Perry Mason began his literary life in the mind of writer Erle Stanley Gardner. Gardner worked his way up from a typist in a California law firm to a lawyer, admitted to the California bar in 1911. This is an accomplishment considering that Gardner typed with two fingers. Also, a law school in Indiana booted him out after a month.
In 1921, Gardner joined a Ventura, California, law firm where he worked until 1933. He had a reputation for taking cases that no one wanted, defending people who couldn’t afford to pay. He didn’t have to show up in court until ten in the morning, so he stayed up late writing.
His first story “The Police of the House,” appeared in Breezy Stories, a pulp magazine, in June 1921. In November 1932, a series of short novels appeared in Black Mask magazine. The series featured a young lawyer named Ken Corning. Corning fought against a corrupt establishment to win the freedom of his clients. Critics call Corning the archetype for Perry Mason.
In 1933, Perry Mason emerged in the “Case of the Velvet Claws,” a book that introduced Della Street, his secretary. Paul Drake made his debut as well. Drake, a private investigator, tried to date any woman who drifted into the story. The three became a franchise immediately when the book “The Case of the Howling Dog” became a movie in 1934. It was the first of six movies made from a Perry Mason book in the 1930s.
In 1943, CBS Radio picked up the Perry Mason franchise for a fifteen minute broadcast. Read by radio actors, the serial continued until 1955. The weekday serial produced three thousand episodes, now available on podcasts.
Creative differences halted the first try to take Perry Mason to television. Gardner refused to allow Mason to take up with a girlfriend. Procter & Gamble hired writing staff from Perry Mason, putting them to work on The Edge of Night. Produced as a soap opera, the Edge of Night looked like a Perry Mason show. It only lacked the character of Perry Mason.
Perry Mason made it to television in 1957, starring Raymond Burr as Perry Mason. Barbara Hale performed as Della Street, confidential secretary. The black-and-white television show thrived in the ratings and won many awards.
Fun facts: in the final episode in 1966, Erle Stanley Gardner appeared as a judge. A Netflix poll taken in 2014 ranked Raymond Burr as the favorite actor of the Netflix audience.
Other adaptations of the Perry Mason character include a short lived run comic strip which ran from from October 16, 1950 to June 21, 1952.
The Perry Mason franchise made a successful run in the made-for-television format. Thirty movies produced from 1985 to 1995 kept Mason in the minds of true crime fans. The black-and-white television series never went out of syndication. Then, the era of live streaming and binge watching arrived.
Perry Mason, produced by HBO, alters the classic Mason formula to stunning effect. Directed by Tim Van Patten, the series explores the character of Mason, seeking for his origin. The story travels with Mason to the battlefields of Europe. The camera shows the hero carrying pails of milk. With Matthew Rhys wearing the fedora of Perry Mason, Mason explores L.A. as Hollywood made Americans forget about the Depression.
The reboot explores a case in exquisite detail over eight episodes. Optimized for binge watching, the production values could not be higher. The effort to recreate the milieu of Los Angeles in the 1930s has spared no expense. What would Gardner ask if he read the HBO scripts? “Wait, Perry Mason married and divorced?” Perry Mason has come a long way from Gardner’s manual typewriter.
Here is the HBO trailer for Perry Mason starring Emmy winner Matthew Rhys:
Vincent Salera
Founder @ World's Best Story™ amplifier of creativity & fun!
