Alfred Hitchcock Presents
I Can Take Care of Myself
TV Flash files “I Can Take Care of Myself” as hour 184 of 268 in the TV Flash guide — Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1962) on CBS/NBC, season 5, episode 31, aired 1960-05-15, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E31: listed hour 184 of 268 in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide, hour 31 of 38 in season 5. It aired 1960-05-15 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Insomnia” (S05E30). Next is “One Grave Too Many” (S05E32).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Bert Haber is a piano player who injects himself into a scuffle between a mobster named Little Dandy and a singer. Dandy is punched in the faces and vows revenge. Later, Bert is approached by a man trying to sell him life insurance at Dandy's recommendation. Bert refuses thinking that he can take care of himself. The next day a detective arrives. He tells Bert that his singer friend was murdered last night. The detective wants Bert to testify against Dandy. Bert agrees, but he wants police protection. The detective takes him to his car. Bert gets in and discovers the insurance man. The men work for Little Dandy, and Bert is promptly killed.
Viewer FAQ
Where does I Can Take Care of Myself sit in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide?
S05E31 is listed hour 184 of 268 — hour 31 of 38 in season 5, season 5 episode 31.
When did Alfred Hitchcock Presents S05E31 air?
I Can Take Care of Myself aired 1960-05-15 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with Hitch's hosted half-hours rather than assuming he directed the lot. Sample the dry intros and the snap endings; the silhouette is the franchise.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Alfred Hitchcock Presents made the director himself the franchise: silhouette, dry intro, murder with a wink, and closings that sometimes 'corrected' crime to soothe censors. Watch it in 2026 as branded anthology swagger — Joan Harrison's engine, Hitch's persona, and twist endings as moral architecture you can still hum.
Calendar first: CBS, October 2, 1955. Then a later NBC window. Original half-hour run through 1962 — **268 episodes, seven seasons** — before the expansion as *The Alfred Hitchcock Hour* (1962–1965). That is not nostalgia cosplay. That is a branded anthology with a host who was the franchise, a silhouette you could hum, and a weekly drop of murder with a wink. Rex can keep the three-network hymn. This was already a logo, a window, and a closing card that sometimes reversed the crime to soothe Standards & Practices.
Filed against
- Alfred Hitchcock as Host
Alfred Hitchcock made himself the franchise on Alfred Hitchcock Presents — silhouette, dry intro, murder with a wink, closings that sometimes “corrected” crime to soothe censors. Branded anthology swagger, Joan Harrison’s engine, twist…