The Case of the Fanciful Frail

To try to give the viewers a different kind of mystery, the writers went to the bizarre as we get a story that is as wacky as they come.

Ethel Andrews is a secretary in a financial company that is set to marry a co-worker named Bruce Strickland. The day before the wedding, Bruce skips town and they find out that $50,000 is missing from the company by authorization of Ethel. Ethel is so distraught that she gets into her car and starts riding.

Meanwhile another woman named Peggy Sutton gets a call advising that a mob hit from Chicago is out for her. She has no other option but to clear town as soon as possible. Peggy gets into her car and starts riding for the Mexican border.

Now comes the part that seems odd. The two women, by chance, meet up at a coffee shop and decide to change identity for a week. So they change ID's and vehicles then set off in different directions.

Ethel then finds over $50,000 in the trunk of Peggy's car and then changes direction to head back in Peggy's direction. Down the road there is a serious wreck and it just so happens Peggy Sutton has been killed. Ethel then takes the entire situation to Perry for advise.

When even more strange things happen, even Perry has a hard time believing Ethel's story. When Bruce Strickland is found dead. Ethel is charged with the murder and Perry is reluctant to defend Ethel. We can only hope that in the courtroom things become more clear.

This is so bizarre that you just have to watch till the end. If you can take all the odd situations then this is not a bad show. Perry will have to clear the heavy fog in order to get his client off on this strange case.

It's taken me several viewings to figure out the link between the characters played by Jack Betts and Barry Kelley. Only thing, to me, which could bridge the two seemingly unrelated crimes is a case of mistaken identity, and mistaken by more than one person! Otherwise, the episode itself is too fanciful for belief.

One thing about these last shows from Season Nine which I really love is the producer's fairness in picking out the automobiles shown in each weekly show. Most producers stuck with the Big Three - Ford, Plymouth and Chevrolet - in their choice of autos, although "My Three Sons" featured cars from the Pontiac Division of General Motors. "Perry Mason" acknowledged the existence of the #4 automaker in the United States - American Motors. The last nine or ten episodes of the series very prominently showcased the 1965 Rambler Ambassador 990 4DR sedans as police cars (I know the model, my parents' family car for eight years was the identical car - it was indestructible!) This wasn't artifice, by the way; a LOT of local, county and state police entities bought the Rambler for its economy of use and its durability. Nice to see these cars featured here.

Not really a surprise, as the series ALWAYS featured interesting cars.

Then you are either a genius or crazy!

It's like they took twenty plot lines, threw them out onto a table and said, "Pick ten, splice 'em together and We got us a show...".

A plot too convoluted for its own good and a lead character that's truly impossible to believe characterize this Perry Mason episode. How could anyone like Pippa Scott get herself in the potential jackpot she's in.

Pippa who's a rather shy girl works in a brokerage house and her fiancé not only leaves her at the altar, but holding an empty bag where $50,000.00 from her firm is supposed to be. She takes it on the lam to get clear of the law and find her missing man.

And then she runs into Abigail Shelton who suggests they switch identities since they do have something of a physical resemblance to her. Shelton also has money and man troubles. But Shelton is killed in a car crash and buried with Pippa's identity.

So Pippa comes to Raymond Burr with this rather tall tale which he and everyone else is having trouble with. Sad to say including the audience.

I'm baffled as to how Peggy Sutton came by the $51,000 in counterfeit money in the first place. So, she somehow stole it from the mob, who was laundering it for Ethel's boss? @_@ Then she immediately demonstrated more of her bad driving/judgement by crashing Ethel's car, getting burnt beyond recognition?

Peggy had a horrible gambling habit and supposedly was just cut off by her rich stepfather. So, where did that cash come from?

Was she laundering counterfeit money for the mob? Why did she look so blissfully happy in the opening scene, smoking in bed without a care in the world?