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. “Dolores and Beulah Witch” aired on Tuesday, October 13, 1950 at 7:00 PM on NBC. Video is available on the official KFO YouTube channel.
What happened: We open on the titular Beulah and Dolores getting all dressed up. Dolores is very resistant to the bonnet she’s wearing. Beulah is tired of practicing music from the last episode, and wants to go out. Dolores doesn’t seem too excited, but Beulah drags her out anyway, taking her off on her broom.
The scene is soon occupied by Fran and Ollie, discussing their absence. Fran is mad/worried about Dolores going out into the city, but Ollie is sure she can handle herself. Kukla pops up to help something that’s gotten into Fran’s eye. Ollie is very insistent that Fran doesn’t use mascara, and to demonstrate his friendship he sings a song about wanting to shout “I love you!”
Kukla takes a brief lie-down, which alarms Ollie. Fran goes off to get the letters. Kukla says that he’s heard someone received a love letter, through eavesdropping on a phone call. This has something to do with people named Bobsy and Crawford, and Beulah’s sorority of witches that are visiting for Halloween. Ollie is worried that Beulah hasn’t even prepared for the convention.
After a brief interruption by Fletcher, Dolores comes back crying and screaming. Fran calms her by promising an ice cream sundae, because it’s Tuesday. This leads into a hard sell on the Kukla and Ollie ice cream spoons available through Sealtest. The phone starts ringing, and Kukla answers it. It turns out Beulah is in the clink! They said the 1950s were the new witch hunts. Fran gets on the phone to vouch for Beulah’s character, saying that she comes from South Carolina. This is apparently enough for them to get the police to release Beulah and send her back to the stage. Witch privilege, I guess.
Ollie is still freaking out about Dolores, despite Fran’s attempts to reassure him. Fran has a bit of a malapropism, causing Kukla and Ollie to lightly mock her. A now-exhausted Ollie heads off to bed, running into Fletcher’s leftover tambourine on the way. Fran sings “It’s A Marshmallow World in the Winter”, despite them talking the whole episode about how it’s unseasonably warm even for October.
Beulah returns, looking frazzled and with a bouquet of flowers. She says that she was arrested by an officer who mistook Dolores for an un-leashed dog. This led to an argument that led to Beulah’ arrest. Will this police violence never end? They resolve to calm down after this turbulent day with some Sealtest.
What I thought: This is another one of those KFO episodes which mostly feels like an omnibus of loose ends. The title comes from a story about Beulah taking Dolores out for a walk in the park, but they’re gone for most of the runtime. This is the most we’ve seen from Dolores, who is usually something of a bit character, and we even get to hear her make some sounds. The series gets a lot of mileage out of Dolores in the Rerun-like “younger kid” role that the basically childlike Kuklapolitans have to take care of, and this episode is no different.
There are a few references to yesterday’s concert episode, but for the most part this episode is focused on the future. There’s a lot of talk around Beulah’s upcoming witch’s convention on Halloween, which she seems blissfully unaware of. I do like the idea of Beulah having a whole witchy past and witchy friends. I haven’t watched the Halloween episode they did the previous year, so I’m interested to see how they represent the other witches, if they do at all.
It’s somewhat unusual to see KFO setting up a story two weeks in advance, with Halloween set as the obvious climax of Beulah’s efforts. This seems more like something Howdy Doody would do, preferably with some mysteries and puzzles tossed in. I doubt that the next ten episodes will deal entirely with Beulah’s prep for the big reunion, but it will be interesting to see how much they empathize this thread.
Other than that, this is a fine episode of Kukla, Fran, and Ollie, if not an especially memorable one. The nature of the show means that most of the action with Beulah and Dolores in the park has to be related to us instead of depicted on screen, but this isn’t too big of a hurdle. Ultimately, KFO is about hanging out with your friends and telling stories, and that’s what we have here.
Comng Up Next: Cisco and Pancho are chasing rustlers again.
The Eternal Couch Potato 