Volume 3 features the earliest existing shows of this Emmy and Peabody-award-winning series, which counted Orson Welles, John Steinbeck, and James Thurber among its many adult fans. — The two-DVD set contains 24 black-and-... more »white episodes of the classic television puppet show broadcast from 1949 to 1957, plus bonuses.
Included are ten recently-discovered episodes of the show's run on ABC from 1954-57. They feature Carolyn Gilbert and Caesar Giovannini as music directors - and Caesar graciously agreed to be interviewed for this DVD.
Other bonuses include director Lewis "Gommy" Gomavitz's "home movies" (the only color footage of KFO and other shows from that time), radio interviews Burr gave Garrard Macleod in the early 1980s, B&W clips of two KFO episodes that were the first color television shows ever broadcast, and the troupe fooling around before rolling tape for a World's Fair video. Finally, Rich Maisel has donated one of Tillstrom's final recordings: a musical version of The Dragon Who Lived Downstairs.
The Washington Post
"The most authentically classic episodes are being released and they are, encouragingly, as wonderful as a former fan is likely to remember them."
The New York Times
"Irresistibly appealing...the Kuklapolitans must have seemed like welcome emissaries from a world where violence was unknown, and tensions could be resolved with the nuzzle of a felt nose. They scarcely seem less so now."
DVD Talk
"This third volume of shows is just as entertaining as the first two. $15 for two discs filled with classic (and very rare) television is a steal! Highly recommended.
Leonard Maltin
"These aren't puppets: they're real, a wonderful cast of characters worth watching and believing in. Terrific bonus features."« less