Philco Television Playhouse
The Man in the Black Hat
TV Flash files “The Man in the Black Hat” as hour 79 of 256 in the TV Flash guide — Philco Television Playhouse (1948–1955) on NBC, season 2, episode 34, aired 1950-04-23, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E34: listed hour 79 of 256 in the Philco Television Playhouse guide, hour 34 of 45 in season 2. It aired 1950-04-23 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “The End is Known” (S02E33). Next is “The American” (S02E35).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
A gambler has nothing too lose as his shady past with women and cards catch up to him.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Man in the Black Hat sit in the Philco Television Playhouse guide?
S02E34 is listed hour 79 of 256 — hour 34 of 45 in season 2, season 2 episode 34.
When did Philco Television Playhouse S02E34 air?
The Man in the Black Hat aired 1950-04-23 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…