Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Self Defense
TV Flash files “Self Defense” as hour 223 of 268 in the TV Flash guide — Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1962) on CBS/NBC, season 6, episode 32, aired 1961-05-23, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S06E32: listed hour 223 of 268 in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide, hour 32 of 38 in season 6. It aired 1961-05-23 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Gloating Place” (S06E31). Next is “A Secret Life” (S06E33).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Gerald Clarke is held up at gunpoint by a boy who has just robbed a liquor store. The boy runs out. Grabbing the store's owner, Gerald runs after the boy and he shoots the boy four times as he tries to drive off. Later the police arrive and discover that the boy's gun was not loaded. They rule the killing an act of self-defense and release Gerald. Later Gerald goes home and is confronted by the boy's mother. She holds a loaded gun on him and asks why he killed her son. Clarke explains that he was frightened. The woman turns and begins to leave. As she goes, Clarke grabs the gun and shoots her. He screams "I told you not to pull that gun on me" to the woman's dead corpse.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Self Defense sit in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide?
S06E32 is listed hour 223 of 268 — hour 32 of 38 in season 6, season 6 episode 32.
When did Alfred Hitchcock Presents S06E32 air?
Self Defense aired 1961-05-23 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…