The Case of the Bountiful Beauty

This mystery centers around a written book by a young female writer, Deborah Dearborn. Ms Dearborn wrote a book from stories that a young man, John Carew, told her about an evil person named Stephanie. John did not reveal that the evil woman was a family member. The book becomes a best-seller when all of the sudden the woman that the book is about, Stephanie Carew, comes looking for Dearborn wanting to sue her. But because Stephanie is just as evil as the book claims, she wants the young Dearborn to sign a movie contract and give her the money. But during the evening the evil Stephanie Carew is found drowned in a swimming pool.

Now with a slew of circumstantial evidence, the young Ms Dearborn is arrested for murder. Hamilton Burger will have a nice case as he puts witness after witness on the stand that will convince a normal person that Dearborn is guilty. But leave it to Perry to to finally crack the case in open court.

A rather routine mystery that was made better by some nice actors in roles. Douglas Fowley, John Van Dreelen, Jean Carson and Ryan O'Neal lead the cast that makes the routine become exceptional. Good watch.

This episode shows everyone using everyone else in Hollywood, as it begins with author Dearborn, writing a book with stories told to her about her boyfriend's stepmother, Stephanie Carew (the most evil stepmom ever), slugged on the beach, drowned in the ocean, and then dumped into the North's pool. A fitting end to someone figuring out how to cash out on her sociopathic career. If you can get past some of the self-assured witnesses, the ending tells the story about what this show's writers and producers thought of the movie business.

The episode features Ryan O'Neal, playing an earlier version of the role he played in Paper Moon.

I had never heard of Zeme North. She plays the perky, cute as a bug's ear author of a best selling novel. She doesn't strike me as a hard working author type. Ryan O'Neal is a young guy who has been feeding her stories which she has foisted on characters. Enter the source material, a nasty woman who is going to sue everyone. There's also a move producer and some bad witnesses. It's entertaining but the young woman just didn't seem to be real.

One of the fun aspects of watching a long-ago top TV series such as Perry Mason, is to see some fine actors and actresses whom one has never encountered before. For me, there were two of them in this lively episode, which is an entertaining picture of over-the-top Hollywood.

Zeme North plays Deborah, the (very!) young-looking actress who is the main woman character and suspect of this episode. She does a fine job in the role, and looking up her credits, I see that her Hollywood career was fairly brief. She was really good, so go figure! That's just how it often went. She had an intriguing screen presence; she had "something." An innocent, youthful quality.

Another notable guest star in the episode was Sandra Warner, who also had plenty of "something"--but in Sandra's case, the "something" was sex appeal! And lots of it! She just exudes sultriness! There's a moment when she gets up from the millionaire's pool, wearing a robe over what is presumably a swimsuit, and we catch just a glimpse of an eye-catching pair of long legs as she saunters into the mansion. The two men who were at the pool, the millionaire and the studio head, watch her slink her way into the house, and they have a bemused or wistful expression, which any man will easily identify with--that was one beautiful woman! The big star-to-be of this episode was of course a super-young Ryan O'Neal. He looks barely old enough to be out of prep school and in college, let alone have graduated!

Aside from the unforgettably sexy Sandra Warner, the most memorable performance was by John van Dreelen, who clearly had a lot of fun playing an egomaniac Hollywood studio chief. He sits at his big desk in a room so full of plants and flowers, it looks like a hothouse! There is a very funny moment, when Perry comes to see him, and van Dreelen doesn't have a single chair for visitors to sit in when they visit the "great man." It's a very nice moment, one of my favorite humorous ones in the entire series--how Perry reacts.

And, beautiful Sandra Warner, like Zeme North, also had an all-too-brief Hollywood career. At least we get to see them both shine in this excellent episode!

Sandra Warner who plays a cut rate version of Joan Collins as Alexis Carrington in this Perry Mason show is looking for the best attorney she can get. She wants to sue Zeme North a young author of a Peyton Place type novel who got her information from Ryan O'Neal who is Warner's stepson. Barbara Hale has to remind Raymond Burr that North had previously called on the same case, but he wasn't in.

Later on when Warner is found dead in a swimming pool and it's proved homicide, North is arrested and Mason is free of a potential conflict of interest.

As always a whole lot of people are affected by this woman including movie producer John Van Dreelen, agent Douglas Fowley, as well as O'Neal and North. Like Alexis, Warner is the type you love to hate. Almost a pity she had to be killed off.

The case itself gets tricky as Burr has to impeach a whole lot of eye witness testimony identifying North. This may have been one of the strongest cases William Talman ever put on in the series. Never mind Burr demolishes it in style.