Kukla, Fran and Ollie

Kukla, Fran and Ollie
Left to right: Kukla, Ollie and Fran
Created by	Burr Tillstrom
Starring	Burr Tillstrom Fran Allison
Theme music composer	Jack Fascinato Burr Tillstrom
Opening theme	"Here We Are"
Composer(s)	Jack Fascinato
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
Production
Running time	30 minutes (1947-51; 1952-54) 15 minutes (1951-52; 1954-57)
Release
Original network	NBC (1947–1954) ABC (1954–1957)
Original release	13 October 1947 – 1 May 1957

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 1947 to 1957.

Burr Tillstrom was the creator and only puppeteer on the show, which premiered as the hour-long Junior Jamboree locally on WBKB in Chicago, Illinois, on October 13, 1947. The program was renamed Kukla, Fran and Ollie (KFO) and transferred to WNBQ (the predecessor of Chicago's WMAQ-TV) on November 29, 1948. The first NBC network broadcast of the show took place on January 12, 1949. It aired from 6–6:30 p.m. Central Time, Monday through Friday from Chicago.

"Fran" was Fran Allison, a radio comedian and singer who was usually the only human to appear on screen, filling the role of big sister and cheery voice of reason as the puppets engaged each other concerning their foibles. The design style of puppets was in the style of Neapolitan puppet shows, or Punch and Judy without the slapstick, but their personalities were less caricatured. The puppet cast included "Kukla", the earnest leader of the troupe; "Ollie", or " Oliver J. Dragon", a roguish one-toothed dragon (who would slam his flat chin on the stage in frustration or roll on his back to be endearing); Madame Oglepuss, a retired opera diva; Beulah Witch, a liberated witch; Fletcher Rabbit, the troupe's mailman and resident fussbudget; Cecil Bill, the troupe's union stagehand who spoke in "tooie talk"; Colonel Crackie, a Southern gentleman; Dolores Dragon, Ollie's younger cousin, and a number of others.

The series' music was written and performed by Jack Fascinato, who first accompanied the troupe on solo piano, and later conducted the show's small orchestra.

Like Jack Benny's radio program, KFO's humor relied on building a relationship between its characters and the audience over time. The humor was quite tame by the standards of later comedy. There were few laugh-out-loud jokes per show—KFO relied on the humor of familiarity, much like The Honeymooners.