Ken Johnson's first Hollywood venture was teaching and supervising the design department at the original Pasadena Playhouse (School). Besides conducting scenic paint, simple set design & construction principles, his primary responsibilities were designing and building scenery staged in the school's small upstairs balcony theater. Main stage "professional" productions hired alumni designers and television "name designers" for the scenery and costumes. In the fall of 1963, Hub Braden was designing Zasu Pitts revival of the play "Ladies of The Corridor" where he met Ken Johnson working backstage on his small stage production. Braden gave Ken a list of television designers to contact to gain entry into interviewing with television art departments. Ken Johnson, after his Pasadena Playhouse stint, became Edward Stephenson's assistant art director on the NBC TV Andy Williams Variety hour.
