Erle Stanley Gardner, the prolific pulp fiction writer best known for creating the fictional lawyer Perry Mason; Della Street, Mason's secretary; private detective Paul Drake, Mason's favorite investigator; and Hamilton Burger, the district attorney with the worst won-lost record in the history of fictional jurisprudence, was born in in Malden, Massachusetts, in 1889, the son of a mining engineer. The family soon moved to Portland, Oregon, and later to the Klondike during the Gold Rush. Eventually, the Gardners settled in Oroville, California, a small mining town. Young Earle graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1909, but his college education was cut short when he was expelled from Valparaiso University in Indiana early in his freshman year for fighting. The young Erle led a wild life, as befits a child of the Klondike and mining towns. He was to remain an ardent sportsman and traveler throughout his life. He also spoke fluent Chinese. The wild young Mr. Garnder supported himself as a boxer and as a promoter of illegal wrestling matches. Eventually, fate was to intervene. While working as a typist in a California law office, he became intrigued by the subject and decided to make it his profession. In the first half of the 20th century, lawyers did not attend law school but gained their education via practical experience, i.e., working in a law office. Law school was for those who intended to teach the law or become judges. Without formal instruction, Garnder passed the bar examination and was admitted to the California Bar in 1911, opening his first law office in Merced, California, when he was 21 years old. Initially, business was bad, but his Chinese fluency enabled him to make a living defending Chinese clients, who dubbed him "T'ai chong tze" , who also won acquittal for Sheppard during the subsequent retrial. Polygraph tests have never been allowed into evidence in a U.S. court due to their unreliability. Gardner ended his active membership in the Court of Last Resort in 1960. The Court - which conducted preliminary investigations of at least 8,000 cases -- eventually disbanded. Gardner died on March 11, 1970, at his home, Rancho del Paisano, in Temecula, California. His last Perry Mason mystery, "The Case of the Postponed Murder" was published in 1973.
Used pseudonyms for some of his works, including Carleton Kendrake and Charles J. Kenny. However, A.A. Fair was the most popular of his pen names. Since Gardner was such a prolific writer, the pseudonyms were necessary to sell other works, lest the market be flooded.
In a roundabout way, he created "The Edge of Night" . That series was originally the CBS radio serial "Perry Mason". Gardner blocked CBS attempt to transfer the serial from radio to TV because he wanted "Mason" to be a prime-time series. After negotiating some unusual conditions, the radio serial became "Edge" and Gardner got his prime-time series, "Perry Mason" .
Wrote for the popular pulp detective magazine "Black Mask" on a sporadic basis in the early 1920s (creating wildly popular "Ed Jenkins, Phantom Crook" stories in 1925). He continued to write pulp stories for the magazine into the 1940s.
The creator of Perry Mason, arguably the most famous fictional lawyer in history, was himself a practicing attorney for over 20 years.
Wrote mysteries for money, and wrote travel books for fun.
He passed the bar exam at the age of 21.
His Perry Mason stories were so popular that he wrote six novels a year plus short stories for magazine publication.
Inducted into the Bowhunters Hall of Fame.
In 1957 formed, with Gail Patrick and Cornwell Jackson , Paisano Productions, which produced the "Perry Mason" TV series.
[on Perry Mason, as explained to his publisher] The character I am,trying to create for him is that of a fighter who is possessed of,infinite patience.
I still have vivid recollections of putting in day after day of trying a,case in front of a jury, which is one of the most exhausting activities,I know about, dashing up to the law library after court had adjourned,to spend three or four hours looking up law points with which I could,trap my adversary the next day, then going home, grabbing a glass of,milk with an egg in it, dashing upstairs to my study, ripping the cover,off my typewriter, noticing it was 11:30 p. m. and settling down with,grim determination to get a plot for a story. Along about 3 in the,morning I would have completed my daily stint of a 4,000-word minimum,and would crawl into bed.
Then I’ll have more fun searching in vain then marrying one of the wrong sort.
Courage is the antidote to danger.
