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Buelah the Witch - Liberated puppet witch featured
on the children's puppet show KUKLA, FRAN AND OLLIE/NBC/ABC/1947-57.
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Buelah the Witch |
Beulah Witch (voiced by Burr Tillstrom) was one of many stock puppet characters
called the Kuklapolitans who communicated with Fran Allison, the show's
beautiful, charming hostess.
Madame Buelah Witch is a pilot for Broomstick
Airlines. In her early years, she attended a school called Witch Normal and
later received a degree in electronic magic where she learned to brew special
potions.
Her fellow Kuklapolitan puppet friends included:
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Kukla, a bald,
bulbous-nosed puppet with a high-pitched voice
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Oliver J. "Ollie" the Dragon
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Cecil Bill, the stage hand, who spoke a nonsense language (Tooie-ta-tooie) which
were intelligible only to Kukla
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Madame Ooglepuss, a red-haired lady with a
horribly crooked nose and the manner of a grande dame
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Colonel Cracky, a Southern gentleman
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Fletcher Rabbit, the postman, who sometimes starches his floppy white ears
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Naughty Mercedes
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Clara Coo Coo.
In 1954, Buelah
Witch appeared as Pitti-Sing in the Kukla, Fran, and Ollie puppet adaptation of
The Mikado that appeared on NBC television.
TRIVIA NOTE: The Buelah the Witch character was
named after Beulah Zachary, the show's producer. The misspelling of "Buelah" was
intentional.
The Buelah Witch character had her origins in the 1945 Junior
League production of Hansel and Gretel which featured a witch and a rabbit.
The
lead ship of the 450th Bomber Group (723rd Squadron Serial No.41-29228) that
lead the WWII Steyr mission of February 23, 1944 dubbed itself "The Buelah"
after "Buelah Witch" in the 1940s cartoons.
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