Perry Mason (TV Series) The Case of the Terrified Typist (1958) User Reviews

T-wis-ted

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 18 October 2018]

This Perry Mason story is really going to have you reaching. The writers must have put in plenty of overtime to get this one down. Blink and you'll miss an important clue.

It starts when Joanna Moore shows up as an temp at Perry Mason's office and Barbara Hale puts her right to work and compliments her. Then there's a robbery on the floor above at a diamond exchange and one of the partners is killed.

Another partner is charged with murder and it's Alan Marshal who Raymond Burr winds up defending. One thing however is that it is Marshal who is seen disposing of a body in the Los Angeles harbor. A disquieting most atypical of the Perry Mason paradigm.

In fact there's a lot atypical in this story as Marshal when he's put on the stand tells a tale that Burr finds incredulous.

In the last 10 minutes all is revealed and this one could have been written by Agatha Christie. William Hopper does some of his best detective work and engages in some atypical fisticuffs proving Paul Drake can handle himself if needed.

And I thought Hamilton Burger was going to give birth right there in court when Perry Mason reveals the truth in court. William Talman's reactions are priceless.

One of the best

Guilty!!!!

[zsenorsock · 9/10 · 27 October 2007]

This is one of the rare Perry Mason episodes were Perry actually LOSES the case and his client, Duane Jefferson is found guilty...or is he? Based on a book by Earle Stanley Gardner, this is a terrific episode with a lot of twists and turns. It begins with a robbery in a jewelry dealer's office in Mason's building and a mysterious blonde (Joanna Cook Moore) who hides from the police in Mason's office (on the 9th floor, by the way) pretending to be a temp typist hired for the day (which makes me wonder what the seldom seen Gertie does). She turns out to be the wife of Senator Taylor...and perhaps the only alibi for Mason's client Duane Jefferson (Alan Marshall) who is charged with murder of George Baxter (Jack Paine) one of the jewelry partners. He is even id'd as the guy who dropped the body in the lake by a fisherman named Jack Billy ("Green Acres" co-star Hank Patterson, aka Mr. Ziffel) At trial, Jefferson resorts to chivalry and will not name his alibi witness, since she is a married woman. But then it turns out Jefferson was running a game. He was trying to blackmail Mrs. Taylor with some old letters..and he was seeing another married woman that night, Mrs. Lumis, the wife of the other jewelry dealer. Between the two of them, they cannot account for all of Jefferson's time and he is convicted, yes, found guilty of murder. Photographers and the press swarm Berger! He's beat Perry Mason! The DA enjoys his moment. And of course, its just a moment.

Perry is left to make his argument for a new trial and he comes up with a doozy of a reason: the man saying he's Duane Jefferson is NOT Duane Jefferson at all! He produces the real Duane Jefferson (Steve Carruthers) and reveals the fake one is a man named James Kincaid who was in on the whole thing.

So technically, Mason gets his client off...for now. But he's about to be recharged with murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, extortion, perjury and who knows what other charges. But that's not Perry's problem. Kincaid can find a new lawyer.

Head still spinning

[kfo9494 · 8/10 · 11 October 2011]

Even though this episode has twist at every turn it does delivery a watchable show.

It involves a diamond company, located one floor above Perry's office, where they have a little break-in and then a murder. All the evidence points to Duane Jefferson (Alan Marshall) as being the person that committed such a crime. We even get a boats-man, played by Hank Patterson of Green Acres fame (Fred Ziffel) that actually can ID Jefferson near where a body was dumped.

Mr Jefferson case hinges on a women he was with the night of the murder but he refuses to name the women. Which makes the viewer scramble to find/guess the woman before it is brought out in court. But there is a surprising twist that leads the meeting of two people useless to the crime.

Also this is one where Perry actually loses the case. Hamilton Burger is aglow with excitement as the foreman of the jury reads "guilty". Even the viewer more than likely have voted guilty after Lt Tragg presented evidence from a broken concrete block that I feel sure 'had his mark'.

But hold fast Perry fans. The show still has ten minutes and that means just enough time for Paul and Perry to do some checking on the facts. And from the Chubby Checker recording - It is time to do the twist all over again.

Throw in some lies, photos and a heaping of switcheroo and Perry could get this guy off before the show ends. But in another seemingly endless twist, the person that Perry is defending may not be found innocent of the crime after-all. Perry maybe having dinner with Paul and Della but the man Perry was defending may have his dinner catered by the prison system.

As sore as I was from all the twist of the show- it was enjoyable to watch.

Attorney Privilege

[darbski · 10/10 · 8 May 2017]

**SPOILERS** I know that there are a couple of twists and turns in this very good episode, but it had some good courtroom exchanges, and in a show about a lawyer, that's the coolest. I was glad to see the killer caught in his own low trap, and one other thing: I like it when Paul knocks some dirtbag out. Usually he does alright, but, I think he gets dazed too many times for his own good. Not as bad as another detective, "Mannix". My father used to say "It's about time for Joe to get hit on the head"; sure as daylight, he'd get bopped. The way Paul chilled this creep was just perfect. As usual, Della is her beautiful best, and is given a great compliment by Perry in the closing. This episode interrupted AMC's "Better Call Saul" in which Perry Mason is mentioned, and then very good courtroom fun is presented. Loved both.

One of the very best episodes from season one.

[jamesraeburn2003 · 12 December 2018]

A young woman (Joanna Moore) breaks into the offices of the South African Diamond Company, but she is interrupted by the arrival of George Baxter (Jack Raine) who has come to see Walter Lumis (Ben Wright) and Duane Jefferson (Alan Marshal). He suspects that the young woman is an intruder and goes to alert the police. She escapes, however, and goes into the office of the famous defense attorney Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) posing as a temporary typist from the labour exchange. She later quietly slips away and Baxter has reported what he believes to have been an attempted robbery to the police. That night a boatman sees Baxter's body being dumped off of the St Monica Pier and identifies Jefferson as the man he saw do it. He is duly arrested and put on trial for Baxter's murder and the South African Diamond Company, through Walter Lumis, retains Mason to defend him. Jefferson, potentially, has a rock solid alibi as he claims to have spent the entire evening of the murder with a lady friend. But, he refuses to tell Mason whom she is. Could she be the mysterious woman who tried to break into the diamond company's offices then posed as a secretary in Perry's office until the heat died down so she could make good her getaway? Who is she and what was it she was trying to steal from the company? Meanwhile, it is revealed that a shipment of diamonds from South Africa worth $500,000 has gone missing...

One of the very best episodes from season one, which is tautly directed with a strong visual sense by Andrew V. McLaglen who later directed some notable westerns with John Wayne like Chisum and The Undefeated. Like so many of the early Perry Masons, the plot is generally capable of being followed but the twists and turns come thick and fast so you have to be really following it and if you let your attention lapse for even an instant then you'll lose track of everything and it won't make much sense. The courtroom scenes carry a good charge of suspense and the battle between Raymond Burr's Perry Mason and William Talman's district attorney, Hamilton Burger, one of the show's most popular characters, is immensely enjoyable here. It is the one in which Burger actually wins the case and succeeds in getting a guilty verdict for Perry's client. Well, sort of, but there is an incredible final twist which I won't spoil for you but, in the end, both Mason and Burger emerge victorious.

Huh!

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 12 December 2021]

This is a highly entertaining offering. But there are so many twists and turns and, let's face it, insane reveals, that it's hard to take it seriously. For one thing, it involves the defense of a man who is pretending to be someone else. How is this even possible? Anyway, it is the old switcheroo at the end for which this show is famous.

Coincidence!

[CherCee · 9/10 · 16 December 2022]

This is a funny little coincidence: Jack Raine plays George Baxter in The Case Of The Terrified Typist. In the previous episode, The Case Of The Black-Eyed Blonde, Whitney Blake played Diana Reynolds, the accused (she also played the title character in the very first Perry Mason episode, The Case Of The Restless Redhead). Three years after this episode, 1961, Ms. Blake started playing Dorothy Baxter, wife of George Baxter (played by Don DeFore), who were the employers of the housekeeper named Hazel (1961 - 1966 - the title character, Hazel Burke, was played by Oscar, and other awards, winner Shirley Booth).

The Case of the Terrified Typist

[Prismark10 · 7/10 · 5 May 2021]

The defendant is found guilty but Perry Mason knows who the murderer is.

It is his client!

A South African diamond company has an office in California. George Baxter is visiting to see Walter Lumis and Duane Jefferson who run the office.

Baxter at first suspects a young woman who claims to be the secretary but is acting suspiciously. When confronted she poses as a temporary typist at Perry Mason's office which is in the same building.

Later Baxter is found dead and a boatman identifies Jefferson who threw the body into the pier.

Adapted from an Erle Stanley Gardner story. There are a lots of twists and it does come across very well in the teleplay.

Jefferson appears to be chivalrous. He claims to have an alibi but will not reveal the name of the married woman he spent an evening with.

The terrified typist is the wife of an elderly politician who wants to retrieve some indelicate letters and is being blackmailed.

Then there is the question of some missing diamonds. It seems several people were involved in an elaborate scam and Perry is on the case and someone is not who he claims to be.

Will the real Duane Jefferson please stand up!

[sol1218 · 4/10 · 10 August 2013]

****MAJOR SPOILERS*** You've got to see this Perry Mason, Raymond Burr, episode to see just how far it's script writers would go to get their star Perry Mason into a disastrous mess and have him, with their help, somehow get out of it and at the same time end up smelling like a rose. The whole story makes no sense at all with the alleged murderer Duane Jefferson, Alan Marshal, that Perry is defending making no attempt at all to save himself in the name of chivalry. That by not revealing the name the woman, who's married to someone else, he loves who can prove his innocent! Jefferson had been spotted by fisherman Jack Gilly, Hank Paterson, dumping diamond merchant George Baxter's, Jack Raine, body with a cement block tied around it into L.A Bay. It's that mysterious woman who can prove that at the time he was supposedly spotted by Gilly dumping Baxter's body into the drink that he was having drinks with her at a swanky L.A restaurant 10 miles away.

Perry who wasn't all that eager to take Jefferson's case soon realizes what a mistake he made in how his client acted, like he could't care less about his fate, at his trial. In that in Jefferson's getting convicted and facing the death penalty was about as uninteresting to him as the daily weather report on the planet Pluto. Is this guy crazy or does he want to be convicted of first degree murder just to see, before the lights are turned out on him, the inside of the infamous San Quentin gas chamber before he checked out for good! As we and Perry Mason soon find out Jefferson's actions are even more bizarre then we could have ever imagined. And they lead to Perry losing the case in defending Jefferson who, when found guilty and now possible execution, seem relived of the entire matter! Did Jefferson expect to get a reduced sentences by being found too incompetent or crazy to stand trial as well as being criminally insane? And thus end up being given a life stay in a local mental institution?

****SPOILERS*** In appealing his what seems like mentally unbalanced and suicidal client's guilty decision Perry finally realizes that he's been had all along by this Jefferson guy who, I can only assume from his actions, was trying to take the fall for Baxter's murder in order to have his partners in crime, in stealing $500,000.00 in diamonds off Baxter, to get away Scot-free. And all this was brought out by Perry Mason at the appeals trial by proving just who this Duane Jefferson really is and introducing the person played by Steve Carruthers who for some strange reason never utters a word or even grunt, during his few minutes on screen, whom Jefferson was impersonating!