20 thoughts on “Perry Mason Hits the 1930s

  1. Who the heck is E.B. Jonathan and why is Della his secretary instead of Perry’s?
    I was watching the Raymond Burr Perry Mason the other day and I suddenly realized why his relationship with Della never goes anywhere.
    Della: Perry, as you wife I wouldn’t put up with this crap. As your secretary you pay me too. I like that arrangement.

    1. This is essentially a “prequel” to the Perry Mason we know and love. In the mini-series Perry isn’t an attorney yet, just a down on his luck PI. Hope that explains it.

      1. From random moments so far, like when he was on the witness stand in the first episode, I assume that he already studied law. Either he gave up practicing due to the his experiences in WWI or never took the bar. I don’t think the final episode is going to end with him opening an envelope and shouting, ‘I did it! I got into UCLA Law School!’

  2. Those Chinese pajamas had me squee-ing so loud we had to rewind to hear dialogue. DEFINITELY original. I love the linings on Della’s coats, and Lupe’s swagger in her flying gear. I had to laugh when they said “let’s go to the diner” and the interior is Musso & Frank’s, definitely not a diner. So many beautiful original interiors . . . Yeah, it’s rough, yeah, how does this feed into the franchise we grew up watching in black and white, but really enjoying the vintage LA-ness.

  3. I have been watching, although I haven’t seen the most recent episode yet. It’s definitely gritty, and I’m missing the court side of it.

  4. Pssst, this may not be the best sentence, you know there are more to a man than a Y chromosome! (suits and variations on them for everyone with a Y chromosome)

      1. Yep, that was really really awful – if you can fast-forward right past it, you are in for a rewarding show. To give fair warning, there is some pretty gruesome violence, but the scene with the baby….. yeah, that was hard to get passed.

  5. I am watching and I will be doing a blog post on the absurdity of Perry’s little camera and the beautiful big prints he gets out of it, lol. I am enjoying it, though. Also, somehow, I think that might not have been the right baby?

  6. What I love are the little things like the conservation of Della’s wardrobe – she’s a stylish working woman in the midst of the Great Depression; she looks sharp and snazzy, but she definitely only has so many coats – there is a great article linked to over TLo that links to the Hollywood Reporter going over the costumes and how Della’s outfits have repairs made them by the character herself.

    Also! John Lithgow’s performance is a tour de force in a long career full of’em. I hope he nabs an Emmy nomination. And whoever paired him up with a vainglorious showboating Stephen Root as the District Attorney is a genius!

    For those of you who saw the episode – I watched the most recent episode (4) a few times and I could quite make out the dialogue, but what was the in-story explanation for the gloves on Miss Prystock – is she a hand model? Did I hear that?

      1. I remembered that gloves at night can help keep the moisturizer in place, so if she’s a hand model, that makes perfect sense. It is LA after all.

  7. I’m loving this series. It has a very Hopper-esque look to it.
    Love the cast.

  8. Sarah, you’re a truly wonderful human being and I appreciate your insight and opinions. I may not be like 100% sober, but I am 100% serious, you make my brain happy.

  9. Can’t wait to see this when it comes out on Netflix (I hope!) and thanks for the warning about the baby scenes.

  10. I kind of don’t get this as an adaptation? Like we watch Perry Mason every night in our house for the cheese and 60’s helmet do’s. “Perry Mason” is an interesting case study as the early seasons are thriller/noir of the 1940s, which fade out into a brief foray into a highly-technical courtroom drama (using legal terms beyond “I object”? How novel!) in middle seasons before becoming one big Peyton Place-type soap opera with rotating characters. Perry and the gang barely show up until 3/4 of the way into the episode in later days. It’s not baby death and nudity, it’s using the phrase “hopped up on goofballs” and loudly declaring that “I designed the singing spaceship!” and they stole my patent so I had to kill them! (This is also true of a miracle cure for goldfish one time. I’m sure it would’ve made millions, that goldfish medicine.) Or the hammy meltdown in court as they say “And then I hit him. I hit him I hit him I hit him!” (sobbing).
    Seriously though I highly recommend the show for 60’s cheese and the goofiest hair and hats that the era has to offer. It’s not Sam Spade or Poirot and definitely not L.A. Confidential; it’s more like Dragnet meets General Hospital.

  11. I just started watching and one thing has always puzzled me about some period dramas — do they really think that nobody in the 1930s wore bright colors? In the crowd scenes everyone is wearing such dull colors, they look so downtrodden! Is that a trope because of the Depression? Or did no one wear bright colors? It all looks so muddy and I’ve noticed it on other period dramas as well, especially the working-class Victorians.

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