Franklin Burr Tillstrom (October 13, 1917 – December 6, 1985) was a puppeteer and the creator of ''

Kukla, Fran and Ollie ''Kukla, Fran and Ollie'' is an early American television show using puppets. It was created for children, but soon watched by more adults than children. It did not have a script and was entirely ad-libbed. It was broadcast from Chicago between ...

''.

Early life

Tillstrom was born in

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, to Bert and Alice Burr Tillstrom. He attended

Senn High School Senn High School is a public four-year high school located in the Edgewater neighborhood on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Senn is operated by the Chicago Public Schools system and was opened on 3 February 1913. The school ...

in Chicago and later the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

. While still a freshman, he accepted a job offer from the

WPA WPA may refer to: Computing *Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard *Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing * Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada * Windows Performance An ...

-Chicago Parks District Theatre to set up a marionette theater.

Career

Tillstrom turned his attention to puppetry in the early 1930s and created Kukla in 1936. Kukla remained nameless until the Russian ballerina

Tamara Toumanova Tamara Toumanova ( ka, თამარა თუმანოვა; 2 March 1919 – 29 May 1996) was a Georgian-American prima ballerina and actress. A child of exiles in Paris after the Russian Revolution of 1917, she made her debut at the ag ...

referred to him as ''kukla'', the Russian word for "doll". Other famous puppets from Tillstrom's group included Ollie (Oliver J. Dragon), Beulah Witch, Goultar, Cecil Bill, and Fletcher Rabbit. In 1939, Tillstrom was invited to present his Kuklapolitan Players at the New York World's Fair. The following year,

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

sent him to

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to perform on the first ship-to-shore broadcast. From 1947 to 1957, Tillstrom was involved with the ''

'' show, which starred his puppets and

Fran Allison Frances Helen Allison (November 20, 1907June 13, 1989) was an American television and radio comedienne, personality, and singer. She is best known for her starring role on the weekday NBC-TV puppet show '' Kukla, Fran and Ollie'', which ran fro ...

. It is widely regarded as being the first children's show to appeal to both children and adults, and counted

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

, John Steinbeck,

Tallulah Bankhead Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 – December 12, 1968) was an American actress. Primarily an actress of the stage, Bankhead also appeared in several prominent films including an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's '' L ...

, Adlai Stevenson, and

James Thurber James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist and playwright. He was best known for his cartoons and short stories, published mainly in ''The New Yorker'' and collected ...

among its many adult fans. With only a few exceptions, all of the shows were improvised. Burr Tillstrom Fran Allison Kukla Ollie 1968

After the original series ended in 1957, Tillstrom continued to work with the Kuklapolitans. Early in 1958, Tillstrom appeared with the puppets on

Polly Bergen Polly Bergen (born Nellie Paulina Burgin; July 14, 1930 – September 20, 2014) was an American actress, singer, television host, writer and entrepreneur. She won an Emmy Award in 1958 for her performance as Helen Morgan in '' The Helen ...

's short-lived

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp ...

, ''The Polly Bergen Show''. Tillstrom, Kukla and Ollie reunited with Fran Allison to host the ''

CBS Children's Film Festival ''CBS Children's Film Festival'' (also known as ''CBS Children's Hour'') is a 1967-1984 television series of live action films from several countries that were made for children (several of them dubbed into English). Originally a sporadic series ...

'' from 1967 to 1977. In 1970, ''Kukla, Fran and Ollie'' appeared on

National Educational Television National Educational Television (NET) was an American educational broadcast television network owned by the Ford Foundation and later co-owned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It operated from May 16, 1954 to October 4, 1970, and ...

, taped at WTTW in Chicago, for two seasons. In 1975, ''Kukla, Fran and Ollie'' began another run on television with 13 new episodes. In 1977, The ''Kukla and Ollie Retrospective Stage Show'' tours began, a creation of the Artist-in-Residence program at

Hope College Hope College is a private Christian liberal arts college in Holland, Michigan. It was originally opened in 1851 as the Pioneer School by Dutch immigrants four years after the community was first settled. The first freshman college class matricu ...

. In 1978, Kukla, Burr and Ollie joined the Broadway cast of ''

Side by Side by Sondheim ''Side by Side by Sondheim'' is a musical revue featuring the songs of Broadway and film composer Stephen Sondheim. Its title is derived from the song "Side by Side by Side" from '' Company''. History The musical had its origins when David ...

'', a revue of Stephen Sondheim songs. Tillstrom continued to perform with his Kuklapolitan Players until his death at age 68 in Palm Springs, California on December 6, 1985. He was found sitting in a chair near his swimming pool and appeared to have died from natural causes. He was buried at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago.

Honors

On March 23, 1986, Burr Tillstrom was inducted into the

Television Academy Hall of Fame The Television Academy Hall of Fame honors individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to U.S. television. The hall of fame was founded by former Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) president John H. Mitchell (1921–1988). In ...

for his creativity and innovation in the medium. The Saugatuck Douglas Art Club in

Saugatuck, Michigan Saugatuck is a city in Allegan County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 865 at the 2020 census. The city is within Saugatuck Township, but is administratively autonomous. Originally a lumber town and port, Saugatuck, along wi ...

(the location of Tillstrom's longtime summer home) dedicated a memorial to Tillstrom in 1988. The Burr Tillstrom Collection and Archives are maintained at the

Chicago History Museum Chicago History Museum is the museum of the Chicago Historical Society (CHS). The CHS was founded in 1856 to study and interpret Chicago's history. The museum has been located in Lincoln Park since the 1930s at 1601 North Clark Street at the int ...

. In 2013 Tillstrom was inducted into the

Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame The Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame (formerly Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame) is an institution founded in 1991 to honor persons and entities who have made significant contributions to the quality of life or well-being of the LGBT community in Chic ...

References

External links

A Memoir of Burr Tillstrom

The Kuklapolitan Website and DVDs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tillstrom, Burr 1917 births 1985 deaths American people of Swedish descent American puppeteers Burials at Rosehill Cemetery Peabody Award winners People from Chicago LGBT people from Illinois People from Saugatuck, Michigan 20th-century LGBT people