Over the years, the start of the Christmas season has crept up earlier and earlier. Now, dust doesn’t have a chance to settle on the Halloween pumpkin, as November 1st marks the kick-off for all things Christmas.
Within this, the once starting point of the Holidays, Thanksgiving, has gotten somewhat lost. But there are still opportunities for animation fans to celebrate this day of turkey, parades, and football, as there have been numerous TV specials and episodes dedicated to Thanksgiving.
For many who love animation, there are the standards – A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973), Garfield’s Thanksgiving (1989), and, maybe even, The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn’t (1972) – but there are others – specials, episodes, and cartoon shorts – that could also add to the holiday.
Here is one of each:
Casper the Friendly Ghost, Do or Diet (1953)
As he celebrates the 80th anniversary of his film debut this year, it’s fitting to spend Thanksgiving with Casper by looking back at this short subject.
It opens with Casper (Alan Shay) waking on Thanksgiving morning at a farm, where he scares the pilgrims in the photo on his calendar and a mule out in the yard. Someone not afraid of Casper is Timothy Turkey (Sid Raymond), who’s too busy crying because it’s Thanksgiving Day and he’s on the menu.
Casper comes up with an idea: run Timothy through an exercise regimen, so he will be too skinny to eat. However, as Casper acts as coach, Timothy continues to eat and loses no weight.
In desperation, Casper sees a girdle hanging on a clothesline. He squeezes Timothy into it and covers it in feathers, so he appears thin. When the farmer comes out with his ax, he’s initially depressed, until Timothy munches on an apple that bursts the girdle.
Just as the farmer ties Timothy up and wields his ax, Casper appears and scares the farmer away. Casper takes this opportunity to get Timothy in shape for next Thanksgiving, but as the turkey tries to cheat by eating corn, Casper ties up Timothy’s beak with the snood (the red flap of flesh that hangs over a turkey’s beak – fun fact!).
Directed by I. Sparber, Do Or Diet is pretty standard Casper fare. Still, the comic premise of attempting to save a Thanksgiving turkey by making him thin provides for some nice, humorous moments, especially through Casper’s frustrations. If you’re hungry for some classic animation on Thanksgiving, this hits the spot.
Thanksgiving in the Land of Oz (1980)
This special, a sequel to The Wizard of Oz, is set against the backdrop of Thanksgiving. As the special opens, Dorothy’s Auntie Em (the voice of Lurene Tuttle) and Uncle Henry (Charles Woolf) are getting things ready on the farm for Thanksgiving. But, there’s a sadness hanging over them, as it looks as if Dorothy (Mischa Bond) and her aunt and uncle are going to have to split up, as they are about to lose the farm to the bank.
Auntie Em has just baked a mince pie and placed it on the windowsill to cool, when Dorothy spots someone stealing it. She follows the thief and finds it’s the Wizard of Oz (Sid Caesar), who apologizes, as times have been tough. He has, however, created a large turkey balloon for the local Thanksgiving Day parade. Once inflated, the balloon drifts away into the sky with Dorothy and Toto, hanging on to its tethers, and it winds up taking them back to the land of Oz.
Here she meets a new trio of characters, Jack Pumpkinhead (Robert Ridgely), Tic-Toc, the mechanical man (Joan Gerber), and The Hungry Tiger (Frank Nelson). They all go up against the villain, Tyrone, the Terrible Toy Tinker (Ridgeley), who brings the turkey balloon to life and looks to take over the Emerald City.
In the process, Auntie Em’s mince pie, which was brought to Oz by Dorothy, is also brought to life. As it’s made up of different ingredients, it speaks in various accents and goes by the name of U.N. Krust (Ceasar again, having a ball, switching up the different dialects).
Spoiler alert! – all works out well, and Dorothy and her friends return to the Kansas farm, just in time to have Thanksgiving dinner.
Thanksgiving in the Land of Oz is based on several of L. Frank Baum’s books in a script crafted by Romeo Muller, the writer who brought audiences a number of Rankin/Bass’ beloved holiday specials, including 1964’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman (1969).
The special does admirable work of crafting an Oz adventure that feels familiar without being a complete retread, and, with Fred Wolf as one of the producers, it takes on the comforting tone of many other specials his studio produced, including 1978’s Puff the Magic Dragon.
Airing on CBS on November 15, 1980, Thanksgiving in the special happens, for the most part, on the periphery of the adventure (which may explain why it was re-broadcast in 1981 as Dorothy in the Land of Oz, with the Thanksgiving sections deleted).
Still, if you’re in the mood for a different, and overlooked holiday special, spend Thanksgiving in the Land of Oz.
Animaniacs, “Turkey Jerky” (1993)
In the grand tradition of classic, screwball cartoons comes this Animaniacs episode – a funny, breakneck-paced look at the first Thanksgiving.
It opens with the pilgrims sitting around the table, wondering what to serve at their first Thanksgiving. After quiche and Cajun curly fries are shot down, a muscular Miles Standish (Maurice LaMarche) comes in to announce that he will hunt a turkey for them to eat.
He ventures into the woods (running across Elmer Fudd) and does indeed find a turkey, who is “gobbling” the song “Turkey in the Straw.” Soon after, the Animaniacs – Yakko (Rob Paulsen), Wakko (Jess Harnell), and Dot (Tres MacNeille) – appear, dressed as Native Americans, to save their pet turkey, named Mr. Gobbles, from Miles’ musket.
The rest of the episode is in grand, cartoony style, with Yakko, Wakko, and Dot driving Miles Standish crazy and preventing him from shooting Mr. Gobbles. Along the way, the trio does everything from putting Miles through psychotherapy to leaving him stranded against a blank, white screen, a la Duck Amuck.
He’s driven to such extremeness that, in the end, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot wind up, placing a crazed Miles, on a platter, wearing a red glove on his head, in the middle of the Pilgrims’ Thanksgiving table.
Directed by Gary Hartle and written by Peter Hastings and Tom Ruegger, the humor in “Turkey Jerky” isn’t just rapid fire; it’s sharp and hysterical. As Dot cries dramatically to Miles about her pet turkey, a message flashes on the screen: “Academy Members Vote Now.” When she receives an award, Dot accepts it and says, “It pays to overact.”
As with many of their episodes, this Animaniacs installment features a banquet of memorable lines to add something extra to your holiday. One of the best is when Miles shouts, “Begone, pests, and give me the bird!” To which Yakko replies, “We’d love to, but the Fox censors won’t allow it!”
There are just three of so many Thanksgiving shorts, specials, and episodes to add as a nice, animated side dish to your holiday. As always, there are plenty of others. Feel free to drop some of your favorites in the comments below.
Happy Thanksgiving!
