Burr Tillstrom
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Franklin Burr Tillstrom (October 13, 1917 in Chicago, Illinois - December 6, 1985 in Palm Springs, California) was a puppeteer and the creator of "Kukla, Fran and Ollie."
Tillstrom was born in Chicago to Bert and Alice Burr Tillstrom and attended the University of Chicago. He turned his attention to puppetry in the early 1930s and created Kukla in 1936. Kukla remained nameless until the Russian ballerina Tamara Toumanova referred to him as kukla, the Russian term for doll.
Other famous puppets from the group included Oliver J. Dragon, Beulah Witch, and Fletcher Rabbit.
In 1939, he was invited to present his "Kuklapolitan Players" at the New York World's Fair. The following year, RCA sent him to Bermuda to perform on the first ship-to-shore broadcast.
From 1947 through 1957, Tillstrom was involved with the "Kukla, Fran and Ollie" show which starred his puppets and Fran Allison. It is widely regarded as being the first children's show to appeal to both children and adults, and counted Orson Welles, John Steinbeck, Tallulah Bankhead, Adlai Stevenson and James Thurber among its many adult fans. With only a few exceptions, all of the shows were improvised.
Tillstrom continued to perform with his "Kuklapolitan Players" both live and on television until his death in 1985.
