User Reviews

Fran Celane's father left her a substantial trust fund. However, fearing she was a too immature young woman to handle such a large fortune, he made her uncle the trustee of the fund until she turned 25. The uncle is a controlling and rather nasty man and refuses Fran any access to the fund before her 25th birthday which is 18 months away. She goes to Mason asking him to break the trust age requirement. Upon investigating, Mason quickly discovers Fran is married and is expecting a baby. When the uncle is found murdered, Fran's husband is arrested for the murder. Mason's unraveling of the crime is really a nifty bit of detective work - the culprit was clever but not clever enough. As often happens in the early episodes, Lt. Tragg gets some of the best lines. Tragg tells Drake that he may be called as a witness for the prosecution, a possibility that understandably upsets Paul. Tragg then tells Paul "If I were you I'd get me some good legal advice." And then with an impish grin he adds "Would you like me to recommend a good lawyer?" There are a couple of interesting things about this episode. One is when Mason and Drake meet in Drake's office. There prominently displayed on Drake's desk is a framed Dick Tracy comic strip panel. Wonder what the story behind that is. Also, this is the first of 17 episodes in which Connie Cezon appears as Mason's reception, Gertie. Lillian Bronson does a nice job playing the housekeeper who raised Fran. Bronson later frequently appeared as a judge in the series. Another solid episode.

**SPOILERS** I liked this episode, but a couple of things make me think. One is the reason why the uncle was so mean to his niece; what's the point? Also, did she forget the rules of her inheritance? This is one of several shows where a young girl is "in love" and just can't possibly wait any longer for a guardian (or future dead guy's), permission to move forward with her life.

Later, Hamilton and Tragg were staging the experiment to find out if Graves could I.D. the person silhouetted behind the drawn shade. This is ridiculous. The whole thing would have been thrown out of court for being inconclusive. As for the "Voice Experiment" that Perry had Graves unwillingly participate in; it was equally unproductive. Any good opposing lawyer could cast doubt on either result. Perry, however, pressured Graves into admitting (on the stand, under oath), that he had participated in the murder as an accessory.

Crinston neither said or agreed to being called a murderer; he just wiped his face with his hand. For purposes of the episode, however, enough doubt had been cast on the prosecution's case to call for a dismissal for lack of real evidence. If he later denied what Graves had said - and with an attorney's advice, who wouldn't? - Graves would probably have been the most likely suspect. The protective old gal was of no real use with her "God is on my side" baloney, and inconveniently being in the pantry for a cup of tea when crucial observation was important.

When Burger and Tragg were doing their shade experiment, Hamilton drove off in a tacky looking Ford Fairlane with fender skirts (try changing a flat with them on), while Paul had a sweet '57 T-Bird. After the situation was well in hand, they are meeting in Gleason's studio. Gleason is doing what looks like a charcoal sketch of Della. Why the result wasn't shown is another mystery. Barbara Hale had the looks that artists loved (the rest of us, too). She had been a model before in her life, and she would have been a perfect subject. I'm reviewing this off METV, I'll probably pull it out of my collection, and watch the whole episode again, to be sure. Right now, though, I like where it sits.

***SPOILERS**** It's when spoiled rambunctious and out of control youth Fran Celane's', Olive Sturgess, nasty and greedy uncle Edward Norton, no not that guy who works for the NYC Department of Sewers, played by Raymond Greenleaf gets his skull bashed in with an ashtray that Fran's boyfriend, who turned out to be secretly married to her, Rod Gleason, no relations to the "Great One" himself as far as I could tell, is arrested for Uncle Ed's murder. Rod was seen snooping around the house by housemaid Clara Mayfield, Lillian Bronson, just before Uncle Ed got his brains bashed in who reluctantly, in her having no use for Uncle Ed herself, testified to that in court. But as we and Perry Mason, Raymond Burr, Rod's attorney soon found out there was a lot more to Uncle Ed's murder then what meets both the eye as well as ear!

It was Uncle Ed himself who called the police just moments before he was murdered saying that his niece Fran was out to get or kill him. As it later turned out it wasn't Fran who did the guy in but, in him being the #1 suspect in Uncle Ed's murder, it was her husband that out of work T-shirt clad and beatnik-like artist Rod Gleason who was arrested for Uncel Ed's murder!

***MAJOR SPOILER***It was in fact the butler Donald Graves, William Schallert, who claimed that he in fact saw, Uncle Ed's murder, the whole thing just as it happened live and in living color. But as Perry later proved that Graves was really full of it and not only that he not Uncle Ed was the one who screamed bloody murder when Uncle Ed got it. What really came out in the wash or cross-examination is what were the true reasons behind Uncle Ed's murder and It had really nothing to do with his niece Fran and her husband Rod Gleason. It had to do with money that was being embezzled from Uncle Ed's stock market portfolios by someone dear and near to him. About to call the police Uncle Ed got brained by his attacker who had Rod, who at he time was in the kitchen looking for a free meal,take the rap for it!

***MORE MAJOR SPOILERS****As for the wimpy and scared of his own shadow butler of the house Donald Graves he got himself sucked into the crime in him being promised of getting a piece of the action or money from Uncle Ed's stock portfolios by looking the other way and imitating Uncle Ed's voice after Uncle Ed was already dead! It was when Perry forced Graves to do the same thing, using his real voice, that in the end tripped him up. And at the same time had Graves, not wanting to be the fall guy in a crime that the didn't commit, finger Uncle Ed's murderer!