Original subtitles

In the 50s, person -to -person brought live TV cameras into the homes of

celebrities with Edward R. Murrow, asking the questions from back in the

This episode, hosted by Charles Collingwood, broadcast on CBS,

October 16, 1958,

person -to -person with Raymond Burr.

Raymond Burr has been the star of the Perry Mason television series since

1957.

Before and during that time, he's appeared in a wide variety of roles in

than 40 motion pictures.

Raymond Burr was born in New Westminster, British Columbia.

He lived a while in China, spent six years in college, had a dozen different

kinds of jobs, including that of a forest ranger.

Raymond Burr now lives in this house in Malibu, California.

where he has his animals, his gardens, his art collection, and usually a house

full of guests.

Hello, Raymond.

Cultivating some new friends?

Yes, Charles.

Cultivating and trying to fix some of these.

Some of them look kind of sad.

Beautiful. Do you have a horticultural specialty?

Right here. They're tuberous begonias.

We, uh...

I've actually, I think, developed this year a new variety.

Well, that should make you proud.

How long have you lived in this house, Raymond?

Four years altogether, Charles. Four years of building and, as you know,

rebuilding. We're right in the middle of all kinds of excavations at the moment.

Well, it takes an awful lot of work. Could we see some of the results of all

this labor?

Yes. Let's walk out this way.

Right over there.

How many different kinds of geese do you have there?

Well, there are both geese and ducks, and let's see, there's some Andean

a pair of black swans, some geese from the Valley of the Nile, some ruddy

shellback ducks, some Pekin ducks, and some China geese, and a pair of wild

mallards. That's quite an aviary.

Yes, it is.

And here we start.

How's everything going, Amarigo?

Everything's all right. Good. How's the chicken?

Fine. And the baby chick?

Good. Good.

We're starting here.

I don't suppose you can see it very well from where you're standing, Charles,

but there go the pigeons.

This is Zsa Zsa here.

How are you, girl? Come on.

Come on. Come on down here.

Come on.

She mine.

Well, she's pretty good.

She is pretty adept at opening and unopening gates.

That's why we don't have the gates open. She can move these latches herself

very easily.

But she's a... Come here.

Come here.

She's really a beautiful burrow.

She is. She's got a good, kind face.

Yes, she has.

Then in the next pen, come on now, you keep it closed.

Next pen, we have some peafowl, a pair of blue ones and a pair of white ones.

And then here's a boy that everybody will love. This is Dipper. Oh, boy.

This was a present to me from CBS, actually.

And then we're raising, of course, the Australian silkies.

Come on, boy. Walk down this way.

Altogether, we've got quite a few projects going on here, Charles.

Well, I can see that you don't have many boring hours, Raymond.

Not at all.

Do you suppose we have time to walk to the house from here?

Yes, it's only about half a mile that way.

Uh, go on.

Just right over there, Charles.

Now, this is some of the construction we were talking about. How's it going,

Tony? Pretty good, pretty good. How many more bricks?

Oh, about a couple more.

A couple more.

Charles, we're going to fill this entire patio with bricks. Tony's talking about

a couple more. It's about 10 ,000. Thanks, Tony.

I admire those gas lights that you've got there, Raymond. Well, thank you very

much. So do I, Charles.

There's something very special to me. They were given to us by the city of

Philadelphia.

They're the last gas lamps that were taken down there from, oh, some of them

from Independence Square.

And some of them are well over 100 years old.

But, you know, I have a surprise for you.

There's some friends visiting with us, and they're also very good friends of

yours.

I haven't said anything about it yet.

I'd like you to go into the house and meet them for the first time today,

anyway.

Uh, we had some beautiful trees sent down to us from Oregon, and these are

visitors from Oregon. Oh, let's meet them.

Governor and Mrs. Hatfield, I haven't seen you since the Republican

That's right. How are you, Mr. Collingwood? Fine, thanks.

That was a good talk we had there.

We enjoyed it very much.

Mrs. Hatfield, how did you leave that beautiful state of Oregon?

It was lovely when we left.

Well, it's a beautiful place. Our host, I think, Raymond, was once a forest

ranger in Oregon.

That's right, Mr. Collingwood. He helped fight forest fires up there for a

number of years and became quite aware and familiar with our conservation

practices. A man of many talents.

Ray, didn't you have time to hang all these pictures?

Well, it's a question, I think, more of space than time, Charles.

We're in the process, as you know, of a lot of construction around.

an adjunct to the house, a gallery, and plan also a wine cellar under it. Ah, I

can't think of a better combination.

How long have you been visiting Raymond Burr, Governor and Mrs. Hatfield?

We've been down in Los Angeles here for about four or five days now.

Well, it's a good place to be.

It's a wonderful place and beautiful scenery and a lovely home here, too.

quite a house. We're still taking inventory of this fine establishment.

please go ahead and don't bother with us.

Would you excuse me? Please go ahead.

You track down criminals as Perry Mason, Raymond, but I'm told that you're

really a super sleuth at tracking down rare and unusual antiques.

Well, I don't know about that, Charles. I think I've been pretty lucky in

finding some things.

This is a recent acquisition. It's one of the tables from one of the

sister ships to the bounty.

Actually, it was in the captain's cabin.

But the drawers are unusual because they're they were used for charts They

up the complete length of the table happen with the table. I should say at

same time We found this came something. I'm very fond of is this

Addison globe made by Addison During the time of George

the fourth early 1800s And it's all hand -painted. It's the largest one I

believe he made that included North America in it.

It's a beautiful piece.

Yes, it is.

Has the value of that ever been determined, Raymond?

I think it's upwards of $10 ,000.

Gee.

It's kind of interesting, I think, here in this area. This is North America.

This is the Louisiana Territory and the Missouri Territory.

California, that whole area was called New Albion at that time.

And then Canada was called British America.

And way up here in the corner, our 50th state was called Russian America.

Well, it was then, too, wasn't it? Yes, it was.

How do you find these pieces, Raymond?

I, well, just looking and keeping your eyes open.

There's one piece over here to give you an example.

This...

screen I saw, oh, some years ago in a chateau about 80 miles south of Paris.

And I knew they were going to dismantle the chateau and, oh, I think get rid of

some of the things. And I asked about the screen.

By the time I got back to Europe again, a couple of years later, the chateau was

gone. And so was the screen.

And just recently I had the opportunity of doing a picture down in Louisiana.

And I have some very good friends down there who were in the antique business.

And I stopped to see them.

They'd just gotten back from a European trip. And lo and behold, there was a

screen. And so now we have it here, finally.

Came full circle, I'll be darned.

I'd be quite surprised if Perry Mason hasn't given you more than a casual

interest in the law.

Well, yes.

That's quite right. It's more than just a part you play, isn't it? You're really

interested in it.

Well, of course, in order to get into a part like this, why, you have to take

more than just a casual interest. But I look forward very much to

further interest in the law. I found it a fascinating study, and I find the

legal profession fascinating.

How has the legal profession reacted to Perry Mason?

Well, we've been very fortunate in that way, Charles.

They liked the show.

And it's kind of the first time an attorney has been portrayed,

you know, on the screen in kind of a proper manner.

And I've been asked in the past year to

be part of a discussion group or panel groups or make speeches to perhaps

50 or 60.

different legal groups across the country. Well, that's a considerable

compliment. What sort of subjects do you discuss with lawyers?

Well, my main interest in discussion would be

trying to improve the public relations area of the legal profession.

I think it's probably the most important profession in the world today.

I think less is known about it than any other major profession.

I think very shortly we're going to be faced with decisions in

which we have only one way or the other to go, either to destroy our

civilization as we see it and know it, or to solve the problems in the world

by law and through law.

Consequently, if you have only one way or the other, The legal profession

becomes important and it's important for those of us who are not part of it to

know a great deal about it and you're trying to Extend the rule of law as an

instrument for preserving the peace. No question of that in my small way This

was started three or four years ago through the American Bar Association and

Charles Ryan's plan for world peace through law and we're just trying in

way that we can to

further that aim.

Well, let's hope you and the lawyers get a few million more people interested in

that. I hope we do.

Raymond, thanks a lot for showing us the house today, and it was fun to meet the

Hatfields again.

Yes, they're wonderful people, and it's been fun to see you again, Charles, and

pleased to visit again soon, won't you? You have a date.

Goodbye.