Wed 2 Sep 2020
The video below was filmed in 1956 and consists of several actors playing the roles of Perry Mason, Hamilton Burger, Della Street and Lt. Tragg while auditioning for the parts. I found it very interesting.
Wed 2 Sep 2020
The video below was filmed in 1956 and consists of several actors playing the roles of Perry Mason, Hamilton Burger, Della Street and Lt. Tragg while auditioning for the parts. I found it very interesting.
September 2nd, 2020 at 7:00 am
Those were fun, especially seeing William Hopper as Mason. But the other Dellas were awful.
September 2nd, 2020 at 9:37 am
No disagreement from me. I especially liked the first segment, with Burr playing Hamilton Burger and some other actor playing Mason. I recognized the other actor, but not by name. Doesn’t matter. Burr simply overpowered him, and the show wasn’t called HAMILTON BURGER.
September 2nd, 2020 at 12:31 pm
That was Tod Andrews as Mason in the Burr/Burger test.
I saw him just last night in the final Twilight Zone on MeTV: he was the uptight Dad to Dee Hartford’s uptight Mom in “The Bewitchin’ Pool”.
That was a typical role for Tod Andrews:
He was also in Beneath The Planet Of The Apes movies, as the astronaut who got killed, leaving Jim Franciscus in the lead.
And in the TV-movie The President’s Plane Is Missing, he was the Missing President.
Actually, that was Tod Andrews’s specialty: he was the guy who got dusted in Act I, and the stars had to figure out Who Done Him.
Why he’s in the Mason tests:
He’s a placeholder: CBS was still chasing Fred MacMurray for Perry, and somebody needed to be there to do the lines for Ray Burr.
(I’ll make the guess here that you might see him in Bill Talman’s Burger test as well – unless I’m wrong …)
That’s why there are all those Dellas in the other tests: Apparently Barbara Hale hadn’t signed up yet, and somebody had to fill the space.
I believe we may also infer that Ray Collins was one of the first hires made by Paisano Productions for the series; personally, I’ve always thought that he put them in mind of Erle Stanley Gardner with his Tragg delivery (unless, of course, I’m wrong here, too …).
September 2nd, 2020 at 1:24 pm
I would never have come up with Tod Andrews’ name on my own, Mike. Thanks! Now that I know who he is, it’s a lot easier to place where else I’ve seen him, including the leading role of Major Mosby in THE GRAY GHOST. As for the various Della’s, you can tell they were still waiting for Barbara Hale, whether they knew it or not.