The Case of the Laughing Lady

Again, with what some of the reviewers said, why do you watch the show at all? To be able to complain about it? Beyond me. I thought this episode was good in terms of the overall plot and the underlying mystery, including the laughter. However, there were a few holes in the plot.

First, it was never explained why the cage was sent to the victim's residence. Did he have a bird and needed a cage for it, or did he do it in connection with his blackmail scheme because he knew the cage was a counterfeit, and who owned the bird? I assumed it was the victim, and when the killer did him in, he took the cage outside in anticipation of disposing of it later. OK, but when I heard the laugh, I immediately thought "that's a bird, not a human," so it's extremely unlikely that either the female gallery owner or the initial suspect thought it was human, and how could each of them hear it so clearly anyway and each think it's the other cackling? Weak part of the plot. And did the sound expert NOT think it was a bird and not a human? He never implied that. In fact, I think he said it was a laugh caused by panic or stress. And lastly, the killer's reaction when he saw the bird (amazing how the bird kept so quiet until Paul raised the sheet covering the cage) was a bit over the top, because why would he think he was cooked at that point? Mason had just said that there was no proof of when he had been at the victim's residence. Almost like 48 minutes of good mystery and a rushed 3-minute ending. But hey, the three main characters were terrific (and Della was smashingly beautiful as always), Burger was his usual pensive spoiled bratty child (he said he wanted to beat Perry's brains in? Really?!?), and the tightly wound, tense, never smiling, angry Andy was finally replaced by a great character actor playing Lt. Drumm. Good for me.

A hard and bitter Jean Hale locked up in LA County Jail for a murder she didn't commit while watching television sees the woman she thinks did the crime and hears the same maniacal laughter she heard that night. After getting out of solitary from the riot she started, Hale finds she has a new attorney in the person of Perry Mason. That should tell you right away she didn't do it.

The whole thing in this episode is identifying that same rather unique laugh and during the course of the investigation Raymond Burr and William Hopper run into Professor John Abbott who happens to be a speech pathologist. His expertise becomes invaluable.

The murderer and the laughter are identified. But wait till you see what the solution was. Rather intriguing for this episode of Perry Mason.

As the ninth season get underway the writers are doing their best to come up with different plots for each weeks mystery. And in this episode they run the regulars of murder, blackmail and then introduce something new- known as distinct sound evidence. It is with this new twist that we get this episode's storyline.

The episode starts off with Carla Chaney (Jean Hale) in the women's wing of the county jail being held for the death of Gerald Havens. We do learn that the charges are not groundless since she was at the scene of the murder, she did touch the knife that killed Gerald and she was caught by police running from the area with Gerald's blood on her dress. So even to the most novice viewer, she is highly suspect.

Anyway the inmates are watching TV and see an news report about the opening of Devore Gallery owned by Leona Devore (Constance Towers). During the broadcast there is an annoying laugh away from the camera. And to Carla that was the laugh she heard when she found Gerald stabbed to death.

Since Carla has been in trouble with the law all her life, no one believes her story. That is until a judge friend ask Perry to look into the matter. We get to see a softer side of Perry when he agrees to take this case knowing full well that his fee cannot possible be paid by Carla.

The rest of the show is Perry and Paul dealing with that annoying laugh and trying to find out where and who made that sound. It also goes into the dealing of Leona's gallery and the people that work behind the scenes. And with a little luck and a lot of investigating, Perry hopes to find the true murderer.

The only problem I had in the entire show was that they spent very little time with the interesting characters in this episode. There was some top-notch actors in this episode. Instead more time is given to the business dealing of the gallery and which book Della is to check out of the library.

But as usual, when Perry finds who made that laugh the episode fulfills its purpose of entertainment. Maybe not the best mystery but one that is different. Looking forward to the next case.

Note- Richard Anderson is slowly introduced as Lt Dumm (the new Lt Tragg). He only has a bit part for this first show.

The case itself is interesting. A prisoner hears a laugh during a TV program and realizes it is that of a woman for whom she is serving a sentence. Perry gets a back strain from twisting and helping her amid negative evidence. All that is fine. The problem is the conclusion. It is a childish one not deserving of the show.

The story centers around "Gerald Havens" an uncast murder victim that we learn was blackmailing the Devore gallery as to Chinese art reproductions that were being sold in the gallery at full price. Carla Cheney is the defendant that watches, with other women prisoners, a TV program of a society fund raising auction--put on by Leona Devore--who Carla claims was at the murder site, and associates the haunting laugh with her--who she believes killed her old boyfriend, Gerald.

An interesting subplot is that Della interjects about Lenore (Constance Towers) is that "She's beautiful," and Perry ends up being unusually kind in his treatment of a woman who he discovered lied about her alibi, witnessed at the murder scene by his client, and had the motive to kill the blackmailer.

This is the first episode of Season 9, and introduces Dan Tobin as the restaurant/bar owner frequented by Steve Drum (Richard Anderson) and Hamilton Burger.

Not a great episode for a season opener--but an important episode to understand what were the thoughts in production this final year.