Spoiler : Happy birthday to Erle Stanley Gardner, born on July 17, 1889.

Spoiler : Born in Malden, Massachusetts 7/17/1889; died 3/11/1970 in Temecula, Cali- fornia. Graduated from the Palo Alto High School in California. California lawyer (1922-1938). Creator of Perry Mason in his 1933 novel, "The Case of the Velvet Claws." Gardner wrote over 140 detective mystery novels during his career (82 of them were Perry Mason). Perry Mason debuted on radio with a script Gardner wrote on 10/18/1943 and the series lasted until 1955. The pro- gram was written in a serial style as a five-times-a-week fifteen minute pro- gram that was part soap opera-part detective story. Perry Mason was first brought to television as the CBS soap opera, The Edge Of Night (1956). That program used the complete staff of the radio series with most of the cast having new character names. Perry Mason (the full series) was on CBS-TV from 1957 until 1966 with Raymond Burr as Mason. There was a new version of the program produced during the 1973-1974 season with Monte Markham as Mason. Creator of radio programs including the summer replacement program, A Life In Your Hands on NBC 1949 and 1950; ABC 1951, again on NBC (1952); The Adventures Of Christopher London on NBC-Radio (1950). Some of Gardner's actual court cases were dramatized on The Court Of Last Resort with Paul Birch playing Gardner on NBC-TV (1957-1958); ABC-TV (1959-1960).