The Friday Flashback: Kukla Fran And Ollie Revisited

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 12, 2010 10:05PM

As one whose mother whose mother used the television as much for babysitting as for entertainment, reruns of "Kukla, Fran and Ollie" were indelibly burned into memory. Even then, adults would watch the show with their children, which was common. The early years of Burr Tillstrom's puppet show was produced from 1947-1957 right here in Chicago, first at WBKB and later at WNBQ (the predecessor to WMAQ), and had more adults watching the program than children.

The news that those first years have now been released on DVD gets us curious for what the big deal was about in 1947, and the perfect gift for Mom. Thank God she doesn't read the site.