Word: kukla
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Every weekday evening (7 p.m., NBC-TV), Tillstrom's Kukla, Fran & Ollie brilliantly proves the rightness of his conviction. But in finding success, 32-year-old Tillstrom has lost his own identity. Like Singer Fran Allison, the only other human regularly on his show, he has been swallowed up by the puppet world he made. The world revolves around Kukla, a pinch-faced, sadly wise, sentimental puppet, and Ollie, a one-toothed dragon whose preenings and posturings might have been conceived by Moliére. It is also peopled by such types as Fletcher Rabbit, whose "mother...
Narcotic Pull. The puppets, all powered by Tillstrom's nimble hands and agile, nine-voiced throat, make their way through rambling shows that somehow seem to crackle with spontaneity. Sketchily rehearsed, scriptless, punctuated with casual pauses, Kukla is likely to strike viewers at first as mildly irritating. But the show has an odd, narcotic pull: by the time Chicago joined the coaxial cable last January, Kukla had built up a Berle sized audience rating...
Last week, throughout the Midwest and East, moppets watched a series of five special Kukla shows, which ranged from tree-trimming to the opening of Christmas presents. But, large and devoted as is Kukla's children's audience, the show's delicately balanced humor has just as strong an appeal for adults. Before going on the air, the studio crew members talk to the puppets almost as they do with each other. Fran Allison refuses to go backstage because she feels ill at ease whenever she sees Kukla or Ollie hanging lifelessly upside-down from their hooks...
...Lucky Pup; Howdy Doody; Kukla, Fran...
Rabbit & Witch. U.S. television screens also swarm with puppets, and U.S. moppets also react enthusiastically. Probably the most popular U.S. marionette is NBC's Howdy Doody,* a drawling, cow-country character who cavorts through a half-hour show with M.C. Bob Smith. In Chicago, Burr Tillstrom's Kukla, Fran and Ollie is not only the best children's show but has been called the best show of any kind on Midwestern TV. Puppets Kukla and Ollie are, respectively, a small boy and a kindly, one-toothed dragon. Fran is blonde Actress Fran Allison, the only human...