Description
In the very first Perry Mason novel, The Case of the Velvet Claws, written in the early days of the Great Depression it is revealed that Della Street came from a wealthy, or at least well-to-do, family that was wiped out by the stock market crash of 1929, forcing Della to get a job as a secretary. Of course, by the time of the TV series in the 1950s and 1960s, this would have not fit well with the age of the characters as then portrayed. According to The Case Of The Caretaker's Cat, she is approximately fifteen years younger than Perry Mason.
A character named Della Street first appeared in Gardner's unpublished novel Reasonable Doubt, where she was a secretary, but not the secretary of the lawyer, Ed Stark. Gardner described her this way: "Della Street ..... Secretary, twenty-seven, quiet, fast as hell on her feet, had been places. Worked in a carnival or side show, knows all the lines, hard-boiled exterior, quietly efficient, puzzled over the lawyer, chestnut hair, trim figure, some lines on her face, a hint of weariness at the corners of her eyes." See Secrets of the World's Best Selling Writer, p. 178. When Gardner submitted Reasonable Doubt to William Morrow, an editor suggested that "Della Street is a better character than the secretary." Gardner took this suggestion when he rewrote Reasonable Doubt as The Case of the Velvet Claws and made Della Street Perry Mason's secretary. In the published novel, the carnival or side show was jettisoned, and Street came from a more respectable background. This is a good example of the difference between the pulp writing and slick writing of the 1930s. See Erle Stanley Gardner: The Case of the Real Perry Mason, p. 102.
In 1950 Gardner published a short story "The Case of the Suspect Sweethearts" under the pseudonym Della Street. See "Erle Stanley Gardner: The Case of the Real Perry Mason" p. 331.
There are several instances of sexual tension between Mason and Street in the Gardner novels; multiple glances, kisses, etc. There were also several proposals of marriage, all of which Della turned down because she wanted to be a part of Mason's life and she knew that meant being a part of his work.
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