Philco Television Playhouse
The Midnight Caller
TV Flash files “The Midnight Caller” as hour 209 of 256 in the TV Flash guide — Philco Television Playhouse (1948–1955) on NBC, season 6, episode 7, aired 1953-12-13, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S06E07: listed hour 209 of 256 in the Philco Television Playhouse guide, hour 7 of 26 in season 6. It aired 1953-12-13 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “The Sixth Year” (S06E06). Next is “The Glorification of Al Toolum” (S06E08).
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Midnight Caller sit in the Philco Television Playhouse guide?
S06E07 is listed hour 209 of 256 — hour 7 of 26 in season 6, season 6 episode 7.
When did Philco Television Playhouse S06E07 air?
The Midnight Caller aired 1953-12-13 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…