The Case of the Shifty Shoebox

This episode started with so much interest that I was sure we were in for another great mystery. And then the second half of the show was more like watching paint dry than watching the climax of a thrilling show. Then ending of the show was one of those 'made for TV' moments where without a shred of evidence Perry gets someone to confess to a dirty deed. The viewer is left dumbfounded with the results.

The episode begins when a man breaks in to a trucking company office. We as the viewer see two men fighting and then a gunshot. A few seconds later a man (later found out to be Uncle Flick) comes out of the building and throws a gun across the fence. The gun is found by a small boy named Miles and placed in a shoe-box.

Miles is living at a foster home with Uncle Flick and Aunt Sylvia. Sylvia works at the trucking company as the bookkeeper when she gets called about the shooting. Seems that during the incident the safe was open and a few thousand dollars was taken. So one of the owners wants an audit on the company books. This much to the dislike of Sylvia since she had taken a few hundred dollars to give to a co-worker for a gambling fee.

Sylvia is so distraught that she wonders outside and finds the shoe-box. When she opens the box it is empty. She then goes to the company to talk with owner Joe Downing. However she finds him shot and flees the scene. She is seen by the night watchman and also Perry Mason making a quick getaway from the building. Sylvia is charged with murder. When the shoe-box is found it contains the murder weapon and has Sylvia's fingerprints on the box. Perry will defend her in court.

Everything is going well till this point and then the bottom drops out. For some reason the writers want an interaction between Perry and the boy. This will prove disastrous. On camera it appeared that both Raymond Burr and Bill Mumy (Miles) were uncomfortable with the connection. When Miles takes a bus across town to run into the courtroom with the shoe-box and hugs Perry, I knew the show was in dire straits.

Even though the story was not really that bad, the ending left the viewer feeling cheated. With a different ending this could have been a great show but we are left with a show that is just 'nice', nothing else.

This episode is pretty jumbled and all over the place. Even Perry Mason is a bit weird in this one and doesn't appear in character. Billy Mumy is great though, and it's good to see Denver Pyle speak normally before he developed the cornbread 'Darling' accent he used in the Andy Griffith Show and the Dukes of Hazard. It you're picking through which episodes to watch, skip this one. I think the writers, cast, director and producer must have 3 martini lunches to get through this mess. Oh well - most episodes are great and it's very difficult to pick out whodunnit. We will allow a lemon or two out of 270 plus episodes!

Compared to the previous episode, this one is a definite letdown. Billy Mumy is an orphan child thrown into the lives of a bunch of humans that are undeserving of him. The story itself is a convoluted mess, and after a stunning start to season seven, Arthur Marks falls back into his usual M. O. of ham-fisted direction. Benny Baker's Uncle Flick is a tad over-the-top, and Joseph Sirola isn't far behind. Probably the two weakest points are the "journey" to court by Mumy and the molasses-slow denouement and admission of guilt by the real perpetrator. Had some of the characters been toned down a little, and others a bit livelier, it might have worked. As-is, (aside from Mumy) it's just so-so.

Writer Jackson Gillis came up with a mystery twist, a welcome change of pace where the story centers around a resourceful kid, none other than Billy Mumy. And who can argue with a little boy, likely to tell the truth, the whole truth, which is refreshing in itself.

Billy plays Miles, an orphan now living with his aunt Sylvia (Constance Ford) who happens to be working for a trucking company where money is disappearing. Benny Baker, best at playing Runyonesque characters, gets into the action, affectionately called Uncle Flick (for Flickinger). He slips into the company office, there's a fight and he tosses his gun. Miles picks it up, stashes it in a shoe box -- and low and behold it vanishes. One of the co-owners of the business is shot to death and aunt Sylvia is accused of murder.

You can see why Billy was added to the drama, taking it to another level, including a father and son-like talk with Perry. A clever add on which goes a long way in this mystery. The cast is marvelous, Constance Ford a fine dramatic actress, for decades a soap opera star in ANOTHER WORLD. Benny Baker always a hoot, looking suspicious, even if he isn't. Denver Pyle plays Frank and keep an eye on Joe Sirola (as Bill), his gravel voice and dark features made him a splendid villain. He gained much fame as a voice-over actor for tv commercials.

FYI; Watch the faces (no matter what they say), even at the beginning of the story. Something I've learned with this show which pays dividends in the end.

SEASON 7 EPISODE 2 remastered CBS dvd box set. Volumes 1 and 2 with a classic cover. The entire series is also on dvd in a single box set. The ultimate tv gift. Thanks METV for running these prime mysteries twice daily.

Billy Mumy was a prolific little actor in the fifties and sixties. Here he plays a little foster kid who is very secretive. One day, he finds a gun that has been tossed along a fence. Meanwhile a robbery takes place where his aunt works. There are some serious clues and some good suspects, but she gets the brunt of the accusations. A modest, but entertaining episode. One glitch is Miles going to LA and finding the courtroom in one of the biggest cities in the U. S.