kukla fran and ollie

Stamp collecting is something I just never got into (don't worry, I have plenty of other obsessions), but this might be the first time I actually go to my local post office and get a sheet.

Yesterday, 20 new classic TV stamps were unveiled: I Love Lucy, The Twilight Zone, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, The Honeymooners, Texaco Star Theater, Perry Mason, The Lone Ranger, Burns and Allen, Ozzie and Harriet, Hopalong Cassidy, Lassie, Dragnet, You Bet Your Life, The Dinah Shore Show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Phil Silvers Show, Howdy Doody, The Red Skelton Show, and Kukla, Fran, and Ollie,

Way back in the early 1970's, when I was a kid (I'm not that old!), I remember seeing some amazing movies on the CBS Children's Film Festival. It was on either Saturday or Sunday afternoons and I vaguely recall my mother encouraging me to watch. Kukla, Fran and Ollie introduced the movies and to this day, I can still remember seeing classic foreign films that were made for children like The Red Balloon (French), Hand in Hand (British) and Skinny and Fatty (Japanese). I think those movies may have been the first that really got be interested in film.

Turner Classic Movies seems to be providing a similar service for kids today, albeit by presenting great classics from Hollywood's golden era. TCM started a new series called Essentials Jr. Grey's Anatomy star Chris O'Donnell (Scent of a Woman) co-hosts with Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine). Together, they provide introductions and discuss the films, movies that are picked to be just right for kids. According to TCM, "The chosen films are ones that any cinema-literate child should know about and be able to enjoy with family and friends including grown-ups."

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