All language subtitles for perry_mason_s09e7_the_case_of_erle_stanley_gardner_featurette

Up next is some very rare footage and a
chance to meet Earl Stanley Gardner and

see him at work, dictating the first
couple of pages of his final Perry Mason

novel. We call it The Case of Earl
Stanley Gardner.

Earl Stanley Gardner was a very
determined young man. He wanted to be an

attorney, so he got up at 5 o 'clock
every morning to study so he could go to

work in a law office after school.

That's how, at the age of 21, he passed
the bar examination, and for the next

25 years was a dynamic trial lawyer.

But... At the age of 42, Gardner looked
around for a new life. He loved the law

but dreamed of adventure.

Well, I got tired of being a successful
attorney. In other words, the more

successful you become as an attorney,
the more you're chained down to one

one chair, one desk, one telephone, one
courthouse, one bank.

I wanted to sail into strange ports and
trifle with strange women.

And so he turned his back on the law and
became a writer.

Never mind that he didn't know the first
thing about writing.

With him was his secretary, Gene Bethel,
who served as critic, rooting section,

and buffer between Gardner and the
world.

Any resemblance between Gene Bethel and
Della Street, Perry Mason's famed

secretary, is entirely factual.

First, he was a very meticulous worker
and a great man for detail.

And when he would write a lease or a
contract, there would be every provision

that could possibly be thought of. His
client would never have anything come up

that he hadn't covered in this lease or
contract. And he was the same way with

all of his law problems. He worked that
way with it.

And he started writing more and more,
working at night, of course. And when I

think of the people who think that he
should help them so that they can stop

write. And I think that he spent nights,
he would work all day at law trying

cases. He would go home in the evening
and work until midnight or later and

get up again very early in the morning
and go ahead.

When Gardner could get away from his law
office, he explored the West in a

camper of his own design.

It had hot water and a Navajo rug on the
floor, but the most important piece of

furniture was Earl's dictating machine.

Well, I knew I was going to be a writer.
I collected enough rejection slips to

stuff a mattress.

I had no ability, I have no natural
ability to write. Everything I learned,

had to learn the hard way.

And I'm still not much of a writer. I'm
a fair plotter because I studied the

mechanics of plotting and analyzed
plotting.

As the flow of Earl's words increased,
he found he needed more secretaries to

transcribe them.

I have been blessed during my life with
loyalty.

Gee, Peggy, and Honey are three sisters
who were secretaries when I was

practicing law.

After I started writing stories and
gradually eased out of the practice of

they decided to toss their fortunes in
with mine, and they have been with me

ever since.

The first time that I got to the point
where I could leave the law business a

little bit, except for just short
periods, was along in the middle of the

Depression. I got three house trailers
and started out to keep my ambition of

going north in summer and south in
winter.

We had a housekeeper and one trailer
commissary and two secretaries from the

other, and the third one was my
dictating.

their house, and we parked down there,
not too far from where our ranch is at

the present time. I remember in the
morning I got up and I was walking my

and we crossed the road. This was during
the period of leaf lifting when two

fellows were out there about a hundred
yards apart just putting in time lifting

leaves, and the dog crossed the road and
went under the brush, and I followed

him, and then a rabbit jumped up, and
the dog came back, so I came back.

And within earshot, without intending
to, and I heard the two fellows who had

stopped, as they did in those days,
leaned on their shovels and took them

a minute to get to the point where they
wanted to get in conversation.

Hey, say, Bill, did you see that fellow
with the dog that crossed the road?

Yeah, I seen him.

You know who that guy is?

Boy, I said to myself, is where fame
catches up with me. I'd been able to

little stuff to some of the slicks, and
I just perked up my head to listen, and

the answer came back loud and clear.

That's the SOB that's living with the
three women.

Gardner set himself the colossal task of
writing 100 ,000 words a month, a pace

he kept up year after year.

I've seen him at times. I can stand over
in the office and watch him through the

glass door in his study.

and see him sit in his rocker, and he
puts the rocker up at one end of the

and then he starts slowly rocking this
way while he's thinking the plot out,

then as it becomes more and more
complicated, it goes faster and faster,

down to the end of the rug goes this
rocker, and then he picks it up and

it back to the other end, and down he
goes again.

And that way, I think he works out his
plots.

With the birth of Perry Mason, Earl
Stanley Gardner was truly going places.

He wrote six Perry Mason books a year,
and his public still clamored for more.

His books were translated for a growing
army of fans around the world.

Like a hyperactive volcano, Gardner
erupted words.

Secretaries pounded away day after day
to keep pace with the flow.

stories, books, magazine articles,
features, and hundreds of letters.

Some critics said that no man could
write so many words.

And in a way, that was true, because
Earl did not write stories, he told

In this unmarried sequence, we watch him
dictating the first couple of pages of

his last Perry Mason book, The Case of
the Fabulous Fake. In later editing,

one sentence was added, not another word
was changed.

I've read of this as Sunday, March 3rd,
1968, the start of a new Perry

Mason story.

I haven't the title for it as yet.

Paragraph, Perry Mason looked up from
his desk as Duller Street, his

confidential secretary, stood in the
door of the office which communicated

the reception room.

Paragraph, yes, Duller, he said,
paragraph.

Dulles Street said, we have a young
woman in the outer office who won't give

name. Paragraph, that I won't see her,
Mason said.

Paragraph, I understand how you feel
about these things, she said, but I

there is some particular reason why this
young woman won't give her name.

Paragraph, what reason, Mason asked.

Paragraph, Dulles Street smiled. I think
perhaps it might be interesting if you

found out, she said. I can't find out.

Paragraph, how old, Mason asked.

Paragraph, not over 21 or 22, Della
Street said. Paragraph, Mason frowned.

you sure she's over 21?

Paragraph, Della Street shook her head.

You can't tell by looking at her teeth,
she said, smiling.

Paragraph, how about her hands, Mason
asked.

Paragraph. And you can't tell too much
by a woman's hands until after she

30.

Della Street said, paragraph, all right,
Mason said, bring her in, we'll take a

look.

Paragraph, Della Street turned, went
into the outer office and shortly

with a young woman who seemed rather
excited as she

approached the desk and said, Mr. Mason,
paragraph.

Mason smiled at her and said, put
yourself at ease, young lady.

After all, I'm an attorney, and if you
are in trouble, perhaps I can help you.

Won't you be seated?

Paragraph, she seated herself across the
desk and said, Mr. Mason, I, several

dots, I, several dots, I'm going to have
to disappear, and I don't want my

parents ever to be able to find me.

Paragraph, Mason regarded her
thoughtfully.

Why are you going to have to disappear,
he asked. The usual reason?

Paragraph, what's the usual reason, she
asked.

Paragraph, Mason smiled and shook his
head. Don't cross -examine me, young

he said.

Let me examine you.

Why do you want to disappear?

Paragraph, I have my reasons, she said.
I don't think I need to go into them at

the present time, but I do want to
disappear.

Paragraph, and you want me to help you
with... Paragraph, I want you to be in

such a position that you can, if
necessary, furnish the missing link

connect me with my past life.

But I don't want you to use it unless I
give you permission and...

tell you to, or unless certain
circumstances develop which will make it

imperative that you do get in
communication with my parents.

And so Perry Mason was sent out on
another case, and his fans wondered if

would ever lose one.

Well, that's one of the questions they
always ask me.

Perry Mason never lose a case.

I don't know. I've never written about a
case that Perry Mason has lost. And

every time I've sat in court and watched
him work on a case, he's been defending

somebody who's innocent. And I certainly
wouldn't want to let Hamilton Burger

win a case by having an innocent person
convicted.

The other question I ask me all the time
is, what about Perry Mason and Dulles

Street?

They're always busy when we see them in
the books or on film.

Always too busy to have any personal
relationship, but what about the time in

between cases?

Is there any hanky -panky? And I told
him, well, that depends on what you mean

by hanky and what you mean by panky.

And I think that Perry Mason would be
very foolish if he didn't recognize the

unusual charm and beauty of Della
Street, and I don't think he's that

And they ask me if they're ever going to
get married, and sometimes I tell them

that they are not, but that is not a
fair question because I don't know what

Perry Mason is going to do. I'll write
about it, and if Perry Mason and Dulles

Street get married, I'll write about it
and perhaps sell the book.