After nine years of success as “Perry Mason,” the undefeated champion of the court room, Raymond Burr cooled his heels for only six months before making a pilot for a series called Ironside, and the question was, would the public accept him as anybody other than Perry Mason? The answer was yes, they would not only accept him but would also open their hearts and their living rooms by way of their TV sets, to watch his crime detecting team change sides from the defense to the offense as prosecutors. Confined to a wheelchair, although that wasn’t the original intention, when the pilot was made, Ironside made social statements as to the acceptability of people with handicaps being part of a dynamic crime fighting team. The group also comprised a black individual, who at first was just the hands and legs of Ironside, but grew throughout the years of this television series to become a police officer, a law school candidate, and by the end of the series a full-fledged black lawyer. The man at the center of the story had a heart that was huge. Raymond did so much behind the scenes and not in front of the lens of the camera to help servicemen overseas in Vietnam, not only by paying many visits there, but also by taking up the cause of invalids and cripples. He identified with their challenges through playing the role of the challenged chief detective.The main premise of the story was that this crime fighting team worked out of the third floor, that is, the top floor of police headquarters. It became the home of the semi retired detective Ironside. Barbara Anderson played the female lead until 1972 when she left the show for Mission Impossible. She subsequently played a number of parts, mainly recurring spots in Hawaii Five-0 and in Night Gallery.Raymond, who always worried about being Mr. Perry Mason for the rest of his life, through the character of Ironside, accomplished the task of now being associated with two strong characters and therefore felt free to have his own personality. This permitted him to do many “Perry Mason” made for TV specials throughout the 1980’s. The format of the show lent itself to bringing in a number of guest stars both male and female. Of course we like the female stars that were brought in! NBC discovered that they could also be successful by bridging two shows or marrying two shows together. This is something that NBC has often done. In the 1972 season one story began on Ironside and ended in Medical Center. NBC does that nearly every season with its popular dramas. Ironside’s best ever showing was in its third season, 1970 to 1971. The following year it toyed with tenth place but landed just outside of the top ten. It is still popular world wide and continues to play rerun heaven! Written by: Ralston Suffield
