Ironsides… Please

 

It was not as cold as yesterday especially since there was no snow but still it was chilly this morning as I rolled up to the restaurant for our what seems to be quarterly Writers Guild brunch/lunch. I call it that because we meet at 10:30 AM late for breakfast and too early for lunch that's okay whatever we call the meals un-important what's important is quality time with each other. We probably been meeting for more than 30 years which is totally hard to believe. We are old and infirm now even Jerry the most physical of the group has to be careful as he walks with our members to and from his car. Luckily, we keep the restaurant we attend close enough that I can easily get there by my power chair. I don't have to access the bus system and that's good.

There is a theme to today's meeting it was television shows of the 1950s in particular Perry Mason. Jerry watches the reruns asked do I. I'm just about finished with the first season and I can't believe how many seasons there are of this classic. I'm sure somewhere in the latter seasons is gone the color but right now one of the points a fascination with the early circa, 1955, 56, 57 … Was the black and white quality of the broadcasts mixed with the great scenes of LA streets and buildings/architecture. The courtroom drama is fairly interesting as well but really I like the unintentional background visualizations the time lost to history. I commented on how naïve I was when I first watched the series, actually I did watch the series, I think my mom did so I always heard the music in the background but I never follow this story lines. Now, I'm kind of amazed at how much Perry Mason and Della Reese, his secretary/gal Friday hung out together all nighters even! Of course, we can't talk about Perry Mason and Raymond Burr and not talk about Ironsides the first television show that I'm aware of which portrayed Burr as a paraplegic in San Francisco. Of course we had to point out all the faux pas of the series. But also marveled at the concept of a paraplegic cop i.e. per train a person with a disability with a full-time job would seem nonexistent to me in those days. I took great pleasure in to pointing out all the mistakes and in accuracies of the series. Even then in my mind I request you and why didn't they have a real live Crip in the title role? Sure, I knew it wouldn't sell us greatly as Raymond Burr but it certainly would be more authentic. Oddly enough even today I can't think of any show that has a real live disabled person in the title role or supportive role. There's been a couple people in wheelchairs but but these actors were able-bodied acting disabled which is just gauche. I'm not totally sure things of changed and other facets of acting but I don't see any calls for disabled actors these days