User Reviews

The main benefit of this episode is the victim- Clete Hawley. Richard Carlson who played him is a veteran actor by this time who started in movie roles in the 1930's, broke into live television in the 1950's and was used in some Sci-Fi as well. Here he is very convincing as the star maker who gets involved in a strange case of show business.

Granted, this way of making stars is out dated or is it? I hate to inform you but this was still being used as the way to make stars just recently as this was the staple FOX Network used on American Idol. That show took unknowns, put them before an audience and judges who basically were there to ramp them up and make them stars. They even used a Dick Clark clone who dates back to this time (Clark makes a guest shot on Mason's last episode) Clete Hawley is the prehistoric dinosaur of American Idol in many ways. Carlson even portrays him as a sort of Simon Cowell and the rich man, Cowell could have gotten the idea from this episode.

Enough about the victim, this episode is pretty formula Mason. There are several possible killers as no one likes Hawley. How Mason finally sorts it out is through a lot of conversations with everyone involved. He also finds several other skeleton's in the closets of others besides though this was not intended as a Halloween episode.

At any rate, the scissors manage to cut the manager out, just when they were coming into some real money.

**SPOILERS** I've griped about the so-called "Rock" music played by American Bandstand rejects, or actors who would have been thrown off the stage in any air-guitar competition. This is a new low. They don't even try to cover up the fact that this kid just can't sing. And, everybody, except the sleezy, scurvebomb, "Agent" doesn't know it. Until the very, very, end when Clay says "Nice kid - heart of gold; tin ear".

The other reviewers have vaguely alluded to this, but I'm gonna suggest the possibility that the producers wanted the show to end, and so, why not forget about the quality we've had all these years, and maybe people will be less likely to complain when it's gone. Maybe? Nobody was gonna complain when this decedent got his Karma corrected. He's probably a skunk in his next life, you know? Also. the delectable Sue Ann Langdon was covered up in court with a full length coat and a ridiculous (somebody else is gonna have to describe what they had her wearing on her head) something covering up what was probably a very nice hairdo. THAT says something is wrong in wardrobe.

The killer was no surprise, Sandy forgetting what she did for him was. The song "Surfin' Moon" was out of time (Surfing music was on the back burner by this time), and out of talent. When I think of the incredible array of Surf music bands that were absolute top quality musicians, and the lyrics of say, Jan and Dean, and of course The Beach Boys, this must have made them throw up.

No real presence for cars in this one, except Perry getting his usual "right in front of the L.A. Courthouse" parking spot for a Ford Galaxie. Della is beautiful, as always, but sparingly used. Paul does a good bit of work, but a little late in this episode's timeline. A real letdown was the quick feud between the wife of the backer (Patricia Owens) , and Sue Ann (Publicity). It would have been great to have a good old fashioned catfight right there in the courtroom; there wasn't much else happening, until Perry got the killer, that is. Okay acting.......

While hardly the worst episode in the series, "The Case of the Avenging Angel" comes off as tepid. Part of the reason for that is because the networks still were not completely "on" when it came to rock music, especially CBS. It is my own opinion that, had this series aired on ABC, it might have worked to get even someone like then-yeoman actor Davy Jones (who was just months away from "The Monkees") or an established recording artist.

But I also believe the producers knew the show was on its way out, so perhaps the effort made was half-hearted. This is too bad, because it seemed like the series had caught a second wind with its sole color episode, which was the one that aired prior to this one. Its Sunday time slot did not help. Overall, the show deserved better. Much better.

Sandy Chester talks like Davy Jones, Judy Carne and Geraldine Chaplin in Nashville - it's how Americans think Cockneys talk. But he can carry a tune, despite what others have said. He just doesn't have the most wonderful voice, or pick any decent songs.

I like the details of his transformation: tweed sports jacket, awful brylcreemed hair with a parting - enough to put off any decent 60s teenager, and I was one once.

Any episode featuring Lurene Tuttle and Sue Ane Langdon is worth watching! (Is Sue sure she's not a moonlighting Joyce Bulifant? To me they look and sound so alike. Love them both.)

Sandy Chester (Martin Horsey) is a mild mannered British singer who's being taught the ins and outs of old time show biz by Henny McLeod (Lurene Tuttle). Suddenly a mysterious backer swoops in and gets the Don Kirschner like music promoter Clete Hawley (Richard Carlson) to make Sandy a star. Clete proves to be a major sleaze, cheating friends, employees and clients alike. But when he turns up dead with a scissors in his heart, Sandy is charged with the crime.

Again, the Mason brain trust try to gear a show towards a young audience and completely misses the mark. Instead of hip, the episode comes across as corny and square. Casting doesn't help either. Martin Horsey seems to have had a short career (which he gave up in 1970 only to resume it 31 years later according to the IMDb) and here we see reason why. It's almost as if the guy playing Sandy didn't show up, so they sent someone down to the malt shop and grab the first kid who fit the wardrobe. Richard Carlson, who's work I like immensely, just chews the scenery with a character is way overwritten as an obnoxious, charmless jerk. The idea that this guy would have a golden gut for what's hip is unbelievable (almost as unbelievable as a lovable old vaudevillian training a rock singer).

Saw this broadcast on MeTV. The murder is committed at the 42 minute mark of this hour show when commercials are included. I have never seen a Mason show that took longer to claim its victim. Courtroom scenes as a consequence of the slow death (pun intended) are about as minimal as I can recall in a Mason episode. Since the courtroom is where the action of interest is on this show, it suffers as a result. Adding even more tedium to this effort is the laughable attempt (presumably) to attract younger viewers with a very Beatle-esque "singer" named Sandy (who does very much look like a young Roddy McDowell) whose warbling is even more forgettable than this very forgettable episode.

I remember being very unhappy hearing that Perry Mason would be canceled in the spring of '66 as I was just reaching an age where I would be able to watch it (in this time when if you didn't see it when it aired, you never saw it!) but now that I have seen most of season 9 (thank you MeTV) I must reluctantly conclude it was for the best as the scripts were just not that compelling. Also, having just watched the solo episode in color ("The Case of the Twice Told Twist") which immediately preceded this episode it is clear (to me at least) that black and white was very much a character on this show - it's just not the same or as compelling - in color. 9 years is a heck of a run. It was time for the final verdict for this series. This episode which easily makes the bottom 5 of all the PM episodes that I have seen - and I have seen most of them - makes that clear. Watch only if have a goal of watching them all. I won't be seeing this one again.

***SPOILERS*** You can see here in this Perry Mason episode that the ten years of grueling court room battles have taken it's tole on Perry Mason, Raymond Burr, and he's just about to call it quits. Looking tired and bloated, from his slim 200 to now some 275 pounds, Perry just goes through the motions to get his client British Rock & Roll wannabe singer Sandy Chester, Martin Horsey, off on a murder rap in his promoter Clete Hawley untimely demise. In fact it seemed as if it was an afterthought on the show's writers to have Hawley whacked since he had far more on screen time in him being alive, well over 40 minutes,then any previous murder victim on that show that I can possibly think of.

This guy Hawley had it coming and we all knew it from the moment he came on the scene. But who was to murder him was a far bigger mystery since almost everyone had it in for the guy and a few persons, who were innocent of murdering him, actually confessed in order to get the credit for doing it. As for British singing sanction, who was anything but, Sandy Chester he seemed completely clueless to just why everyone was making such a big deal about him! Since he couldn't sing a lick and was only interested in getting himself a green card so he could get a job like selling hot dogs popcorn and soda at Dodger Stadium during the baseball season or being a lifeguard at Ventura Beach.

***SPOILERS*** In court Perry puts the reputation on the murder victim Clete Hawley on the stand in what a low life rotten blackmailing scum bucket he was and how he destroyed the lives of his clients like Sandy Chester after he sucked , like a vampire, the life blood or money out of them. The big surprise in all this is multi millionaire financier Cameron Burgess, Paul Stewart, who somehow got a stake, and it isn't one through the heart, in young Sandy's Rock & Roll career. That together with song writer Riff Lawler's, Chick Chandler, connection through him being blackmailed by the late Clete Hawley turned out to be the real, among the many that weren't, reasons behind Hawley's murder.