The Case of the Telltale Tap

Jeanne Bal's scenes, along with H. M. Wynant, make this episode memorable, knew their time in this episode would be limited--and give it their best. Jeanne plays the psychotic executive secretary, in love with the new controller, Clyde, who is having a relationship with the C. E. O.'s niece--that was previously screwing the fired former controller. Add this to the phone-conversation recording and the leaking of the advance information regarding stock purchases by a mutual fund--this becomes an important historical episode.

There is courtroom exchange with Burger & Perry arguing the admissibility of wire-tapped conversation in a murder trial, with Burger arguing they can, if the they were taped by the murder victim, and Perry arguing that they are illegal in California (and therefore, non-admissible), and that gives some importance to the timing of the episode, as the technology was keeping ahead of the courts. Give the writer some credit for having having the one that's sets up the "Telltale Tap" finished off, by being "clubbed" with HER OWN PHONE! All the way around, a good episode to record, and re-watch, although MeTV has cut out some scenes containing actors listed on IMDB.

No Perry Mason episode is perfect, but I'm going to round my score up to a 10. For an hour-long show--this one is timely, has good acting, and the determination of the killer--who was in it from the opening scenes.

The victim here is one of those who truly deserved to get it. Her homicide was definitely a public service.

Jeanne Bal is the executive secretary to president Roland Winters of a conservative investment house. She's the real power behind the throne of the congenitally lazy Winters and she's maneuvering for Linden Chiles whom she's crushing out on to eventually succeed Winters. The fact that Chiles is seeing Winters's niece is something she doesn't count on. When she winds up dead, Chiles who had hired Paul Drake to expose some shenanigans at the company has Perry Mason at his disposal as an attorney.

And Bal really has quite a few things going for herself including putting a tap on her own boss's line for some insider trading. Maybe in a more recent time Bal would have been one of the official players instead of her sex restricting her to these kind of manoeuvrings. Still she's got a nice list of enemies.

Good cast here, but Jeanne Bal really steals this episode.

Money is being embezzled at a company. A head secretary to the CEO has total knowledge of the operations. She has an interest in a young man who does not share her beliefs. She is a tyrant and strikes fear into several of the people in the loop. A disreputable electrician is a specialist in wiretapping and he pays a huge price for helping with a fraud. Not a bad story.

I don't get some of the reviewers' comments and ratings. It seems as though they're expecting academy award plots and performances. When I watch these episodes, my rating starts at "5" because it's Perry Mason and I so enjoy the main actors and their chemistry with one another, and get to see classic autos and great character actors that remind me of other shows that aired at the time and later. The rest of the rating is based on two things: can I determine the murderer before he/she is revealed, and can I figure out how Perry figured it out? Both are tough sometimes.

In this episode, the plot was terrific, albeit a bit glossed over at times, which is sometimes necessary in a 51-minute show, and the killer wasn't revealed until the last few minutes, and was a bit of a curveball. I like that. One reviewer complained that the end was rushed, but again, a 51-minute show doesn't allow for drawn-out confessions. One thing I don't like, because it's unrealistic, is when the killer confesses from the gallery. I don't care for that, it's better when it's done on the stand under cross. There seem to be a lot of gallery confessions this season, even one off-screen after a gallery examination. I wonder if the court reporter records gallery dialogue. Anyway, I also liked this episode for the Mayberry mayor and the sexy hot psycho.

There isn't much question here that Jeanne Bal owns this episode. She is absolutely magnificent in her potrayal of the evil and tyrannic secretary Vera Wynne. Despite her relatively short screen time, she makes the most of every second. The rest of this entry is more-or-less fluff. The plot is too confusing, the rest of the cast is adequate, but it slips downhill after Bal's exit. Unfortunately, the writers must have thought the more complex the issues, the more interesting the stories would be -- but as the cliche goes, less is more. The confession in the end is the low point. Watch it for Jeanne Bal -- she makes the rest worthwhile...