Alfred Hitchcock Presents
The Hat Box
TV Flash files “The Hat Box” as the first listed hour of season 7 — Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1962) on CBS/NBC, season 7, episode 1, aired 1961-10-10, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S07E01: listed hour 230 of 268 in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide, first listed hour of season 7. It aired 1961-10-10 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Ambition” (S06E38). Next is “Bang! You're Dead” (S07E02).
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Hat Box sit in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide?
S07E01 is listed hour 230 of 268 — first listed hour of season 7, season 7 episode 1.
When did Alfred Hitchcock Presents S07E01 air?
The Hat Box aired 1961-10-10 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…