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January 12, 1949…’Kukla Fran And Ollie’ Debuts On NBC Network

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Eyes Of A Generation.com

January 12, 1949…’Kukla Fran And Ollie’ Debuts On NBC Network

Before we get to the history, a comment on this rare kinescope.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFo–Kmctsc&ab_channel=Kukla%2CFranandOllie

In the clip, we see Dave Garroway visiting with KFO just before their trip to RCA’s Wardman Park Hotel experimental color studio, where on October 10, 1949 they did a special closed circuit colorcast for the FCC. Later that same day, they did the regularly schedulded black and white network show from NBC’s WRC studios.

KFO actually started on Chicago’s WBKB around 1948, but moved to NBC owned WNBQ later in 48 and was a huge Chicagoland hit. The NBC network heard about it and decided to air it afternoons nation wide and the first network broadcast, live from Chicago, was on this day in 1949.

By the way, the laughter in the clip is form the crew and the seven member band which was just to the left of the set and hidden by the RCA TK30. FYI, when the show was at WBKB, they were the ones that began shooting it with the Zoomar Field Lens…it looked so good, NBC continued with it. Oh…one more thing…at the time, Garroway was hosing ‘Garroway At Large’ which was a popular Chicago show. January 14, 1952, he began hosting ‘Today’ when it debuted on NBC from New York. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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8 responses to “January 12, 1949…’Kukla Fran And Ollie’ Debuts On NBC Network”

  1. Richard Myers

    When my father was going to medical school in Chicago, one of the puppeteers lived down the hall from us .

  2. James Snyder

    WRC-TV was WNBW in 1949 and for most of the time it was at the Wardman Park.

  3. John Robert Hampson III

    I first saw,KF&O on our 6 inch Motorola TV it was was broadcast on Channel 4.WBKB in 1946. As a gift to me my Mother took me down to their studio at 190 North State. While the program was being broadcast we sat in a viewing room to the left of a small studio where KF&O was produced. In the viewing room we watched the show on a 24 (plus) inch Projection receiver. After the show we were let into the studio where I saw my first TV Camera. It was an Iconascope. That’s where I first fell in love. 69 years later I still love TV !

  4. Val Ginter

    “How Does Your Garden Grow?” with John Ott. Some interesting stories about its live Sunday production. In later years, he was a regular guest on Carson.

  5. Dave Dillman

    I’ve said before, but I’ll say again: As good as the Kuklapolitians were on the air, they were killers with the crew prior to air. Burr made it lots of fun to work on his projects, despite any puppetier’s need to control the world.

  6. Dave Dillman

    Jame Patterson is remembering the work of John Ott, who did a program featuring time lapse of flower growing… ideal for selling color TV sets.

  7. James M Patterson

    Growing up in suburban Chicago, I always watched KFO! I seem to remember it followed by (or preceeded by) a program that featured time lapse film of flowers blooming, set to music.

  8. Maureen Carney

    Premiere ad

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