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Perry Mason
S9.E24
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IMDbPro

The Case of the Fanciful Frail

  • Episode aired Mar 27, 1966
  • 1h
IMDb RATING
7.9/10
286
YOUR RATING
Pippa Scott and Abigail Shelton in Perry Mason (1957)
CrimeDramaMystery

Ethel Andrews thinks she is about to be married but finds herself accused of stealing $50,000 from her company. On the run, she changes identities with another woman, who dies in an accident... Read allEthel Andrews thinks she is about to be married but finds herself accused of stealing $50,000 from her company. On the run, she changes identities with another woman, who dies in an accident. When Ethel's fiancé is killed, she is charged.Ethel Andrews thinks she is about to be married but finds herself accused of stealing $50,000 from her company. On the run, she changes identities with another woman, who dies in an accident. When Ethel's fiancé is killed, she is charged.

  • Director
    • Jesse Hibbs
  • Writers
    • Erle Stanley Gardner
    • Ernest Frankel
    • Orville H. Hampton
  • Stars
    • Raymond Burr
    • Barbara Hale
    • William Hopper
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.9/10
    286
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Jesse Hibbs
    • Writers
      • Erle Stanley Gardner
      • Ernest Frankel
      • Orville H. Hampton
    • Stars
      • Raymond Burr
      • Barbara Hale
      • William Hopper
    • 14User reviews
    • 1Critic review
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos14

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    Top cast24

    Edit
    Raymond Burr
    Raymond Burr
    • Perry Mason
    Barbara Hale
    Barbara Hale
    • Della Street
    William Hopper
    William Hopper
    • Paul Drake
    William Talman
    William Talman
    • Hamilton Burger
    Richard Anderson
    Richard Anderson
    • Lt. Steve Drumm
    Pippa Scott
    Pippa Scott
    • Ethel Andrews
    Barry Kelley
    Barry Kelley
    • Mr. Park Milgrave
    Arch Johnson
    Arch Johnson
    • Frank Carruthers
    Joan Huntington
    Joan Huntington
    • Althea Milgrave
    Coleen Gray
    Coleen Gray
    • Martha Erskine
    Abigail Shelton
    • Peggy Sutton
    John Rayner
    • Tierney
    Jack Betts
    Jack Betts
    • Bruce Strickland
    • (as Hunt Powers)
    Phil Arthur
    Phil Arthur
    • Pit Boss
    Henry Hunter
    Henry Hunter
    • Reverend Alford
    Vera Marshe
    Vera Marshe
    • Mrs. Alford
    Roy Engel
    Roy Engel
    • Detective
    S. John Launer
    S. John Launer
    • Judge
    • Director
      • Jesse Hibbs
    • Writers
      • Erle Stanley Gardner
      • Ernest Frankel
      • Orville H. Hampton
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews14

    7.9286
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    Featured reviews

    7dwhgzvsx

    Did this inspire David Lynch?

    I watched this episode today and it was so different from what I expect from Perry Mason that I had to look it up. I'm not a huge follower of the show but enjoy watching it with my elderly mother so maybe there are other episodes I just haven't seen before.

    I've never seen them use handheld cameras like they do here. Am I mistaken about that?

    Anyway, while watching I kept getting impressions of moments in David Lynch's movies and twin peaks. The whole random meeting and switching identities and tone of the entire episode of it being so ridiculous that even the characters can't believe it. It really makes me wonder is Lynch was a Perry Mason fan as a kid.
    Justandyandme

    Just who REALLY are the stars here?

    For the most of Perry Mason's nine-season run, the series is punctuated by a vast collection of famous TV stars from the start in 1957. Their faces pop out at boomer viewers and cause us to remember and say : "Hey...he was on so-and-so as __________ ", or " She played a great witchy character in _________ ". But towards the end of the series run, it becomes very obvious to me that the stars get somewhat upstaged by "automobile counterparts", if you will. For me, as well as perhaps millions of auto buffs, the " CARS ARE THE STARS " in numerous episodes of this last season of Perry Mason. This episode, "The Case of the Fanciful Frail", from 1966, epitomizes this concept perfectly. Younger viewers may also notice this as self-serving commercialism at a glance and come to appreciate it as a kink in television history as well.

    Raymond Burr always appears in a top-of-the-line , brand new convertible (or retractable hardtop). He seemed to get a new car every year. Their use conveyed his character and successful career in the series. Yet, on the other hand, the cars used in this production, almost seem to steal the camera (and perhaps some of the limelight from supporting cast.) The camera seems to dwell at times on the action of the sheet metal, instead of the actors, as it makes it's sometimes graceful way and sometimes dramatic way across the little screen in numerous scenes here and there again. Thus, it's not rocket science to figure out that one or another of the Detroit " Big 3 " sponsored Perry Mason at one time or another. Their sponsorship influence upon the screen play is obvious and cannot be overstated : to promote a popular consumerism with their product viewed fashionably and favorably. One can pick up on this easily, in "The Case of the Fanciful Frail".

    I'm not spoiling it for you !

    You tell me who was the commercial sponsor of Perry Mason at this particular point in time, or any of numerous other points in time, of this fabulous, behind-the-scenes, television history.

    It only takes a glance.
    5live-and-let-live

    If You Can Firgure This Out...

    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...".
    7kfo9494

    A strange series of events lead to a woman charged with murder

    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.
    9bdosher-56652

    Answer to, just who really are the stars here

    Actually in the 50s Ford was a sponsor, he usually drove dark Ford convertibles, but once in a while he would be in black Cadillac Convertibles. I found out that the sponsor was not always Ford, and when GM was a sponsor he was in a Cadillac. In fall of 60 he started driving the new Lincoln Continental Convertible that had just came out. But by 65-66 he was in Cadillacs again. Also all through most of the 60s when he was in Continentals, and Ford was a sponsor, someone important to the story was usually driving a Buick Electra or Wildcat . Sometimes in the last year of the show, the police were driving AMC cars.

    Related interests

    James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Sharon Angela, Max Casella, Dan Grimaldi, Joe Perrino, Donna Pescow, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Tony Sirico, and Michael Drayer in The Sopranos (1999)
    Crime
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway in Chinatown (1974)
    Mystery

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The last episode broadcast to have been based on a novel by Erle Stanley Gardner.
    • Goofs
      When Bruce Strickland is shot, the gun shown is a revolver with a silencer attached, and the sound of the shots is quite low. However, silencers are not effective with revolvers, as the sound escapes from the cylinder too, not just the barrel.
    • Quotes

      Bruce Strickland: Mr. Mason, I don't know how much you know about women.

      Perry Mason: As much as any man... nothing.

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 27, 1966 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Filming locations
      • Saint James' Episcopal Church - 3903 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA
    • Production companies
      • CBS Television Network
      • Paisano Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h(60 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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