Tomorrow morning’s episode of “Perry Mason” (assuming METv sticks to their schedule) is “The Case of Constant Doyle”.
This is an interesting episode. This is not the same as saying it is a good episode, or one I recommend you watch. If you have not seen it previously, it might be worth your time.
During the filming of the sixth season, Raymond Burr was hospitalized for a period of time. I haven’t read any of the biographies, so I’m not sure exactly why. But his issue was serious enough that he was unable to film several episodes of “Perry Mason”.
There’s a four episode block (plus at least one more episode later in sequence) where they have “guest” lawyers, played by some of the best actors in Hollywood. Michael Rennie, Hugh O’Brian, Walter Pidgeon, and Mike Connors all did stints.
This is the first episode in that four episode block, and the guest lawyer is…Bette Davis, as the titular “Constant Doyle”.
The setup for this episode is that Constant and her husband Joe were both lawyers, and friends of Perry Mason. As the episode opens, it is established that Joe Doyle passed away a few months earlier, leaving Constant a widow. She gets involved in the case of “Cal Leonard”, a 17-year-old juvenile delinquent (played by Michael Parks) and friend of Joe’s. Constant ends up having to defend him from murder charges, even though criminal law is not her area of practice. But of course, Paul and Della are willing to help out. Perry even appears briefly (by telephone from his sickbed: they shot some scenes before Burr’s hospitalization and inserted them).
If I don’t exactly sound enthusiastic about this episode, as I have with others, well…
Bette Davis is always worth watching. But the way she plays Constant Doyle in this episode is very much as a cougar. This was 1963, and the networks still had standards and practices, so there’s nothing explicit here. But the character very clearly comes across as desiring not just a client-lawyer relationship (and the big fee she’d get from defending a teenage deliquent), but something more: perhaps something to fill the void left by the death of her husband.
The long lingering looks, the touching…your mileage may vary, but for me, this is a really uncomfortable episode to watch.
This episode will be on at 0800 CST (0900 EST) Thursday morning, so if you want to watch Ms. Davis, consider yourself notified.
You could also wait until the evening and watch “All About Eve” again.
I remember that episode of “Perry Mason” but I apparently didn’t notice the cougar aspect of Bette Davis’s portrayal. I agree that it’s a very peculiar episode and all I really recall of it is that I didn’t like it very much.