM: Mr. Baxter, have you always been known as Mr. Baxter?
Felton Grimes.
Frank Gillette.
Michael Conrad.
Sgt. Phil Esterhaus.
Gwynn Elston (Pippa Scott) sells children’s encyclopedia. It could have been Compton's but I immediately thought: Childcraft. She is living with a married friend, Nell, whose husband is gone a lot. She has a serious prospect and pays a call to a potential buyer. While setting up, she sees a photograph of her friend’s husband. He’s married to the lady of that house, too. And he’s gone a lot.
Back at home Gwynn has an edgy confrontation with her friend's husband, known at this address as Felton Grimes. Felton has put the moves on Gwynn more than once, so she was already uneasy about him. But after seeing his photograph at the home of Mrs. Frank Gillette, she tries to feel him out a little.
Felton Grimes: Sure, kid, I know. Just the visiting wallpaper.
Gwen Elston: It’s just that Nell’s so sensitive. Maybe you’ve been married to other women before who aren’t –
Back at the Gillette home, Gwynn is closing the sale on the encyclopedia.
Mrs. Gillette: Do you know the trouble with you, Miss Elston? You work too hard. You’re much too nervous. What you need is a good husband.
Gwynne Elston: He might be dangerous.
Caretaker (Karl Swenson): Me, too, lady. I’ve been caretaker here for years. I’ve been running ‘em off in batches.
The police find the body of Frank Gillette aka Felton Grimes. Paul Drake stops by to see what's going on. There was a monogrammed compact under his body.
Lt Anderson: Just tell us. Who is G E?
PD: General Electric?
I'm reading The Case of the Howling Dog, the fourth in the E.S. Gardner series. Della chastises Perry because he takes such an active interest in the legwork on his cases.
She looked at him with eyes that held a tender solicitude. "You take too many chances, Chief," she protested. "Your love of excitement is going to get you into trouble some day. Why don't you simply handle trial work instead of going out and mixing into the cases the way you do?"
His grin was boyish.
"In the first place," he said, "I like the excitement. In the second place, because I win my cases by knowing the facts. I beat the prosecution to the punch. It's lots of fun…
(Pocket Books, 1941, p. 20)
Frank Gillette’s father died in a small town the day before his son. Perry and Della go up there to see what they can learn. Perry tells the undertaker the deceased might be his long-lost uncle but he will have to look at the body to be sure. And he gives the man $500 toward funeral expenses, which buys him some good time alone with his "uncle."
PM: Della, let me have your lipstick. Hurry.
(He goes into the viewing room where the casket is and comes back out a couple of minutes later. He hands Della some paper.)
PM: There you are, Della. Have the taxi driver take this straight into Los Angeles, right to Paul’s office.
DS (quizzical look).
PM: Well, go on. It’s the old man’s fingerprints.
Later, at the office Perry polishes up some smooth surfaces in preparation for a visit. Cigarette lighter. Ash tray. Desktop. Barware.
PM: Della, it’s almost time for lunch. Why don’t you fix us a drink?
DS: Mr. Baxter, what will you have? Bourbon or scotch?
Mrs. Gillette: Frank was a good man.
HB: I’m sure he was, Mrs. Gillette, in your eyes. In the eyes of the law, he was a bigamist.
PM: How did your husband earn his living, Mrs. Gillette?
Mrs. Gillette: I don't know much about his job, but a little less than a year ago, he started to do a good deal of traveling. It could have been in sales, I think. It was quite a good job. I do know that.
PM: But, of course, he was really only traveling as far as another wife. So, is it possible that that new job, which enabled him to afford such luxuries, was more likely in some business like blackmail?
HB: Your honor!
PM: Mr. Baxter, have you always been known as Mr. Baxter?
Felton Grimes.
Frank Gillette.
Michael Conrad.
 |
| "Let's be careful out there." |