Though the show had an easygoing charm, it was not aimed at (or away from) children: The cast might perform “The Mikado” or discuss the meaning of highbrow, lowbrow and middlebrow. ![]() With Ollie on one arm and Kukla on the other (or any combination of several supporting puppets), Tillstrom could play contrasting or complementary energies and body language, as if one hand really did not know what the other was doing. There is no puppeteer in television history more gifted or inventive than Burr Tillstrom, whose unscripted “Kukla, Fran and Ollie,” starring a puppet doll (Kukla) and a puppet dragon (Ollie) alongside human Fran Allison, was a landmark of early television, airing nationally from 1948 to 1957. They are celebratory, and they are subversive, and they have been brightening our screens from Kukla and Ollie to Baby Yoda. They may be as simple as a sock with button eyes or require multiple operators working radio-controlled motors. They help children process their feelings, allow adults to express their most awful thoughts. ![]() Puppets are powerful whenever a person and a puppet share the stage, it is the human who becomes the accessory, even (or perhaps especially) when the puppet is on the end of the human’s arm. ![]() They have been on television since the beginning: According to the World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts, more than 25 programs featuring puppets were nationally broadcast between 19, and many more were seen only locally. Though the Muppets (among assorted other Jim Henson productions) are unmatched as a long-lived, many-portaled franchise, puppets have always occupied a significant place in the life of the culture.
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