The Best Episodes of Perry Mason Season 5

Naive secretary Janice Wainwright carries out boss Morley Thielman's orders and places a briefcase containing more than $100,000.00 in a train station locker. Then she waits for the arrival of Thielman's ex-wife but Lt. Tragg arrives instead with an arrest warrant for Janice on the charge of murdering her boss. It seems as though witness Fred Carlyle saw a woman's shapely shadow through the shades of Thielman's office window shortly before the murder occurred.Carlyle believes the silhuette belonged to Janice. Perry manages to get to the bottom of things once the courtroom proceedings begin.

Director: Christian Nyby

Writer: N/A

A journalist is murdered while tracking an ex-Nazi war criminal who may be posing as an executive at a company called Space Associates, Ltd.

Director: Bernard L. Kowalski

Writer: N/A

Wealthy Walter Frazer has always blamed his daughter-in-law Sue Ellen for his son Gregson's failures. You can only imagine how he feels when Sue Ellen is accused of Gregson's murder.

Director: Gilbert Kay

Writer: N/A

Eleanor Corbin pleads amnesia after police find her running and screaming through the woods near her apartment building. Her loss of memory is of little help to her when she is later charged with murder.

Director: Arthur Marks

Writer: N/A

Artist Jack Culross fakes his own suicide and sees the sales of his paintings go through the roof. His only problem was that he forgot to inform his wife Edna of the scheme. After Edna sees a completed painting of Jack's that she knows he didn't finish while he was "alive" she gets wise. Edna manages to track down her "deceased" husband but they fight and she knocks him down. Then he's found dead. Edna must stand trial for murder.

Director: Bernard L. Kowalski

Writer: N/A

Mason tries to clear his young, naive woman client, a corporate executive secretary, as a twisting and wheeling plot of murder, kidnapping, and embezzlement unfolds.

Director: Francis D. Lyon

Writer: N/A

The drowning death of a newspaper executive during a fishing trip sets off all kinds of repercussions at the newspaper itself.

Director: John English

Writer: N/A

Cartoonist Pete Manders is elated when the owner of the comic strip "Zingy" offers to sell him the strip for a song. Pete is less than elated when he learns that his girlfriend Leslie is running away to Europe with Gabe Phillips, the strip owner. When Phiilips is murdered, Pete is charged with the crime and retains Perry's services. Investigating the case, Perry soon discovers that the deceased Phillips was leading a double life.

Director: Arthur Marks

Writer: N/A

Health club instructor Ward Nichols wants to marry the daughter of his employer, Bernard Daniels, but Ward's estranged wife, Veronica, is pressuring him for money and claiming to be pregnant. Things blow up in everyone's face when Bernard is found crunched with a dumbbell at the club. Perry, as usual, arrives on the scene to get at the truth.

Director: Jerry Hopper

Writer: N/A

A baby who mysteriously appears in Perry's office has a rare St. Christopher medal, which could help identify the baby's parents. If only the suspected father wasn't dead.

Director: Arthur Marks

Writer: Jonathan Latimer

A crazy man (or is he?), his dead nephew and a military base are tangled up in a confusing Perry Mason episode.

Director: Jerry Hopper

Writer: N/A

Perry and Della attend the wedding of Polly Courtland to Eddy King. The ceremony is halted at the altar when Polly begins screaming, "No! No!" and hurriedly exits the church. It seems as though Polly had spotted slimy George Sherwin holding an envelope containing photos of her younger sister checking into a Las Vegas hotel with a musician named Bongo White. Sherwin plans to ruin Polly and her family's reputation unless she gives up Eddy for him. Sherwin's plan comes a cropper when he's found shot to death. Eddy King is arrested for the crime.

Director: Bernard L. Kowalski

Writer: N/A

Aspiring screenwriter Herbert Simms submits his first teleplay to producer Charlie Corby who tries to use the manuscript as his own. Corby's scheme comes a cropper when he gets fatally whacked over the head with a whiskey bottle after a party. Herbert happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and is seen running from the scene of the crime. Guess who gets arrested for murder?

Director: Jesse Hibbs

Writer: N/A

During a terrible storm at sea, First Officer Jerry Griffin dumps a million dollars worth of goods into the sea in order to lessen the chances of his cargo freighter sinking. Once on shore, Jerry is hauled before a maritime court which holds him responsible for the loss of the cargo. Captain Bancroft's testimony can clear Jerry but he is murdered before he can give it. Now Jerry stands accused of that crime too. Perry and Paul try to set things right once again.

Director: Christian Nyby

Writer: N/A

Comic Charlie Hatch learns that the woman he loved and lost, Anne Gilrain, has escaped from a sanitarium to which she was forced to commit herself by her husband, Tom. When Tom Gilrain is murdered, Charlie is afraid that Anne did the deed and sets himself up as a likely suspect to protect her. Perry arrives on the scene to try and free Charlie from his abysmal stupidity.

Director: Arthur Marks

Writer: N/A

Perry and Paul are all set to go deep see fishing on a boat owned by their friend, Scott Cahill, but when Cahill's regular customer wants the boat for the weekend they have to charter another. Later, Perry gets word that the Coast Guard has boarded Cahill's vessel looking for stolen gold. They found some of the bullion and the corpse of Karl McGovern. An autopsy reveals that McGovern was killed with a fatal dose of digitalis. Scott Cahill is charged with murder when the police theorize that he and the dead man were partners in stealing the gold. Writer: Robb White

Director: Arthur Marks

Writer: N/A

Perry is hired to help settle a land dispute in the Manzana Valley but the key witness is blown up by a homemade bomb. As usual, Perry's client is accused of the crime.

Director: Jerry Hopper

Writer: N/A

A casual pen pal relationship leads to insider information and murder.

Director: Arthur Marks

Writer: N/A

Perry finds himself defending Dr. Wayne Edley who has been accused of committing two murders.

Director: Bernard L. Kowalski

Writer: N/A

Charles Cromwell, the president-elect of Euclid College, worries that some less than stellar moments from his past will be exposed when Maisie Freitag arrives on the scene to make an unusual beguest to the college. Needless to say, murder eventually finds its way to the campus.

Director: Arthur Marks

Writer: Robert Leslie Bellem

Merle Telford is a naive and maladjusted young woman who is about to turn 21 and receive a substantial inheritance. She plans to run away from her guardians and elope with Danny Pierce as soon as she receives her money. Yep, you guessed it already, Danny is a greedy schemer and Merle's supposed friend, Gina Gilbert, is his accomplice. Merle's guardians know of her plans and hire Paul Drake to keep Merle from fleeing on the night of her 21st birthday party. When a murder is committed during the party Merle becomes the prime suspect.

Director: Arthur Marks

Writer: N/A

Historian Phillip Andrews tries to make a case that his fiancee, Evelyn Faraday, is entitled to a share of a shipping company fortune. Phillip then finds himself accused of murdering the company's top man.

Director: Arthur Marks

Writer: N/A

Perry and Della go out for a night at the theatre to see Perry's actor friend, Steve Brock, perform as Paris in Romeo and Juliet. The lights mysteriously go out during the dueling scene between Romeo and Paris and when the lights are restored the audience is shocked to see that leading man Franz Lachman, playing Romeo, has been stabbed to death. When Steve is accused of the murder Perry decides to have the cast re-enact the final scene that was played before Lachman's death.

Director: Arthur Marks

Writer: N/A

Paint manufacturer Amory Fallon suspects that his partner Ned Thompson is behind a mysterious fire and explosion.

Director: Arthur Marks

Writer: Adrian Gendot

Mike Preston is a bitter man who despises Hugh Jamison because he mistakenly believes Jamison stole $100,000 from him and is responsible for him being crippled. Trying to entrap Jamison, Preston makes a mistake and is set up for murder by the real thief.

Director: Jesse Hibbs

Writer: Bob Mitchell