use Scalar::Util qw(blessed);   # Near the top of the program

    # ...

        # Fix the class name (eg. "Bah=HASH(0x192a324)" => "Bah")
        # Brute force method:  $class =~ s/=.*//;
        my $cname = blessed($class);
        $class = $cname if defined($cname);  # was "if $cname;"