334: Kukla, Fran and Ollie - "Ollie the Model" (November 16, 1950)
Ollie gets a new job, and a new wardrobe
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 Tilstrom. "Ollie the Model" was directed by Lewis Gomavitz and aired on Thursday, November 16, 1950 at 7:00 PM on NBC. Video is available on the official KFO YouTube channel.
What happened: Kukla is writing to “Jerry”, about getting a bean bag button. Nobody at this point knew the chaos that bean bags would sow across American society. This was not, however, Jerry Rubin or Garcia, but Jerry Lester, host of the late-night variety show Broadway Open House. Ollie keeps asking about phone calls for him. When Kukla asks what’s wrong, he launches into a protests-too-much version of “Fit as a Fiddle.” Fran gets a call asking about mourning clothes, or maybe just morning clothes, but Ollie grabs it and once again happily sings.
Fletcher is still bummed about missing “The Bohemian Girl”, and Kukla and Fran try not to bring it up as he mopes. Kukla celebrates the first anniversary of WFAZ in West Virginia airing KFO. Surely, a young Joe Manchin was watching. Ollie keeps popping up in different outfits, including a hip college boy. Buelah Witch arrives and says that she has a psychic message from her sister on Mars. The Martians are complaining about not getting their Kukla and Ollie spoons yet. It turns out that they didn’t include sufficient postage. Buelah learns that they have a Sealtest dealer on Mars., kept on the polar ice caps, and Kukla and Fran begin to doubt her psychic credentials.
There was apparently a real-world delay in getting the spoon sets, which Kukla apologizes for. Ollie’s next outfit is a noir-ish one with a fedora. He says that he’s heading out, and Kukla asks him what this is all about. Ollie says that he’s a model now, and has been keeping it secret the whole time, hoping people would guess. He’s carrying a hat box, as all models do, and Fran suspects he’s taken it from Madame Ooglepuss.
Fran and Kukla read the paper, and realize that Ollie was applying to a modelling ad looking for an unattractive model as part of a “Don’t Let This Happen To You” campaign. When Ollie reappears in furs, the two of them try to hide the truth, protecting Ollie’s feelings. They sing “You’re Going Home With Me”, and Ollie finally gets his hands on the paper. He acts like he’s known all along, and wants to be a “character model.” Kukla and Fran hug him to end the episode.
What I thought: This is understandably a bit of a slighter episode after the grand production of The Bohemian Girl the day prior, but still manages to be a fun show with a narrative through-line. The plot about Ollie looking to be a model is not that much more than an excuse to have him dress up in funny outfits, but does introduce just a little bit of conflict and tension at the end of the half-hour.
It’s almost like a sitcom plot in miniature: Ollie is overconfident, his friends find out something that would undercut him, they try to keep it a secret he finds out, and everyone hugs. Of course, this all happens in the space of about five minutes instead of thirty. I also wonder if there’s a little bit of a jab at the idea of “character actors”, and the backhanded beauty standards that it implies.
There’s also a lot of miscellany scattered throughout this episode. We have Fletcher’s depression about missing out on yesterday’s event, a shout-out to a West Virginia station, and an update on the Kukla and Ollie spoons (which I am now seriously considering getting for myself.) It’s small things, but it helps to make the series and its viewers feel more like they’re part of the same interconnected universe of TV.
What else was on: The opening of the episode has another nod to the universe of television, with Kukla seeking out merchandise from Broadway Open House. This is not a show that’s had a surviving episode in our timeline yet, but it would be a very influential show despite its short run, being one of the first shows to air nightly in a late-night slot. There were a lot of jokes about host Jerry Lester’s fondness for bean bags, hence Kukla asking him for a bean-bag button. It’s a nice little moment of continuity between two shows that aired on opposite ends of every NBC evening.