The Case of the Color "Perry Mason" Episode

One of the Christmas gifts in our house last year was a DVD set called The Perry Mason 50th Anniversary Edition. The collection includes several episodes, the Perry Mason Returns TV movie, and a lot of interesting bonus content. But its most intriguing feature was the TV series' only episode filmed in color.

"The Case of the Twice Told Twist" aired on February 27, 1966 during the ninth and final season of Perry Mason. CBS executives were mulling whether to renew the series and wanted to see what a color episode would look like. By the mid 1960s, the cost of color photography had decreased significantly and it was becoming standard practice to film in color.

Victor Buono as the villain.

The episode selected was a contemporary variation of Oliver Twist written by series veteran Ernest Frankel. Guest star Victor Buono plays the Fagin-like Ben Huggins, leader of a gang comprised of teenage boys who strip cars of their parts which Huggins then sells in Mexico. Perry gets involved when his convertible becomes one of the gangs' targets and a youth named Lennie (Kevin O'Neal) is caught by the police.

The district attorney's office wants Perry to press charges against Lennie. However, Perry believes the teen can be rehabilitated. Two murders later, though, Perry finds himself defending Lennie of a much more serious charge: homicide.

"The Case of the Twice Told Twist" doesn't rank with the best Perry Mason outings. It'd be more interesting to let the audience discover the Oliver Twist theme on its own. Instead, Perry compares Huggins to Fagin and one of the characters is named Bill Sikes.

Beverly Powers.

The episode does feature an interesting guest cast. Victor Buono, who had appeared in three earlier episodes of Perry Mason, would make his first appearance as King Tut on Batman just two months later. Kevin O'Neal is the younger brother of Ryan O'Neal. Kevin appeared in several of his brother's movies and was a regular on the No Time for Sergeants TV series (1964-65). Finally, one of the strippers at Femmes a Go Go is played by Beverly Powers. Also known as Miss Beverly Hills, she was a real-life stripper and later actress. When she retired from acting, she became a minister in Maui.

Barbara Hale and William Hopper.

As for the color photography, it looks amazingly crisp after all these years. While it doesn't add anything to Perry Mason, it's still fun for the show's fans to learn, for example, that the familiar courtroom walls are gray.

If you're a fan of the show, I heartily recommend The Perry Mason 50th Anniversary Edition DVD set for the bonus features alone. They include screen tests of both William Hopper and Raymond Burr playing Perry (as well as Burr playing Hamilton Burger). There's an episode of a charades-like quiz called Stump the Stars with Burr, Hopper, Barbara Hale, and William Talman. And there's a potent anti-smoking public service announcement by Talman, which was filmed while he was dying from lung cancer at age 53. According to his family, Talman was the first actor in Hollywood to appear in an anti-smoking campaign.