Kukla, Fran and Ollie - Babysitter Show - February 24, 1949 

Toledo then had only one station on the air in '49, I'm sure if they couldn't run this live it would've been kinescoped for later.

My mom probably had a similar experience.

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!

Thanks - 700 more to come!

It was such a happy time. I lived in my grandmother's brownstone. Emanent Domain spoiled our happiness. Kukla ❤ was so dear and still is.

It was the only way these were saved at all, even if temporary for some shows.

KFO was actually watched by more adults than children - here's what Burr Tillstrom said about the show: KFO is not a spectacular, nor is it a situation comedy. It is not a children’s show, nor is it a culture-conscious program for intellectual adults. It has a magic of its own which enchants not only the friends who watch it, but all of us who are responsible for its creation. It seems to attract all ages and all kinds of minds. We’ve never expected the largest audience in television, but we’ve had a consistently loyal and strong audience of moderate size. Kukla, Fran and Ollie have quiet voices and gentle ways. If we have any purpose on the American scene, it is to satirize in a a kindly way, our lives, the lives of people everywhere, to kid some of the little annoyances and foibles that often grow out of proportion in the world today. We can comment on what we see, and give our impressions of what we think and feel about contemporary happenings and people. We don’t try to educate, we don’t claim any overwhelming philosophical undertones. We only hope to entertain.

@@kuklafranandollieThank you for your answer, and also for making this material available. The quote from Burr Tillstrom is very familiar, I must have read it before elsewhere. The name "Balaban and Katz" took me back. I come from the Chicago area and some of the movie theaters there had been Balaban and Katz theaters and the names were still on the marquees, above the names of the theaters. I looked up Burr Tillstrom (again) and noticed that he'd gone to Senn High School, where my mother went to high school some years later. I also saw that they'd done episodes in 1970 for WTTW, which was (is?) the Public Broadcasting station in Chicago. I was 7 years old in 1970 and those must have been the ones I saw. My favorite children's shows around that time were "The Gentle Giant" and "The Storyteller", also on channel 11 (WTTW).

@@laurencefinston7036And here are the shows you saw! www.youtube.com/@kfocolor/videos

@@kuklafranandollieThanks. It's possible, but I think they looked younger. Besides, they were in black and white. Of course, on our set, everything was black and white.

Those color shows are the only shows that aired in the 70s. All the shows on this channel have not been seen since they first aired.

OMG! :o

​@@pinedelgado4743 Now you see how inflation works.

We have clips of them on the "Today" show, but not at the conventions. I'd love to release the "Today" clips, but we don't have the rights. So bizarre that they actually appeared at the conventions!

@@kuklafranandollie WHO would want "rights" to such an old show, if they have no plans to SHOW them?? And if they do, it's about time. How when and where could the public see them? Wouldn't it just be easiest and most sensible to let YOUR group have access to them?

@@kuklafranandollie Are any of the earliest (1947) shows recorded?

@@alankobrin762 This is the earliest surviving episode. None of the local shows were recorded, and the 1948 network shows before this probably were, but were not saved.

@@alankobrin762 NBC has the rights. Acquiring them would be prohibitively expensive.