"Tom Turk and Daffy": Thanksgiving Cartoons

Another cartoon that deals with one of the most disturbing cartoon motifs--bird on bird cannibalism! From Daffy lusting after the full Thanksgiving meal--"The yams! The yams did it!"--to Woodstock in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving to actual turkey-on-turkey craving in Pilgrim Popeye, not to mention Donald Duck in the Disney/Rockwell take-off, it's as bizarre as human beings eating, say, monkeys. One of those weird cartoon things that turn up.

"Jerky Turkey": Thanksgiving Cartoons

A 1945 offering of Tex Avery wackiness, redolent with WWII-era jokes.

"Holiday For Drumsticks": Thanksgiving Cartoons

Peculiarly enough, animated food (particularly spaghetti) always makes me hungry, and in this cartoon we are treated to a plethora of lovingly detailed comestibles that Daffy devours as he scams the turkey out of his fattening feed. I think this portrayal of eats might have something to do with the country coming out of some lean times after WWII, when the depiction of scarce food and good cheer approached something of the level of pornography.

"Pilgrim Popeye": Thanksgiving Cartoons

I want to bring together a string of Thanksgiving cartoons we watched as kids, and thought I'd start with Pilgrim Popeye. I like the somewhat bleak November backgrounds in the first part as being very atmospheric, along with Popeye's little hymn to nippy weather. What annoys me now about most of these old cartoons is the assumption that all "Injuns" are Plains Indians (or perhaps I should say Plains Native Americans) and portrayed as simply enemies. Favorite quote from this cartoon: "What! No toikey?!"