Frances Helen Allison (November , â€" June , ) 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 to , occasionally returning to the air
until the mid-s. The trio also hosted The CBS Children's Film
Festival, introducing international children's films, from to
.Frances Helen Allison was born to Jesse Louis (â€") Allison and Anna
M "Nan" (née Halpin; â€") Allison in La Porte City, Iowa, where her
father worked as a clerk in a grocery store until his stroke in . 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 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.
(Another source describes WMT as "Waterloo radio station WMT.") In ,
Allison was among " sectional winners in the Hollywood Hotel radio
contest."
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 to , occasionally returning to the air
until the mid-s. The trio also hosted The CBS Children's Film
Festival, introducing international children's films, from to
.Frances Helen Allison was born to Jesse Louis (â€") Allison and Anna
M "Nan" (née Halpin; â€") Allison in La Porte City, Iowa, where her
father worked as a clerk in a grocery store until his stroke in . 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 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.
(Another source describes WMT as "Waterloo radio station WMT.") In ,
Allison was among " sectional winners in the Hollywood Hotel radio
contest."
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