Perry Mason The Case of the Flighty Father (1957–1966) Online

The final episode of season three ends with a bang as we get one of the series most interesting case. It's a plot that is seldom used but fits well during the course of the show.

The episode begins as we see Trudy Holbrook at the funeral of her mother. Trudy was the only child of the well-to-do Holbrook family and is set to inherit millions of dollars. Her father ran off when she was young and she only has her blind uncle, Lawrence King, to take care of her affairs.

However after the funeral a man approaches Trudy advising that he is her father, Jay Holbrook. And with nothing but his word Trudy accepts him as the lost father that she never had during her childhood.

The only person that can identify Jay Holbrook is the blind Uncle King. However he has reservations and hires a detective to make sure of the claim.

The detective finds another person claiming to be Jay Holbrook, the lost father of Trudy. This sets off a story in the local papers as we see headlines with both pictures which all directs right back at Trudy.

Trudy goes to see her Uncle King and an argument occurs. Moments later Uncle King is found dead and the main suspect is Trudy Holbrook. Both men claiming to be Jay Holbrook pay a visit to Perry's office wanting him to represent her in court. Perry must not only find the true murderer but also which man is the real Jay Holbrook.

Interesting story with some good courtroom scenes. Perry is at the top of his game as he examines witness after witness in order to get to the truth. - You know it is a good show when the hour passes in a flash.

Okay, this is Perry Mason, I grew up with this show, I know what the deal is. And it's got a lot going for it, as the cast was hitting its stride and really inhabiting the characters.

Of course, this is the sort of gritty, realistic...wait a minute, this is yet another darling, totally imaginary story where everyone is filthy with the stuff, except those who want it. Our defendant/heroine/nutjob is "Trudy," whose mom has died, leaving only $10,000,000 for Trudy who must now somehow eke out a living... Out of the past her alleged long-lost "father" appears from the mist, doubtless to help the poor flibbertigibbet "manage" her windfall whilst reestablishing the paternal bond.

Trudy accepts the guy immediately as her father without question, despite the dubious timing of his appearance. Her uncle Lawrence is not quite so gullible as Trudy, and he locates another pretender to the throne. Then, yada-yada-yada, Trudy gets charged with killing old uncle Lawrence, who either was a sweet old codger who doted on Trudy day and night or a nasty, duplicitous villain, I never did figure out which. Oh, and he was blind, which is a fact vital to keeping this rather creaky plot on its feet.

Okay, you know how you usually like the defendant, who you know is innocent and, just as usually, being outrageously tormented? Well, Trudy is someone I would've cheerfully seen convicted, innocent or not. This gal is dumb, dumb, dumb, and worse, prone to screaming and tears. A paper cut would put this lady down for a year. And, really, her acquittal is just a stay of execution, because I didn't see her lasting out the year before screwing up enough to get herself killed. Hell, five minutes of her and I'd have shot her.

But, in the world of impossibly wealthy beautiful people and unlikely plot twists that Perry inhabits, this is otherwise no better and no worse than the average Mason episode, meaning it's a treat. I remember when this show was running for the first time. I remember, too, that no one took TV seriously, we knew cops didn't really act like Joe Friday, and "gunslingers" weren't shooting it out in seemingly every town west of the Mississippi on a daily basis, and that blackmailers and B-girls were far less ubiquitous than the idiot box would have us believe. But it was a pretty good time to grow up.

**SPOILERS** See this episode for yourself before you read further. Trudy Holbrook's mom croaks and she's now worth $10 mil. So-called dad shows up to "protect" her, angry family members feud and squabble, creepy, sneaky, conniving cousin Lawrence fuels the fire by throwing in a phony ringer, winds up dead. Good riddance, but Trudy is later charged.

"Evanston" shows up at crime scene in a '58 Chrysler Imperial, Paul catches him in a lie about where he was. Perry's driving a '58 Fairlane (way down from a Cadillac Eldorado). Tragg tells Paul THEY'LL handle the detective work, Paul shows him the mileage. Evanston says in court he can tell it's Trudy he's following when she drives through a lighted intersection; From behind?? Oh Yeah?? Chauffeur says he sees Trudy getting up into 3rd gear before she hits the end of the driveway at the mansion. The driveway isn't that long, what is SHE doing driving a standard shift Ford? 3rd gear is obvious lie.

Trudy is overemotional, temperamental. Chauffeur "David" is on Evanston's payroll. Goofy looking "constable" shows up in court, offers fingerprint evidence; Perry sees problem, sorts out I.D's of "Fathers"; #1 is true Pop. He nails the killer, slippery, slimy snake.

Again, it would have been much more professional to have beautiful Della taking notes in every meeting Perry has. Has anyone calculated how many characters in this series have surnames of cities? Good plot, good action, great acting, Interesting show. Kudos on acting talent, as usual.

***SPOILERS*** Very Straaaange and unusual Perry Mason, Raymond Burr, episode that has two persons Hayden Rorke & Francis De Sales playing the same role as the father of the just orphaned 18 year old Trudy Holbrook's, Anne Benton, long lost and given up for dead papa Mr. Jay Holbrook who dropped out of sight right after Trudy was born. You suspect that with Trudy to inherit her late mom Louise 10 million dollar fortune her dad, if he's in fact alive, will come out of the woodwork and claim to be her daddy. But two daddy's of the same daughter that's a bit too much for me or anyone watching to take. It's Trudy's cousin Larry, Francis X. Bushman, who knows for sure which of the two persons who claim to be her father really is. But he's been blind for some five years which makes his task of identifying him that much more difficult. Diffacult or not before you know it Uncle Larry is found dead with his skull beaten in with a fire place poker! And just guess what it's Trudy, who was seen running from the murder site, who the #1 suspect in his murder! And it's non other then defense attorney Perry Mason a friend of the Holbrook Family who's to defend Trudy in her upcoming murder trial. A trial that brings out so many skeletons from the Holbrook Family's closet that they can fill the entire living or dying space of the vast Arlington Cemetery. ****SPOILERS**** The first matter of business for Perry Mason is not to find who murdered Larry but which of the two Jay Holbrook's is really his client Trudy's dad. With that cleared up Perry can then uncover who murdered Uncel Larry in order to blackmail, with evidence from Uncel Larry's wall safe, one or both of them in the crimes that they possibly committed. that while the two were on the lamb for the last 18 years since they checked out of sight after Trudy was born. The two papa's had to have shady pasts since why did they go into hiding all these years! And it's Uncle Larry who's been behind this disappearance act on their part in not only knowing what the Holbrook's both #1 & #2 have been keeping secret all these years but which of the two is really Trudy's father! Well as suspect it was money all right that motivated Uncle Larry's murderer but, the murder, wasn't meant to be so. It was just that Uncel Larry just happened to show up in his study as his killer was ransacking his safe looking for the papers that can prove which is which, in who the two Holbrooks really are, and what crimes that they, one or the other, committed that sealed the blind guys fate.

One of the better Mason episodes. Jackson Gillis, a very active tv script writer is credited with this one, and 32 other Mason episodes. It is possible that Gillis is one of the reasons there were so many great scripts on this show, besides creator Erle. One of the reasons this series was so strong was the writing. Gillis even did some quality work on Lost In Space, along with many other series. In this case, a couple of uncredited writers helped Gillis.

The mystery of the plot is very well executed. First there is a funeral, then there is a murder. There are more than 1 death per episode in a lot of Mason episodes, and Perry and Paul Drake find more victims than any other people. This one is more than a little twisted with the possible finding of a lost father put in to add more excitement to the mix. Why is Trudy so accepting? Is it because she never had a father or does she know something we eventually find out?