The Case of the Surplus Suitor

Joyce Bulifant plays her regular character- a ditsy blond, Hollis Wilburn, in this mystery that is again without the presents of Raymond Burr. She lives with her uncle, John Wilburn, after the death of her father.

Uncle John Wilburn has been taking care of young Hollis's 15% of the company as she follows through on getting married. Since John is not in good physical shape, he has told Hollis that she is to inherit his part of the company upon his death.

John gets a call about blackmail concerning money in a swiss bank account. John claims to know nothing of the money and starts to backtrack the accounts and believes he knows how money got into a swiss bank account. All the information hinges on a safe in John's office and only three people knew the combination. Hollis was one of them.

When John ends up murdered, his last words are heard by the maid- "No Hollis No". Hamilton Burger's office soon have more evidence and charge Hollis with murder. With Perry Mason on the mend, we have Walter Pidgeon playing Attorney Sherman Hatfield that will defend Hollis in court on the charges.

Raymond Burr's absents was readily missed in this episode. Even though the story was good- it just did not play well without Raymond in the script. Out of the last three visiting lawyers, I will say that Walter Pidgeon was more apt to play an defense attorney than either of the others last guest stars. It is apparent that this series could not survive without the presents of Raymond Burr in the script.

There's no point in giving another synopsis of the script; that's already been done.

The four episodes with guest stars subbing for the absent Burr are always run roughly together, on my cable rerun channels, so it's easy to compare them with each other.

I think Walter Pidgeon was the only one of the four guests who showed the ability to carry a show like this himself. He did a splendid job, without seeming to copy Raymond Burr's Mason. He was helped by the best script any of the four had.

Walter Pidgeon was the guest lawyer in this one. I was hoping that he would screw up and that girl would get two life sentences and the gas chamber. She is one of the most tiresome characters this show has produced. She has that whiney voice and is too stupid to know what's happening to her. Please Perry! Come back.

Some original writing and a culprit that I never suspected of doing the murder of tycoon Carl Benton Reid characterize this Perry Mason episode with Walter Pidgeon as the pinch hitting lawyer in this series of programs done while Raymond Burr was on the mend.

Joyce Bullifant is an airheaded ditzy heiress the kind that were popular in the Thirties screwball comedies is the niece of Reid and Reid is also her legal guardian. She has 15% of his company and could get more if the aging and unhealthy Reid dies. And she's one of a select group of people who know the combination of her uncle's safe. He keeps a lot of cash there, he likes to do business that way and he's paying off a blackmailer.

She has two suitors John Siegfried and James Best and Pidgeon's own assistant Linden Chiles is got a thing for her as well. That together with associates and business rivals gives us your usual stew of suspects.

My rule for a good Perry Mason is I have to be truly surprised and indeed I was. I think you will be too.