User Reviews

The most interesting thing about this episode was that Fay Wray seems to be friends with Hamilton Burger and Perry Mason. Thats pretty good work for a washed up actress now doing a voodo act. As a matter of fact its kind of intimated that Burger gave Fay Wray's son a job just from having the hots for his mother. Otherwise it is kind of a silly episode. Perry looks uncomfortable doing his Napoleon act with his arm under his coat due to some kind of injury.

The character Mignon Germaine, played to the hilt by Faye Wray, thanks Perry for coming by her dressing room so soon after his accident. Perry's right arm is under his jacket for the entire episode. His accident is never explained.

This is kind of a weird episode for Perry Mason as we deal with the art of Black Magic. Fay Wray, plays Mignon Germaine, a night club dancer that has an act where she changes herself into young women by means of voodoo.

But the real plot of the story features Larry Germaine (Gary Collins) who works as assistant DA for Hamilton Burger. He has fallen in love with this alcoholic blond named Carina Wileen (Karen Steele). All this much to the dislike of Larry's mother Mignon Germaine.

Larry has been working on a case involving Allied Chemical Company. It comes to the attention of Hamilton Burger that Larry may have been offered a job a Allied Chemical not to prosecute the case. He also learns that Carina may have ties to Allied and he has to suspend Larry from the DA's office.

When Carina goes to the club to see the voodoo show. Larry's mother, Mignon, comes to the her table with a voodoo-doll and stabs the doll in the heart with a ceremonial knife. Moments later Carina passes out and is rushed to the hospital in a coma.

Now here is when it gets kinda too far-fetched. The suspended Larry is looking for his mother and for some reason sneaks into Carina'a room at the hospital.(Why? I am not clear). And when the nurse come in the room, Larry is standing over Carina and she has the ceremonial knife sticking out of her chest.(You do have to catch the nurse screaming- I know she was an extra but you could tell she practiced that scream for a week) Needless to say, Larry is charged with the murder of Carina and Perry is to defend him in court.

The story changes gears as we enter the courtroom. We start to learn the dirty laundry of Allied Chemical Company that will lead Perry to find the true murderer. It converts back to a regular Perry mystery as we have blackmail and embezzlement coming to light. It is sort of ashame since the story of the voodoo was much more interesting that the part about Allied Chemical.

Anyway, through a spectator in the courtroom, we learn the true set of events and Larry will still be able to catch his mother's late show at the night-club.

Since the first half of the episode was so interesting- when we got to the second half I felt disappointed. It really was not a bad show but it has so much more potential that was left unexplored.

This is another one of those nearly ridiculous episodes where the explanation takes about ten minutes. There's so much behind the scenes stuff that we need a timeline and a few magnets put in the right order to figure it all out. The blond bombshell certainly fell into quite a situation. She didn't even have to do anything except party and get drunk on someone else's dime. The Gary Collins was the young stupid lawyer, and he was the son of King Kong's wife (no family resemblance). Then there's the guy that everyone names over and over. Oh well. Not worth much more commentary.

This was one of the more off the wall episodes that the Perry Mason series ever had. The story went deep into melodrama with a young ADA in Hamilton Burger's office led down a garden path by a vixen who's got several men on a string.

The vixen is Karen Steele and the young ADA is Gary Collins. Collins is accused of tanking an investigation into corrupt activities of a pharmaceutical company president Douglas Kennedy. And it's on the word of Steele. Later on she winds up dead with Collins sitting over the body.

Where Collins got hired was through the intercession of his mother Fay Wray who has a nightclub voodoo act. It's intimated ever so gently that William Talman as Burger and Wray might have been item back in the day. If so it's one of the only times I remember Hamilton Burger having any kind of personal life hinted at. In fact William Talman has a great deal more screen time away from the courtroom than usual.

The plot wandered all over the lot though in this episode and you might have difficulty in following it.

If you are able to stay to the end of this...some kind of magic noire has been accomplished on your brain!

I do not know how the regulars were able to slog through this, but they did. More Magic!!!