Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Thanksgiving During Wartime



I showed this classic Tex Avery cartoon at Yulecon in an attempt to add a bit of Thanksgiving before diving in to some X-mas clips. I had fondly remembered Jerky Turkey from seeing it over and over and over again in my formative years. Which only goes to prove that memory is deceptive.

More...




First gag...I don't remember this. And I don't think I would've gotten this as a kid.




Wha? What the heck is that? "C?" What does "C" even mean?



Oh, right. This is a cartoon from 1945. World War II gags. Ha!



Yeah, I don't remember any of these gags.



I think I remember this, but I didn't get it.



Ah. Gasoline rationing gag. Right.



Oh, hey, I get it. I don't remember this gag, but at least I get it.



They must be waiting in line for Thanksgiving dinner.



Hollywood and Vine? I don't recall that gag. Did they edit these out when they were rebroadcast?



Cigarette rationing. Whoa.



Draft gag.



Another Draft gag. I really don't remember any of these.



Literary gag. Subtle.



....and I don't remember this either. I could do this for the whole cartoon. It's filled with dozens of WWII gags that didn't make an impression on me as a kid. Gags that don't make any sense to me even now. Within two generations most of the sight gags in this cartoon have lost all meaning. It must seem completely incoherent to the current generation.

Look at the size of that wishbone...



Thanks to Chris S. for sharing his copy of Jerky Turkey

4 comments:

Chris Sobieniak said...

Funny how I can be involved when I least suspect it! This cartoon also has the dubious honor of being on a constant number of budget video tapes due to not having a renewed copyright to this day (the only other Tex Avery MGM cartoon I know of that also shows up on anything that calls for stock footage clips is "Doggone Tired").

Unknown said...

You'd be surprised at the number of clips I play in the live show that I got from you. Heck, you've been part of the show for years.

Dr. Mila said...

Why the hell were we rationing? http://youtu.be/EImx-r_kMxA

Chris Sobieniak said...

Not to mention this classic where Minnie was just planning to give Pluto some bacon grease until Mr. Radio had to butt in and give us another reason to ration...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el5hxlEk-KI

Then you get cartoons like this one with a certain sailor trying to get his kids in on the racket of growing a "victory garden" (also rather mandatory)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQmjHKQUEfA

I find that the Popeyes of this era (especially after Paramount kicked the Fleischers out and took over) tend to be quite sadistic and twisted in their humor that wasn't seen before or since (very Mad Magazine-level here).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grUxfvcBhSQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2E6a8dcjlo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KWtFVIzSsk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emrGe7xwAaY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdh4RfZsEAc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZFNBQBSW_0