The Case of the Fickle Filly

In this Perry Mason episode it's all about a horse named Tiger Lil. She's a promising filly and the special pride and pet for Joan Freeman. When her father dies the estate is in bad shape and the executor her uncle Bartlett Robinson sells the filly to a nasty Simon Legree like character played by Robert Quon.

Freeman goes to retrieve Tiger Lil and does, but Quon winds up dead and she's looking good for the homicide. At least Hamilton Burger thinks so. But he's always wrong.

A couple familiar character players Strother Martin and Jim Davis are in this one as Tiger Lil's trainer and a rival trainer. As it turns out Quon was one all around rat and the one who knew that best is the one who kills him.

Nicely done story and one hopes the court shows mercy on the real murderer when that case comes up.

Mason is defending a woman (Joan Freeman) who is technically a minor (coulda fooled me; if she's a minor she's what they used to call jailbait) accused of thrusting a man through with a piece of farm equipment they call a spreader but we used to call a seed fork. Ouch.

Freeman is incredible in this episode. Very beautiful and wearing trousers that might have been painted on. They leave little to the imagination from the rear. And they say men don't notice women's clothes.

Lifelong supporting actor Strother Martin, one of those bit players some of us always looked forward to seeing, has a small role as a shady stable hand.

Otherwise, if (like me) you have no horse-sense (meaning you know nothing about equine mammals or racing) this episode may be hard to grasp.

Once again an attractive young woman finds herself in big trouble for supposedly driving a pitchfork through a guy's chest. It's all about a horse, an estate left in disrepair, and a creep who ends up dead. There's just no spark to this episode; it's so like all the others. The ending is also just so sweet and contrived.

Great episode though this same premise was used in an earlier season. A girl's horse is sold and she tries to get it back, etc. The thing that is starting to make this series infuriating is Burger's attitude and incompetence. He tries to yell, threaten, and badger every single person he cross-examines. He is rude and smarmy even to the judge. And his record as a lawyer is of a person who prosecutes people on the most obvious evidence and then tries to obstruct Perry when he tries to get at the truth. Some prosecutors have a habit of just wanting to win regardless if they have the right person. Though Burger makes halfhearted claims to care about justice, his behavior completely contradicts this. He should have received multiple contempt charges, but he somehow manages to slide by even when he is rude and questions the judges' decisions! He is supposed to represent the people, but he treats everyone like crap even the family members of victims! It is getting more and more maddening to watch his behavior get worse and worse. Seems like he resents Perry's masculinity. If you watch his body language, Burger walks on his toes around the courtroom flailing his arms like a performer at a drag show. I think he may have some unanswered questions about himself that make him such a jerk.

Young Jennifer Wakley owns a up-and-coming race horse called Tiger Lil. During a barn fire Jennifer's father dies of a heart-attack and her uncle is the executor of the estate.

Jennifer learns that little is left in the estate and hopes to gain money from racing Tiger Lil. Sadly her uncle sells the horse to Jennifer's former boyfriend Brad Shelby of Shamrock Stables. According to the uncle this would pay much of the bills of the estate. Brad had just been involved in a quickie Las Vegas wedding with well-to-do Madelon Haines.

Madelon, appears not to be happy with the purchase of the horse, calls Jennifer to pick up the horse. When Jennifer arrives she is rushed by Brad Shelby. Jennifer throws a pitch-fork at Brad and runs off. Later Brad is found dead with wounds from a pitch-fork. Since Jennifer had been to Perry to consult about the horse sell, Perry will defend her against the charge of murder.

During the course of Perry and Paul's investigation we learn that strange things are afoot. Seems like Brad Shelby paid five times too much for the horse- when a horse is purchases or sold the trainer is always consulted, in this case neither trainer said they had no idea of the sell or buy- there seemed to be something wrong with Tiger Lil's leg. With all these circumstances Perry believes there is much more to this murder.

When all the questions are answered the viewer knows they have been a witness to a good mystery with a great outcome. Good watch for viewers.