Anyone who has ever watched late night television is familiar with Perry Mason, the savvy, smart and sophisticated lawyer played by Raymond Burr back when the show was filmed in black and white. Perry made several appearances on TV over the years, his hair growing more and more gray, but one thing never changed: he was the television lawyer. Matlock, LA Law, Law and Order – good shows, but none of them could ever be Perry Mason.
Who is the man behind the character of Perry Mason? How did Mason come to be? The answer lies in the author, Erle Stanley Gardner, who was himself an attorney for over twenty-two years.
His career got off to a rocky start, the foundation for that having been laid by a shady background arranging unlicensed boxing matches. He got a job working as a typist in a California law office and gained an appreciation and understanding of the law. He picked up enough knowledge through his typing job to pass the bar and was admitted in 1911. He opened his own law office at the age of twenty-one, but that business unfortunately went south.
He spent the next seven years working for a corporate attorney, defending primarily Chinese clients. He learned to speak Chinese fluently and became known as “t’ai chong tze” (the big lawyer).
In 1918, Erle took a break from the law and worked as a salesman for Consolidated Sales Company, a position he held for three years. But when he married Natalie Frances Talbert in 1921, he decided to return to the law, and practiced with partner Frank Orr in Ventura. He worked at that firm for twelve years.
He began to write in the early 1920s with submissions to pulp magazines that featured mainly western and mystery stories, under the name Charles M. Green. He became very prolific through his magazine stories and had garnered quite a reputation for himself before publishing his first novel. In the course of his life, Erle produced 144 short stories and over three hundred novelettes.
The first Perry Mason story was “The Case of the Velvet Claws,” which was published in 1933. Next came “The Case of the Sulky Girl,” also in 1933. The public greeted these books so enthusiastically that, taking a risk, Erle quit his law practice and devoted his time to writing Perry Mason novels, of which there would eventually be over eighty.
What was the secret behind his success? The characters certainly contributed. Perry Mason was patient, meticulous, and exacting. His secretary, Della Street, added beauty, glamour, and loyalty. His best friend and closest business associate, Paul Drake, private investigator, spend hours tracking down leads, often pulling rabbits out of hats to get Mason the information needed. The three made an unbeatable team.
Despite the high volume of books Erle produced, he never got sloppy about his work. He figured out all his plots on paper before he wrote them, and he always knew the direction each book would take before he began to write.
He died in March of 1970, possibly the most prolific author who ever wrote about the law. He is missed but his books carry on, leaving a legacy not only to Erle, but ensuring that the name of Perry Mason will be known for generations to come. Case closed.
Information for this article was gathered here.
Raymond Burr as Perry Mason.
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