Kukla, Fran & Ollie
Burr Tilstrom was the creator and provider of voices, and Fran
Allison was the hostess and only visible human on Kukla, Fran
and Ollie. The show began on WBKB in Chicago in 1947 and in
1948 moved to a nightly half-hour on NBC.
The Kuklapolitan Players were a group of hand-puppets whose
personalities - and sophisticated levels of wit and whimsy - were
more suited to adult viewers, who, in fact, watched the program in
great numbers.
The two main characters were Kukla, a bald puppet with a big
nose and a high voice,
and Oliver J Dragon - an amiable creature with only one tooth.
They resembled, respectively, the docile Pogo
and blustery Albert of the Pogo comic strip that made its national
debut in US newspapers in 1949.
Together, the three sang songs and enjoyed improvised
conversations for nearly 15 years.
Other puppets included Fletcher Rabbit, Colonel Crackie,
Delores Dragon, Beulah Witch, Cecil Bill, Mercedes Rabbit and
Madam Ooglepuss.
Fantasy, whimsy, satire and parody abounded, with
a lot of in-jokes and offstage laughter by crew members.
In 1952, Kukla, Fran and Ollie shared their nightly
half-hour with another set of players whose intellectual brand of
zaniness provided one of television's brightest moments. Bob and
Ray made their television debut after serving as a comedy team on
Boston radio.
In 1967 the trio began hosting the long-running, critically
acclaimed CBS Children’s Film Festival. Simultaneously,
from 1969 to 1971, Kukla, Fran and Ollie was revived for
PBS.
Hopes for another revival existed all the way up until 1985,
when puppeteer Burr Tillstrom died, and the final curtain closed
on the Kuklapolitan Players.
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