Whipped Cream Difficulties

I have an eye doctor’s appointment this afternoon, so I’m being a little lazy. However, this is something that’s been on my mind for a few days.

Today, a public service announcement. Actually, a few of them. I like having the morning airing of “Perry Mason” on ME TV on as background while I work. We’re at the point in the current run where William Talman, who played District Attorney Hamilton Burger, was fired from the series (about midway through season 3).

Sheriff’s deputies, suspicious of marijuana use, raided a party on March 13, 1960, in a private home in Beverly Hills at which Talman was a guest. The deputies reported finding Talman and seven other defendants either nude or seminude. All were arrested for possession of marijuana (the charge was later dropped) and lewd vagrancy, but municipal judge Adolph Alexander dismissed the lewd vagrancy charges against Talman and the others on June 17 for lack of proof. “I don’t approve of their conduct,” the judge ruled, “but it is not for you and me to approve but to enforce the statutes.”

In spite of the charges being dropped, Talman was fired by CBS because of the morals clause in his contract. Gail Patrick Jackson, who produced “Perry Mason” and Raymond Burr both campaigned for Talman’s reinstatement, and he was rehired in December of 1960.

(Another interesting side note, unrelated to the theme of today’s post: William Hopper, who played “Paul Drake”, Mason’s private detective, served as both a member of the OSS and as a UDT guy during the war. Yeah, the guy who played Perry Mason’s private eye was a SEAL before there were SEALs.)

Talman only lived to the age of 53. He died in 1968 of lung cancer, and was one of the first people in Hollywood to do an anti-smoking commercial.

Bonus: Ladies and gentlemen, the late Yul Brynner.

Bonus #2 and #3: The Duke.

Smoking’s bad, m’kay, kids? Don’t do it.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 21st, 2020 at 2:00 pm and is filed under History, TV. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.