Fran Allison
| Fran Allison | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Frances Helen Allison November 20, 1907 La Porte City, Iowa |
| Died | June 13, 1989 (aged 81) Sherman Oaks, California |
| Years active | 1937–1980s |
| Spouse(s) | Archie Levington (8 June 1940 – 25 April 1978) |
Frances Helen "Fran" Allison (November 20, 1907 – June 13, 1989) was an American television and radio comedian, personality and singer. She is best known for her starring role on the weekday NBC-TV puppet show Kukla, Fran and Ollie, which ran from 1947 to 1957, occasionally returning to the air until the mid-1980s. The trio also hosted The CBS Children's Film Festival, introducing international children's films, from 1967 to 1977.
Frances Helen was born to Jesse Louis (1871–1941) and Anna M "Nan" (née Halpin 1876–1957) Allison in La Porte City, Iowa, where her father had a grocery store.
She was a 1927 graduate of Coe College, where she was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta. She was a fourth-grade teacher for four years in Schleswig and Pocahontas, Iowa, before beginning her broadcasting career at WMT in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (Another source describes WMT as "Waterloo radio station WMT.")
In 1934, Allison was among "14 sectional winners in the Hollywood Hotel radio contest."
She moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1937, where she was hired as a staff singer and personality on NBC Radio. A July 26, 1937, newspaper item reported, "Fran Allison, singer of WMT, Waterloo, Ia., makes her network debut in the WJZ-NBC club matinee at 3."
Beginning in 1937, she was a regular performer on The Breakfast Club, a popular Chicago (and NBC) radio show, and was a fixture for 25 years as "Aunt Fanny," a gossipy small-town spinster. Her Aunt Fanny character also appeared on the ABC-TV series, Ozark Jubilee, during the late 1950s.
While in Chicago, she was also heard on Those Websters.
In 1947, the director of WBKB-TV in Chicago asked Burr Tillstrom if he could put together a puppet show for children, and he asked Allison, whom he had met during World War II war bond tour, to join the show. She was the only human to appear on the live series, filling the role of big sister and cheery voice of reason as the puppets, known as the Kuklapolitan Players, engaged each other.
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