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Perry Mason Season 3 Episodes
Season 3 Episode Guide
26 Episodes 1959 - 1960
Episode 1
The Case of the Spurious Sister
Sat, Oct 3, 195952 mins
Bruce Chapman is fed up with his wife Marie's lavish spending, especially her gambling addiction. As he leaves on a 6-week business trip, he puts Marie on a $50-a-week allowance, she threatens to divorce him and he suggests that she think about what's more important to her. Desperate for $2000, Marie pressures her ex-husband Walter Sprague and his new wife Helen to come up with the cash. Helen agrees to meet Marie at their summer cabin at 9:00 PM. Helen is discovered there by a neighbor out riding his horse; instead of Marie, they find a note from her. When Bruce returns early from his trip, he discovers that Marie's in Las Vegas and has filed for divorce. He contacts Perry about the implications of the divorce on his will and for general advice as he plans to pay her the $25,000 she asked for as a settlement. But when he goes to his weekend cabin, he finds Marie strangled. It's up to Perry to sort through the case that involves false identities and perjured testimony.
Episode 2
The Case of the Watery Witness
Sat, Oct 10, 195952 mins
After confronting Fred Bushmiller coming out of Lorna Thomas' home, George Clark seeks Perry Mason's help in helping him confirm that his wife Betty, who was given up for adoption in infancy, is in fact the daughter of famous movie star Lorna Thomas. Perry isn't very helpful pointing out that under the law, a child that is given up for adoption has no legal redress against a biological parent. Private eye Fred Bushmiller is also trying to establish Betty Clark's connection to Lorna but only has his own personal gain in mind. Lorna is hoping to make a comeback but has just decided to postpone her new movie, leaving producer Tony Raeburn in a lurch. With persuasion from her husband George, Betty visits Lorna to confront her interrupting Lorna's meeting with Tony. Lorna spurns Betty's request denying any connection. When Lorna is subsequently found dead, there is no shortage of suspects. One of her bracelets is found stuffed in the seat of George's car. It's George Clark however who is charged with murder and Perry agrees to defend him.
Episode 3
The Case of the Garrulous Gambler
Sat, Oct 17, 195952 mins
At a beach-house poker game, Larry Benton accuses Mike Granger of cheating. They fight and Granger is killed with his own gun. Johnny Clay offers to dispose of the body. One of the poker players, Ben Wallace, tries to blackmail Larry, knowing that his brother is wealthy oilman Steve Benton. But the whole thing is a set-up because Granger is alive and in on the plot. Steve Benton confronts his brother with $20,000 of forged checks to Clay, then consults Perry Mason about the issue. Perry has Paul investigate the situation and learns that Clay has another name along with a wife and child he deserted. Perry decides to inform Clay's girlfriend Doris Shackley about the situation to stir things up. Larry steals $20,000 from Clay to cover the forged checks, but Steve goes to return the money. He finds Clay dead and wipes off fingerprints. Discovered in the act by Wallace, Steve is charged with murder. Perry proves there is no honor among thieves in solving the case.
Episode 4
The Case of the Blushing Pearls
Sat, Oct 24, 195960 mins
Mitsou Kamuri calls her close friend Toma Sakai to help her. She found in her home a string of pearls she believes belongs to her boyfriend Grove's stepmother Thelma, and she doesn't know what to do. As Toma offers to return them, Grove's father Hudson and private eye Edgar Beals burst in and take a picture of them hugging. Hudson has Mitsou arrested for stealing the valuable string of natural pearls, and Perry Mason is hired--by Hudson Nichols--to defend her. Nichols' primary purpose seems to be to end Mitsou's engagement to his son Grove but there is also the question of whether the pearls Mitsou supposedly stole are cultured or natural and only Mitsou's uncle, Ito Kamuri, would be able to make the replacement pearls. Ito Kamuri is found dead in a scene that was made to look as if he committed ritual suicide. When the police and Perry determine that he was definitely murdered, Mitsou is accused of the crime and Perry defends her.
Episode 5
The Case of the Startled Stallion
Sat, Oct 31, 195960 mins
Clara Hammon and the wheelchair-bound John Brant exit a wedding chapel in Las Vegas after being married but refuse to buy any photos of themselves. After Clara drives them away, John Brant removes his disguise to reveal Earl Mauldin an out of work actor. Later, after a trial run of trotters John Brant reveals he wants the horse from Jo Ann Blanchard and her brother Terry. Jo Ann Blanchard seeks help from Perry Mason when the wealthy John Brant threatens to take control of all of her inheritance including her horse, something that Brant is really after. Brant made an arrangement with their family to keep control of all of their assets due to Terry's excessive spending. When the wheelchair-bound Brant is found dead in the horse's stable, suspicion naturally falls on Jo Ann and she is charged with murder. When it's revealed that Brant supposedly married Clara Hammon, who now claims ownership of the horse in question, Paul Drake digs up some interesting information that points to other suspects.
Episode 6
The Case of Paul Drake's Dilemma
Sat, Nov 14, 195960 mins
Donna Kress and Frank Thatcher have a spat. He will not divorce his wife. Driving home that night, Frank runs over and kills a pedestrian, Alexander Collins, in the road. Under direction of old Henry Dameron, Frank's father-in-law, Tad Dameron, Frank's brother-in-law, takes care of the body. Frank, as "Danko" hires Paul Drake to deliver $25,000 to Collins' widow, but Paul finds out the gift is a payoff after learning her husband was killed in an accident due to typo on his drivers license causing "Danko" to give Paul erroneous information. Paul contacts "Danko" and meets him at "Danko's" girlfriend's apartment. Paul fights with "Danko" and is knocked out. When Paul revives after the clerk and police enter the apartment, he finds Thatcher/Danko is dead, shot with Paul's gun. Paul is charged with murder and calls Perry Mason. He is further accused of blackmailing Thatcher with the hit-and-run incident. Perry fights Dameron money and influence in defending Drake.
Episode 7
The Case of the Golden Fraud
Sat, Nov 21, 195952 mins
Sylvia Welles hires Rip Conners to wire her apartment to tape conversations and use the result to make a spliced version as a joke to embarrass a friend. Richard Vanaman has been working on a financial plan for Sylvia to invest $250,000. After receiving a call from Sylvia, he delays going out with his wife to go to her apartment. While there he finds that she was bugging their conversation. He leaves in a huff but when he gets home, he realizes that a valuable gold coin he always carried with him was missing. Assuming it dropped out of his pocket, he returned to Wells' apartment only to find her dead. He was seen by the apartment building manager and now it's being reported in the newspapers that someone used the gold coin in a parking meter. Fearing that he may be arrested for murder, Richard Vanaman seeks help from Perry Mason. Richard is arrested and charged with murder but Perry soon realizes there are several people who may have had reason to commit murder.
Episode 8
The Case of the Bartered Bikini
Sat, Dec 5, 195960 mins
Madge Wainwright, owner of an exclusive women's wear store, sees cheap knockoffs of designs she is selling for big bucks and complains irately to fashion house owner Wally Dunbar and chief designer Rick Stassi, who decide to scrap their previous work and create new designs with model Kitty Wynne as the focus. Madge and Rick were once an item. Wally is seeing Kitty, who also has a history with Rick. Assistant designer Lisa Ferrand wants Rick, but he spurns her. Lisa's husband, photographer and lush Bud Ferrand, shoots a series of Kitty in the new designs. Wally discusses design security with Perry Mason, who assigns the case to Paul Drake, who follows Kitty to Rick's house and finds sketches of the new designs in her car. Newspaper ads appear for a competitor with the new Dunbar designs. Rick is killed and Kitty charged with murder.
Episode 9
The Case of the Artful Dodger
Sat, Dec 12, 195952 mins
Like Dickens' rascally scamp, Allen Sheridan cons everyone for his own benefit. He asks Joyce Fulton for money to pay a nonexistent gambling debt to Lou Caporale. His Aunt Sarette Winslow flies in from New York to contact him about missing payments he is to pay her under the terms of his dad's will. She goes to his apartment where she finds his body on the balcony but loses the heel of her shoe in the planking. The next day she contacts Perry Mason who calls the apartment but the maid says Sheridan is gone shocking Winslow. Sheridan planned his get away under the name "William Wyatt." He lies about his birthday to his financial advisor, Victor Latimore, in order to secretly receive his inheritance. He has fled to Los Angeles to escape Ralph Curtis, whom he injured in a fight in New York. And he hides from his penniless aunt, Sarette Winslow, to avoid paying her rightful share of his inheritance. Who wouldn't want him dead? Sheridan apparently flies to Mexico City as "Wyatt," but his body is found in Los Angeles. So who flew to Mexico? Sarette is charged with murder, and Perry Mason must sort out this mess.
Episode 10
The Case of the Lucky Legs
Sat, Dec 19, 195960 mins
J.R. Bradbury hires Perry Mason to represent his former secretary, Marjorie Cluny, who is somewhere in Los Angeles. As Bradbury leaves Bob Doray shows up. Marjorie had won the Lucky Legs contest in Cloverdale, Utah along with an acting contract. At that time, more than one person thought that the contest organizer, Frank Patton, was a scam artist, something that appears to be the case when Marjorie's contract was canceled two days after her arrival in LA. Perry and Della go to visit Patton but find him dead on the floor, stabbed to death with a wood carving knife. Worse, just as they arrived at Patton's building, a young woman went running out the front door, a woman Perry later realizes is Marjorie Cluny. They find Marjorie living with Thelma Hill who was another past "Lucky Legs" winner who has stayed in LA. Several people might have had it in for Patton but when Marjorie is charged, Perry defends her.
Episode 11
The Case of the Violent Village
Sat, Jan 2, 196052 mins
Perry Mason is on holiday in a small village where he hopes to get some rest and get in some hunting with his old friend Sheriff Eugene Norris. Also in town is Phil Beecher who has just finished a term in prison for drunk driving and killing Norris' daughter Aggie in an auto accident. Many in the town are outraged that Beecher would have the nerve to return and even his wife Kathi isn't sure she wants him back so he stays at the lodge where Perry is staying. He witnesses Aggie's sister Charlotte defend Phil from a deputy who attacks Phil in the lodge lobby. Later, Charlotte meets Norman Thurston where they put the finishing touches on a plan to steal the payroll and blame Phil. It all comes to a boil when Sheriff Norris' second daughter Charlotte is killed during a hold up at the local sawmill that sees the $43,000 payroll stolen. Beecher admits to having been there at Charlotte's request but she tried to shoot him and she was definitely alive when he left her. Perry takes up his case and tries to find out who among the many who would have cause to frame Beecher is the real killer.
Episode 12
The Case of the Frantic Flyer
Sat, Jan 9, 196052 mins
Howard Walters has what he thinks is the perfect plan to steal from his employer Wade Taylor and run off with his mistress, Janice Atkins. While flying his small private airplane on a business trip he will parachute to safety allowing the airplane to crash. After he has left, Janice takes $130,000 from the company safe and the plan is to meet at a remote cabin before setting off on their new life. Things start to go wrong when Walters breaks his leg on landing and finds himself stranded with a hermit of sorts, Zack Davis, and snowed in for nearly two months. By the time he gets back to Los Angeles, everyone had pretty much given up hope of him ever being found. That's okay with Janice who has been carrying on with Roger Porter, who works at the same company as Walters. The police eventually find the crash site and recover a body, that of the missing Andrew Taylor, Wade Taylor's ne'er-do-well son who everyone had assumed had taken the missing money. Andrew's wife Carol seeks Perry Mason's help in clearing her husband's name but when Howard Walters is found dead, she is charged with murder.
Episode 13
The Case of the Wayward Wife
Sat, Jan 23, 196060 mins
Arthur Poe, Ben Sutton and Harry Wilson were comrades in a North Korean prison camp in the Korean War. Poe, Sutton and Wilson escaped, thinking Poe was killed during the escape, but he survived and spent several years in POW camps. Returning home, Poe finds that Sutton had stolen his war diary and published it as a best seller. Poe presses Sutton for money, but the writer is broke from paying blackmail. Gilbert Ames or his wife Marian ran over Alan Kirby's wife, leaving her permanently paralyzed. The Ameses have paid thousands of dollars to the Kirbys, mostly extorted from Ben Sutton. Sylvia Sutton, Ben's wife, contacts Perry Mason about dealing with blackmail. Marian tells Sylvia that Gilbert has killed Ben with a fireplace poker, at which Sylvia runs home and finds her husband dead, and the room a shambles. She dashes out of the house, runs into Poe and flees. Sylvia is arrested later and calls on Perry to defend her.
Episode 14
The Case of the Prudent Prosecutor
Sat, Jan 30, 196060 mins
In a hunting and fishing village, Jefferson Pike tries to confront Denver Leonard, but Leonard refuses to see the old man. Pike steals a revolver from Leonard's car and shoots himself in the leg, intending to implicate Leonard. Leonard's ranch foreman, Hal Kirkwood, helps Pike dress the wound. When Pike arrives at his lodge, he finds his friend Hamilton Burger there so he drops the issue of the wound. Pike's son, Fred, was once a professional ice skater, but was injured in a car accident and can no longer perform. Leonard accuses Fred of forging his name to checks to cover his medical expenses. Asa Culver, the angel for a new ice show, rightly suspects his wife Vita of carrying on with Leonard. Leonard is killed and Pike arrested. By coincidence, Pike's friend District Attorney Hamilton Burger is vacationing in the area. Burger calls Perry Mason to defend his friend and recuses himself and his department from the case. The case is prosecuted by a special prosecuted appointed by the attorney general.
Episode 15
The Case of the Gallant Grafter
Sat, Feb 6, 196060 mins
"George Livingston" opens a bank account, makes periodic deposits, and withdraws all $112,000 a month later. Sylvia Nelson forces her husband Edward, company president, to give her a divorce in exchange for her proxies in a hotly contested corporate fight with vice-president Frank Avery. Womanizer Robert Doniger, corporate accountant, reports the $112K embezzlement to Nelson, who consults Perry Mason. Doniger turns out to be "Livingston," and secretary Norma Williams tries to extort half the money from him. Doniger promises his latest girlfriend, Patricia Martin, that he will return the money to the company. Perry and Della Street discover Doniger dead, with Nelson looking suspicious as he is there as well, and Avery acting triumphant. The money is found in Nelson's car. Nelson is arrested and Perry has his work cut out for him.
Episode 16
The Case of the Wary Wildcatter
Sat, Feb 20, 196060 mins
Freelance photographer Roger Byrd takes movie clips of oil wildcatter Charles Houston pushing a car over a cliff with his wife Evelyn in it. Houston pays Byrd blackmail over several payments bleeding him dry, then offers a share in a prospective well, but Byrd refuses. Houston then reluctantly sells big-time gambler Lucky Sterling 50% of the action for $20,000 to pay off Byrd. Byrd double-crosses Houston and offers to sell the incriminating photos to Paula Wallace, Evelyn's sister, who intends to pay Byrd with money from her 50% of Houston's well. Paula consults Perry Mason but does not tell him the whole truth. Incredibly, the 180% oversold wildcat well comes in a huge producer. Charles flees and is found dead in Byrd's apartment by Paula, shot with Evelyn's gun. Someone locks her in the apartment and turns out the lights forcing her to escape via the fire escape but she is caught by the police. Paula is charged with murder, and Perry has to sort things out.
Episode 17
The Case of the Mythical Monkeys
Sat, Feb 27, 196052 mins
In a driving rainstorm Gladys Doyle, secretary to successful novelist Mauvis Meade, struggles to the door of a remote cabin. A strange man in the cabin denies he has a package for Mauvis. He disappears into the night, and Gladys finds a dead man in the cabin. Mauvis herself arrives at her home to find the place in a shambles, and shyster Gregory Dunkirk is glad that incriminating materials he gave Meade for her latest novel have been stolen. Gladys appears and tells her boss about the dead man, who turns out to be a Las Vegas gambler, Joseph Manley. Gladys consults Perry Mason and is arrested for murder. Perry runs into Caspar Pedley being thrown out of Meade's apartment and later finds he is the brother-in-law of the dead man. It doesn't help that Meade won't back up Gladys' story. A scarf decorated with three mythical monkeys is found at the cabin with bullets in it, meant to implicate Mauvis in the crime. Other evidence points to Gladys. Perry must discover who is the framer, who was the man at the cabin, and what happened to the package.
Episode 18
The Case of the Singing Skirt
Sat, Mar 12, 196052 mins
Perry Mason defends Betty Roberts, a cigarette girl at a legal poker club, after she is accused of murdering Vivian Ennis. The dead woman's husband, Manning Ennis, had lost $60,000 in a poker game with Slim Markus the club's manager. Betty was the only witness to the game. Vivian was outraged when she heard of her husband's loss and let it be known that she had every intention of recovering the money under California's community property laws. Betty got in touch with Perry when she found that someone stashed one of the poker room's guns in her hat box. At the time no one knew Vivian had been killed so Perry switches her gun for one that he was holding in his safe for another client and gives it to Paul Drake to have it analyzed. In court, it's revealed that Vivian Ennis was shot twice but with different guns: the one Betty found in her hat box and the one Perry gave her five hours after Vivian had been killed. With DA Hamilton Burger accusing Perry of tampering with evidence, the defense attorney has a complex puzzle to unravel.
Episode 19
The Case of the Bashful Burro
Sat, Mar 26, 196060 mins
Gerald and Sally Norton own an old mine, which they refuse to sell to rancher Ken Bascombe, who wants the property for its available water supply. Someone shoots up the Nortons' campfire, and a ghostly voice warns them to get out. Prospector Amos Catledge arrives with his diffident donkey Sheba, reporting that he saw Bascombe galloping away. Meanwhile, foreman Roy Dowson is having an affair with Bascombe's wife Hazel. Coincidentally, Perry Mason is in town to question Amos and talks with the assayer, Crawford Wright, about where to find Amos. The assayer introduces Perry to Gerry who tells Perry Amos is camped at their place. After another attack, Gerald takes matters into his own hands. He finds Bascombe's body, shot in the back. The murder weapon turns out to be Gerald's rifle, and he is charged with murder. Amos disappears and Perry has to depose Sheba to get to the bottom of things.
Episode 20
The Case of the Crying Cherub
Sat, Apr 9, 196060 mins
At the Harkens Gallery, Sylvester Robey wishes to see Richard Harkens about a Matisse hanging in the gallery. Amelia Harkens, Richard's mother who owns the gallery, is incensed to see that the painting is a forgery and blames Richard's assistant, June Sinclair, and master copyist David Lambert of collusion. June and David are in love and ask Perry Mason to intercede with Amelia. David quarrels with his wife Liza, who paints cherubs, over their impending divorce and whether he should also paint commercially viable cherubs. Liza tries to extort money from Amelia in return for the genuine Matisse. Later, June confronts Liza and they struggle until Liza pulls a gun and forces June to retreat. As she leaves, June hears Liza scream and shots fired. She finds Liza dead, calls Perry Mason and flees the scene. Perry discovers Liza's body, the police arrive, and Perry clams up until he can talk to his client. June is arrested and Perry has to go to work.
Episode 21
The Case of the Nimble Nephew
Sat, Apr 23, 196060 mins
Adam Thompson thinks one of his nephews, Harry Thompson or Elliott Carter, is rifling the house. He sets up an infrared camera near a wall safe to catch the thief. Adam openly marks a survey map to indicate property that he will soon buy, which his assistant, Ellen Foster, puts in the safe. Unknown to Adam, Frank Jarrett as "Norman Durston," puts up earnest money to buy the precise tract drawn on the map. Adam consults with Perry Mason to find out how the land was sold from under him without the safe having been opened. Adam reveals that he never intended to buy the land, but drew the map as a ruse for the thief. Jarrett, needing money, blackmails Victor Logan over a problem with Logan's credentials. Perry and Paul Drake find Jarrett's body in a running auto in his garage. Later, Harry is discovered rifling Jarrett's office and is arrested for murder. Lydia Logan, Victor's daughter and Harry's fiancée, asks Perry to defend them both.
Episode 22
The Case of the Madcap Modiste
Sat, Apr 30, 196060 mins
Flavia Pierce, fashion designer, and her husband/partner Charles appear on a celebrity television show to promote their upcoming preview of the new line. They argue over a proposed business deal with another designer, Henry De Garmo, which Flavia rejects on the air. She suspects the deal will benefit one of Charles' favorite models, Hope Sutherland. Henry contacts Flavia's brother, George Halliday, to see if George can influence his sister. Charles consults Perry Mason about the situation letting him review the contract as well as the couples prenuptial agreement which shows she kept the rights to her name. Hope gives Charles a bottle of champagne to celebrate the preview, after which she plans to leave the firm. Flavia drinks some of the champagne to take a pill and falls to the floor in a couple of minutes. She makes a dying declaration to her assistant, Leona Durant, that Charles has poisoned her. Charles is arrested, and Perry questions whether the death is murder or suicide.
Episode 23
The Case of the Slandered Submarine
Sat, May 14, 196060 mins
In Long Beach a local bar-girl, Dolores Chapman, has been murdered and the investigation centers around the crew of the submarine USS Moray. Part of the evidence is a crushed lens found next to the body and by accident in the shoe of Seaman Robert Chapman. Cmdr. James Page, previous captain of the Moray, is involved in testing new equipment from Alpha Electronics. He meets with Alpha spokesmen Gordon Russell and Lou Hansford to set up the test, and finds that his father-in-law, Anthony Beldon, has bought into the company. Beldon consults Perry Mason about suing the U. S. Navy and relieving Page of his command, which Perry ultimately declines after Page is found dead. Cmdr. Page is found stabbed to death with a screwdriver owned by Chapman. Robert Chapman, Delores' husband and member of the Moray's crew, becomes a prime suspect in both murders. He admits to Perry he was married to Dolores. Perry is retained anonymously with $5,000 in crisp new $100 bills to defend Chapman.
Episode 24
The Case of the Ominous Outcast
Sat, May 21, 196060 mins
In Outcast, California, newcomer Bob Lansing encounters strange, hostile reactions from the barber to the hotel owner, who refuses him a room. The only friendly face is J.J. Flaherty, whom Bob met while fishing but is really a private eye. At the request of Dr. Kennedy, headmaster of the orphanage where he was raised, Bob is there to look up Frederick Bell, who has been sending anonymous donations to the orphanage for several years, but Bell denies this. Suspicious, Bob returns to Los Angeles and consults Perry Mason. From old newspaper accounts, Bob thinks he may be the son of notorious bank robber Lynn Aberdeen, who killed two deputy sheriffs. Curiously, Bell was a clerk in the bank when it was robbed. Now Bell works for the town's richest tycoon, Tom Quincy, who is having an affair with Bell's wife Vivian. Bob decides to return to Outcast--against Perry's advice--to confront the people and learn more of the history. Bell is found dead with Bob leaning over him. Bob is arrested, and the outlook is indeed ominous.
Episode 25
The Case of the Irate Inventor
Sat, May 28, 196060 mins
After inventor James Frazer tells his wife Thelma who is visiting his lab he knows she is cheating, he disappears for nearly three months. Thelma asks her friend Lois Langley to join her on a day out but first stops at her husband's business to visit some co-workers which Lois notices through the windows. James' business partners, Robert and Arthur Hayden, decide to exercise a buyout clause in their business agreement so Thelma Frazer, who has had no contact with her husband, consults Perry Mason. As it happens, James returns only to find his workshop ablaze and Thelma's dead body inside. He's charged with murder and Perry takes on his defense. James was working on an aircraft anti-collision device and had gone away so as to complete his work. It had also become obvious to him that someone had access to his workshop and suspected that someone was stealing his ideas. Not surprisingly Thelma's lover, Calvin Boone, had also produced an anti-collision device that is virtually identical to James'. It's left to Perry to find the real killer.
Episode 26
The Case of the Flighty Father
Sat, Jun 11, 196060 mins
When her mother dies, Trudy Holbrook who is turning eighteen will inherit a $10,000,000 fortune. After noticing a stranger first at the funeral and then outside her estate, she confronts him and he says he is Jay Holbrook, her father. She takes an immediate liking to him but there is no one around anymore who can recognize him. Trudy's elderly cousin Lawrence King is now quite elderly and has gone blind and he is only person who could identify him. Lawrence King however detested him and hires a detective to look into Jay's story. He comes across another man who also claims to be Jay Holbrook. After the second Jay Holbrook arrival is announced in the paper, Lawrence is found murdered. One of the cousins admits seeing Trudy running out of her Uncle's home and racing away in her car. The poker used to kill him is found hidden in her car with her fingerprints on it. Trudy is charged with murder, and it's left to Perry Mason to first sort out who of the two men is her father and who might be the killer.
