Philco Television Playhouse
A Cowboy for Chris
TV Flash files “A Cowboy for Chris” as hour 162 of 256 in the TV Flash guide — Philco Television Playhouse (1948–1955) on NBC, season 4, episode 16, aired 1952-05-18, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E16: listed hour 162 of 256 in the Philco Television Playhouse guide, hour 16 of 25 in season 4. It aired 1952-05-18 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “We Were Children” (S04E15). Next is “A Man's Game” (S04E17).
Viewer FAQ
Where does A Cowboy for Chris sit in the Philco Television Playhouse guide?
S04E16 is listed hour 162 of 256 — hour 16 of 25 in season 4, season 4 episode 16.
When did Philco Television Playhouse S04E16 air?
A Cowboy for Chris aired 1952-05-18 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…