The Burr Tillstrom Documentary Project

Burr Tillstrom was a world famous puppeteer, well known for his pioneering television show Kukla, Fran and Ollie. He was a beloved local character in Saugatuck, Michigan and drew famous puppeteers from all around the country to study at OxBow. In 2019, with a nod to Burr and a desire to revive the tradition of puppetry he inspired in Saugatuck at heart, Hystopolis Productions kicked off the inaugural KuklaFest.

When an unexpected treasure trove of Burr's personal artifacts was graciously donated to the Saugatuck Douglas History Center by David Balas and James Sellman, what started as a simple request to borrow Burr's puppetry sewing box for the conference, quickly grew into a larger project as we began working to digitize the collection.

We decided to conduct oral history interviews with his colleges, friends, and neighbors. In the process, we learned of interviews that had been conducted with Burr shortly before he died. Once we gained access to the hours of interviews from the Joint Archives of Holland Hope College, the imperative to create a documentary was unmistakable and clear... and so it began!

​Here is a first glimpse at the project...