Perry Mason
Erle Stanley Gardner's The Case of the Restless Redhead
TV Flash files “Erle Stanley Gardner's The Case of the Restless Redhead” as the hour the catalog opens — Perry Mason (1957–1966) on CBS, season 1, episode 1, aired 1957-09-21, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E01: listed hour 1 of 271 in the Perry Mason guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 1957-09-21 (60 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “Erle Stanley Gardner's The Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece” (S01E02).
Stillness as star power. The courtroom is already the destination, not a surprise.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Attorney Perry Mason's attractive client claims she was chased by a hooded man in a car. Now she's wanted for his murder...and hasn't been too honest about her past arrest as a jewel thief.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Erle Stanley Gardner's The Case of the Restless Redhead sit in the Perry Mason guide?
S01E01 is listed hour 1 of 271 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 1.
When did Perry Mason S01E01 air?
Erle Stanley Gardner's The Case of the Restless Redhead aired 1957-09-21 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with the 1957 restless-redhead opener to learn the grammar, then one tight first-season case. The pleasure is structure, not a serialized mystery box.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Burr’s stillness is the camera’s argument: delay as pleasure, court as stage, the last witness as a kept promise. Watch a weekly legal machine that made justice appointment theater — then the rare hour the rails fail, which is how you learn the contract was always a contract.
Watch the stillness first. Raymond Burr does not play brilliance as sweat. He plays it as furniture that has already been placed. Perry Mason, from the 1957 opener onward, is a legal procedural that understands delay as pleasure: investigation as a corridor, the courtroom as a stage, the last witness as a structural promise. The tabloids will say Burr’s public image was a managed cathedral — and they are not wrong, as gossip. The cut says something dryer. The camera trusts a man who barely moves, then lets the…
Filed against
- Raymond Burr as Perry Mason
Raymond Burr’s Perry Mason made courtroom theater a comfort contract — the real killer almost always stood up, appointment justice served, stillness as the camera’s argument. Carefully managed public image is old-Hollywood PR textbook. On…
- Barbara Hale as Della Street
Barbara Hale’s Della Street made Perry Mason appointment justice look like a partnership — loyal, sharp, and essential when the real killer stood up. She carried the franchise into TV movies with the same steel. TV Flash salutes the…
- William Hopper as Paul Drake
William Hopper’s Paul Drake is Perry Mason’s investigator as a kept promise — nine seasons of courtroom architecture, Raymond Burr’s stillness, a killer who almost always rises, delay as pleasure. On TV Flash he is the last-witness…
- William Talman as Hamilton Burger
William Talman’s Hamilton Burger is Perry Mason’s district attorney as a formal contract — nine seasons of courtroom architecture, a last witness who almost always rises, delay as pleasure, Burr’s stillness as the camera’s argument. On TV…
- Ray Collins as Lt. Arthur Tragg
Ray Collins’s Lt. Arthur Tragg was Perry Mason’s necessary other department — the cop across from Raymond Burr’s stillness, investigation as a corridor, court as a stage. Nine seasons of a killer who almost always rose. TV Flash still…
Also in season 1
- S01E02 Erle Stanley Gardner's The Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece
- S01E03 Erle Stanley Gardner's The Case of the Nervous Accomplice
- S01E04 Erle Stanley Gardner's The Case of the Drowning Duck
- S01E05 Erle Stanley Gardner's The Case of the Sulky Girl
- S01E06 Erle Stanley Gardner's The Case of the Silent Partner
- S01E07 Erle Stanley Gardner's The Case of the Angry Mourner