The Worst Episodes of Perry Mason

Paulo Porro is a charming young man from Sicily with a clever scam for ingratiating himself with Italian-American families. But when he tries his charms on Enrico Bacio, Paulo runs into a problem. It seems as though there was bad blood between the Porro and Bacio clans back in Sicily. Bacio even believes that Paolo has come to kill him. When Bacio is later found with a file lodged in his neck, Paolo is blamed for the murder.

Director: Jesse Hibbs

Writer: Milton Krims

Mona Harvey is the principal stockholder in a publishing company run by her uncle, Everett, and the wife of an eccentric sculptor named Hannibal Harvey who is being blackmailed. Unable to get at any money due to Mona's absence, Hannibal has ditzy model Bonnie Dunbar write a blackmail note to Mona's uncle. Everett gets the money out of petty cash and sends it to Bonnie. In the meantime, Mona returns, finds Bonnie's blackmail note, and decides to pay the model a visit. So does Hannibal. Without seeing each other, husband and wife both discover Bonnie's dead body. Mona gets arrested for the murder but she fears that Hannibal might be the real killer.

Director: Jack Arnold

Writer: Philip Saltzman

Uninterested in her recently inherited fortune, an aspring singer is easy prey for a sinister agent.

Director: Arthur Marks

Writer: John Elliotte

Columnist Elihu Laban is hit with a murder rap when his efforts to obtain secret papers backfire.

Director: Arthur Marks

Writer: N/A

In this change of pace episode Perry and Della travel behind the Iron Curtain and get involved in a murder case which ends up being tried in an East German court.

Director: Arthur Marks

Writer: Jonathan Latimer

Perry must defend a goofy, untalented British kid whom someone thinks has the talent to be a pop singer but in reality couldn't get in the door of American Idol. Then someone bumps off a shady promoter and the would be pop idol gets blamed.

Director: Jerry Hopper

Writer: Lawrence L. Goldman

Three teens cruise Hollywood Boulevard in a cool convertible lookin' for kicks! A liquor store goes down and the blackmail and plot twists begin. Lies and more lies and it's going from bad to worse for young Timmy Balfour who soon discovers that there's every bit as much delinquency from the adults when he's charged with murder.

Director: Irving J. Moore

Writer: N/A

A recently widowed women becomes tangled in a web of suspicion when she hastily remarries.

Director: Arthur Marks

Writer: John Elliotte

Test driver Pete Griston cracks up one of ace car builder Pappy Ryan's vehicles. Pappy accuses Havey Rettig of tampering with the car and files charges against Rettig and Griston. Then Rettig is killed and Griston is found standing groggily over the body.

Director: Jesse Hibbs

Writer: Sy Salkowitz

A Frenchman is giving money to an old lady love from his hometown, unaware that she's sharing the cash with her husband. When hubby turns up murdered guess who gets charged with the crime?

Director: Arthur Marks

Writer: Robert C. Dennis

A kidnapping hoax leads to murder when the ransom note gets into the wrong hands.

Director: Jesse Hibbs

Writer: Robb White

Imagine Gerard Van Ness's surprise when a long-lost tiara worth a fortune turns up in his hands. Imagine Perry and Della's surpise when the body of a jewel thief turns up in a trunk delivered to their building. Needless to say, Van Ness gets blamed for the death and it's up to Perry and company to save the day.

Director: Harmon Jones

Writer: Orville H. Hampton, Ernest Frankel

Stefan Riker has come from Germany seeking the woman posing as Lisa Bannister and she believes he can cause her to be deported back to Germany. Attempting to help her stepmother, Doris Bannister pretends to be romantically interested in Stefan Riker. During the next few months Stefan Riker receives money and gifts from Doris and seems satisfied. However one night he is murdered and Doris Bannister is accused of murder because her fingerprints are found on a ladder outside of Riker's apartment.

Director: Arthur Hiller

Writer: Donald S. Sanford

A really weird courtroom confession scene highlights this episode about the murder of a race car driver.

Director: Bernard L. Kowalski

Writer: N/A

Mason's client: a man declared legally dead.

Director: Jesse Hibbs

Writer: N/A

Mason is hired by a sculptor charged with murdering the overbearing mother of his model.

Director: Jesse Hibbs

Writer: Robert Presnell Sr.

Julie Eng needs Perry's help when some precious stones her grandfather left her turn up missing.

Director: Don Weis

Writer: Robert C. Dennis

In an offbeat case, Mason becomes involved in international intrigue wheh he travels to Switzerland to meet a friend's future daughter-in-law.

Director: Arthur Marks

Writer: Jackson Gillis

Attorney Ken Kramer comes to the aid of an alleged thief accused of stealing a $50,000 necklace.

Director: Jack Arnold

Writer: Robert C. Dennis

Perry plays Mr. Brownlow to young Lenny Beale who's involved with a gang of teenage car strippers. Lenny wants to quit the gang but when his boss, Bill Sikes, turns up murdered the police theorize that Lenny killed him in revenge for Sikes shooting his girlfriend.

Director: Arthur Marks

Writer: Orville H. Hampton, Ernest Frankel

A circus clown is charged with the murder of its part owner when a gun is slipped to him during a gun act.

Director: Andrew V. McLaglen

Writer: Sam Neuman

Hilde Fursten and Tony Osgood work at the San Diego Zoo. When a new baby monkey is found missing, Hilde Fursten is blamed by Dr. Walther Braun, a visiting dentist. Boris Zelbowski also works at the zoo and is dating Frieda Crawson, Dr. Braun's nurse. That evening, Dr. Braun arrives at the zoo to perform oral surgery on a lion and is found dead in the lion's cage. Tony Osgood is accused of the murder when a witness sees someone wearing Tony's blue sportcoat near the lion's cage at the time.

Director: Arthur Marks

Writer: N/A

Phony psychic Phillip Paisley meets a grisly death when an elevator that has been tampered with crashes. In the climactic scene Perry sets up another fantastic demonstration to prove his client innocent and expose the real culprit.

Director: Arthur Marks

Writer: N/A

Ted Chase discovers that his bitchy second wife, Irene, might have killed his first wife and contemplates revenge but someone else gets to Irene first. In his defense of Ted, Perry discovers that Irene's past was even more sordid and corrupt than previously believed.

Director: Jerry Hopper

Writer: N/A

Astronaut Matthew Heller is suspected of killing his old service rival, General Addison Brand, after Brand is put in charge of the astronaut program.

Director: Francis D. Lyon

Writer: N/A