Zoomar 1

In early 1947 the Zoomar lenses became available with the Field Zoomar being the first of the three sizes to be offered. It was a 27 element lens designed for outside broadcasts, but the crew at Chicago’s WBKB had a different idea and began using it on a new puppet show which we now know as ‘Kukla, Fran and Ollie’.

Burr Tillstrom was the creator and only puppeteer on the show, which premiered as the hour-long ‘Junior Jamboree’, seen locally on WBKB in Chicago, Illinois, on October 13, 1947. The program was renamed ‘Kukla, Fran and Ollie’ (KFO) and transferred to WNBQ (the predecessor of Chicago’s WMAQ-TV) on November 29, 1948. The first NBC network broadcast of the show took place on January 12, 1949. It aired from 6–6:30 p.m. Central Time, Monday through Friday from Chicago. The use of the Zoomar Filed lens continued from start to finish through the shows migration from WBKB to NBC and the 1954 move to ABC where it ended in 1957.

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