I sometimes wonder why I will watch a foreign film, while other people regard them as kryptonite. The answer I come up with is that when I was a kid, there was a "children's movie playhouse" or something like that on Saturday afternoons which showed foreign language films. Kukla, Fran and Ollie were the hosts. I remember one film from Japan about a chubby kid who was friends with a skinny kid.
Anyway, I never grew up thinking subtitles were evil. No doubt it was the fault of the sinister Kukla (Russian for puppet no less.)
Anyone else remember this show?
Kukla, Fran and Ollie
[youtube][/youtube]
Mike this was always my favorite show as a child. The gentle humor has never been topped! thanks for the memory prod.
Mike this was always my favorite show as a child. The gentle humor has never been topped! thanks for the memory prod.
"Life is not the way it's supposed to be.. It's the way it is..
The way we cope with it, is what makes the difference." ~ Virginia Satir
""Most people pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it." ~ Soren Kierkegaard
The way we cope with it, is what makes the difference." ~ Virginia Satir
""Most people pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it." ~ Soren Kierkegaard
I remember Kukla, Fran and Ollie very well. They were on every day in the late afternoon, but I don't recall them showing foreign films at all, but be of mind I'm trying to recall 50-some years ago.
Anne
Anne
Anne
***********************************************************************
* * * * * * * * What is past is prologue. * * * * * * * *
]***********************************************************************
***********************************************************************
* * * * * * * * What is past is prologue. * * * * * * * *
]***********************************************************************
Ah, but what about Beulah the Witch? She was so exotically ugly, and so very funny. She helped me get over my fear of witches, specifically the evil witch in Snow White.
I remember (this was the 50's, and everyone in the family watched ANYTHING on TV) my mom and dad cracking up over some of her comments. It sailed over my head, but if mom & dad laughed at witches, they must be ok..
I remember (this was the 50's, and everyone in the family watched ANYTHING on TV) my mom and dad cracking up over some of her comments. It sailed over my head, but if mom & dad laughed at witches, they must be ok..
"Life is not the way it's supposed to be.. It's the way it is..
The way we cope with it, is what makes the difference." ~ Virginia Satir
""Most people pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it." ~ Soren Kierkegaard
The way we cope with it, is what makes the difference." ~ Virginia Satir
""Most people pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it." ~ Soren Kierkegaard
Mike BSG:
Where were you as a kid? You mentioned K, F, & O as being on TV on Saturday afternoon, but I know it was on every day. Could you have been receiving an alternate show from somewhere else? Now, I'm not talking about little green men from Mars, I mean maybe in Alaska where you might have received a show from Russia (which you can see from Alaska), or New Orleans where you might have received a small station broadcasting from the heart of the French Quarter - as someone said, this was the 50's. And yes, Beulah the Witch was a kick!
Anne
Where were you as a kid? You mentioned K, F, & O as being on TV on Saturday afternoon, but I know it was on every day. Could you have been receiving an alternate show from somewhere else? Now, I'm not talking about little green men from Mars, I mean maybe in Alaska where you might have received a show from Russia (which you can see from Alaska), or New Orleans where you might have received a small station broadcasting from the heart of the French Quarter - as someone said, this was the 50's. And yes, Beulah the Witch was a kick!
Anne
Anne
***********************************************************************
* * * * * * * * What is past is prologue. * * * * * * * *
]***********************************************************************
***********************************************************************
* * * * * * * * What is past is prologue. * * * * * * * *
]***********************************************************************
-
jdb1
I was an avid KF&O watcher too, but I don't remember any movies, or for that matter a Saturday show. Guess it wasn't shown in New York (did the show come from Chicago?) I think we got a 15-minute, Monday through Friday version. I do remember the NBC chimes before the start of the show, and then that jaunty theme song.
I still use the epithet "Beulah Witch" where appropriate. I always suspected that Fred Rogers' (Mr. Rogers, that is) puppet character Lady Elaine Fairchilde (who looked like a witch, but in a red sweater, and was rather witchy in temperament, too) was a spin-off of a sort.
I'm remembering another character -- Fletcher Rabbit. Was that from KF&O as well? In those days there were so many puppets on TV, and I was so young then; I get confused.
I still use the epithet "Beulah Witch" where appropriate. I always suspected that Fred Rogers' (Mr. Rogers, that is) puppet character Lady Elaine Fairchilde (who looked like a witch, but in a red sweater, and was rather witchy in temperament, too) was a spin-off of a sort.
I'm remembering another character -- Fletcher Rabbit. Was that from KF&O as well? In those days there were so many puppets on TV, and I was so young then; I get confused.
-
TalkieTime
- Posts: 68
- Joined: August 1st, 2007, 12:10 pm
- Location: Pacific Northwest
I remember the family watching K, F & O when I was a child.
On Friday evenings we would go out to dinner at Vic & Ockey Harris' Three Star Restaurant in Portland Oregon. After a while my parents made an agreement with the restaurant staff that I may sit at the seldom used lunch counter at the front of the restaurant while they sat in the dining room. The lunch counter had a TV so I got to watch K, F & O. As I watched K, F & O I usually had a grilled cheese sandwich with pickles, some potato chips and a few black olives. My parents had grown-up food.
According to The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network And Cable TV Shows 1946-Present (Twentieth Anniversary Edition, 1999), K, F & O ran from:
Nov 1948-Nov 1951, NBC Mon-Fri 7:00-7:30 p.m.
Nov 1951-Jun 1952, NBC Mon-Fri 7:00-7:15 p.m.
Sep 1954-Aug 1957, ABC Mon-Fri 7:00-7:15 p.m.
On Friday evenings we would go out to dinner at Vic & Ockey Harris' Three Star Restaurant in Portland Oregon. After a while my parents made an agreement with the restaurant staff that I may sit at the seldom used lunch counter at the front of the restaurant while they sat in the dining room. The lunch counter had a TV so I got to watch K, F & O. As I watched K, F & O I usually had a grilled cheese sandwich with pickles, some potato chips and a few black olives. My parents had grown-up food.
According to The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network And Cable TV Shows 1946-Present (Twentieth Anniversary Edition, 1999), K, F & O ran from:
Nov 1948-Nov 1951, NBC Mon-Fri 7:00-7:30 p.m.
Nov 1951-Jun 1952, NBC Mon-Fri 7:00-7:15 p.m.
Sep 1954-Aug 1957, ABC Mon-Fri 7:00-7:15 p.m.
Last edited by TalkieTime on December 11th, 2008, 12:07 pm, edited 3 times in total.
"A rose by any other name will smell as sweet. But it does not follow that whatever we choose to call a rose will possess the rose's fragrance." --Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield (1917)
-
jdb1
Thanks for the info, TT. That is really interesting to me, because I didn't think my family owned a TV until about 1953 or 54, and my memory is of the show as it appeared on NBC. I distinctly remember going to the VIM appliance store on 13th Avenue with my father to pick one out. I guess I was even younger than I thought I was at that time.
(By the way, he bought a Motorola "table model," a sort of portable, but in those days of vacuum tubes, it wasn't all that portable. It probaly weighed much more than 50 pounds, and since we didn't have a car at that time, he carried it all the way home, about 4 or 5 long blocks. He must have really wanted a TV.)
(By the way, he bought a Motorola "table model," a sort of portable, but in those days of vacuum tubes, it wasn't all that portable. It probaly weighed much more than 50 pounds, and since we didn't have a car at that time, he carried it all the way home, about 4 or 5 long blocks. He must have really wanted a TV.)
I'm sure the OP was referring to the CBS CHILDREN'S FILM FESTIVAL which ran in the early 1970's on CBS and was hosted by Kukla, Fran, and Ollie. That's the first I saw of them, too!! From what I understand, this was the first time Fran Allison and Burr Tillstrom were reunited in several years. They would introduce the films and have a few little bits of comedy or talk after returning from a commercial before the film would restart.
I've never seen vintage KF&O but I'm sure it was wonderful.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CBS Children's Film Festival was a television series of live action films from several countries that were made for children (several of them dubbed into English). Originally a sporadic series airing on Saturday mornings, Sunday afternoons, or weekday afternoons during the summer from 1967, it became a regularly scheduled program in 1971 on the CBS Saturday morning lineup, running one hour with some films apparently edited down to fit the time slot. The program was hosted by 1950s television act Kukla, Fran and Ollie, aka puppeteer Burr Tillstrom and actress Fran Allison.
Kukla, Fran and Ollie were dropped from the series in 1977 and the program was renamed CBS Saturday Film Festival. CBS cancelled the program in 1984 after several years of irregular broadcasts.
Perhaps the most famous "episode" of the series was the 1960 British film Hand in Hand, the story of a deep friendship between two elementary school students, one a Roman Catholic boy and the other a Jewish girl.
In addition to many American and British films, the series also featured motion pictures from Russia, France, Bulgaria, Japan, Sweden, Italy, China, Australia, South Africa, and Czechoslovakia as well as several other countries.
Other films that aired during the series run include the Oscar-winning French film The Red Balloon, Skinny and Fatty from Japan, and Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World from Great Britain.
I've never seen vintage KF&O but I'm sure it was wonderful.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CBS Children's Film Festival was a television series of live action films from several countries that were made for children (several of them dubbed into English). Originally a sporadic series airing on Saturday mornings, Sunday afternoons, or weekday afternoons during the summer from 1967, it became a regularly scheduled program in 1971 on the CBS Saturday morning lineup, running one hour with some films apparently edited down to fit the time slot. The program was hosted by 1950s television act Kukla, Fran and Ollie, aka puppeteer Burr Tillstrom and actress Fran Allison.
Kukla, Fran and Ollie were dropped from the series in 1977 and the program was renamed CBS Saturday Film Festival. CBS cancelled the program in 1984 after several years of irregular broadcasts.
Perhaps the most famous "episode" of the series was the 1960 British film Hand in Hand, the story of a deep friendship between two elementary school students, one a Roman Catholic boy and the other a Jewish girl.
In addition to many American and British films, the series also featured motion pictures from Russia, France, Bulgaria, Japan, Sweden, Italy, China, Australia, South Africa, and Czechoslovakia as well as several other countries.
Other films that aired during the series run include the Oscar-winning French film The Red Balloon, Skinny and Fatty from Japan, and Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World from Great Britain.
-
jdb1