Perry Mason
The Case of the Fickle Fortune
TV Flash files “The Case of the Fickle Fortune” as hour 110 of 271 in the TV Flash guide — Perry Mason (1957–1966) on CBS, season 4, episode 15, aired 1961-01-21, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E15: listed hour 110 of 271 in the Perry Mason guide, hour 15 of 28 in season 4. It aired 1961-01-21 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “The Case of the Resolute Reformer” (S04E14). Next is “Erle Stanley Gardner's The Case of the Waylaid Wolf” (S04E16).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Going to Perry Mason for advice after $153,000 in estate money is stolen from his car, civil servant, Ralph Duncan, soon needs more than advice, when he is caught at the scene of a murder where part of the missing money is found.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Case of the Fickle Fortune sit in the Perry Mason guide?
S04E15 is listed hour 110 of 271 — hour 15 of 28 in season 4, season 4 episode 15.
When did Perry Mason S04E15 air?
The Case of the Fickle Fortune aired 1961-01-21 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…