The Case of the Nebulous Nephew

... and I'll get back to that later.

John Brooks is being coached by Ernest Stone in all of the things that long lost and ousted heir of the family, Caleb Stone, would have known if he was still alive - facts about the family and childhood memories. Brooks then appears at the Stone mansion and presents himself to Sophia and Ninevah Stone as a friend of their deceased nephew, Caleb, who knew him in the orphanage and into adulthood.

What actually happened is that Caleb was the Stone sisters' nephew, but his father died before he was born and his mother could provide no proof that she and the father were ever married, so at a young age he and his mother were cast out from the family home by the Stone sisters' father and disinherited. When his mother died he was placed in an orphanage, and that is where Brooks says he knew him. I know this all sounds so very weird 60 years later, but you have to remember that at this time no well-dressed person left the house without a hat either, and out of wedlock children were considered shameful.

So Brooks is always adamant he is NOT Caleb, but he knows so many details that Caleb knew that the Stone sisters become convinced that he IS Caleb and go to Perry Mason to change their will to make Brooks their heir. Perry knows he's most likely dealing with an imposter, but the problem is that the imposter is making no claims. It truly is a cunning plan.

But Brooks does have a conscience, and the Stone sisters are being so warm and kind to him that he has second thoughts that his partner in crime Ernest does not want him to have. The two fight and Brooks hits Ernest in the head. Ernest is OK when Brooks leaves the room, even talking to him, but less than five minutes later one of the elderly Stone sisters says that Ernest is dead, and Brooks is charged with the murder. So now the scalawag is Perry Mason's client.

When I say that Mason could be subversive, the final twist is very clever and uses a plot device the implications of which probably made the entire state of Mississippi faint dead away at the time. What do I mean by that? Watch and find out. This is truly one of the best of the series.

This is one of the most interesting episodes in the entire series. An excellent start to season seven.

Ernest Stone and John Brooks have a scheme that will bring them loads of money. What had happened many years ago was the a rich man's son, Caleb Stone III, had a baby which was named Caleb Stone IV. Right after the conception of the baby Caleb the 3rd dies in an airplane accident. The family of the rich man goes all out to prove that the baby was out of wedlock so that the mother and the baby will inherit nothing. And when the mother of the child dies, the baby is placed in a Catholic home for orphans.

Now Ernest Stone bring John Brooks in to say he was a friend of Caleb Stone IV and that Caleb died. Two older ladies Sophia and Nineveh really believe that John Brooks is actually Caleb. So the two older women want to change their wills so that John Brooks, who they think is Caleb Stone IV, will inherit all their fortune.

Since the women are so nice, John Brooks wants out of the scheme. When he talks with Ernest they get into scuffle. Ernest is hit with a butt of a shotgun but seems fine. Later Ernest is found dead and John Brooks is charged with murder and Perry will defend him in court.

This is a very good show. The murder was not the highlight of the show but trying to find the true Caleb became the lead. And it will be a surprise when the viewer learns the whereabouts of Caleb Stone IV. With some great acting by the entire cast this episode is worth the watch. A highly interesting story.

At the end of the this great episode on the DVD the ending credits are from 1965. This episode was made for television in 1963. I looked to see if a character in this episode was the late Ivan Dixon from the television show Hogans Heroes which started in 1965, and it obviously was. But surprisingly the credits at end of the show are not from this 1963 episode. Recently I have noticed a lot of these "wrong" credits on a lot of television DVDs from other shows. They probably lost them and replaced them with other credits thinking the public would not notice them. I particularly like this episode because it uses race when it was a taboo subject at the time of its release. I also like the judge in this episode because he always played a crook in earlier movies especially with the "Three Stooges" and other earlier films of the 1940's and 1950's.

Young Ron Starr is Perry Mason's client in this episode, he's been contacted by Hugh Marlowe to help with a con game involving Starr pretending to be the long lost heir of a patent medicine fortune. He gets two maiden sisters, Meg Wyllie and Beulah Bondi to believe him to be their long lost nephew and the idea is for them to change their respective wills.

But Starr backs out and when Marlowe is found clubbed to death with a favorite shotgun of his, it's Starr who's looking real good for the homicide. Raymond Burr who's been brought in by the aunts in the first place, takes Starr's defense at their behest. In fact they're willing to say they killed Marlowe who was not a favorite relative of their's.

The back story here is quite interesting with the young Starr being put in an orphanage in South Carolina where his mother was from and making friend's with a kid who grows up to be Ivan Dixon. When Dixon is called on the stand, he has quite a tale to tell himself. Seems that Starr and he had their own con game going.

This was one of the better Mason episodes of this particular season.

Another reviewer on this forum has correctly stated that the end credits(actors real names) do not match those appearing in this episode . In effect to add to that reviewers contribution, the end credits of the NEBULOUS NEPHEW are in reality the end credits to the episode known as THE CASE OF THE SAD SICILIAN. Both episodes are fine as is the acting in each. The SAD segment of the NEBULOUS NEPHEW relates to Irene Stone-a character played by Kate Manx. This attractive middle thirties woman-fragile in real life-committed SUICDE several years later by taking a sleeping pill overdose. What a waste.