Philco Television Playhouse
The Fourth Wall
TV Flash files “The Fourth Wall” as hour 41 of 256 in the TV Flash guide — Philco Television Playhouse (1948–1955) on NBC, season 1, episode 41, aired 1949-07-31, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E41: listed hour 41 of 256 in the Philco Television Playhouse guide, hour 41 of 45 in season 1. It aired 1949-07-31 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “You Touched Me!” (S01E40). Next is “Enter Madame” (S01E42).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
The life of a middle-aged couple has become to complacent and empty.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Fourth Wall sit in the Philco Television Playhouse guide?
S01E41 is listed hour 41 of 256 — hour 41 of 45 in season 1, season 1 episode 41.
When did Philco Television Playhouse S01E41 air?
The Fourth Wall aired 1949-07-31 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with Marty (May 24, 1953, Rod Steiger) — the teleplay that became the anthology-to-Oscar dream — then sample other surviving Coe/Mann hours.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Philco Television Playhouse is Chayefsky's kitchen-sink live plays: ordinary lives, extraordinary telecasts, Marty with Rod Steiger before the Oscar film. Watch it now as the rise of intimate realist TV drama — Fred Coe's shop, Delbert Mann, and the anthology-to-Hollywood dream in one sponsor's title.
The close-up is a butcher's loneliness, not a gown — kitchen-sink light, live cameras, ordinary lives getting extraordinary writing. NBC's *Philco Television Playhouse* (1948–1955), 256 episodes across seven seasons, Fred Coe's shop, directors like Delbert Mann, Paddy Chayefsky's *Marty* telecast May 24, 1953 with Rod Steiger. A kitchen sink as an Oscar machine. The Philco/Goodyear tandem nights made anthology drama a dual-sponsor prestige ritual. The timeline can call domestic realism mid. The silhouette was a…