Evening star., 1950-09-17
TeIevision-Rodio
By Wallace {. CIoyton

~ NSbSSs
With "Kukla, Fran and Ollie
back with further adventures OF
all the wonderful Kuklapolitans
it would seem appropriate to pass
along a little background on the
show which attracts as many
adults as children to the TV
screen around Z o'clock of a week
day evening.
The man behind the show, of
course, is Burr Tillstrom, pup
PETER who made Kukla for a
friend several years ago. Came
time to mail the little puppet,
and Tillstrom found he just
couldn't part with the wistful lit
tie figure. This was surely the
smartest thing he ever did.
To keep Kukla company, Till
strom created Ollie the dragon,
and Nine. Ophelia Ooglepuss, the
faded opera star. Soon the three
Or four, If you want to count
Tillstrom-were doing shows at
the New York Worlds Fair.
After the war, and a rapid de-
velopment of television which
caught the networks with very lit
tie in the way of entertainment
lined up for the new medium, TILL
strom was asked to do a show fol-
new Chicago TV station. That
was about the time-1947. re-
member? - when almost every
other TV program was puppet
show.
But Tillstrom and Executive
Producer Beulah Zachary, were
trying to build a puppet show
which would be a permanent TV
attraction. not something just tt
fill in time until top stars of radio
became convinced video was here
to stay. and sponsors could be
convinced it was worth paying the
costs of said top stars.
Their success, Of course, can best
be measured by their high ratings
In audience surveys.
Fran. who has been with the
show from the outset. is Fran
Allison. who you may have heard
in years past on such Chicago
originated radio shows as the
Breakfast Club.
The scattered laughter you hear
on the shows comes from the
technical crews. who are as enter
tanned as any one else by the un-
rehearsed remarks made by the
Kuklapolitans.
The latest attempt by a self
appointed censor to blacklist a
radio star because of purported
Red sympathies has met with
little success to date.
This time. the criticism was
leveled at Gypsy Rose Lee, some
time strip tease artist and detec-
tive story author. Monday, the
chairman of the Illinois American
Legion's Anti-Subserversive Com
mittee wired officials of the Amer
ican Broadcasting Co. that Miss
Lee, about to start a new radio
show, was a "close associate of
traitors of our country" and
added, What are you going to do
about it?"
In effect. ABC replied, Moth
ing-without proof" Officials
said Miss Lee signed sworn
affidavit denying any Red sympa-
thies. They invited the Legion
official to submit proof of his
charges. At this writing, he had
not been heard from.
The council of the AFD Actors
Equity Association, meanwhile,
has denounced irresponsible
smearing of actors regulations to
an extent which is becoming
alarmingly dangerous"
The witch hunt of the air waves
started a couple of weeks ago,
when a big food corporation
bowed to a handful of kilograms
and letters and ordered actress
Jean Muir off the "Aldrich Fam
ily' television show. The critics
of both Miss Muir and Miss Lee
quoted as their authority pri-
vate publication, Red Channels
which lists $50 stars as being
Communist sympathizers.
Some praise for Charlie and
Gene Jones, 25-year-old twins
who left local papers to become
TV photographers for the Ma
tional Broadcasting Co. in Korea,
comes from the network.
Pointing out that TV photog-
raphers have to get very close to
their subjects lest the resulting
picture will look like nothing more
than a wide-angle shot of space
on the video screen, NBC says the
Jones boys have been getting