Perry Mason
The Case of the Wary Wildcatter
TV Flash files “The Case of the Wary Wildcatter” as hour 85 of 271 in the TV Flash guide — Perry Mason (1957–1966) on CBS, season 3, episode 16, aired 1960-02-20, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E16: listed hour 85 of 271 in the Perry Mason guide, hour 16 of 26 in season 3. It aired 1960-02-20 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “The Case of the Gallant Grafter” (S03E15). Next is “Erle Stanley Gardner's The Case of the Mythical Monkeys” (S03E17).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Telescopic photographs of a man in the act of committing a murder become the principal evidence sought by Perry Mason.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Case of the Wary Wildcatter sit in the Perry Mason guide?
S03E16 is listed hour 85 of 271 — hour 16 of 26 in season 3, season 3 episode 16.
When did Perry Mason S03E16 air?
The Case of the Wary Wildcatter aired 1960-02-20 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…