I’ve been watching the reruns of the original TV series shown on the local MeTV channel. I loved this show as a kid. I didn’t understand a lot of it then but the courtroom dramatics were hypnotizing. The shows were mainly adaptations of the books written by Erle Stanley Gardner and the casting of Raymond Burr was decided by Gardner himself. William Hopper who played Paul Drake was originally considered for the role of Mason, while Burr was auditioning to play Hamilton Burger, the unfortunate DA who had to face Mason in court so many times.
There’s a lot of interesting trivia about this show and it would be great to hear people’s opinions and recollections. However, it is an odd part of an episode that led me to start this thread. In The Case of the Weary Watchdog Della Street (Perry’s secretary) is helping a friend of hers who is in trouble. She is driving the friend’s car when she is pulled over by the police who of course want to arrest her friend on a murder charge. When she emerges from the car, Della says “There must be some mistake, my name is Mrs. Brendon Street… Della Street”. It’s possible she says “Mrs. Brenda Street”, I can’t really tell. But I can’t find any indication that Della Street was ever married. To the contrary, she was portrayed as single, with a sexual tension between her and Perry, and occasionally Paul Drake. Is anyone aware of this episode or any explanation for this?