Happy Ollie Days

I posted this last year for the first time, and loved the video so much that I thought it deserves repeating on this anniversary day and being made it a bonus posting this year.  I've posted a lot of Kukla, Fran & Ollie videos (and will post some more this holiday season), but this is unique for them, and offers an absolutely fascinating (and very funny) look into the early days of television.
 
A big thanks to fellow Kukla, Fran & Ollie afficionado Nell Minow for passing along this wonderful and offbeat, very early episode from the show than ran 73 years ago today, December 5, 1949.
 
Kukla, Fran & Ollie went on the air nationally earlier that year – it premiered locally a few months before that -- and TV was in such an very early stage that every time a new station joined the network the show saluted them.  But so many new stations had begun joining that the show hadn’t been able to salute them all.  So, they decided to do a full pageant in their honor.  It wasn’t just to salute the stations, though, but also fill them in about who all the Kuklapolitan characters are and how this television thing works, including the operation of cameras and the commercial possibilities (sponsored as it is by RCA Victor).  The whole thing is funny, charming, odd and a fascinating look at the early days of TV.  Especially as each of the characters sings a different song about television.   (Also, though intended for viewers at the time, it’s also a great way for people today to learn who each of the Kuklapolitans are.)
 
For all the character introductions, I was sorry that they didn’t have my fave, Cecil Bill on.  Though that’s sort of fitting, because he only appeared occasionally, which was much of his charm.  Also, a little Cecil Bill goes a long way.  That’s because Cecil Bill was sort of nuts and spoke in a “ta toi toi toi” language that only Fran Allison and the Kuklapolitans can understand.  However, you do hear Cecil Bill at the 10:20 mark, and they reference him later (at 22:00), acknowledging the challenge some people might have with him.
 
The songs are a joy.  Nell notes particularly loving Beulah Witch’s where she gives the phone number for stations to call if they have a problem with the signal.  It all builds to a joyous finale led by Ollie that includes a very funny self-referential joke about puppet shows and Fran being as goofy as I’ve seen her on the show.
 
What also bears repeating from earlier posts about Kukla, Fran & Ollie is that the show is almost-fully ad-libbed.  Burr Tillstrom, its creator (doing all the puppetry and voices), would go through a general run-down with Fran Allison of what was planned and the musical numbers (which of course had to be written…), but that was largely it.  (How ad-libbed was it?  And one point in a sequence with Beulah Witch, if you listen closely you’ll hear Tillstrom crack himself up before quickly catching himself.  And Fran plays right along without skipping a beat – including moments later when Beulah screws up saying “Indianapolis” and Fran again just plays along without skipping a beat)  And the show was 30 minutes long – and daily.  And also, this wasn’t a daytime show just for the kiddies, but ran at night.  (The time and schedule fluctuated over the many years they were on.)
 
I should note that Ms. Minow’s appreciation of Kukla, Frank & Ollie comes from a well-grounded foundation.  The show was done in Chicago, and as I mentioned the other day, her father Newton Minow (later the FCC Chairman under JFK) was Burr Tillstrom’s attorney.  Further, when she and her dad were visiting the show’s set one day, a newspaper reporter happened to be there doing a story on it.  Seeing a little girl around, the reporter asked Nell what she wanted to be when she grew up.  To which she answered, “A Kuklapolitan.”  That made it into the article.  And the happy news is that it’s my contention that Nell achieved her goal.