Hazel is an American sitcom about a spunky live-in maid named Hazel Burke (played by Shirley Booth) and her employers, the Baxters. The five-season, 154-episode series aired in prime time from September 28, 1961, to April 11, 1966, and was produced by Screen Gems, a division of Columbia Pictures. The first four seasons of Hazel aired on NBC, and the fifth and final season aired on CBS. Season 1 was broadcast in black-and-white except for one episode which was in color, and seasons 2–5 were all broadcast in color. The show was based on the single-panel comic strip of the same title by cartoonist Ted Key, which appeared in The Saturday Evening Post.

Development Hazel was a beloved character in American popular culture in the twentieth century. On February 20, 1943, the first Hazel cartoon was published in the Post; it appeared weekly from August of that year until 1969, when the magazine ceased publication, and then was distributed to newspapers by King Features Syndicate. In 1946 Key published the first of several books of Hazel cartoons. In the 1950s, he coauthored a three-act play featuring Hazel. He wanted Booth to play the starring role. She loved the character but declined because she disliked the script.

In 1959, Curtis Publishing Company, which published the Post and owned the rights to Hazel, marketed the property to television for the first time. Curtis and Key reviewed proposals from David Susskind’s production company Talent Associates, which suggested Audrey Meadows for the role of Hazel; George Gobel’s Gomalco, which proposed Ann B. Davis; and Screen Gems, which had produced hit television series like Dennis the Menace. William Dozier, vice president in charge of production at Screen Gems, remarked that while Talent Associates and Gomalco guaranteed Curtis that they would film pilots, Screen Gems agreed to do so only if they could develop a good script. This approach impressed Curtis, which selected Screen Gems.

Dozier, executive producer Harry Ackerman, and producer James Fonda assembled a creative team for the pilot that included William Cowley and Peggy Chantler Dick as writers and William D. Russell as director; this team had worked together on Dennis the Menace. They drafted a script with Key. As Dozier acknowledged, “Remember, we were transposing her [Hazel] from a cartoon figure, with a cloudy pair of employers, to the world of flesh and blood. We needed Key to make sure we would not damage that intangible whatever-it-was that had made Hazel a successful cartoon for 17 years.”

Dozier wanted Booth for the role of Hazel, but he did not believe that she would agree to do a weekly television series. So Screen Gems pursued Thelma Ritter, who declined because she did not have the stamina for the role; Kay Medford, who was not willing to relocate to Los Angeles; and Glenda Farrell, who made demands that Screen Gems considered unreasonable. Eventually, Dozier decided to approach Booth through her agent, and she accepted the part shortly thereafter.

Booth signed a five-year contract to star in Hazel. Her decision surprised many observers. At the time, she was best known as a prestigious dramatic actress on Broadway and in film who had won three Tony Awards and the 1952 Best Actress Academy Award for Come Back, Little Sheba. Although she had guest starred in television drama anthology and variety and game shows, she had avoided doing a series, especially a sitcom. Some of her friends, including Burt Lancaster, her costar in Come Back, Little Sheba, urged her to back out of the show because appearing in a sitcom was allegedly beneath her. She replied that she enjoyed making people laugh. She also told a reporter that she took the role because she loved the character and because good parts on stage and in film were scarce. She said to another journalist: “Actors love good parts…. Hazel is a good part. She is a good human soul, honest and likable. The most important thing is that she’s capable of honest anger—a good, strong, purging emotion—without being nasty about it. Instead, she substitutes a sense of humor—which is really a sense of good taste—and hence manages to get away with saying the things most of us wish we’d said.” In addition, after having appeared in three successive Broadway flops (Miss Isobel, 1957; Juno, 1959; A Second String, 1960), the actress welcomed the financial rewards of starring in a weekly television series.

The pilot for Hazel was filmed in February 1961. To physically transform into the character, Booth wore a red wig and a maid’s uniform; she also learned how to bowl and kick a football. To gain insight into the character’s personality, she drew on a twenty-nine-page document by Key, known as the “Hazel Bible.” Before the series premiered, she told a New York Times reporter: “I am still feeling my way with Hazel…. She must have humor of course. She has to have a strong maternal complex. She is a little bit of a major-domo…. I am taking a line drawing and trying to make it into an oil painting.’" She further developed the character as she began rehearsals: “After we’re into rehearsal and I see the people who are going to do it with me, then I decide what to do. You have to adjust to other people.” In 1962, a reporter observed that when she performed on set as Hazel, “her facial expression changed. Her body slumped and she looked pounds heavier. Her speech became more casual. Her walk was different. She had changed into Hazel.”Cynthia Lowry, “Shirley Booth Happy as Hazel,” San Antonio Light, September 16, 1962, quoted in David C. Tucker, Shirley Booth: A Biography and Career Record, Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2008, 111.

Synopsis

Seasons 1–4 The series takes place in an upper-class neighborhood in an unnamed town in the United States, which is described in one episode as a “suburb in the East.”Hazel, season 1, episode 7, “A Dog for Harold,” aired November 9, 1961. In Hazel, season 2, episode 32, “So Long, Brown Eyes,” aired May 9, 1963, it is implied the town is within a day’s train ride of Philadelphia. Hazel is a competent, take-charge, live-in maid in the home of the Baxter family, which is located at 123 Marshal Road.123 Marshal Road: "Potluck à la Mode," Hazel, season 3, episode 1, aired September 19, 1963; "Stop Rockin' Our Reception," Hazel, season 4, episode 21, aired February 18, 1965 George Baxter (Don DeFore) is a partner in the law firm of Butterworth, Hatch, Noll and Baxter; Hazel calls him "Mr. B". George's wife, Dorothy (Whitney Blake), is a part-time interior decorator, whom Hazel nicknames "Missy".part-time interior decorator: Hazel, season 1, episode 1, “Hazel and the Playground,” aired September 28, 1961. Their son Harold (Bobby Buntrock) is dubbed "Sport" by Hazel. The family dog is Smiley. Hazel had worked previously with Dorothy's family, and has a close relationship with her. Despite her cheerful persona, she has experienced hardship. Her mother died when she was 14 (she said in one episode) so she had to take care of her own family.Hazel, season 1, episode 26, “Hazel’s Pajama Party,” aired April 5, 1962. In season 2, episode 32, “So Long, Brown Eyes,” aired May 9, 1963, Hazel states she raised her brothers and sisters until she was age 26. In addition, the love of her life was Gus Jenkins, a sailor who went abroad and did not communicate with her for 25 years; she keeps a photograph of him on the nightstand next to her bed.Hazel, season 1, episode 29, “Hazel Quits,” aired April 26, 1962; Hazel, season 2, episode 32, “So Long, Brown Eyes,” aired May 9, 1963. In the last paragraph of the Hazel Bible, Key imagines her alone in her room in the evening: “This woman, like any other, has plans; she has hopes and dreams. Hazel lies in her bed, in her room, in her home. And in this home, she is alone.”

The series humorously dramatizes Hazel's life with the Baxters and her friendships with others in the neighborhood, such as postman Barney Hatfield (Robert Williams), taxi-driver Mitch Brady (Dub Taylor), and Rosie Hammaker (Maudie Prickett), another maid in the neighborhood, who along with Hazel is a member of the Sunshine Girls, also known as the Society of Domestic Engineers—a group referenced in several episodes.The Sunshine Girls are first mentioned in Hazel, season 1, episode 5, “Dorothy’s New Client,” aired October 26, 1961. Many episodes focus on the perennial contest of wills between Hazel and George over issues around the house; "Mr. B" usually concedes defeat and grants Hazel's wishes when she tortures him by serving meager portions of her mouth-watering meals and desserts as an incentive for him to “lose a few pounds.”

George’s exasperation with Hazel generated much of the show’s comedy. DeFore explained his approach to his character: "I learned just how far to push the anger button, … the frustration button, the righteous indignation button—and the valve of affection that George, despite his best efforts, holds for this infuriating woman. Now some of our finest comedy springs from moments in which I am forced to defend Hazel." On their rapport, Booth remarked: "Don’s contribution is incalculable. The show couldn't be without him. He gives off the complete aura of frustration without rancor. He is a wonderful man—you read it in his face and you are comfortable with him."

Some episodes take Hazel outside the Baxter house and follow her life in the community. In the first episode, for example, she spearheads a drive for the construction of a neighborhood playground. Hazel's life is sometimes complicated by George's snobby Bostonian sister Deirdre Thompson (Cathy Lewis) and his gruff client Harvey Griffin (Howard Smith). Dotty neighbors Herbert and Harriet Johnson (Donald Foster and Norma Varden) often call upon Hazel's expertise in household matters, of which they seem ignorant.

Network change and final season