The Case of the Fickle Fortune

I haven't watched this whole episode yet. I paused it when I was pleasantly surprised to see D. A. Hamilton (Ham) Burger back at the prosecution table. I had read about him being fired on a moral clause violation. It sounded like someone at the network had it out for him and used the party raid as an excuse. I didn't know he was reinstated.

During my research on William Talman, I read about his anti-smoking PSA in 1968. I found a recording of it online. It ends with him saying "If you don't smoke, don't start. If you do smoke, quit!". I was 12 years old at the time, and I remember making a silly joke about that line. My father told me he died a few weeks after making that commercial. I never forgot that moment.

When a County Tax official, Ralph Duncan, is probating items in a house when he comes across some old money called 'greenbacks'. Against departmental policy Duncan takes the money home to show his wife. However someone stole the money out of his briefcase and Duncan goes to Perry for help.

Later Duncan gets a call from a woman advising that the greenbacks is over at a house that is owned by Lloyd Farrell. And as you can guess, Duncan goes over to Farrell's house, all my himself, and finds Farrell dead. With Farrell's suspicious past Lt Tragg believes that Duncan was stealing and Farrel was fencing and this could have been going on for many years. When something went wrong Duncan killed Farrell. Duncan is charged with murder.

There is many suspects. From a flighty cousin, a nervous secretary to an accountant that stumbles on the witness stand- this will leave the viewer guessing. But when all looks lost, Perry will get help from a nurse at a county home to bring this case to a close. A very well done episode.

Welcome back William Talman!

A very twisted plot which is finally explained in the Epilogue. My comments have to do with the return of D.A. Hamilton Burger (William Talman). No reason was ever given on screen for his absence. Nevertheless, he's back in the courtroom here, still contesting Perry's questioning as "Incompetent, Irrelevant, and Immaterial!" In the Epilogue however, Hamilton, Perry, Della and Paul are in Perry's office clearing up some plot twists. Hamilton comments that "As a County Employee" he's happy how things worked out. Perry answers oddly "We're all glad Hamilton." They are all smiles. I'm sure this was welcoming William Talman back into the fold.

In this episode, they show a $50 large size bill from the 1870's. I collect old paper money myself, and I have a reference book that shows this note. It appears they used a real one for the show. Well, get this: in today's market, that actual bill they showed is worth at least $10,000, and depending on condition, as much as $87,000! I wonder if the studio prop department at the time (1961) had some old paper money that they kept on hand for just such occasional uses. Or, if they borrowed this note from a collector or a high-end coin shop for a small fee. In the episode, the premise was that $153,000 in such old money was found. We're talking in the tens of millions of dollars in value today for an amount of old notes like that. Whew! Oh--old US national currency issued by the United States was always redeemable at face value. It was the Continental Congress money that wasn't. Of course, you'd be crazy to redeem a $50 bill for $50, when it could sell for as much as $87,000!

The stupidity of the man who ends up the accused is beyond the pale. He is so excited to show some money he illegally took home, he allows it to be stolen from his car as he stops at a store. But the best part is a series of possible suspects that are all viable. When it is said and done, the solution is acceptable and worthy of the show's best.