Philco Television Playhouse
The Great Escape
TV Flash files “The Great Escape” as hour 111 of 256 in the TV Flash guide — Philco Television Playhouse (1948–1955) on NBC, season 3, episode 21, aired 1951-01-28, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E21: listed hour 111 of 256 in the Philco Television Playhouse guide, hour 21 of 56 in season 3. It aired 1951-01-28 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Confession” (S03E20). Next is “A Matter of Life and Death” (S03E22).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
The story of the escape of 76 British and American prisoners from the infamous German prison camp, Stalag Luft 17.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Great Escape sit in the Philco Television Playhouse guide?
S03E21 is listed hour 111 of 256 — hour 21 of 56 in season 3, season 3 episode 21.
When did Philco Television Playhouse S03E21 air?
The Great Escape aired 1951-01-28 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…