Kukla, Fran, and Ollie 60th Anniversary

On Saturday mornings as a teenager I recall some of the humor that was produced by Kukla, Fran, and Ollie.  If memory serves me right the humor from these three were interspersed around films that highlighted young people from different places around the globe.  And if I am not mistaken the show aired at noon central time.  (Does this ring a bell with anyone else my age?  How can I recall this stuff and forget my SS number at times?)  Anyway………

Today I read that the puppet show is celebrating their 60th anniversary. 

The beloved puppet show “Kukla, Fran and Ollie,” the creation of puppeteer Burr Tillstrom, had millions of ardent fans, among them Orson Welles, John Steinbeck and James Thurber. The show was also a major influence on future generations of puppeteers, such as Jim Henson. In fact, the Muppets’ creator publicly said, “We owe everything to Burr Tillstrom and ‘Kukla, Fran and Ollie.’ “

The classic series is celebrating its 60th anniversary with the release this month on DVD of five episodes of the show that aired on PBS and in syndication from 1969 to ’71 and the unveiling of a new stamp commemorating the series, which was among the first to appeal to both children and adults.

Tillstrom, says Martin Tahse, the producer of some of these color episodes, liked cerebral comedy, “but from the very beginning, he said let’s do this for the parents and the kids.

“It was a two-tier comedy for the parents and the kids, and they would watch it together.”

“Kukla, Fran and Ollie” looks like a vintage Punch and Judy show with a small stage where the puppets would perform and interact with Fran, played by Fran Allison, the only “human” in the cast.

The series began nationally Jan. 12, 1949, on NBC. It first appeared in Chicago as “Junior Jamboree” in 1947 — where it aired live five days a week at 7 p.m.

Tillstrom manipulated all 12 puppets collectively known as the Kuklapolitans and was the talking and singing voice for his dozen creatures including Kukla, the guiding spirit and worrywart of the Kuklapolitans; Oliver Jethro Dragon III, aka. Ollie, the single-toothed dragon from Vermont who adores Fran; Madame Ophelia Ooglepuss, the singing diva; and Beulah Witch, who studied electronics. (Playwright Edward Albee based the character of Grandma in his play “The American Dream” on Beulah.) Fran would stand next to the stage and interact and sing with the Kuklapolitans.

Amazingly, it was all improvised; Tillstrom and Allison never used a script. “Burr was the manipulator of all of those 12 characters, so he had a puppet on each hand, so he couldn’t hold a script,” says Tahse.

The reason the show was humorous to adults as well as kids is that the humor is authentic, Tahse adds. “When Fran starts to laugh, it’s because she’s hearing the line for the first time. They had a wonderful humorous relationship between the two of them.”