Frances Helen Allison was an American television and radio comedienne, personality, and singer. She is best known for her starring role on the weekday NBC-TV puppet show Kukla, Fran and Ollie, which ran from 1947 to 1957, occasionally returning to the air until the mid-1980s. The trio also hosted The CBS Children's Film Festival, introducing international children's films, from 1967 to 1977.
Biography
Early years
Frances Helen Allison was born to Jesse Louis Allison and Anna M "Nan" Allison in La Porte City, Iowa, where her father worked as a clerk in a grocery store until his stroke in 1913. They then moved in with her paternal grandparents, David Allison, a civil war veteran, and Susan née Booth Allison. Their house still stands on Sycamore Street in LaPorte City, IA. She was a 1927 graduate of Coe College, where she was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta. She was a fourth-grade teacher for four years in Schleswig and Pocahontas, Iowa, before beginning her broadcasting career at WMT in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In 1934, Allison was among "14 sectional winners in the Hollywood Hotel radio contest."
Radio
She moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1937, where she was hired as a staff singer and personality on NBC Radio. A July 26, 1937, newspaper item reported, "Fran Allison, singer of WMT, Waterloo, Ia., makes her network debut in the WJZ-NBC club matinee at 3." Beginning in 1937, she was a regular performer on The Breakfast Club, a popular Chicago radio show, and was a fixture for 25 years as "Aunt Fanny", a gossipy small-town spinster. Her Aunt Fanny character also appeared on the ABC-TV series, Ozark Jubilee, during the late 1950s. While in Chicago, she was also heard on Those Websters.
''Kukla, Fran and Ollie''
In 1947, the director of WBKB-TV in Chicago asked Burr Tillstrom if he could put together a puppet show for children, and he asked Allison, whom he had met during a World War IIwar bond tour, to join the show. She was the only human to appear on the live series, filling the role of big sister and cheery voice of reason as the puppets, known as the Kuklapolitan Players, engaged each other.
Other television work
Her television career continued after the initial run of Kukla, Fran and Ollie: in the late 1950s, she hosted The Fran Allison Show, a panel discussion TV program in Chicago; and appeared in television musical specials including Many Moons, Pinocchio with Mickey Rooney, Damn Yankees and Miss Pickerell. She had her own program, The Fran Allison Show on WGN-TV. In the 1980s, she hosted Prime Time, a show for senior citizens, on KHJ-TV in Los Angeles.
Recordings
Allison made records for the RCA Victor label. She had two minor pop hits. In 1950 her recording of "Peter Cottontail" charted at #26 around Easter of 1950. The next year her recording of "Too Young" achieved position #20. In both recordings she is backed by Jack Fascinato, who was the orchestra leader of Kukla, Fran and Ollie.
Allison was married to music publisher Archie Levington. In her free time, she devoted her efforts to promoting mental health. One reporter wrote, "For mental health, she will travel anywhere, anytime."
