| Hazel (tv Series) |
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''Hazel'' was based on a popular comic strip by cartoonist Ted Key in the Saturday Evening Post . The title character, Hazel Burke, had a big mouth but an even bigger heart, which caused a lot of familial conflict. In the strip, Hazel's employer, George Baxter, ran his law firm, but had little say in the running of his own household, as Hazel always seemed to have the last word. In the series George Baxter, whom Hazel called "Mr. B", was played by '' Ozzie & Harriet '' star, Don DeFore . George's wife Dorothy, a successful interior designer, was played by Whitney Blake . It was said that Hazel had worked for Dorothy's family earlier. The Baxters had one young son, Harold (aka "Sport" and played by Bobby Buntrock ), whom Hazel looked after. At the beginning of the 1965-1966 season, with the switch from NBC to CBS, DeFore and Blake were dropped. (George and his wife were said to have been transferred to the Middle East for George's work.) Actress Shirley Booth (Hazel Burke) reportedly paid the costs of producing the new episodes on CBS from her own pocket. Hazel began working for George's younger brother, Steve (Ray Fulmer), a real estate agent. Steve's wife Barbara (Lynn Borden) and daughter Suzie (Julia Benjamin) rounded-out the revamped cast. George and Dorothy's son Harold remained in the care of Hazel, and therefore moved in with Uncle Steve. Ann Jillian played Steve's teenaged secretary, and Harold Gould played a co-hort. Whitney Blake (Dorothy Baxter) went on to create the highly popular 70s sitcom, '' One Day At A Time ''. Ray Fulmer, continued acting throughout the 1980s in both commercials and soap operas. The first season of ''Hazel'' is now available on DVD as of the summer of 2006. Bobby Buntrock The young actor who played Harold, Bobby Buntrock , died in a 1974 auto accident. After the 1972 Keystone, South Dakota flood (one reference is '' National Geographic '') during bridge construction an awful road hazard was left unbarricaded or cautioned in any way. An accident at that point was imminent. There was a well traveled "y" intersection. In the middle of the "y" construction had left a fourteen foot hole just wide enough for a Buick to fit in. There was four to five feet of water in the hole. Bobby was turning to go visit a friend in Rocky Gulch, South Dakota . His automobile slipped off the side of the bank, where there should have been jersey barriers, and landed upside down in the water. It took the diver quite some time to get Bobby out, and he informed us that Bobby tried to escape. However, because of a concrete structure on one side and a dirt wall on the other, he could only get the doors open about four inches. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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