December 8, 2020
While Raymond Burr – logically – dominated the Perry Mason series, the other actors were more than just “extras,” they were important parts of the story: Della Street, Paul Drake, Hamilton Burger, and Lt. Arthur Tragg.
Throughout all of Perry Mason’s appearances – novels, short stories, films, and radio and television programs – there were a few constants, and one of them, perhaps the most important, was his secretary, Della Street.
A character named Della Street first appeared in Gardner’s unpublished novel Reasonable Doubt, where she was a secretary, but not the secretary of the lawyer, Ed Stark. Gardner described her as “Secretary, twenty-seven, quiet, fast on her feet, had been places. Worked in a carnival or side show, knows all the lines, hard-boiled exterior, quietly efficient, puzzled over the lawyer, chestnut hair, trim figure, some lines on her face, a hint of weariness at the corners of her eyes.”
When Reasonable Doubt was rejected by publisher William Morrow, Gardner rewrote the story as The Case of the Velvet Claws (in 1933) and made Della Street Perry Mason’s secretary. In that first Perry Mason novel, Della Street is revealed to have come from a wealthy, or at least well-to-do, family that was wiped out by the stock market crash of 1929. She was forced to get a job as a secretary.
On television for 9 seasons, and in the 30 made-for-TV movies, Della Street was played by Barbara Hale. She received an Emmy Award for her performance in the early series.
In 1943, and under contract to RKO Radio Pictures, she made her first screen appearance as “Girl at Party.” She also played “Girl at Airport,” “Subway Passenger,” “Stocking Sales Girl,” and “Girl in Hotel Lobby,” all uncredited rolls. It was standard studio policy at the time that if an actor had a limited number of lines, she or he would not receive a credit when the movie scrolled to an end. Barbara Hale’s first credited role was alongside Frank Sinatra in Higher and Higher, even singing with him in the film.
After many starring and leading roles, Hale was thinking of retiring from show business when she accepted her best known role as legal secretary Della Street. Married to Bill Williams, their son, William Katt, played Paul Drake, Jr., in nine of the Perry Mason made for TV movies.
Here are three great video clips featuring Barbara Hale as Della Street.
The first is “Cinderella.”
Second is “The Best of Della Street.” Ignore the subtitles.
The third clip is a thinly disguised commercial for a book (and it’s a decent book) but it features a compilation of clips showing the romantic tension between Perry and Della. The relationship was always teased, never consummated. Here is “Perry Mason, A Love Story.”
Tomorrow, we’ll conclude our look at Perry Mason with glimpses of the three male co-stars.
** In QB 249 I wondered why the JAMM Kids and I sang “One More Pint,” our version of Phil Collins’ “One More Night,” confessing to a blank spot in my memory. Jennifer pointed me back to 1983 or 1984. Bonnie was finishing her Master’s Degree at the University of South Carolina driving daily from Aiken to Columbia, and the kids and I bought several bushes of corn, and set up a “factory” under the carport. Jen said, “We sang ‘one more pint’ when we shucked corn, took it off the cob, and then put it into one pint freezer bags ... just give me one more pint.” Thanks for filling in that hole, Jen!
👉 An Argyle Sweater for the season:
👉 Back to the video arcade for two more oldies, but goodies.
Make Trax, a favorite of She Who Must Be Obeyed, is a 1981 maze game released first in arcades in Japan. The player controls a paintbrush and must paint the entire maze in order to advance to the next stage. Two fish emerge from separate aquariums to pursue the paintbrush around the board, and if either of the fish succeeds in making contact with the paintbrush, the player loses one of three lives. The player uses two paint rollers to attack the fish, and also must eliminate a cat that makes tracks through the fresh paint.
Frogger is another 1981 arcade game. In North America, it was published jointly by Sega and Gremlin Industries. The object of the game is to direct frogs to their homes one by one by crossing a busy road and navigating a river full of hazards. Frogger, with an immediately recognizable sound track, was followed by several clones and sequels. By 2005, Frogger, in its various home video game incarnations, had sold 20 million copies worldwide, including 5 million in the United States.
We’ll wrap this up tomorrow with one suggested by our readers in Canada and my top two favorites.
👉 Shipments of the coronavirus vaccine developed by American drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech were delivered Sunday in the U.K. in super-cold containers. Around 800,000 doses of the vaccine were expected to be in place for the start of the immunization program today, a day that Health Secretary Matt Hancock has dubbed as “V-Day,” a nod to triumphs in World War II. Patients aged 80 and above who are already attending hospitals as outpatients and those being discharged after a stay in the hospital will be among the first to receive the jab. Any appointments not taken up will be offered to those health workers deemed to be at the highest risk of COVID-19.
👉 Before we close, here are a few samples from our “Memory Lane Department:”
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| Our kids don’t even have books to take home anymore |
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| Hint: it was frequently the last thing we saw before going to bed |
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| And we waited until after 7 p.m. to make long distance calls because it was cheaper |
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At 117 Shenandoah Avenue it was a new set of World Book Encyclopedia which replaced the old Compton’s Encyclopedia |
Transforming Love
“Be mindful of your mercy, O LORD, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness sake, O LORD! Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees” (Psalm 25:6-10).
The Psalmist revels in God’s mercy, goodness, and steadfast love. It is the same term three times, steadfast love, a term always on the lips of ancient Israel, a term that most fully characterizes the God of Christmas for whom we prepare in Advent.
God’s transforming love is offered by Jesus to the woman at the well, to the tax man in the tree, to the blind beggar. What humans most need is abiding, committed, passionate transforming love. This psalmist waits for it in need and knows the place from where it comes.
Truth to tell, that kind of transformation is not on offer in our world from the big players in power and money and authority. It is not on offer by most of the loud voices of ideology and propaganda among us.
Imagine a whole company of believers rethinking their lives, redeploying their energy, reassessing their purposes. The path is to love God, not party, not ideology, not pet project, but God’s will for steadfast love that is not deterred by fear and anxiety.
The decrees of Caesar Augustus continue to go out for taxes and for draft and for frantic attempts to keep the world under our control. But the truth is found in the vulnerable village of Bethlehem outside the capital city. It will take a village to exhibit this alternative, and we are citizens of that coming society.
In the midst of a tired and fearful world, we have heard the promise of your steadfast love, your transforming love. May we wait with eager longing for the one thing needed, for the one source that assures. May we be in readiness for your coming, 0 God. Amen.
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