Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Incident in a Small Jail
TV Flash files “Incident in a Small Jail” as hour 214 of 268 in the TV Flash guide — Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1962) on CBS/NBC, season 6, episode 23, aired 1961-03-21, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S06E23: listed hour 214 of 268 in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide, hour 23 of 38 in season 6. It aired 1961-03-21 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Horseplayer” (S06E22). Next is “A Woman's Help” (S06E24).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
traveling salesman, Leon Gorwald, arrives in a small town and is promptly arrest for jaywalking and placed into jail. The sheriff arrives with the suspected murderer of a young girl. He tosses the suspected murderer into the cell next to Leon. The mood of the towns people begins to grow ugly and a lynch mob assembles. The sheriff decides to move the alleged killer for his safety, but is knocked unconscious. The suspect switches clothes with Gorwald and forces him into a cell. The mob rushes the jail but Gorwald is saved in the nick of time. The charges against him are dropped and he leaves town. He later stops for a pretty hitchhiker who accepts his offer of a ride without knowing that he is the actual killer.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Incident in a Small Jail sit in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide?
S06E23 is listed hour 214 of 268 — hour 23 of 38 in season 6, season 6 episode 23.
When did Alfred Hitchcock Presents S06E23 air?
Incident in a Small Jail aired 1961-03-21 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…