TCOT Podcast Episode 038 - Sad Sicilian

 

TCOT Podcast Episode 038 - Sad Sicilian

Season 8 - Episode 22

Originally aired - March 11, 1965

The Case of the Podcast is a Perry Mason Fan Podcast. We love and enjoy episodes from a tv show from the late 1950’s and early 1960. It’s so old, it was filmed in Black & White.

This is the episode from season 8 that we are choosing at random using a random number generator. We will be choosing our episodes this way season by season. We’re excited by this new process which will give each season a chance to shine.



Police Lt: Andy


DA: Burger

Guest Stars:

Fabrizio Mioni - only ep of PM/40 roles from 1954 - 1972 including Hercules/The Lloyd Bridges Show/Bonanzo/Death Valley Days/Love American Style

Paulo Porro


Joe - Bellboy SA - 2nd ep of PM/118 roles from 1940 - present/The Life and Legend of Wyatt

Earp/CHiPs/The Thing with Two Heads/cartoon voices

Tommy Cook


Linda Marsh SA - 1 ep of PM/52 roles from 1962 - 1979 including 4 eps of Mod Squad/Greebie and the Bean/Mannix/Producer/Writer - Facts of Life/

Elizabeth Bacio


Patricia Joyce SA - 5 ep of PM/12 roles from 1964 - 1978 including Chico and the Man/Gunsmoke/Writer - Days of Our Lives

Woman Customer


Nico Minardos - 1

Giangiacomo Bacio


Dabbs Greer - 7 eps of PM/321 roles from 1939 - 2003 including Lizzie Maguire/Invasion of the Body Snatchers/Alfred Hitchcock/Burns and Allie/Superman/The Loretta Young/Twilight Zone/Andy Griffith/Dick Van Dyke Show/Gomer Pyle/The Ghost and Mrs Muir/Bonanza/Mod Squad/3 eps of Ironside/42 eps of Gunsmoke/Green Eyes with Paul Winfield/Little House on the Prairie/The Green Mile

Dodson


Margo - ep of PM/26 roles from 1934 - 1965 including

Serafina Bacio


Anthony Caruso

Enrico Bacio


Rudy Solari

Massimo Bacio


Paul Comi

Father Reggiani


Charles Irving

Judge


Dort Clark

Desk Sergeant

Alexander Lockwood

Coroner


Charles La Torre - only ep of PM

Uncle Fiastri

Cafe Proprietor

(as Jack LaRue)

Fun Stuff:

Furniture/Design

            Perry’s Office Window View 

Fashion

Cars

Cigarettes

Money Translation

$500,000 in 1965 = $4,756,362.17 in 2023.

Dee Spills the Tea:

How did Raymond Burr hurt his arm?

Now answering this question is going to bring up some more questions and we’ll save those other questions for later.

Burr wore a cast on his arm and shoulder for three months during the eighth season. In some episodes like the one we just watched, his right arm was hidden under a large suit. Now the show’s producers did this thinking to hide his injury but fans assumed he had gained weight (again). We’ll talk about that later too. I didn’t fall for it either. It looked like his arm was under his coat. But okay. And he tried to hide it by having the camera on his left side. That didn’t fool nobody either.

So how did it happen? Raymond Burr said in an interview that he had been injured in a helicopter crash during a tour of Vietnam. We know he did these tours to entertain the troops, during breaks in filming Perry Mason and this crash happened during one of those tours.

The real answer, or let’s just say “another answer” is revealed by Jim Davidson in his The Perry Mason Book. (We might have to delve into books about Mason too!). Davidson interviewed Robert Benevides in 2011 (put a bookmark there) said that he and Burr were in Hawaii and Burr tried to move a boulder (showing off) and tore the tendons in his bicep. All of the muscles in his arm were pulled out at the shoulder and became bunched up down near his elbow. So it was probably very painful.

So you decide. Helicopter crash or the beaches of Hawaii?

Stay tuned because I have a lot more tea to spill!

Next Week’s Episode: Dead Ringer Season 9 Episode 26