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Difino
| • | Kukla, Fran and Ollie was an early television show using puppets, originally created for children but soon watched by more adults than children. Like many early shows, it did not have a script and was entirely ad-libbed.
Burr Tillstrom was the creator and only puppeteer on the show, which premiered as "Junior Jamboree" locally on WBKB in Chicago on October 13, 1947. Fran was Fran Allison, a radio comedienne and singer who was usually the only human to appear onscreen, fills the role of big sister and a cheery voice of reason as the puppets engage each other about their foibles.
The design style of of puppets was in the style of Neapolitan puppet shows, or Punch and Judy without the slapstick, but their personalities were less caricatured. The puppet cast included Kukla, the earnest leader of the troupe (who looked like a clown but wasn't one); Ollie, a roguish one-toothed dragon; Madame Ooglepuss, a retired opera diva; Buelah Witch, a liberated witch; Fletcher Rabbit, the troupe's mailman and resident fussbudget; Cecil Bill, the troupe's union stagehand who spoke in "tooie talk;" Colonel Crackie, a Southern gentleman; Doloras, Ollie's cousin, and a number of others.
Like Jack Benny's radio program, KFO's humor relied on building a relationship between its characters and the audience over time. The humor was quite tame by the standards of later comedy. There were few laugh-out-loud jokes per show—KFO relied on the humor of familiarity, much like The Honeymooners.
KFO evoked not only loyalty but also a deep belief in its characters from regular viewers. Fans became so attached to the show that when it was cut back to 15 minutes, letters of outrage poured in to NBC and The New York Times. Bob & Ray, who had the unfortunate job of rounding-out the half-hour, had considerable vitriol heaped on them by angry KFO viewers.
After the original series ended in 1957, Tillstrom continued to search for a place for the Kuklapolitans, doing a daily 5-minute show for NBC, and even appearing on Broadway. In 1967, KFO began hosting The CBS Children's Film Festival. Many people know the troupe due to t
Source: [wikipedia: kukla, fran and ollie]
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