Hamilton Burger

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Hamilton Burger was the fictional Los Angeles district attorney who was the nemesis of Perry Mason in the long-running series of novels, films, and radio and television programs featuring the fictional defense attorney created by Erle Stanley Gardner. The name is a pun, since shortening "Hamilton" to "Ham", a popular nickname, would produce "Hamburger".

Critics have suggested that Burger must have been the most incompetent lawyer in history {see Mad Magazine parody "The Day Perry Mason Lost a Case"!!), as his cases inevitably involved prosecuting the wrong, innocent person who was defended by Mason, who always in the end revealed the true criminal through a series of courtroom tricks (which largely would not have been allowed in a real-life trial). Burger's bag of tricks was comparatively empty, chiefly comprising indignant exclamations of, "Incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial!" Once Mason had outed the true perpetrator, Burger always joined in Mason's motion to the judge to dismiss the charges against Mason's client so that Burger could then charge the actual wrongdoer. Burger was probably most famously portrayed (in the long-running original Perry Mason television series) by actor William Talman, who was replaced briefly after he was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana and indecent exposure. Talman returned to the show after all charges against him were dropped.

Not known to many is the fact that Burger DID actually defeat Mason twice on the television series—once in "The Case of the Terrified Typist" and again in "The Case of the Deadly Verdict." In addition, in "The Case of the Shoplifter's Shoe," Burger figured out the true culprit (after some nudging in the right direction by Perry).

[edit] Trivia

• On The Red Green Show episode The Real Estate Project, Red, Harold, and Winston were in the "Ask the Experts" scene, and Harold describes how the district attorney on the show never won a case. Red said his name was "Ham" burger, Harold then said "no, it's true," Red then said that that was his name.