The Case of the Fiery Fingers

This is an interesting case. You have a rat for a husband, an intractable wife/victim, an old lady nurse, and some really self centered doctors. The plot plays out nicely and Perry comes across as a kindly guy. He is such a high profile lawyer, how does he find time to handle the case of this woman, who brings no money to his firm.

A great early episode of classic "Perry Mason". Contains some of the best court room scenes of the entire series. Plus we get to see that Perry is really a soft lovable Teddy Bear at heart. And anytime Connie Cezon, as Gertie, gets face time it is going to be a good show.

A sweet grand-ma like nurse, played by Lenore Shanewise, gets caught up in a family situation that is seen more in tabloids than on TV. Between affairs, money and stolen love letters you already know someone is not going to make it till the end of the show.

When Norman Mae Quincy, the sweet nurse, is accused of murder - not only do we as watchers feel sad for her but also Perry is caught up with this women's grandmother appearance. She called Lt Tragg a mean man and also gets friendly with the matrons in her cell block.

Rest of the episode is classic Mason. Excellent court room scenes with Lt Tragg being questioned by Perry and DA Burger. Even some scenes on how items get introduced as evidence into court proceeding.

At the end of the show it has one of the best scanning of the court room in any program or film. Begins at the witness-stand and the camera then scans to jurors- then to court room spectators- showing Burger, Tragg, Paul, Della and Perry and finally stops on our sweet ma-ma feeling sorry for the person in the witness-stand.

The final sweet scene is when Nora, our grand-ma, asked for the fee that Perry will be charging. When Perry asked her what is fair, she advises about $25. As the show fades out the elderly lady is counting out one dollar bills from her change purse into Perry's hand. Afterall he did save her from prison or as she said "much worse".

Worth watching!

The acting and direction are good. But the original book by the same name is a lot more interesting. It has lots more time to develop a more complex plot. The writers of this episode cut it down drastically. "Fiery fingers" meant a lot more in the book.

Of course Nora Mae is not guilty because she is Perry's client. However, she should have been acquitted based on the evidence rather than the coerced confession of the real killer.

It was known that the pills Nora Mae put in the milk were a sedative rather than arsenic - this is admitted by the husband who provided the pills to Nora Mae and verified by the one pill collected by Perry and tested at a lab. Trag confirmed under oath that no trace of sedative was found in the carafe, which is consistent with Nora Mae's statement that she dumped the carafe after putting the pills in it, and filled it with fresh milk. Therefore the "evidence" that she put pills in the carafe is not relevant to the case, and there is no evidence at all that she doctored the milk that the victim drank. I wonder why the world's best defense attorney never brought up the fact that the prosecutor had no evidence against his client.

Otherwise, an excellent Mason as always.

Although Raymond Burr first suggests that Lenore Shanewise go to legal aid first apparently he couldn't resist the guilelessness of this little old lady who pays him a $5.00 retainer. He takes her on as a client.

She came to Burr with the suspicion that Edward Norris who is married to the woman who hired her as a nurse is about to poison his wife. He's got a girlfriend on the side in Fay Spain, not only on the side but who faked her way into the household as a maid, the better to keep an eye on him. In any event when the wife dies of arsenic poisoning, the sweet little old lady really does need the services of Perry Mason.

I have to say even with evidence pointing in her direction how could Hamilton Burger possibly believe this woman capable of anything? It turns out to be a case of a frame getting fitted on the wrong victim. You might be interested in seeing who's doing the framing.