What I watched: An episode of the early children’s show Kukla, Fran and Ollie. The series starred the titular Fran Allison, with all other roles being played by series creator and puppeteer Burr Tillstrom. “Fran, Girl Photographer” aired on Friday, September 15, 1950 at 7:00 PM on NBC. Video is available on the official KFO YouTube channel.
What happened: The episode opens with Kukla answering the phone in his own distinctly dramatic fashion. He hears that a photographer’s coming to take glamour shots of the /kuklapolitans. Ollie overhears and yells at Fran to get ready, but she’s still absent. When Fran shows up, she brings the camera with her, a rather elaborate (perhaps old-fashioned) camera with her..
Fran announces herself as “girl photographer”, to the titters of Kukla and Ollie. She explains the choice as a cost-cutting measure, asserting that she can do as good a job as any professional. But she falters when it comes to the technical elements of setting up the camera, which has an accordion-type fold that plays actual music when she stretches it.
Kukla is first up to get his picture taken, but first Fran throws a sheet over herself to protect from the flash. Then she forgets to put in the plate to capture the image. Fletcher Rabbit pops up, but says he’s not feeling good enough to get his picture taken. Fran cheers him up by singing a song about keeeping the twinkle in your eye. It’s a bit of a digression, but it’s a nice song, and the dancing between Kukla and Fletcher is great.
Fletcher gets spooked by Fran showing him the camera’s light meter. Cecil Bill briefly pops up, then runs away. Even Kukla is trying to persuade Fran not to take pictures. Madame Oglepuss, on the other hand, is happy to be thecentre of attention, and wants a photo taken with her “paramour” Beulah, who Fran identifies as her “girlfriend.” Beulah pops up in a frilly dress instead of her usual witchy csotume. However, they fall off the stage, unbalanced by the sheet.
Ollie shows up and, in his typically insecure way, is concerned that Fran’s new photography career will take her away from the Kuklapolitans. She reassures him, and says she learned how to develop photos from pianist Jack, which shocks Ollie. The camera cuts to Fran’s dressing room, which is now doubling as a darkroom. Kukla and Ollie’s conversation plays over it, questioning her competence but then realizing that she’ll use the handy RCA Victor record player to help time the development by playing a Perry Como song. Now there’s a crossover I’d like to see.
There’s some pretty obvious stretching over the image of Fran developing the photo. She’s unhappy when she sees it, and rips up the negative.Kukla and Ollie explain that the problem is that all the lights are on in her “darkroom.” When the photos come out, Fran is unhappy, and Ollie is startled by them. She disowns her work. Presumably the photos will be credited to Alan Smithee. Kukla and Ollie sing “If You Were My Girl” to cheer her up. There’s that weird romantic dynamic again. Anyway, they resolve to try photography again, and the week ends happily.
What I thought: I was pretty surprised to see the cumbersome camera that Fran used (or tried to use) in this episode. I obviously didn’t expect the Kuklapolitans to be busting out camera phones, but I had sort of thought that personal cameras had become fairly easy to use by 1950. Some quick research discovers that there were some more convenient “point and shoot” options available in 1950, including the earliest Polaroids. Fran does note in the episode that the camera she uses is “old fashioned”, so maybe it was deliberately chosen for comedic potential.
Still, Fran’s struggles with the camera prove to be pretty good story fodder. Fran often plays the straight woman, so it’s fun to have an episode where she is sort of the butt of the joke, her false confidence causing all manner of difficulties. True to KFO‘s gentle spirit, this is more a cause for kind concern from her friends than mockery. It also provides a fun opportunity for some of the secondary Kuklapolitans to pose and dress up, with Beulah’s bridal costume the highlight. (She and Madame Oglepuss must be really good friends.)
The sobriquet “girl photographer” here suggests a kind of spunky professional women, akin to the female reporters in movies like His Girl Friday, there to show pluck before ultimately falling in love with the hero. It’s a little condescending, especially for a 42-year-old woman like Fran, but KFO turns the trope a bit on its head. This episode does end in a love song, but as with many such songs on KFO it’s repurposed to reflect the platonic love between the three stars.
Fran’s camera difficulties also suit the educational qualities of Kukla, Fran, and Ollie. By watching Fran learn how to operate a camera, the kids in the audience learn it too, and in an approachable, non-condescending way. The children of 1950 wouldn’t end up needing to know how to put a plate into their camera, but there’s still a natural desire to try the activity out oneself, the spirit of creativity that KFO encouraged.
There’s also a solid emotional core to the narrative. “Fran, Girl Photographer” is practically an instructional manual on how to treat a friend who is in a bit over their head on a new hobby or creative endeavour. Kukla and Ollie are skeptical about Fran’s photography but still encourage her, give advice, and cheer her up with song when the pictures don’t turn out as she’d hope. As an amateur, frequently mediocre creator, you couldn’t ask for more.
Coming up next: Gene Autry gathers a posse. Or maybe the posse is gathering against him. I haven’t watched the episode yet.
The Eternal Couch Potato 