June 10, 2002 -- He's got an instantly recognizable television theme song, 82 novels written about him and, best of all, he almost never loses a case. It's a career that most lawyers wouldn't dare dream about. But most lawyers can't call themselves Perry Mason, either.

Erle Stanley Gardner, Mason's creator, began his professional life in a law firm. Working as an apprentice until he had learned enough to pass the bar exam, Gardner soon tired of the long hours and restrictions of his job. Longing to set his own schedule and interested in writing, he set his knowledge of the law toward a different purpose: mystery stories.

As NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg reports for Morning Edition, as part of the Present at the Creation series, Gardner's first efforts were published in pulp magazines. But even he admitted that the stories were less than memorable.

Gardner got his first big break when a critique of one of his stories was accidentally attached to the rejection notice sent to him by Black Mask Magazine. He used the criticism to make revisions, and this time the story sold.

The first Perry Mason novel, The Case of the Velvet Claws, was published in 1933, and from the beginning Gardner had a very definite vision of the shape the character would take.

"I want to make my hero a fighter," he wrote to his publisher, "not by having him be ruthless to women and underlings, but by creating a character who, with infinite patience jockeys his enemies into a position where he can deliver one good knockout punch."

By this time Gardner had stopped practicing law altogether, and focused his energy on writing. But he didn't go about it in the usual way. Instead of just pecking away at a typewriter in an office, Gardner employed what he called a "fiction factory." This consisted of a pool of secretaries that he would shuttle into the desert for dictation sessions cut off from the rest of civilization. All in all, his factory produced more than a million words per year.

While his methods may have been unconventional, Gardner certainly knew the ingredients necessary to sustain a mystery series. Alongside Perry Mason, the cast of characters included District Attorney Hamilton Burger, Investigator Paul Drake, and Mason's secretary, Della Street.

The success of Gardner's novels convinced Hollywood that Perry Mason was a viable franchise, and a series of movies based on the character were produced, but met with little success. A Perry Mason radio show stayed on the air for 12 years, but Gardner had little creative control and disliked the series. How could he expect a television series to be any better?

Gardner took matters into his own hands. He started a production company and involved himself in the series from the get-go, working on scripts and helping to cast the actors that would bring his characters to life.

And it was fortunate for viewers that he did. When Raymond Burr arrived at the audition, the man who would personify Perry Mason for generations of viewers didn't even have the character in mind. He was there to try out for the role of Hamilton Burger. But when Burr walked into the room, Gardner knew he had found his leading man, says author Brian Kelleher, who wrote a book about the series.

"Before a word came out of his mouth, Erle Stanley Gardner, so they say, jumped off his chair and said, 'That's him, that's Perry Mason!'" Kelleher says.

Of course, Burr was Perry Mason, and in the course of the show's initial nine-year run (from 1957-66), he nearly exhausted the possibilities for criminal defense. So how did the show manage to captivate audiences through 271 episodes, and years of repeats in syndication?

The answer, according to fellow lawyer/mystery author Scott Turow: "People love the puzzle." In other words, Gardner knew how to weave plots and characters into a seamless web.

"What I took from Perry Mason," Turow says, "was the childlike delight in the surprise and in a plot as revelation of character. In the sense that the significant turn of the plot ends up deepening your understanding of somebody and what they had at stake in the situation."


Other Resources

• Learn more about the Perry Mason TV series, including information about the cast and a list of famous cameos.

• Read the Perry Mason TV Show Book by Brian Kelleher and Diana Merrill. It includes descriptions of all the episodes.

• Learn more about Erle Stanley Gardner.

• See Perry Mason book covers.

• Read a biography of Raymond Burr.