Kukla, Fran, & Ollie

In 1947, my old sock puppet pal Ollie joined up with a hand puppet named Kukla, a human schoolteacher named Fran, and an ensemble cast of a half-dozen other puppets to form the Kuklapolitan Players. And that, as they say, was the start of something special. Though Kukla got top billing (why do they always give it to the looks rather than the talent), that didn't bother my buddy Ollie. Like most sock puppets, Ollie only cared where his next drink was going to come from. Luckily for him, the freestyling format of the show played right into his drunken meanderings, and with Kukla as the able straightman they hit the big time. Too sophisticated to be a real kids show, KFO's fans included Orson Welles, John Steinbeck, James Thurber, and Adlai Stevenson, and the show had sponsors like Ford and Life magazine. Who knew puppets could be so popular? I did! With historical examples like KFO, I don't know why the networks won't give a puppet the time of day.