by Herbie J Pilato
Perry Mason originally aired on CBS from 1957 to 1966, and starred the great Raymond Burr in the lead, with Barbara Hale as his trusted assistant, Della Street; William Hopper (son of Hollywood gossip legend Hedda Hopper) as detective Paul Drake, and William Talman as Hamilton Burger, the poor district attorney, who Mason always clobbered in court. Ray Collins, Wesley Lau, and Richard Anderson (Oscar Goldman from The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman) rounded out the additional legal-law enforcement cast in various roles over the years.
Perry Mason was more than just a precursor to countless lawyer shows to follow, including LA Law, Law & Order, and Boston Legal, among others.
Mason was based on a series of best-selling mystery novels created by attorney-novelist Erle Stanley Gardner, which were transformed into a CBS radio show – with soap-opera elements – that aired from 1943 to 1955. When the radio series became the now iconic Raymond Burr show, the soapy serial slant was shelved. But in 1956 (two years before the Burr series debuted), the original radio format was transplanted to the TV daytime serial, The Edge of Night (complete with the PM radio production staff and most of the cast, who were given new character names), where it remained until December 1984.
