Perry Mason, My Hero

I've always been a huge Perry Mason fan.

I've admitted before that I grew up on Mayberry and Perry Mason.

The good thing about Perry, the most amazing defense attorney in history, is that he never lost a case. I think there may have been an episode where it appeared that he lost, but before the show was over the verdict was overturned and justice was served.

That's what made Perry so popular. The right always won out on his watch! There was never a dispute. No gray area here.

Perry and his crack assistant, investigator Paul Drake, supported by legal assistant Della Street, always figured things out, no matter how complicated or oblique.

Amazing!

How did Perry manage to pick so many winning clients? (My attorney friends tell me this is a key factor in being effective before the bench!)

But, in fairness to Perry you have to admit that he took on cases that always seemed hopeless.

I suppose the city inspires a longing for the definitive verdict, for the day when justice will be served.

Certainly we take on lots of apparently "hopeless" cases. We certainly know hopelessness around here!

I know that, in part, this is why I still watch every episode. I love watching hope appear in the nick of time.

Perry always seemed to draw the murder cases. The more hopeless the better.

At least our problems don't usually involve the loss of life.

But we do long for clearcut answers, solutions that serve the interests of those who are normally left out, left behind and ignored or written off, declared useless or worse without much of a thought or any argument.

Somehow old Perry brings some measure of comfort. He lights up a glimmer of hope, no matter what the details of the case.

But then, maybe I just love black and white television and memories of my childhood when things were just so much simpler.