Perry Mason (2014) – IMDb

Perry Mason (2014) – IMDb.  Perry Mason will be rebooted as a 2014 film, via PAUL MOTT.

The Case of the Borrowed Brunette

The original Erle Stanley Gardner novels were A+++, and so was the original TV Series, which ran from the mid-1950s to the early 1960s.  Some notable points about both the books and the show:

1)  in the books, Perry Mason runs around a lot–he’s not such a courtroom attorney at all.  He’s more of an action guy.

2)  in the books, he and Della Street are clearly and more explicitly in a relationship.  This is something that can clearly be developed in a 2014 film.  In the books, Della is more or less an equal to Perry, and in a remake, she could be made into an attorney who is a partner to perry rather than just a “confidential secretary”, though they would of course still have to have all those steak dinners.

3)  Perry & Della are never married in either the books or the TV show, but they have a relationship.

Perry Mason & Della Street

4)  The forensic science in the books and in the TV show was way, way ahead of its time–CSI ahead of its time.

5)  Lt. Tragg was aces up in the TV show and in the books.

6)  Perry never lost a case on the TV show (with a notable exception or two).

7)  Paul Drake was famous for his sportcoat collection.

8)  Perry drove a collection of terrific fifties convertibles on the TV show.

9)  Perry & Della favored steaks and martinis in the books and on the show.

10)  like modern lawyers, Perry & Della worked nights, mornings and weekends, and loved doing it.  They had no life outside of work, and even when they were on vacation, they would stumble into a homicide or two and Perry would be back on the job.

11)  Perry won all those cases without any Warren Court decisions.  He never used the exclusionary rule, or any other procedural tricks.  Instead, he relied on careful cross-examination, a thorough knowledge of forensic science, rigous private investigation to get to the real facts, and accurate assessment of the witnesses as they told their stories.  He was F Lee Bailey before there was F Lee Bailey.

12)  the original books were written as early as the 1930s.

13)  The books in hardcover first edition are now out of print and can get as much as forty to fifty dollars a copy on line.  I had a complete set at one time.  They are worth it just for the covers alone.  The paperbacks are not as good as the hardcover versions of the books.  I used to keep them in my old law office when I was practicing.  Clients loved seeing those.

14)  Perry Mason never took a client meeting without having Della Street present.  A very good piece of advice for current attorneys–never meet with a client alone.  Always have a witness and a transcript.

15)  The original TV Show was supplemented by a number of TV movies which came back in the 1980s, all of which were two hours long, and all of which were hugely popular.

16)  Prior to playing Perry Mason, Raymond Burr was somewhat of a “bad guy” or “villain” in a number of film noirs, as well as famously being in the original GODZILLA film.

17)  Many famous actors appeared in Perry Mason TV show in the 50s and 60s before they were famous.

18)  Many of the defendants in the Perry Mason TV show disproportionately appeared to be extremely attractive, but virtuous looking, young women, who didn’t seem capable of hurting a fly.

19)  Many of the Perry Mason books actually dealt with complex issues of law, which were capably explained by the author in layperson’s terms.  They make excellent reading for modern law students.

20)  Perry Mason is still the Platinum/Gold standard for legal fiction, in writing, film and TV.  Hopefully the franchise reboot will adhere to these high standards.

–art kyriazis

LIN-AMENT. LIN FIRST HARVARD GRAD TO PLAY FOR NY KNICKS SINCE 1953-54

Jeremy Lin doing his thing for Hahvahd Hoops 2006-2010

Jeremy Lin is only the 3d player from Harvard to play in the NBA.

He was a terrific player not only at Harvard, but in the Ivies.  He established a line of records unmatched in Ivy League history, and along the way, the Harvard basketball team, which had never amounted to a bucket of warm spit until Lin and Coach Amaker arrived, found its way to the Ivy League title and the NCAA tournament.

My sons and I watched these guys, led by Lin, play a ferocious contest in the Palestra against their arch-rivals Penn in 2010, which was a double overtime contest, and as Harvard finally won, largely due to the intensity and refusal to lose of Lin, who kept penetrating, dishing off, shooting jumpers, and doing whatever it took to win, it seemed like a passing of the guard.

The Daily Pennsylvanian made pun of Lin's name back in 2009 at Penn, showing once again Philly was three years ahead of NYC media.

So it’s no secret why Lin is the 2d best player on the knicks in win shares per 48 minutes at .187 after Tyson Chandler’s .248; or why his PER approaching 25 leads the team.  Lin plays defense, doesn’t turnover the ball, and is efficient both on offense and defense.  Also, he hustles.  In the Ivy League, he led across a large number of categories, including points, steals, rebounds, assists, assist to turnover ration, etc. and established benchmarks for a guard across many such categories–in fact, all time records for a guard to have such all-around abilities.

What we saw, watching him two years ago, was a guy who refused to lose.  He could penetrate and score; penetrate and dish out to the three line; penetrate and dish to the man beside him after drawing the double-team;  penetrate and dish to the open man; had amazing peripheral vision; could drop the three or the jumper if left unattended; always could run the ball and locate the open man on the run; could play defense; could steal the ball; could rebound and start the break the other way; in short, he was a complete player.

And Lin never stopped to breath.  He was always in continuous motion.  Harvard had a lot of talented players, but they looked kind of confused unless Lin got them the ball and he was coordinating the offense.  He was, in short, a terrific and talented point guard who had game.

A lot of Penn players have played in the NBA, but not so much Harvard.  Hockey has always been the winter sport at Harvard, along with playing the stock market and inventing new financial instruments the SEC can’t regulate.

Three players including Lin played in the NBA:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/colleges.cgi?college=harvard#stats::none

first was

Saul Mariaschin

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/mariasa01.html

who was a 5 foot 11 inch player on the 1947-48 Boston Celtics.  The Celtics were in a predecessor league to the NBA, but who cares?

Here were Saul Mariaschin’s teammates on the Boston Celtics of 1947-48:

riebe, spector, sadowski, garfinkel with Saul Mariaschin Harvard Grad on 1948 Boston Celtics

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BOS/1948.html

Here’s another of his teammates from that legendary Celts team:

CHUCK CONNORS.  Yes, the guy who later played the RIFLEMAN on TV.  Lucas McCain himself.  And a 6’5″ grad of Seton Hall, which in 1947-48 would have made him a giant player.  And he was a CELTIC.  You can look it up.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/connoch01.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Connors

Chuck Connors was a Celtic and played with Harvard Grad Saul Mariaschin in 1947-48

Chuck Connors also played baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers!

And he was a TV Star!

Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain the Rifleman

Chuck Connors was a Boston Celtic and and Brooklyn Dodger

The second player that went to Harvard and played in the NBA was

Ed Smith

Edward Bernard Smith (Ed)

Ed Smith was a New York Knick in 1953-54.  On that Knicks team, Ed played with Vince “Moose” Boryla, Nate “Sweetwater” Clifton, Al McGuire and Dick McGuire, and the famous Ernie Vandeweghe, and others well-noted.

That 1953-54 Knicks team finished 1st in the Eastern Division, going 44-28 under the helm of the legendary Joe Lapchick.  And they played in the old Madison Square Garden, which many hold in as high esteem as the old Boston Garden.

Nate "Nat" "Sweetwater" Clifton of the 1953-54 NY Knicks played with Harvard's Ed Smith

and here’s ernie vandewege v bob cousy:

Bob Cousy and Ernie Vandeweghe Reaching For Ball

Of course, Ernie has some bloodlines. Kiki Vanderweghe was a great NBA player, and now his granddaughter is a professional tennis player:

CoCo Vandeweghe professional tennis player and granddaugher of Ernie Vandeweghe who played on the NY Knicks with Ed Smith in 1953-54. Ed was the last Harvard alum to play for the NY Knicks, nearly fifty years ago