Hazel the Know-it-all Housekeeper

by Guy Belleranti


Hazel was a hit in its very first television season in 1961 ranking number 4 in the TV ratings.

The one half hour sitcom starred Shirley Booth as Hazel Burke, a housekeeper who worked for the Baxter family in a small New York town.

Other important characters included the set-in-his ways attorney George Baxter (Don DeFore), George’s wife, Dorothy (Whitney Blake), and the couple’s son Harold (Bobby Buntrock).

Hazel stuck her nose into - and solved - virtually all the problems that befell the family. She bumped heads with George (Mr. “B” is what she called him) practically every episode, but in the end always seemed to get her way. And her way usually turned out to be the best way.

Actually Hazel was a pleasant woman with a heart of gold; she just worked the angles and never took “no” for an answer. In the process she was efficient to the max.

In the beginning Hazel was filmed in black and white. Then it became one of the NBC programs making the switch to color.

The series was initially derived from a Saturday Evening Post single panel comic strip by cartoonist Ted Key.

After four years on NBC, Hazel moved to CBS. George and Dorothy were written out of the show, with the story-line being that George has been transferred to the Middle East on business.

However, son Harold remained behind, and he and Hazel became a part of George’s brother’s household. The brother, named Steve (played by Ray Fulmer), was a real estate agent. He had a wife, Barbara (Lynn Borden), and a daughter, Susie (Julia Benjamin).

Hazel continued her merry interventions with her new household, solving problems and intervening in Steve’s life much as she had with George. However, the program had lost some of its earlier magic, and ended after the season.


Go to Rewind the Fifties Home