Hazel's car (Chrysanthemum II)

[timkedz]

Hello, everyone!

I had just recently run across this forum and I had to sign up and
share an unusual fact that I couldn't find posted anywhere else
regarding the sitcom, Hazel.

Now, it is a very well-known fact that the first four seasons of Hazel
was sponsored by the Ford Motor Company. I have watched nearly every
episode and just about every model of Ford from 1962 to 1966 was
displayed at some point during the series. There was even a neat
looking T-Bird pedal car that Bobby Buntrock found the "missing" car
keys to in the opening of the fourth season. Probably the most
prominent of all was the 1964 red convertible that the family gets
into and that Shirley Booth drives down the driveway in the opening
credits of the the 1963-'64 season.

Anyway, the main point is that I've noticed in the last season,
1965-'66, Hazel buys a car from "Wheeler the Dealer" and it turns out
to be a .........PLYMOUTH FURY??!!!

Look closely, and you will see that it's a 1959 Plymouth Fury, or
Belverdere convertible.

Almost all of the shots of the car are from the side, but, you do see
the front and rear of the car for a couple of seconds. Besides, the
dashboard mounted mirror and front fender mounted mirrors are a dead
giveaway, that the car is Virgil Exner styled Chrysler product. I was
shocked to see that Hazel would drive a Plymouth, given the extensive
tie the show had to Ford. (Although, technically, Ford was no longer a
sponsor of Hazel at that point!) Also, interesting, was the fact that
Shirley Booth's birth name was Ford as well.

Stranger still, in the fifth season episode where Hazel is parallel
backing into a space at the same time another woman in a Rolls Royce,
or Bentley, is parking nose-first in the same space, I almost positive
that Hazel was driving a green, 1965 Buick Skylark! (Although, it
could have been a 1965 Mercury Comet Caliente, they both had the three
marks on the front fender.)

I'm not sure if anyone else noticed this or not, but, I did find it
interesting. It almost seemed as though the parting of Ford as a
sponsor was not as amicable as one might think.


Any thoughts?

[Leslie Eckhardt]

Originally Posted by timkedz

Hello, everyone!

I had just recently run across this forum and I had to sign up and
share an unusual fact that I couldn't find posted anywhere else
regarding the sitcom, Hazel.

Now, it is a very well-known fact that the first four seasons of Hazel
was sponsored by the Ford Motor Company. I have watched nearly every
episode and just about every model of Ford from 1962 to 1966 was
displayed at some point during the series. There was even a neat
looking T-Bird pedal car that Bobby Buntrock found the "missing" car
keys to in the opening of the fourth season. Probably the most
prominent of all was the 1964 red convertible that the family gets
into and that Shirley Booth drives down the driveway in the opening
credits of the the 1963-'64 season.

Anyway, the main point is that I've noticed in the last season,
1965-'66, Hazel buys a car from "Wheeler the Dealer" and it turns out
to be a .........PLYMOUTH FURY??!!!

Look closely, and you will see that it's a 1959 Plymouth Fury, or
Belverdere convertible.

Almost all of the shots of the car are from the side, but, you do see
the front and rear of the car for a couple of seconds. Besides, the
dashboard mounted mirror and front fender mounted mirrors are a dead
giveaway, that the car is Virgil Exner styled Chrysler product. I was
shocked to see that Hazel would drive a Plymouth, given the extensive
tie the show had to Ford. (Although, technically, Ford was no longer a
sponsor of Hazel at that point!) Also, interesting, was the fact that
Shirley Booth's birth name was Ford as well.

Stranger still, in the fifth season episode where Hazel is parallel
backing into a space at the same time another woman in a Rolls Royce,
or Bentley, is parking nose-first in the same space, I almost positive
that Hazel was driving a green, 1965 Buick Skylark! (Although, it
could have been a 1965 Mercury Comet Caliente, they both had the three
marks on the front fender.)

I'm not sure if anyone else noticed this or not, but, I did find it
interesting. It almost seemed as though the parting of Ford as a
sponsor was not as amicable as one might think.


Any thoughts?

You're right! It's a 1959 Fury convertible. I first noticed this when I first saw the episode back in 1966. Being a car-crazy kid in those halcyon days, I couldn't believe it back then. Apparantly, the producers cut all ties to Ford with the production of this season. In a stock shot, in front of the "Baxter Realty" office, is parked a 1962 Studebaker Lark. And you're right about the Buick Skylark, this was apparantly Barbara Baxter's car, since in several episodes Steve is seen driving a 1965 Ford Galaxie convertible. ( I guess the ties to Ford were'nt completely severed!)

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...and the series moved to CBS [with Philip Morris and Procter & Gamble as the "alternate" sponsors], the automobiles seen on the show were provided by more than one company {including Chrysler}.

[BachelorCat]

I was thinking about this episode today, with Hazel having bought that snazzy '59 bronze Sport Fury convertible. I had thought Ford was still sponsoring and furnishing the cars, and they wanted what they considered a Brand X car, something from the 1950's with fins. I do have vague memories of mixed brands, so now I guess I will be buying the fifth season DVDs for the car viewing.

Brief off topic-I know after Larry Keating died from Mr. Ed, and the less funny neighbors replaced him and his wife, Ford Motor Company supplied the cars. Studebaker was gone by 1966 anyhow.

Corrected 2018 to Sport Fury, for missy's pop pop

[Hazel Anyday]

Knowing how Hazel stopped using Fords in their last season, I was very surprised to see several different Fords show up in some of the later episodes of Season 5. I didn't note the name of the episode, but it was definitely a return of the Ford at least for an episode or 2 there.

[BachelorCat]

Originally Posted by Hazel Anyday

Knowing how Hazel stopped using Fords in their last season, I was very surprised to see several different Fords show up in some of the later episodes of Season 5. I didn't note the name of the episode, but it was definitely a return of the Ford at least for an episode or 2 there.

Now that I think of it, maybe Ford didn't have too much of a problem not being a sponsor anymore, but willingly supplied some of their new models, along with GM and Chrysler Corporation adding theirs as was noted.

[biffbronson]

Originally Posted by BachelorCat

Brief off topic-I know after Larry Keating died from Mr. Ed, and the less funny neighbors replaced him and his wife, Ford Motor Company supplied the cars. Studebaker was gone by 1966 anyhow.

I just wanted to mention that a Studebaker Avanti is seen in at least one of the later black & white episodes of Mr. Ed. That was pretty much the last new model they came out with. Very sporty.

If I'm not mistaken, production of Studebakers continued in Canada for a while after the U.S. factories closed in very late 1963. Of course, it would be unlikely that a Canadian manufacturer would go along with continuing Mr. Ed sponsorship.

At times in later years, the Avanti was revived -- built in the U.S. to boot, on a very limited scale, with the same general exterior design.

[BachelorCat]

By late 1963, the 1964 Studebakers were out, and continued for '65 and '66 in Canada, with Chevy engines. I remember seeing an Avanti in a car wash scene, I think it was a Keating/Skinner episode, but I could be wrong. Or, an Avanti was shown as well in the Ford era. Either way, they were all nice to see wherever they popped up.

[missy's pop pop]

At the risk of being nit-picky, that beautiful bronze '59 Plymouth convertible was a Sport Fury (the large aluminum trim molding and the round, red-white-and-blue circle around the "frog legs" logo is the giveaway). The plain Fury was offered only in four-door sedan, two-door hardtop and four-door hardtops in '59, and a Belvedere convertible is an extremely rare model since most Plymouth convertibles were Sport Furys that year.

Actually, Ford Motor Company could have cared less what Hazel drove in '65-'66, since they dropped sponsorship of "Hazel" after the '64-'65 season. In another CBS episode, Steve nearly gets into trouble after helping the victim of a traffic accident (the guy in question was driving a Roman Red 1961 Chevy Impala sport coupe!).

[BachelorCat]

Originally Posted by missy's pop pop

At the risk of being nit-picky, that beautiful bronze '59 Plymouth convertible was a Sport Fury (the large aluminum trim molding and the round, red-white-and-blue circle around the "frog legs" logo is the giveaway). The plain Fury was offered only in four-door sedan, two-door hardtop and four-door hardtops in '59, and a Belvedere convertible is an extremely rare model since most Plymouth convertibles were Sport Furys that year.

Actually, Ford Motor Company could have cared less what Hazel drove in '65-'66, since they dropped sponsorship of "Hazel" after the '64-'65 season. In another CBS episode, Steve nearly gets into trouble after helping the victim of a traffic accident (the guy in question was driving a Roman Red 1961 Chevy Impala sport coupe!).

No, it's not nit-picky, it's fascinating, especially to someone like me who's spent more than 50 years of being a car lover. I actually had noticed the Hazel Plymouth was a Sport Fury, but had simply I D'ed it as a Fury, so I was half right .

I remember Steve Baxter's '66 XL 500 pretty well. Now I've got to get the last season so I can veg out on that '60's car show eye candy!