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Animals didn't come cheap for shows like Perry Mason
The price could quickly add up, like monkeys in a barrel.
Nothing makes a production seem fancy quite like a cadre of wild beasts. Think about how many variety shows have been elevated by the mere presence of a llama or two. What would a Western be without horses? And who could forget the episodes of Friends featuring Marcel, Ross' pet capuchin monkey?
Perry Mason might not leap to the front of your list of shows that consistently used animals, but the crime drama frequently had some furry guest stars. Mason often relied on creatures for clues in cases involving watchdogs and black cats. A quick look at the episode list shows titles like "The Case of the Dancer's Horse," "The Case of the Perjured Parrot," "The Case of the Glittering Goldfish," and "The Case of the Caretaker's Cat," just to name a few.
But what did this mean for the show's bottom line? Well, a 1960 article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reveals the then-rising costs of television animal wrangling. Robert Stone was at the top of the business, recruiting and providing animals for use on Perry Mason. His was a strange business, but business was booming.
"Alley cats," Stone pointed out, "can make $15 a day— and talented felines command twice as much. Elephants, large and small, run about $25 a day, as do lions, tigers, leopards, panthers, and trained squirrels."
Not a bad gig for a guy who surrounded himself with critters and beasties.
"Even chickens and pigeons, whose talents are less than negligible, make $5 a day."
There was a hierarchy to which animals were most in-demand, and which subsequently earned the most. The more involved an animal was in a given script, and the more the animal was expected to do, the bigger the purse they could fetch.
"In the upper strata of animal earners, of course, are the chimpanzees. you can't touch one under $100 a day. And on top of that, you have to tolerate their constant upstaging of fellow actors whose roles are infinitely more vital to the plot."
The more you know!
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Frank Inn was an animal trainer for shows like Petticoat Junction, Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies. Also Rudd Weatherwax was the trainer for the Lassie series.
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