The Case of the Fatal Fortune

This episode is one of my favorites. There is a charming, believable and palpable chemistry between Julie Adams and Jessie White. I love all the scenes with them. Both very underrated actors. Adams has never been sexier and White gives the surprise performance of his life, I think. I wished I had seen him in more lead roles on TV. He proves he had the acting chops to handle such roles as does Adams. It's sweet she takes a liking to an older man. Their banter is fun, real. I found the script pretty good for season ten. The first time I saw this I thought it was in one of the earlier seasons. I found myself surprised at the collusion at the end of the show. They had me fooled. Perry, Della and Paul Drake were at there usual best and I also like Richard Anderson as well. I have no complaints about this episode. A great night in TV.

This episode of Perry Mason finds him defending Julie Adams a young second and trophy wife for Jesse White. She was his secretary, but on the grounds of having her fortune told by an astrologer she marries White. Then White winds up very dead from someone tampering with his digitalis. As Mason was White's lawyer she inherits him as an attorney and of course that's a good thing.

I found this episode to be way too much of a reach and way too coincidental. This was the ninth season of Perry Mason and the writers were straining to find original stories that were plausible. This one just doesn't work.

I found this episode to be quite entertaining. The story was like many others but the way the show ended and the good casting of the actors made the show seem fresh.

It starts out as Patricia Kean (Julie Adams) goes to see a fortune teller. Pat was going for a laugh but when the predictions starting becoming true, no one could deny that something strange was going on. The fortune teller Marius Stone (James Lamphier) tells Pat that she will get a promotion, then marry an older gentleman, then become a widow before marring her prince charming.

All this is funny to Pat until the next day when her boss Max Armstead (Jesse White) tells her that she is promoted to head of marketing. And with her boss having a heart condition, he ask one more time if she will marry him. Feeling pity for the older man she agrees to marry the older man just to make him happy.

In the mean time she has met a young good-looking guy named Gordon Evans (Lee Phillips). She tells him that he is marring old man Armstead but he says that he will wait for her. This all was forecast by the fortune teller at the beginning of the show.

When old man Armstead gets a letter saying that his new wife is seeing another man he gets upset. Perry goes to see him and his last words, before falling down the stairs, were 'she poisoned me'.

Pat now goes on trial for the murder of her new husband. Most people are under the impression that she married the old man for the money then killed him to get to Gordon Evans, her prince charming. But Perry is not buying all this fortune telling stuff and will try to produce the real murderer in court.

Even though this plot has been played many times in Perry episodes, this story comes across as an interesting watch. The actors really help the story. Julie Adams is terrific as the defendant and Lee Phillips does a good job trying to woo her. James Lamphier was a perfect cast as the spooky fortune teller that was just a little to perfect in his prediction for Perry.

And even William Talman as Hamilton Burger has some nice moments. At one point in the trial gets carried away with his examination that he keeps talking over Perry's objection.

And with the court ending, that is different than most, the case comes to a close with more than one person seeing the insides of LA county jail.

This episode is a nice watch for all Perry Mason fans.

Always thought the final season was kind of a bridge to experimental scripts, with all sorts of different angles for a whodunit, and some really offbeat stuff. As usual, there's a fairly good cast to match.

As the last reviewer noted, you can't miss with the likes of Julie Adams in the lead, playing a young woman (Pat) who has caught the eye of her wealthy boss, played by comedian Jesse White. Interesting to see White cast here, but he's very convincing.

Here's the nifty catch. A fortune teller(?) enters the picture and fortells DOOM for their marriage. Jesse, a much older man, keels over -- and Pat is the prime suspect. Also doesn't help her case any that she's been keeping company with a younger man?

The password is POISON. Ford Rainey is right at home as the "dead serious" medical examiner.

Any story with a mysterious fortune teller, a bit of the macabre thrown in, always an audience pleaser. Credit William Bast, who wrote four episodes for the final season. Bast later wrote one of the more notable tv movies of the 70s, THE LEGEND OF LIZZIE BORDEN, starring Elizabeth Montgomery.

Look for Belle Mitchell playing the gypsy. She specialized (in a career going back to silent films) in these types of roles and was great. To her credit, she appeared in horror classics like, HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN.

Not to be missed, perfect for a late night snack. SEASON 9 CBS remastered dvd box set. Volumes 1 and 2. Thanks always to METV for running these oldies twice daily.

This is a plot that has been done a million times -- and is thereby far too predictable. The older, rich, irascible businessman (usually with a bad heart or other dire medical issue), the young, vibrant wife, suitors, disinherited offspring, the works. Of course, the police bother to look no further than the first in line to inherit and take for fact the words of a dying man seemingly without investigation.

The writers were definitely at a loss for original material at this point, and it shows. These late episodes seemed more like filler than actually trying to keep the audience entertained. I think the writing was on the wall, and everyone was just tired and waiting for the other shoe to drop. Eventually, it did...