Oh dear. It’s terrible how long I’ve let it stretch
without a post. If I’m not feeling ill, I’m lacking a topic or I’ve got so many
other things I’m trying to do that the post slips away. But I ended up missing
at least a couple of times when I fully intended to post.
I certainly intended to post on the 6th,
for instance—the anniversary of William Hopper’s death. And then today is the
anniversary of Erle Stanley Gardner’s death. Both men, curiously and sadly
enough, died the same year, 1970, days apart from each other.
They are two people so very key to Perry
as we know it now. Naturally nothing would exist if Gardner hadn’t got his
ideas for the books and started to write. And if anyone else had played Paul,
the dynamics of the series would have been so very different indeed.
I usually like to recommend episodes or other
work to watch on the memorial posts. It isn’t always easy thinking of good
episode recommendations after a couple such posts! But last night I was
watching a DVD copy of an episode I’d missed on MeTV last week and was thinking
it would make a great recommendation.
I don’t recall really thinking about it before,
but The Nervous Neighbor is really good as a Paul episode as well as a
Hamilton episode (the latter of which I usually think of it as). It has some of
Hamilton’s best scenes and some of Paul’s most extended screentime. The episode
opens in Paul’s office, a very unusual thing, and Paul continues to be
extremely prominent throughout the story as he takes Charles Fuller around town
and investigates the strange case. Even after Mrs. Bradley’s hearing, when she
would have likely also interacted with Perry a great deal, it’s Paul she calls
in a panic when son Charles runs off to confront criminal Henry Clement.
Normally it’s Perry the person calls, and then Perry either runs out himself or
calls Paul to go (or they both go).
Usually episodes also feature scenes of Perry
investigating, so it’s very interesting and different to see so much focus on
Paul. There’s even that adorable sub-plot where we can see Paul seems to be
hanging around the Golden Age Club quite a bit as he sleuths and is getting to
know the people, especially Frances—whom he promises a dance with and fulfills
that at the end.
It’s known that Raymond Burr was tiring of the role
as the show went on and the writers deliberately tried to focus some of the
later episodes more on other characters. Seasons 8 and 9 are definitely said to
have that focus, and it’s apparent in several of them. The Nervous Neighbor
is season 7, and I’m wondering if the focus on Paul was deliberate because of
Raymond’s feelings too. But either way, it’s a wonderful episode choice to
watch in remembrance of William Hopper.
The episode is just about perfect to me in every way. My
only confusion is that once again there’s a title that I don’t fully
understand. Who is “The Nervous Neighbor”? There’s certainly a lot of people
running around in this episode who are nervous. Which one is considered the “neighbor”?
And neighbor of whom? But in any case, it’s a minor quibble.
Generally I recommend reading the books in
remembrance of Mr. Gardner. And while that is a logical idea, perhaps other
things fans would like to do would be to watch a particular favorite adaptation
of a book or to view The Final Fade-Out and see Mr. Gardner onscreen as
the second judge.
One of these days I’m going to give that episode
another viewing; while it never will be a favorite, the in-jokes are amusing
and Richard Anderson has some very nice scenes. And it’s nice to know that so
many of the bit parts and extras are people on the crew. In that respect, it’s
a nice send-off to the series, as is the epilogue scene.
Farewell again to William Hopper and Erle Stanley
Gardner, two people still very often thought of and missed.
I have several topics waiting in the wings; tentatively
I’d considered combining this post with at least one of them, but I think it
would be more proper to give them separate posts. Hopefully I can get back
on-track with posting. I know I keep saying that, but it is an intention!
And
a bit of Perry news: MeTV will show The Lost Love movie this
Friday! Happy watching to the interested!
No comments:
Post a Comment