The BEST episodes of Perry Mason season 1
Every episode of Perry Mason season 1, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Perry Mason season 1!
There are few actors so closely tied to a persona than Raymond Burr as Perry Mason. This long-running series was built upon Erle Stanley Gardner´s many novels about a brilliant defense lawyer and his staff, that solved many a crime with surprise witnesses and stern cross-examinations.It was the first mystery series to feature chalk or tape outlines to mark the spots where bodies were found. Filmed almost exclusively in the Los Angeles area, Raymond Burr had Gardner's seal of approval in the role. The cases were usually won by way of pivotal confessions of witnesses, solicited by Perry Mason (Burr's) surgeon-like examination or with last-minute, key evidence brought into the courtroom by private investigator, Paul Drake (William Hopper). Della Street (Barbara Hale), Perry´s faithful secretary, was always at Perry's side in the courtroom where hapless Hamilton Burger (William Tallman) was the Los Angeles District Attorney who never seemed to win. As to the myth that Perry Mason never lost, there were 2 episodes where it did occur... but you'll have to watch to find out.The show was revived in 1973-74, with other actors in the familiar roles (Monte Markham as Mason), and then again with the some of the original cast, in a string of feature length TV films from 1985 until Raymond Burr´s death in 1993.
#1 - The Case of the Screaming Woman
Season 1 - Episode 30 - Aired 4/26/1958
Gossip columnist Mary K. Davis is found murdered and it seems there is no shortage of suspects. There was her politician-husband to whom she refused to grant a divorce. There was her timid secretary whom she bullied. There was the secretary's boyfriend who had some secrets in his past. There was the doctor running an illegal baby-selling scheme whom Mary threatened to expose if he didn't give her a child. Leona Walsh, the doctor's nurse, ends up being charged with the crime and this time Perry has to tamper with some evidence in order to clear his client.
#2 - The Case of the Crooked Candle
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 11/30/1957
While Martha Bradford is waiting for her appointment at a beauty parlour, she meets Rita Bradford who apparently is also married to Joe Bradford and lives at the same address. Joe Bradford is preparing for a business meeting in San Diego. He makes plans to meet his wife Martha but fails to show up. Joe Bradford is found dead on his boat the next morning and Martha Bradford is accused of his murder when her fingerprints are found on a candle located on the boat.
#3 - The Case of the Fiery Fingers
Season 1 - Episode 31 - Aired 5/3/1958
When wealthy Louise Gordon is poisoned to death her nurse is charged with the crime. Perry does some digging and discovers that the first wife of the victim's husband also died of poisoning. Is the husband really the culprit or could it be someone else?
#5 - The Case of the Rolling Bones
Season 1 - Episode 39 - Aired 6/28/1958
When Daniel Reed (Edgar Stehli) finds himself being blackmailed by an old business partner from his time in Alaska, Perry must first save him from the insane asylum and then the gas chamber. Convinced that Reed has lost his mind when he begins writing $20,000.00 checks to strangers, his heartless niece and nephew have the old man forcibly placed in an insane asylum. Perry is enlisted by Reed’s girlfriend Millie Foster (Kitty Kelly) to get him out of the asylum and he is no sooner granted his freedom than his blackmailer turns up dead and Reed stands accused of his murder.
#6 - The Case of the Hesitant Hostess
Season 1 - Episode 29 - Aired 4/5/1958
When Albert Sanders is charged with the murder of Kim Lane, Perry offers to defend him free of charge because he knows Sanders is still devastated over the accidental death of his wife and children eight years before. The solution to the case hinges on a heroin smuggling ring operating out of a dance hall. Writer: Al C. W
#7 - The Case of the Moth-Eaten Mink
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/14/1957
Restrauteur Morey Allen, a friend of Perry and Della's, has a problem: his waitress, Dixie Dayton, was struck by a car while fleeing the restaurant after spotting a man stalking her. The only item she left behind was a moth-eaten mink. When the stalker is found murdered, Morey and Dixie are both strong suspects and eventually get arrested for the murder. The case also ties in with the murder of a young policeman several months before.
#9 - The Case of the Haunted Husband
Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 1/25/1958
Claire Olger is hitchhiking because her purse was stolen at the bus station and is picked up by Michael Greeley. He loses control of the car and has an accident due to his being intoxicated. Arriving at the scene of the accident, the police find Claire in the driver's seat. The district attorney's office questions her but do not believe her story about another driver. Her friend, Doris Stephanak, asks Perry Mason to help. When Perry is unable to contact Claire at her hotel, he goes there and finds Michael Greeley dead in her room. The police accuse Claire Olger of murder, realizing Michael Greeley fits the description of the man she claimed was driving the car and believe she had motive and opportunity.
#10 - The Case of the Runaway Corpse
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/23/1957
Ed Davenport learns that a sandwich he requested to be tested by a lab contains arsenic and blames his wife Myrna. When he confronts her about his suspicions she denies it. He leaves for a business trip and falls ill. Dr. Renault is called to treat him at a motel where Ed Davenport later dies. Before he dies he claims his wife poisoned some candy. After locking the motel room the doctor calls the police. The police arrive to find the corpse missing. The police test the candy and indeed find arsenic. Subsequently Ed Davenport's body is found in a shallow grave. Myrna Davenport is accused of the murder.
#11 - The Case of the Desperate Daughter
Season 1 - Episode 27 - Aired 3/22/1958
Stefan Riker has come from Germany seeking the woman posing as Lisa Bannister and she believes he can cause her to be deported back to Germany. Attempting to help her stepmother, Doris Bannister pretends to be romantically interested in Stefan Riker. During the next few months Stefan Riker receives money and gifts from Doris and seems satisfied. However one night he is murdered and Doris Bannister is accused of murder because her fingerprints are found on a ladder outside of Riker's apartment.
#12 - The Case of the Daring Decoy
Season 1 - Episode 28 - Aired 3/29/1958
Daniel Conway is involved in a vicious proxy war with Warner Griffith for control of an oil company. Conway's secretary, Rose Calvert, is spying for Griffith. When Rose is found dead, Conway fears he's being framed for murder and approaches Perry at a bar association dinner and asks for his aid. Perry at first believes Griffin to be the guilty party but he has an ironclad alibi. Then another witness emerges who has a photographic memory and can identify people by their shoes.
#13 - The Case of the Lazy Lover
Season 1 - Episode 35 - Aired 5/31/1958
Attempting to miss hitting her stepfather's car, Patricia Faxon swerves as she enters her driveway and hits the hedges. After asking her stepfather, Bertrand Allred, to move his car, he finds Bob Fleetwood badly hurt next to the hedges. Assuming Patricia accidently hit Bob Fleetwood, Bertrand and Lucille Allred take Bob to a hotel. The next morning Bertrand Allred is found dead in his car, near the hotel, where the car left the road and went through the guard rail. Lucille Allred is accused of killing her husband when she is seen walking back to the hotel shortly after Bertrand's car left.
#14 - The Case of the Fugitive Nurse
Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/15/1958
Janet Norris is charged with poisoning her doctor husband just before he flew to his death in his private plane. Further investigation reveals that Dr. Norris did not die in the plane crash and that he is in Mexico with his nurse mistress. The man killed in the plane was actually one Dave Kirby. This means that Janet still has to stand trial for murder.
#15 - The Case of the Nervous Accomplice
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/5/1957
Sybil Granger hires Perry to help her buy stock in her estranged husband's oil company on the sly. By this, Sybil hopes to force her husband's latest girlfriend, Roxy Howard, out of the company and his life altogether. Things get complicated when George Lutz enters the picture and gets shot to death.
#16 - The Case of the Prodigal Parent
Season 1 - Episode 36 - Aired 6/7/1958
Lorraine Stevens is fighting off the advances of the owner of the import-export company where she works, Philip Larkin. Later that evening she is asked to pick up something at the Alcorn Jewelers store. The owner is unaware of what she is to pick up and suggests she make a phonecall to find out. She calls Philip Larkin and while the phone rings we see Philip Larkin dead in his home. Standing over him is Joseph Harrison who wipes off his fingerprints from the telephone and leaves. When his fingerprints are found on the gun case of the murder weapon he is accused of the murder.
#17 - The Case of the Gilded Lily
Season 1 - Episode 34 - Aired 5/24/1958
Enid Griffin, the secretary of Stewart Brent, attempts to commit suicide after learning her boss has married. Arthur Binney attempts to blackmail Stewart Brent with facts about his new wife having been in jail for fraud. When Stewart Brent goes to meet Arthur Binney at a motel for the payoff, he is knocked unconscious. He awakens to find Arthur Binney dead in the next room and admits he killed him when the motel manager walks in. Stewart Brent is accused of the murder.
#18 - The Case of the Negligent Nymph
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/7/1957
Perry Mason and Paul Drake are on a fishing trip when they spot a young woman named Sally Fenner being pursued by vicious guard dogs on an island estate. The only way Sally can avoid being chewed up by the dogs is to jump into the water and swim for it. Perry and Paul pull Sally out of the drink and Perry ends up defending her on a murder charge.
#19 - The Case of the Crimson Kiss
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/9/1957
Fay Allison is getting married in a few days to Dane Grover. Her roommate, Anita Bonsal, is having a clandestine affair with a married man, Carver Clement. When Aunt Louise arrives early the next morning to be with Fay, she finds Fay and Anita both appear to have been drugged. Louise calls her friend Perry Mason to help decide what to do. Perry and Della discover the key to another apartment in Fay's purse and go upstairs to investigate. They arrive to find Carver Clement dead in the apartment. Fay Allison is accused of the murder when the police find her fingerprints on a glass in the apartment.
#20 - The Case of the Sulky Girl
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/19/1957
Fran Celane feels her uncle, Edward Norton, is too restrictive as the executor of her father's spendthrift trust. He also wants her to wait 18 months until her 25th birthday before she gets married. Arthur Crinston, Edward Norton's attorney, arrives to meet with Mr. Norton but is told to return at 11pm. When he returns, they meet for a few minutes and as he is leaving, Mr. Norton asks him to take his secretary, Donald Graves, to pick up some papers. As they drive away, Mr. Graves looks back at the house and sees someone attack Edward Norton. They return to find Edward Norton dead and Rodney Gleason, Fran's fiance, is identified as the assailant. Rodney Gleason is accused of the murder.
#21 - The Case of the Demure Defendant
Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/4/1958
Nadine Marshall lives with her Uncle Martin and Captain Hugo. She comes home excited with the news of her engagement to John Locke. When she tells her Uncle Martin, he shows her some papers about her family which upset her. When Nadine visits John Locke, she takes some cyanide pills without John noticing. Later that evening Nadine makes her Uncle Martin's nightly hot chocolate and he dies shortly afterward. Nadine is accused of murder when she makes a taped confession that she killed her uncle.
#22 - The Case of the Fan-Dancer's Horse
Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/28/1957
Perry and Della witness an automobile accident which leads Perry to defend an exotic dancer charged with murder.
#23 - The Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/28/1957
Peter Cole is caught one night sleepwalking with a letter opener and standing over his wife's bed. His wife Doris is afraid and decides the next day to file for divorce. Exactly one year later, when the divorce is to be finalized, Frank Maddox, Peter's business partner, meets with Doris Cole. Together they arrange to force Peter Cole to pay Frank Maddox $500K to buy his share of the business or Doris will stop the divorce that Peter wants. That night Frank Maddox spends the night at Peter Cole's house and exchanges bedrooms with Phillip Kendall, Peter's stepbrother. The next morning Phillip Kendall is found dead in bed and Peter Cole is accused of murder due to his known sleepwalking.
#24 - The Case of the Baited Hook
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/21/1957
Robert Dawson confronts Albert Tydings, his partner, about $80K missing from Carol Stanley's trust account. Albert Tydings admits he embezzled the money and blackmails Robert Dawson to keep quiet or he will reveal some scandalous facts about Carol. Later, Carol calls and makes an appointment to meet Albert Tydings at his office to discuss the trust account. She arrives to find Albert Tydings dead. The next morning Perry goes to Albert Tydings' home and finds him there dead. Eventually the police determine Tydings body was moved from his office. The police accuse Carol Stanley when her car is reported seen at the office at the time he was murdered.
#25 - The Case of the Drowning Duck
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/12/1957
Donald Briggs is an unscrupulous private investigator hired by Clyde Waters to uncover information about Marv Adams, his daughter's fiance. Briggs learned that Marv Adams' father was Ben Devereaux who was convicted of murder 18 years ago. Donald Briggs is trying to blackmail Clyde Waters and Martha Norris in return for keeping silent about certain facts regarding the Devereaux case. The next evening Donald Briggs is found dead in his motel room and Marv Adams is accused of the murder because he had a fight with Donald Briggs the previous morning.