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Home >> D D Too Home >> Main Perry Mason >> Perry Mason: Season Two |

This is a Golden Age Radio feature--for Golden Age Radio fans. These pages highlight the hundreds of Golden Age Radio actors with an extensive Radio background that made up the lion's share of the casts of the Perry Mason television programs from 1957 through 1966. We've therefore titled this feature "The Case of the Too-Long-Forgotten Radio Stars." We hope you find these pages a useful resource in placing a face with hundreds of unsung Golden Age Radio personalities you won't see memorialized anywhere else. Here's another 200+ Golden Age Radio stars for you to make a visual connection with.
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Season Two:
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Episode #040
The Case of The Corresponding Corpse
58-09-20
[Notes: As with Season One, only the original Erle Stanley Gardner stories carry the ''Erle Stanley Garder's'' prefix in the title screens. This example, and the one that follows, illustrate how this convention was employed.
In Addition, the attentive viewer will note that the ''The'' convention was dropped for Season Two's title screens.
Also note that the 'wide latin' and 'medium latin' typefaces are now used exclusively in preparing the title screens.]
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Martha Wentworth as Mrs. Lyle

Herb Lytton as Mr. Leon Corby

Vaughn Taylor as Harry Folsom

Owen Cunningham as Jonah Whittaker

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Episode #041
The Case of The Lucky Loser
58-09-27
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Heather Angel as Florence Ingle

Douglas Kennedy as Steven Boles

Richard Hale as Addison Balfour

Morris Ankrum as Judge Caldwell

John Eldrege as Thurston the butler

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Episode #042
The Case of The Pint-sized Client
58-10-04
[Notes: Edward Marr, here appearing as Cagle. appeared in over 380 Lux Radio Theatre programs between 1937 and 1955. He also appeared in over 70 feature films and 200 appearances in Television before he retired in 1969.] |
Eduardo Ciannelli as Gramp Renzi

Eleanor Audley as Lois Gilbert

Raymond Greenleaf as Judge

Edward Marr as Cagle

Nita Talbot as Iris Anderson

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Episode #043
The Case of The Sardonic Sergeant
58-10-11
{Notes: John Dehner, here seen as the prosecuting Judge Advocate, Major Lewis appeared often with Raymond Burr in Radio. Indeed, Dehner auditioned with Raymond Burr for the lead role in Fort Laramie (1955). The role of Cavalry Captain Lee Quince ultimately went to Burr. It was Raymond Burr's last major involvement with The Golden Age of Radio prior to his extraordinary Television career. Dehner actually got his start in Hollywood not as an actor, but as an animator for the Walt Disney Studios, working on "Fantasia" (1940) and "Bambi" (1942).] |
John Dehner as Major Lewis

Robert Armstrong as Walter Haskell

John Archer as Major Frank Lessing

Grant Richards as Capt. Kennedy

Wendell Holmes as Howard Evans

Russell Thorson as Lt. Col. Brice

George E. Stone as Bartender

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Episode #044
The Case of The Curious Bride
58-10-18
[Notes: Tommy Cook, seen in this episode as Frank Lane, was a famous Golden Age Radio juvenile actor with over 1,200 Radio appearances to his credit by the time he appeared as a young adult in Perry Mason. He co-starred in The Adventures of Red Ryder, Ozzie and Harriet, The Life of Riley, and The Great Gildersleeve among a host of other popular Radio dramas.

Arch Oboler goes over The Hollywood March Of Dimes Of The Air script with a much younger emcee Tommy Cook at the NBC mike (1942)
It should also be noted that this story for this script, The Case of the Curious Bride (1935), was one of the earliest Perry Mason novels to come to Film, starring Warren William as Perry Mason and directed by Michael Curtiz.]
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Tommy Cook as Frank Lane

Lewis Charles as Sidney Otis

S. John Launer as Judge

John Hoyt as Philip Reynolds

James Seay as Dr. Harris

Michael Emmet as Artie Keane

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Episode #045
The Case of The Buried Clock
58-11-01 |
Don Beddoe as Dr. Blane

Fredd Wayne as Jack Hardisty

Jeanne Bates as Jean Strague

Paul Fix as District Attorney Hale

Robin Hughes as Rodney Beaton

Howard Wendell as A. J. Randall

Jamie Forster as Judge Norwood

Phil Chambers as Dr. Ritchie

Robert Foulk as Sheriff Elmore

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Episode #046
The Case of The Married Moonlighter
58-11-08 |
Jesse White as Luke Hickey

Stacy Harris as Frank Curran

Olan Soulé as Court Clerk

Arthur Franz as Danny Harrison

Anne Sargent as Eileen Harrison

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Episode #047
The Case of The Jilted Jockey
58-11-15 |
Barbara Lawrence as Gloria Barton

June Vincent as Victoria Bannion

Hugh Sanders as Dion Bannion

Nolan Leary as Bob Allen

Kenneth R. MacDonald as Judge

Joe Forte as Coroner

Bright Magic as Himself

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Episode #048
The Case of the Purple Woman
58-12-06

The Purple Woman
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Edwin Jerome as Judge

Robert H. Harris as Aaron Hubble

Rhys Williams as Rufus Varner

Doris Singleton as Doris Andrews

Donald Murphy as Wayne Gordon

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Episode #049
The Case of The Fancy Figures
58-12-13
[Note: The relatively short, but highly prolific and successful career of Frank Silvera, here seen as Jonathan Hyett, was noteworthy on many levels. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Silvera was one of the performing arts most successful and versatile African-American artists of mid-20th Century American history. He successfully broke the color-barrier for great character actors, paving the way for actors of the calibre of Sidney Poitier, Morgan Freeman, Cuba Gooding, Jr., James Earl Jones, Jamie Foxx, Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Samuel Jackson, Laurence Fishburne, Don Cheadle, and Will Smith. Even more remarkable is the era during which Silvera made his greatest contributions to Film, Radio and Television--the 1940s through 1960s.

Frank Silvera circa 1946
Universally cast without regard for his color, Silvera was equally successful in white, latin, ethnic European, mixed race or black character roles. Though his life was cut short due to an electrocution accident in his home at the age of only 56, he'd already carved out an extraordinary, multi-media career as a critically acclaimed writer, actor and director.
His performance in The Case of The Fancy Figures only underscores his amazing range and versatility.]
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Frank Silvera as Jonathan Hyett

Joan Banks as Valerie Brewster

William Phipps as Martin Ellis

Ralph Clanton as Charles Brewster

Ray Kellogg as Richard Hyett

S. John Launer as Judge

Chuck Webster as Sgt. Brice

David McMahon as Walter Vico

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Episode #050
The Case of The Perjured Parrot
58-12-20

The Headline
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Edgar Buchanan as Andy Templet

Mel Blanc as Casanova The Parrot

Jody Lawrance as Ellen Monteith

Dan Barton as Richard Waid

Fay Baker as Stephanie Sabin

Robert E. Griffin as Fred Bascomb

Frank Ferguson as Sheriff Barnes

Joe Kearns as Mr. Langley

Jason Johnson as D. A. Sprague

Maurice Manson as Charles Sabin

Maurice Manson as 'Arthur'

Howard Culver as Rufus Bolding

Mel Blanc as 'The Imposter'

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Episode #051
The Case of The Shattered Deam
59-01-03

The 'Pundit Dream'
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Osa Massen as Sarah Werner

Marion Marshall as Irene Bedford

Kurt Kreuger as Hans Breel

Ivan Triesault as Fred Schoenbeck

Lillian Bronson as Judge

Robert Carson as Lawrence David

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Episode #052
The Case of The Borrowed Brunette
59-01-10 |
Maggie Mahoney as Eva Martell

Sheila Bromley as Agnes Nulty

Adrienne Marden as Barbara Slater

John Stephenson as Grant Reynolds

Joe De Santis as Melvin Slater

Morris Ankrum as Judge Bates

Herman Rudin as Thomas Folsom

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Episode #053
The Case of The Glittering Goldfish
59-01-17 |
Cecil Kellaway as Darrell Metcalf

John Hudson as Tom Wyatt

Jacqueline Scott as Sally Wilson

Catherine McLeod as Nora Huxley

S. John Launer as Judge

Rusty Lane as Harry Tiller

Chuck Webster as Sgt. Brice

Olan Soulé as Clerk

The Goldfish as The Goldfish

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Episode #054
The Case of The Foot-Loose Doll
59-01-24
[Notes:
In case you missed the notes from Season One, Lee Miller, portraying Sgt. Brice in this episode, was actually Raymond Burr's stand-in and double for most of the series' run. Seeing them together in the photo at right, one can see the resemblance.
Sam Buffington, the young actor portraying Fred Ernshaw in this episode, was the lead in Radio's Luke Slaughter of Tombstone, his only major lead in Radio. Within a year from the filming of The Case of The Foot-loose Doll, Sam Buffington would be dead by his own hand----at the age of 29.]
Continuity Issues

This is the long shot of [supposedly] Paul Drake arriving at the sanitarium where the missing Fern Driscoll has been found.

This is the entrance shot from Season One's Episode #30, The Case of the Screaming Woman.
What's wrong with these pictures?
Well for one, the Dr. Barnes in the sign refers to Arthur Shield's character from Episode #30. For another, that's Perry Mason driving to Episode #30's Dr. Barnes in his Cadillac convertible. But in the long shot from this episode you can still tell it's Perry's convertible in the distance. Since Paul Drake would never be caught dead driving a Cadillac, this presents yet another continuity issue.
To make all of this work, perhaps we can suspend disbelief and conclude that the Dr. Barnes in Episode #30 took Perry's advice and sold his practice to the doctor portrayed by Charles Meredith in this episode--almost a year later, chronologically. Apparently the new doctor decided to maintain the name of the old hospital, including the Dr. Barnes portion. Or. . . . the new doctor simply hadn't hung out his own shingle quite yet.
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Barton MacLane as Senator Baylor
Robert Bray as Carl Davis
Ruta Lee as Millie Crest
Betty Lou Gerson as Marjory Davis
Eve McVeagh as Laura Richards
Sam Buffington as Fred Ernshaw
Helene Stanley as Brenda Scobey (impersonating the real Fern Driscoll)
Jim Kirkwood, Jr. as Johnny Baylor
John Bryant as Bob Wallace
Jan Harrison as the real Fern Driscoll
Charles Meredith as Doctor
Lee Miller as Sgt. Brice [Raymond Burr's double and stand-in]
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Episode #055
The Case of The Fraudulent Foto
59-02-07 |
Hugh Marlowe as Brander Harris

June Clayworth as Eva Scott

Herbert Anderson as Eugene Milton

Peter Brocco as Theophile Duclerc

Francis De Sales as George Fairbanks

Wilton Graff as Cleveland Blake

Carole Mathews as Leora Mathews

Bartlett Robinson as Marshall Scott

Kenneth R. MacDonald as Judge

Mark Roberts as James Castleton

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Episode #056
The Case of The Romantic Rogue
59-02-14 (Valentine's Day -- Get it?)

And what could be a more romantic opener than an secret asignation at the lovely Hotel Culver?
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Marion Ross as Helen Harvey

Sara Haden as Florence Harvey

John Bryant as Stacey Chandler

Jean Willes as Irene Wallace

Jack Daly as Pete Daniels

Frederic Worlock as Judge

Pitt Herbert as Autopsy Surgeon

Robert Bice as Faulkner

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Episode #057
The Case of The Jaded Joker
59-02-21 |
Frankie Laine as Danny Ross

Bobby Troup as Buzzie

Walter Burke as Freddie Green

Tom Drake as Cleve Niles

Mary LaRoche as Lisa Hiller

Harry Jackson as Charles Goff

Martha Vickers as Sheila Hayes

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Episode #058
The Case of The Caretaker's Cat
59-03-07
[Notes: No, this isn't a Season change. Just a brief glimpse into the future of the title credits. Pulling out all the stops, the title sequence begins with animation, then film footage freezing to a posterized graphic of Raymond Burr, then animation again. Kinda jarring for a mid-season change. Dontcha think? In reality, this is the title sequence eventually employed in Season Five. This in itself begs all manner of questions. In any case, it's an intriguing, albeit inexplicable, change of pace.
This is another of the original Erle Stanley Gardner stories (as again prefixed in this new title sequence's title screen as "Erle Stanley Gardner's . . . "). The story first screened in 1936's The Case of The Black Cat starring Ricardo Cortez as Perry Mason, making it the sixth Perry Mason film to move from pulp to screen, large or small.
The seven earliest renditions of Perry Mason in Film were:
1917 The Seven Pearls with Léon Bary
1934 The Case of The Howling Dog
with Warren William
1935 The Case of The Curious Bride
with Warren William
1935 The Case of The Lucky Legs
with Warren William
1936 The Case of The Velvet Claws
with Warren William
1936 The Case of The Black Cat
with Ricardo Cortez
1937 The Case of The Stuttering Bishop
with Donald Woods
The period during which Warren William was portraying Perry Mason four times, he was also portraying Philo Vance and Sam Spade (or rather a wacky caricature of Sam Spade--Ted Shane). Upon completing the Perry Mason foursome for First National Pictures, he launched into his nine portrayals of Michael Lanyard, The Lone Wolf , between 1939 and 1943, while tossing off another apperance as Philo Vance in The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939) with Gracie Allen.
This episode also features the only appearance of Judy Lewis (born Judy Young) in the Perry Mason series. To be charitable, this was not Judy Lewis' most noteworthy acting appearance--she's terrible, but gorgeous nonetheless. Fortunately she only had seven short lines. Judy Lewis was the celebrated love-child of Clark Gable and Loretta Young (yes, the virginal, innocent Loretta Young). Born with her father's extraordinarily characteristic ears, her mother wisely had them snipped when Judy was seven. Judy Lewis went on to compile a successful Television career, subsequently retiring to become a celebrated author, Psychological Therapist, and counselor in Southern California.]
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Benson Fong as James Hing

John G. Agar as Kenneth Baxter

Judy Lewis as Winifred Oakley

Dick Crane as Dr. Douglas Keene

Raymond Bailey as Mr. Hilliard

Bill Erwin as Paint Store Clerk

Michael Fox as Autopsy Surgeon

Monsoon as The Caretaker's Cat

Jacqueline Lee as Nurse Watson

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Episode #059
The Case of The Stuttering Bishop
59-03-14
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Vaughn Taylor as Bishop Mallory

Ken Lynch as Wallace Lang

Herb Ellis as Deputy District Attorney

Rebecca Welles as Carol Delaney

Carl Benton Reid as Charles Burroughs

Morris Ankrum as Judge

Claire Carleton as Blanche Atkins

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Episode #060
The Case of The Lost Last Act
59-03-21 |
Joanne Gilbert as Faith Foster

Katharine Bard as Helen Dwight

Jerome Cowan as Royce

Stacy Harris as Frank Brooks

David Lewis as John Gifford

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Episode #061
The Case of The Bedeviled Doctor
59-04-04 |
Dick Foran as Dr. David Craig

Marianne Stewart as Edith Douglas

Phillip Terry as Peter Heywood

Frederic Worlock as Judge

Michael Fox as Dr. Hexie

George E. Stone as Court Clerk

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Episode #062
The Case of the Howling Dog
59-04-11 |
Ann Rutherford as Evelyn Forbes

John Holland as Clinton Forbes

S. John Launer as Judge

Vito Scotti as D'Amato

'Sammie' as The Howling Dog

Gregory Walcott as Bill Johnson

Elaine Edwards as Polly Forbes

Ed Prentiss as Dr. Bayliss

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Episode #063
The Case of The Calendar Girl
59-04-18 |
Ralph Moody as Dennison

Charles Tannen as Jasper Horn

George E. Stone as Court Clerk

Richard Gaines as Judge

George Neise as Wilfred Borden

John Anderson as George Andrews

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Episode #064
The Case of The Petulant Partner
59-04-25 |
R. G. Armstrong as Harry Bright

William H. Wright as Chuck Clark

Francis J. McDonald as Salty Sims

Geraldine Wall as Nell Gridley

Nan Leslie as Margaret Clark

Myron Healey as Howard Roper

Russell Thorson as Mel Topham

Jamie Forster as Judge

Stafford Repp as Philip Morgan

Sid Cassel as Carlos the Waiter

Tony Regan as Kellogg

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Episode #065
The Case of The Dangerous Dowager
59-05-09 |
Robert Strauss as Danny Barker

Kathryn Givney as Matilda Benson

Barry Atwater as Robert Benson

Leo Gordon as Charles Duncan

King Calder as Dr. Ralph Caldwell

Joey Faye as Walter Cobb

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Episode #066
The Case of The Deadly Toy
59-05-16
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Mala Powers as Claire Allison

Paul Cavanagh as Horace Selkirk

Kathryn Card as Hannah Barton

Dennis Patrick as Martin Selkirk

Robert Rockwell as Dick Benedict

Morris Ankrum as Judge

Norm Alden as Darrel Reed

Jennifer Howard as Lorraine Jennings

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Episode #067
The Case of The Spanish Cross
59-05-30 |
Jacques Aubuchon as Felix Karr

Josephine Hutchinson as Miriam Baker

Linda Watkins as Grace Runyan

Arthur Space as James Morrow, Sr.

Donald Randolph as Curtis Runyan

Jonathan Hole as Everett Wormser

Richard Gaines as Judge

Harlan Warde as Sgt. Kenton

George E. Stone as Court Clerk

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Episode #068
The Case of The Dubious Bridegroom
59-06-13
[Notes: Jean Tabor [Joan Tabor in Episode 32], seen here first as Virginia Colfax, then as her true identity, Helen Bynum, private detective, was something of a sensation during the filming of this episode. No less than Walter Winchell reported the following during the filming of this episode:
"Are Raymond Burr and actress Joan Tabor planning a surprise?..."

She was recently single when she appeared in this episode (her second appearance in the series). Knowing what we know now about the personal lives of both principals, Winchell's question seems rather naive, if not downright humorous. Jean Tabor was only 27 when she appeared in The Case of The Dubious Bridegroom. Within the following seven years she'd be married for 4 years to Broderick Crawford, then divorced. Then at the age of only 34, would succumb to an accidental overdose of influenza medicine.
Rosa Turich, better known in early Spanish Television as Felipin Y Rosita, the comedy act she shared with her husband, Felipe, was one of the era's most durable Latina character actresses--on both sides of the border with Mexico. She's credited with at least 100 appearances in American television and at least twice that many in Mexican television.]
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Neil Hamilton as Frank Livesey

Jean Tabor as Helen Bynum

Patrick McVey as D.A. Covington

Tom Brown as Asst. D.A. Jarvis

Robert Nichols as Howard Scanlon

K. T. Stevens as Ethel Garvin

Rosa Turich as Filomena

Keith Richards as Sergeant Holt

Robert Lynn as Judge

Betsy Jones Moreland as Lorrie Garvin

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Episode #069
The Case of The Lame Canary
59-06-27
[Notes: This season should have been called the Domestic Pet Season. During the course of the season's thirty episodes we were treated to no less than five domestic pet themed stories and scripts:

Ep. 50 - The Case of The Perjured Parrot

Ep. 53 - The Case of The Glittering Goldfish

Ep. 58 - The Case of The Caretaker's Cat

Ep. 62 - The Case of The Howling Dog

Ep. 69 - The Case of The Lame Canary
First, the obvious disclaimer: "no pets were actually injured during the filming of these productions." Another obvious observation is that four out of five of these scripts were from Erle Stanley Gardner's own pen. Was Erle Stanley Gardner a pet lover himself? It rather begs the question. One might well ask if The Case of The Jilted Jockey doesn't qualify as a sixth, but we're reminded that Bright Magic, the doped up colt, wasn't actually a domestic pet.
It's obvious the production staff had a lot of fun with the Season closer. It's played a bit over the top, by design. It's also one of the twistier plots. Susan Cummings, Chet Stratton, and Berry Kroeger are the scene-stealers in this episode, all three clearly camping it up for the season finale. The cinematography for this one was pretty artsy as well. Note the shot at right from inside the fireplace. All in all a fine close to second great season.
And of course a season which brought another 200-plus Golden Age Radio stars to the small screen.]
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Berry Kroeger as Ernest Wray

James Philbrook as Harry Jonson

Susan Cummings as Margaret Swaine

Chet Stratton as Hotel Clerk

S. John Launer as Judge

Richard Wessel as Transfer Man

The Lame Canary

Lee Miller as Sgt. Brice

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