Man in a Box


Series:	Hogan's Heroes
Episode:	Man in a Box
Original Airdate:	December 28, 1968
Production Number:	5784-106
Written by:	Laurence Marks
Directed by:	Richard Kinon
Produced by:	Edward H. Feldman & William A. Calihan

Regular[]

Hogan is ordered to capture LeBeau, but not before he lets him complete his mission.

This is both the one hundred and sixth episode of the series and the one hundredth and sixth episode to be shown on television and is also the fourteenth episode shown for the Fourth Season.
In the episode, we learn that Hogan is six feet tall and LeBeau is about five feet tall.
Klink's field telephone is actually a repainted Vietnam-era U.S. Army model.
Klink's stated reason for keeping Schultz on patrol inside the camp is that he is so heavy that he would collapse any escape tunnels he might walk over. This actually comes true later in the series ("The Merry Widow").
Klink attempts to recruit the help of the Hammelburg police in recapturing LeBeau, due to a shortage of guards at the camp. This shortage has been alluded to in earlier episodes, such as "Monkey Business."
Hogan calls Kinch "Sam" at one point - perhaps as a nickname, or more likely as an allusion to either the movie Casablanca or a popular song of the era called "Sam, You Made The Pants Too Long." Newkirk made a similar "Sam" joke to Minsk in the pilot episode.

This appears to take place in the spring of 1943.
The title, "Man in a Box" is the name for a classic mime performance, where the mime pretends to be trapped inside an invisible box. This was a routine made famous by the French mime Marcel Marceau (1923-2007).
The sabotage of the research lab might have led to the Gestapo crackdown on the Dusseldorf underground, as mentioned in "Everybody Has A Brother-In-Law."
More insights into Klink's past. One of his instructors at Potsdam was Colonel Schlessman, who appears to have been a role model of sorts. One of Schlessman's favorite sayings was, "Authority is a dangerous thing in the hands of fools." He appears to have been opposed to Hitler, and was eventually arrested and executed before the war. Klink used to have a pillow on which Schlessman's saying had been embroided for him by his mother. He lost it while taking her on a Strength Through Joy canoeing trip.
SPECULATION: The Gestapo officer who appears in this episode also appears at the end of "Color The Luftwaffe Red." He is never named in the series. Given his uniform, apparent position of authority, and the general timeframe, this may be the mysterious Kommandant Heydrich, head of the Hammelburg Gestapo who was killed just before "Everybody Loves A Snowman."

Previous episode:
Will the Real Colonel Klink Please Stand Up Against the Wall?

Next episode:
The Missing Klink