Philco Television Playhouse
The Baby
TV Flash files “The Baby” as the last listed hour of season 5 — Philco Television Playhouse (1948–1955) on NBC, season 5, episode 31, aired 1953-09-13, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E31: listed hour 202 of 256 in the Philco Television Playhouse guide, last listed hour of season 5. It aired 1953-09-13 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Othello” (S05E30). Next is “0 for 37” (S06E01).
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Baby sit in the Philco Television Playhouse guide?
S05E31 is listed hour 202 of 256 — last listed hour of season 5, season 5 episode 31.
When did Philco Television Playhouse S05E31 air?
The Baby aired 1953-09-13 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…