Sean Bradley, Staff
November is here, and that means it’s the Thanksgiving season. Unlike Halloween and Christmas, which have plenty of animated specials, Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that has relatively few animated specials. Perhaps the most notable animated Thanksgiving special is “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.” However, today, I would like to introduce you to an animated short that I think should be a Thanksgiving staple, and that is “Jerky Turkey.”
“Jerky Turkey” was released in 1945 and was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). During the 1940s, MGM was one of the biggest film studios in Hollywood and produced some of the most popular cartoons of the day, notably “Tom and Jerry.” “Jerky Turkey” was directed by the legendary Fred “Tex” Avery, who was famous for developing the personalities of Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny at Warner Bros. and creating Droopy at MGM. Avery was and remains an influential animation director; and his cartoons are considered by many to be the funniest ever made. In each cartoon, Avery tried to squeeze as many funny jokes and gags in as possible. In “Jerky Turkey” and all his other cartoons, Avery includes slapstick humor, topical humor, pop culture references and fourth wall jokes all in seven minutes.
The cartoon’s premise is simple as it centers around a Pilgrim trying to hunt a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner only to get outwitted by the turkey. As mentioned earlier, Avery includes pop culture references and topical humor in this short. It should be noted that the turkey character’s looks and mannerisms in this short were patterned after comedian Jimmy Durante, who’s probably best remembered by modern audiences as the narrator of the Rankin-Bass Christmas special, “Frosty the Snowman.” Additionally, the Pilgrim’s voice and mannerisms were based on that of voice actor and radio comedian Bill Thompson, who was the voice of Droopy. Since this cartoon was released during World War II, there are also quite a few references to things, like rationing and draft cards. But despite the outdated pop culture and World War II references, the cartoon’s humor is still overall hilarious.
Additionally, not only is the humor funny, but the animation, backgrounds and music are also great. Having big budgets and talented artists certainly benefited the quality of the MGM cartoons. Much of the animation in this short was done by former Disney animators, Ed Love and Preston Blair, who brought the skills they learned from Disney with them to MGM. This resulted in nice, solid animation. Also, the lush, beautiful backgrounds were done by John Johnsen, who previously worked with Avery at Warner Bros. Lastly, the music, which was scored by Scott Bradley, is lively and energetic and includes classical and public domain music excerpts that cleverly accompany the action on screen.
So, this Thanksgiving season, I highly recommend checking out Jerky Turkey. Since the cartoon is in the public domain, it can be watched for free. Enjoy!
The La Salle Collegian 