Tue 21 Feb 2023
A TV Episode Review: THE NEW PERRY MASON “The Case of the Wistful Widower†(1973).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[10] Comments
THE NEW PERRY MASON. “The Case of the Wistful Widower.†CBS, 07 October 1973 (Season 1, Episode 4.) Monte Markham (Perry Mason), Harry Guardino (Hamilton Burger), Sharon Acker (Della Street), Albert Stratton (Paul Drake), Dane Clark (Lt. Arthur Tragg). Guest Cast: Jacqueline Scott, Bruce Kirby, Donnelly Rhodes. Screenplay: Ernie Frankel & Orville H. Hampton), based on the characters created by Erle Stanley Gardner. Director: Leo Penn. Currently available on YouTube.
When a milquetoast of a middle-aged yacht broker discovers that the girl he is about to marry has apparently absconded with $30,000 in cash meant to complete a sales transaction, he is convinced by a fast talking new acquaintance to switch identities with him. Duh. What he doesn’t know is that a hit man is on the trail of this so-called friend, and wow, does the case take off from there.
There is a blown-up car with a body inside, a scattering of ashes over the sea, a stash of counterfeit money, or is it, a kidnapping at gun point, and yes, of course, a murder, and Perry’s client goes on trial for the deed.
Even Perry Mason, whom he finally goes to for help, calls this the most confusing case he’s ever had. I gave up about half way through and decided to simply go along for a ride. It may even be more complicated than any of Erle Stanley Gardner’s own, and that’s saying a lot.
This new series followed seven years after the original one ended, the one starring Raymond Burr, and it may have been a case of far too soon. These new upstarts couldn’t hope to compete with memories of the original cast, and the new series was cancelled halfway through a single season. Monte Markham was OK, but he was no Raymond Burr, and neither the new Della nor the all-but-invisible Paul Drake make any impression at all.
February 21st, 2023 at 11:53 pm
A Minority Report (sort of):
– The Case of The Foot-Loose Doll (1959, from the same-named Erle Stanley Gardner novel); teleplay by Jonathan Latimer.
– The Case Of The Fanciful Frail (1966, ‘repurposed’ from the above episode, credited as such in the opening titles); teleplay by Ernest Frankel and Orville H. Hampton (op cit.).
As a youngish fellow in ’73, I’d happened to see the earlier episodes in syndie repeats on Channel 9 here in Chicago, not too long before CBS presented this gender-switched rewrite on the date noted.
As a Mason buff of fairly recent standing, I was aware of the earlier series’s penchant for recycling old shows into new ones, especially in the later seasons; that Frankel and Hampton, who were the script bosses in Mason 1.0‘s final season, would adopt the practice when engaged to do the same job on Mason 2.0, surprised me not at all.
I guess I have a low bar …
Maybe CBS and Paisano Productions needed a few more years before they tried a “reboot” (God, I hate those words!) …
I will observe here that Bruce Kirby was a bit of a comedown from Ruta Lee (Foot-Loose Doll) and Pippa Scott (Fanciful Frail), but that’s another story (or three …).
February 22nd, 2023 at 12:16 am
Obviously, to sum it up, there was nothing left in the gas tank at all when it came down to writing shows in this new series. They were working on fumes, and third hand fumes at that.
February 22nd, 2023 at 1:49 am
Fairness requires me to state that New Perry Mason didn’t use too many retreads (certainly no more than the original series did in the ’60s).
I managed to find some c2cs on bootleg DVDs, and a few of them are “new” enough, I guess …
February 22nd, 2023 at 9:09 am
My problem was, I never could stand Monte Markham, who was smug and smarmy most of the time.
February 22nd, 2023 at 12:17 pm
My problem was the hell with the reboot. The initial Perry Mason series worked because of the cast, which is not just excellent but chemically combined. The two Bills, Barbara, and Raymond were the New York Yankees of the Mantle era. Nothing to do with stories, original or recycled. They were friends, on-screen and off, and that resonated.
February 22nd, 2023 at 6:08 pm
I would have preferred Guardino and Clark as Mason and Drake to the rather colorless Markham and Stratton.
This wasn’t terrible, it was just mundane, Markham okay as a lead, but lacking the kind of weight as a lead to carry off Perry Mason.
February 22nd, 2023 at 7:27 pm
Just to further complicate things:
When CBS announced The New Perry Mason as a fall ’73 entry, they made a Big Deal about how they were going to sign a Major Name Star for the Mason role; several well-known names were mentioned in the stories that appeared.
The one I seemed to remember as being the front-runner was Leslie Nielsen; one friend of mine from work was convinced that this choice was a lock.
Well, as we all know, that didn’t happen.
Sometimes, though, I wonder – What If?
(Remember – this was long before the Zuckers discovered Nielsen for comedy.)
It is something to think about …
February 22nd, 2023 at 7:44 pm
Leslie Nielsen? From my point of view, no NOT at all! Even before comedy.
February 22nd, 2023 at 7:59 pm
Leslie was not a major star prior to comedy, in any case, and Steve, I am with you 100 percent.
February 22nd, 2023 at 8:15 pm
For those of you still reading these comments, here’s another episode of the reboot on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N22K3k5g1Q