I love Donald Foster and Norma Varden as Mr. and Mrs. Johnson,the "idle rich" neighbors of Hazel and the Baxter family.I think they are very funny...the "upper crust" of society,yet completely inept at doing the most ordinary household tasks.Heck,in a season one episode,they are only vaguely aware of what an electrical outlet is for!

I wish they would've had their own spin-off series...it had sitcom classic written all over it!

Both were excellent character actors,and appeared in many roles over the years.Among their many movie/TV credits,I've enjoyed them in episodes of:

Donald Foster:

Mike Hammer
The Addams Family
The Monkees
That Girl

Norma Varden:

I Love Lucy
How To Marry a Millionaire
Mister Ed
Batman

One of the things that I most like about 50's/60's TV is the vast array of great character actors that would appear across the television landscape.Foster & Varden were just two of the many memorable faces that helped to make shows from that era "Classic TV"!

You're right, their characters could have been developed into a sitcom of their own. It would have been very funny. Did they play the neighbors in later seasons also? I'm still waiting for Shout! Factory to release S2 on DVD.

Mrs. Johnson was also famous for appearing in the movie "Casablanca", she plays an English lady at an outdoor (as I recall) cafe. I think I also can remember at least Mr. Johnson appearing in a Perry Mason episode. They were perfect in their parts on Hazel.

Norma Varden also secured a place in movie history for playing the von Trapp family's maid in The Sound of Music.

The Johnsons are a hoot. I love the Thanksgiving episode where their maid has the day off and they are trying to make Thanksgiving dinner.

The Johnsons are eccentric almost to the point of being strange. It's amazing to me that despite their wealth, they seem to have no clue or knowledge about anything. It's like they were living as if it were still the early 1900's instead of the 1960's. Shirley Booth and the rest of the cast was great, but those Johnsons were just plain weird. I don't care for them at all, I'm glad they didn't appear in too many Hazel episodes.

I admit, not knowing what a plug is that you plug into a wall for electricity was a bit much. The writers did over-do it a bit with the Johnsons, as you say, surely by the '60's they would know how to plug in a wire to get power. They also never heard of screwing a light bulb to get light. Yeah, they were exaggerated, but what the hey, they were still fun.

Well if they were pampered from childhood it may be beliveable always having servants do everything to the point where you can't function without them.

Well if they were pampered from childhood it may be beliveable always having servants do everything to the point where you can't function without them.

Your point is valid, however I agree with the previous poster that the Johnsons were exaggerated as characters. They are way over the top, that's for sure.

I liked Norma Varden, but I didn't care for the guy who played her husband. The writers made him way too stupid, and the way he talks annoys me.

I love Donald Foster and Norma Varden as Mr. and Mrs. Johnson,the "idle rich" neighbors of Hazel and the Baxter family.I think they are very funny...the "upper crust" of society,yet completely inept at doing the most ordinary household tasks.Heck,in a season one episode,they are only vaguely aware of what an electrical outlet is for!

I wish they would've had their own spin-off series...it had sitcom classic written all over it!

Both were excellent character actors,and appeared in many roles over the years.Among their many movie/TV credits,I've enjoyed them in episodes of:

Donald Foster:

Mike Hammer
The Addams Family
The Monkees
That Girl

Norma Varden:

I Love Lucy
How To Marry a Millionaire
Mister Ed
Batman

One of the things that I most like about 50's/60's TV is the vast array of great character actors that would appear across the television landscape.Foster & Varden were just two of the many memorable faces that helped to make shows from that era "Classic TV"!
I totally agree with you. My late Mother, who also loved "Hazel" said the same exact thing about how funny a spin-off with the Johnsons might have been.

I liked Norma Varden, but I didn't care for the guy who played her husband. The writers made him way too stupid, and the way he talks annoys me.
I agree with you, I've always enjoyed Norma Varden but I didn't care much for the husband's character.

Norma Varden's greatest claim to fame may be her snooty Lady Beekman in Marilyn Monroe's classic movie GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1953) which pairs Norma with Charles Coburn.

I always remember Norma as Mrs Benson in the I Love Lucy episode where Lucy and Ricky change apartments.

I knew Norma Varden at the end of her life. She and Donald Foster were actually signed for a spin-off series called "The Johnsons", but it never came to anything.

Interesting and it might have been a good show, but this was the late 1960s and advertisers were starting to go in for the youth market and both Varden and Foster were older so it may not have played well at that time.

I like the Johnsons' scenes in Hazel but to be honest I don't see them as the type of characters that could support an entire show. They were great with those little side stories from time to time with Hazel saving the day, but to have a sitcom centered around them they would've needed to be fleshed out a bit and given more backstory. It might have worked, but to me they worked best as simple side characters in small doses.

That being said, I wish they had made more appearances in Hazel.

They were over-the-top from the get-go. When the football lodged in the chimney and the fireplace started to smoke, they were at a total loss. The way they were portrayed I'm surprised they were even able to dress themselves.

I like the Johnsons' scenes in Hazel but to be honest I don't see them as the type of characters that could support an entire show. They were great with those little side stories from time to time with Hazel saving the day, but to have a sitcom centered around them they would've needed to be fleshed out a bit and given more backstory. It might have worked, but to me they worked best as simple side characters in small doses.

That being said, I wish they had made more appearances in Hazel.
:yeahthat

I love The Johnsons! Especially the Thanksgiving episode and the episode when they were finding a replacement for their maid Phoebe.

I think the Johnsons are a hoot too. I just saw the Thanksgiving episode and when she called Hazel to find out what "baste the turkey" means, someone rang Hazel's doorbell and when Hazel said "Well, someone's at the door, I have to go," Mrs Johnson hung up and said to Mr Johnson, "Hazel says someone's at our door, would you go see who it is?" :D :D

These are people who have been taken care of their whole lives, and while the characters were definitely exaggerated, I love that they were also good natured, willing to try, and always seemed to have positive attitudes in any situation. They also were not as snooty toward people-- at least not as snooty as some of the other wealthy characters were-- like those who snubbed Hazel and anyone in the working class. I think if they were ever to have their own show, in order to succeed it would have had to play up those characteristics and tone down just a tiny bit the exaggeration, and make sure when their ineptness was portrayed, it was fresh and funny and not too far over the top. Of course, then again-- 60's tv was a little different-- look how far over the top Gracie Allen was, and that show went on for awhile.

I dunno. I thought their ineptitude was waaaay too contrived. I mean, having two seniors act so puzzled over something like boiling water...as though it were something like learning advanced nuclear physics...was a bit much.

But they were a sweet couple; the writer's just needed to TONE DOWN the tired dumber-than-dumb schtick.