Perry Mason - General Discussion - Page 3 - Perry Mason

Recently I acquired the DVDs of the last four seasons, and decided to go right to the final episode of the final season, self-reflectively titled "The Case of the Final Fade-Out," to see how they handled what they knew would be their farewell. The title was just the beginning of the self-reflective awesomeness.

The episode (Number 30 in its season) was full of in-jokes, self-references, and winks to the audience, a loving farewell indeed. For starters, the murder took place on the set of a successful TV series shooting what turned out to be its last episode! (There's talk at the beginning in the producer's office that next year, the series will be in color! But the murder scotches that possibility. I had a suspicion about this reference which I've just confirmed. Episode 21 of Perry Mason's final season was filmed in color, as a test for a possible Season 10, which never happened!)

Then we have the name of the defendant--Jackson Sidemark, the producer of the show on the shooting stage of which the murder has taken place. An amazing amalgam of the names of the actual producers of Perry Mason: Gail Patrick Jackson, Art Seid, and Arthur Marks! (A further pun of sorts is that the shooting stage becomes an actual shooting stage when the murder takes place.)

And in a truly lovely gesture to the behind-the-scenes folks of Perry Mason (and to the audience), when the detectives start interviewing all the members of the crew who were on the set of Jackson Sidemark's show when the murder took place, many of these crew members are played by the actual crew members of Perry Mason. A chance for them to come out of the shadows and get the recognition they deserve in the show's swan song.

Probably many of you fans have seen this episode and know all the affectionate self-references it contains, but it was a first for me, and I couldn't get over it. What a way to go.

Edited December 14, 2017 by Milburn Stone

ncG1vNJzZmien6fCrr%2BNqamipZWptq6x0WeaqKVfqbyxtcJobm1pYWd6sbHRq7BmpZGovK97z5qenmdjZA%3D%3D