Background
Tillstrom, Burr was born on October 13, 1917 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Son of Bert F. and Alice (Burr) Tillstrom.
Tillstrom, Burr was born on October 13, 1917 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Son of Bert F. and Alice (Burr) Tillstrom.
Student, University Chicago. Doctor of Letters, Hope College, Holland, Michigan, 1972.
While still a freshman, he was offered a job setting up a marionette theater with the World Pet Association-Chicago Parks District Theatre and took lieutenant He turned his attention to puppetry in the early 1930s and created Kukla in 1936. Kukla remained nameless until the Russian ballerina Tamara Toumanova referred to him as kukla, the Russian term for doll.
Other famous puppets from the group included Ollie or Oliver J. Dragon, Beulah Witch, and Fletcher Rabbit.
In 1939, he was invited to present his Kuklapolitan Players at the New York World"s Fair. The following year, Radio Corporation of America sent him to Bermuda to perform on the first ship-to-shore broadcast.
From 1947 through 1957, Tillstrom was involved with the Kukla, Fran and Ollie show which starred his puppets and Fran Allison. lieutenant is widely regarded as being the first children's show to appeal to both children and adults, and counted Orson Welles, John Steinbeck, Tallulah Bankhead, Adlai Stevenson and James Thurber among its many adult fans.
Early in 1958, he appeared with the puppets on Polly Bergen"s short-lived National Broadcasting Company variety show, The Polly Bergen Show.
With only a few exceptions, all of the shows were improvised. After the original series ended in 1957, Tillstrom continued to work with the Kuklapolitans. In 1970, Kukla, Fran and Ollie appeared on National Educational Television, taped at Window To The World in Chicago, for two seasons.
In 1975, Kukla, Fran and Ollie began another run on television with 13 new episodes.
In 1977, The Kukla and Ollie Retrospective Stage Show tours began, a creation of the Artist-in-Residence program at Hope College. In 1978, Kukla, Burr and Ollie joined the Broadway cast of Side by Side by Sondheim, a revue of Stephen Sondheim songs.
Tillstrom continued to perform with his Kuklapolitan Players until his death in 1985. On March 23, 1986, Burr Tillstrom was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame for his creativity and innovation in the medium.
The Saugatuck Douglas Art Club tribute to Burr was dedicated in 1988.
The Burr Tillstrom Collection and Archives are maintained at the Chicago History Museum. In 2013 Tillstrom was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame.