Many know Kukla, Fran and Ollie from "The CBS Children's Film Festival" but their first series (1947-57) was watched by more adults than children. It counted Orson Welles, John Steinbeck, Tallulah Bankhead and Adlai Stevenson among its fans, and had sponsors like Life magazine and Ford Motor Co., who surely weren't trying to reach children.
Burr Tillstrom said: "KFO is not a children’s show, nor is it a culture-conscious program for intellectual adults.It has a magic that enchants not only those who watch it, but all of us who create it. It attracts all ages and all kinds of minds. If we have any purpose, it is to satirize our lives in a kindly way, to kid some of the little annoyances and foibles that often grow out of proportion in the world today. We comment on what we see, and give our impressions of what we think and feel about contemporary happenings. We don’t try to educate, we don’t claim any philosophical undertones. We only hope to entertain."
The letter isn't just from "a reader"; it's from H Allen Smith, a popular humour writer of the time, and it's referring to an actual book he wrote in 1950 called People Named Smith. Here's a link to his Wikipedia page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Allen_Smith
Lovely episode. Nice to see the brief synopsis in the description, I like to read which songs that Fran and the Kuklapolitans would sing during the episode. Kukla is a very good delivery boy, he'd be far too good for Amazon.
6:35- At the time, Josh Logan was director and {initial} choreographer of "Wish You Were Here", a now-forgotten musical which lasted 598 performances [June 25, 1952- November 28, 1953].
The Dorsey record {recorded on January 3, 1950, arranged by Johnny Thompson} is from the RCA Victor "45" album set, "Tommy Dorsey Plays Cole Porter For Dancing" [WP-263], released that February.
11:26- Yes June Havoc did appear that night on the "ROBERT MONTGOMERY PRESENTS YOUR LUCKY STRIKE THEATRE" production of "The Egg and I" {co-starring Barry Nelson, with Vaughn Taylor & Ann Shoemaker as the "Kettles"}.
Beulah's back!! She's my favourite - along with Kukla and Ollie of course. And Madame O and Colonel Crackle. And Dolores. And Mercedes. And Fletcher. And Cecil Bill. Not forgetting Fran, of course.
Adorable, just adorable. So great! I hope more people are listening as you add shows over the coming year. To Fran, these were real personalities, and she brings that sense to each show in which she appears. Burr Tillstrom was a genious.
So grateful for these. There are three generations in my house who watch one episode a night. My 94 YO Grandmother who originally watched these in the 50’s and adores Ollie. My Parents (my mom like her mom also huge Ollie fan) My young millennial self (Beulah and Madame Oglepuss all the way) And my Gen Z siblings who love Kukla for his kindness but also for the strength of self that Kukla exudes.
That's great - exactly the reason we're releasing all of them. Please subscribe and join us every Su, Mo, and Th at 7pm ET to chat while we watch the premiere of an episode not seen in over 70 years!
The image and sound transfer is top notch, as per usual, even though in my eyes Burr looks a little bit like Michael J Nelson. Another MST3K reference from the British KFOficianado!
Nice episode. Kukla and Ollie gave it their all performing Mew York, New York. They could run rings round Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and... er... the other one...
