The Best Episodes of Perry Mason Season 1

Restrauteur Morey Allen, a friend of Perry and Della's, has a problem: his waitress, Dixie Dayton, was struck by a car while fleeing the restaurant after spotting a man stalking her. The only item she left behind was a moth-eaten mink. When the stalker is found murdered, Morey and Dixie are both strong suspects and eventually get arrested for the murder. The case also ties in with the murder of a young policeman several months before.

Director: Ted Post

Writer: N/A

Gossip columnist Mary K. Davis is found murdered and it seems there is no shortage of suspects. There was her politician-husband to whom she refused to grant a divorce. There was her timid secretary whom she bullied. There was the secretary's boyfriend who had some secrets in his past. There was the doctor running an illegal baby-selling scheme whom Mary threatened to expose if he didn't give her a child. Leona Walsh, the doctor's nurse, ends up being charged with the crime and this time Perry has to tamper with some evidence in order to clear his client.

Director: Andrew V. McLaglen

Writer: N/A

Claire Olger is hitchhiking because her purse was stolen at the bus station and is picked up by Michael Greeley. He loses control of the car and has an accident due to his being intoxicated. Arriving at the scene of the accident, the police find Claire in the driver's seat. The district attorney's office questions her but do not believe her story about another driver. Her friend, Doris Stephanak, asks Perry Mason to help. When Perry is unable to contact Claire at her hotel, he goes there and finds Michael Greeley dead in her room. The police accuse Claire Olger of murder, realizing Michael Greeley fits the description of the man she claimed was driving the car and believe she had motive and opportunity.

Director: Lewis Allen

Writer: N/A

Fay Allison is getting married in a few days to Dane Grover. Her roommate, Anita Bonsal, is having a clandestine affair with a married man, Carver Clement. When Aunt Louise arrives early the next morning to be with Fay, she finds Fay and Anita both appear to have been drugged. Louise calls her friend Perry Mason to help decide what to do. Perry and Della discover the key to another apartment in Fay's purse and go upstairs to investigate. They arrive to find Carver Clement dead in the apartment. Fay Allison is accused of the murder when the police find her fingerprints on a glass in the apartment.

Director: Christian Nyby

Writer: N/A

Arlene Dowling reports the theft of all her belongings, including a diary she is anxious to get back.

Director: Ted Post

Writer: N/A

While a woman is searching the office of the South African Diamond Company, George Baxter enters to meet Walter Lumis and Duane Jefferson. He notices things in disarray and questions the woman. She makes an escape, enters Perry Mason's office, and pretends to be a typist sent by a temp agency. She leaves unannounced a short time later. Meanwhile Baxter calls for the police assuming a robbery has taken place. That evening the dead body of George Baxter is seen being thrown from a pier. Duane Jefferson is identified as the person who threw the body off the pier and is accused of the murder. However he refuses to identify the woman who could prove his innocence.

Director: Andrew V. McLaglen

Writer: Robert C. Dennis

When Daniel Reed (Edgar Stehli) finds himself being blackmailed by an old business partner from his time in Alaska, Perry must first save him from the insane asylum and then the gas chamber. Convinced that Reed has lost his mind when he begins writing $20,000.00 checks to strangers, his heartless niece and nephew have the old man forcibly placed in an insane asylum. Perry is enlisted by Reed’s girlfriend Millie Foster (Kitty Kelly) to get him out of the asylum and he is no sooner granted his freedom than his blackmailer turns up dead and Reed stands accused of his murder.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

Perry has to navigate his way through a hornet's nest of murder, hit-and-run, secret marriage, and a missing witness in this episode.

Director: László Benedek

Writer: N/A

Heiress Marilyn Cartright places an ad in a magazine in order to find love and companionship. In reality, Marilyn is looking for the con artist who swindled and drove her sister to suicide. Marilyn eventually finds the man, Charles "Country Boy" Barnaby, and turns on her ample charm in his direction hoping to get the goods on him. But when Barnaby is found poisoned to death the police theorize that Marilyn killed him as an act of revenge.

Director: László Benedek

Writer: Donald S. Sanford

Janet Norris is charged with poisoning her doctor husband just before he flew to his death in his private plane. Further investigation reveals that Dr. Norris did not die in the plane crash and that he is in Mexico with his nurse mistress. The man killed in the plane was actually one Dave Kirby. This means that Janet still has to stand trial for murder.

Director: László Benedek

Writer: N/A

Della and Perry's dinner at a fancy French restaurant is interrupted by a phone call and an envelope containing $500.00 from a mysterious woman named Marian Fargo. She wants him to make an exchange for her: the money for some documents regarding her fugitive brother. Unbeknownst to Marion, her own husband is in on the blackmail scheme which is being masterminded by one Samuel Carlin. Marion's husband and Carlin both turn up dead but Marion, who has fled on a bus, has an eyewitness, Diana Maynard, who can provide her with an alibi for the murders. Unfortunately for all concerned, Ms. Maynard has only one good eye and may not be telling the truth about who she is.

Director: Christian Nyby

Writer: N/A

Lorraine Stevens is fighting off the advances of the owner of the import-export company where she works, Philip Larkin. Later that evening she is asked to pick up something at the Alcorn Jewelers store. The owner is unaware of what she is to pick up and suggests she make a phonecall to find out. She calls Philip Larkin and while the phone rings we see Philip Larkin dead in his home. Standing over him is Joseph Harrison who wipes off his fingerprints from the telephone and leaves. When his fingerprints are found on the gun case of the murder weapon he is accused of the murder.

Director: Arthur Marks

Writer: Seeleg Lester, Gene Wang

Robert Dawson confronts Albert Tydings, his partner, about $80K missing from Carol Stanley's trust account. Albert Tydings admits he embezzled the money and blackmails Robert Dawson to keep quiet or he will reveal some scandalous facts about Carol. Later, Carol calls and makes an appointment to meet Albert Tydings at his office to discuss the trust account. She arrives to find Albert Tydings dead. The next morning Perry goes to Albert Tydings' home and finds him there dead. Eventually the police determine Tydings body was moved from his office. The police accuse Carol Stanley when her car is reported seen at the office at the time he was murdered.

Director: Christian Nyby

Writer: N/A

Doris Hocksley is shown a personal newspaper ad in a Los Angeles newspaper for locating the daughter of Adam Hocksley and providing proof of same. A friend, John Lowell, suggests she pursue the idea to prove she is the rightful heir to Adam Hocksley estate. Alan Neil is the nephew of Elston Carr, the executor. He meets Doris Hocksley and suggests they work together, for a price, to convince the executor. Later that evening Elston Carr is found dead in his home by Rebecca Gentrie, the secretary. She locks the door to the room to keep whoever is inside from escaping and calls the police. The police open the door to find Doris Hocksley. She is accused of murder when they find her fingerprints on the murder weapon.

Director: Andrew V. McLaglen

Writer: Seeleg Lester

Frank Lawton goes to visit old friend Scott Shelby and ends up being charged with his muder. Fortunately for Lawton, Perry Mason is another old friend of his and he arrives on the scene to try and solve the case.

Director: Anton Leader

Writer: N/A

Daniel Conway is involved in a vicious proxy war with Warner Griffith for control of an oil company. Conway's secretary, Rose Calvert, is spying for Griffith. When Rose is found dead, Conway fears he's being framed for murder and approaches Perry at a bar association dinner and asks for his aid. Perry at first believes Griffin to be the guilty party but he has an ironclad alibi. Then another witness emerges who has a photographic memory and can identify people by their shoes.

Director: Anton Leader

Writer: N/A

When wealthy Louise Gordon is poisoned to death her nurse is charged with the crime. Perry does some digging and discovers that the first wife of the victim's husband also died of poisoning. Is the husband really the culprit or could it be someone else?

Director: Arthur Marks

Writer: N/A

Perry and Della are traveling on a cruise ship returning to Los Angeles from Vancouver. A fellow passenger, Carl Houser, who recently came into a bunch of money, and his wife and daughter end up meeting the two. Houser’s wife, Anna, enlists Perry’s help because she believes something is wrong with her husband and his story. Then her husband ends up overboard and she is suspected of murdering him.

Director: William D. Russell

Writer: N/A

Enid Griffin, the secretary of Stewart Brent, attempts to commit suicide after learning her boss has married. Arthur Binney attempts to blackmail Stewart Brent with facts about his new wife having been in jail for fraud. When Stewart Brent goes to meet Arthur Binney at a motel for the payoff, he is knocked unconscious. He awakens to find Arthur Binney dead in the next room and is put on trial for murder.

Director: Andrew V. McLaglen

Writer: N/A

Perry drives to the scene of a shooting and finds the police recovering the body of Harry Merrill from a car that went over the side of a mountain. MerriIl has a bullet in his body and a pillowcase over his head. Meanwhile, Perry's client, Evelyn Bagby, claims she was chased by a hooded man in a car near the same cliff that day. She fired two shots at the man's car to scare him off, and now the police want her for murder.

Director: William D. Russell

Writer: Russell S. Hughes

Peter Cole is caught one night sleepwalking with a letter opener and standing over his wife's bed. His wife Doris is afraid and decides the next day to file for divorce. Exactly one year later, when the divorce is to be finalized, Frank Maddox, Peter's business partner, meets with Doris Cole. Together they arrange to force Peter Cole to pay Frank Maddox $500K to buy his share of the business or Doris will stop the divorce that Peter wants. That night Frank Maddox spends the night at Peter Cole's house and exchanges bedrooms with Phillip Kendall, Peter's stepbrother. The next morning Phillip Kendall is found dead in bed and Peter Cole is accused of murder due to his known sleepwalking.

Director: William D. Russell

Writer: Laurence Marks, Gene Wang

Sybil Granger hires Perry to help her buy stock in her estranged husband's oil company on the sly. By this, Sybil hopes to force her husband's latest girlfriend, Roxy Howard, out of the company and his life altogether. Things get complicated when George Lutts enters the picture and gets shot to death.

Director: William D. Russell

Writer: Stirling Silliphant

Donald Briggs is an unscrupulous private investigator hired by Clyde Waters to uncover information about Marv Adams, his daughter's fiance. Briggs learned that Marv Adams' father was Ben Devereaux who was convicted of murder 18 years ago. Donald Briggs is trying to blackmail Clyde Waters and Martha Norris in return for keeping silent about certain facts regarding the Devereaux case. The next evening Donald Briggs is found dead in his motel room and Marv Adams is accused of the murder because he had a fight with Donald Briggs the previous morning.

Director: William D. Russell

Writer: N/A

Hollywood producer John Addison picks up an attractive young woman hitchhiker. Far from being innocent she turns out to be a blackmailer and a witness to a murder that Addison is charged with. Perry, as usual, is hired to get to the bottom of things.

Director: Christian Nyby

Writer: N/A

When Albert Sanders is charged with the murder of dance hall girl, Kim Lane, Perry offers to defend him pro bono because he knows Sanders is down on his luck and still devastated over the accidental death of his wife and children eight years before.

Director: Christian Nyby

Writer: N/A