Jerky Turkey

This short is wonderful! Take a pilgrim that sounds a lot like Droopy, add a turkey who sounds like Jimmy Durante, add a bear wearing a sandwich sign, let Tex Avery stir it all together and you have a great cartoon. Sight gags everywhere, especially the bear (typical Avery running gag) but beware ye old edited print off ye Cartoon Network-this is a classic. Most definitely worth looking for. Most recommended.

Jerky Turkey (1945)

*** (out of 4)

The pilgrims land on Plymouth Rock and soon after one wants to catch a turkey for his family's dinner. The big-nosed, large-belly Pilgrim goes out into the woods and finds a turkey but it's not going to be easy to catch him. This Tex Avery short is a pretty good one that features a couple memorable characters going through various violent things that these MGM shorts always seemed to feature. There are several funny gags to be seen here including one that has Plymouth Rock actually being a rock looking like a turkey. Another funny gag deals with a bear walking around advertising for people to "Eat at Joe's." I found both the Pilgrim and the turkey characters to be quite good and memorable. They have a good comic timing against one another and I thought they helped make the action go by at a quick pace. The animation is nice and certainly helped the film as well.

Earlier in his career, Tex Avery worked for Warner Brothers at their Looney Tunes unit. However, his films from this period are only okay--mostly because the studio never let him go wild. When he left and went to MGM, he went on to make some of the craziest and funniest cartoons ever. So, even if it's an average cartoon from him during this amazingly creative period, it's still well worth your time--and that's how I would describe "Jerky Turkey".

The film is set during the Pilgrim period in New England. They plan on a celebration and a big-nosed Pilgrim man goes hunting for a turkey. The Pilgrim's voice is done by the same guy who later voiced Droopy (Bill Thompson) and the odd voice of the turkey (which sounded like Jimmy Durante) was provided by Daws Butler. The film consists of the usual hijinx--as well as a VERY strange bear wearing an Eat At Joe's sandwich-board sign. Weird and fun--and well worth your time.

By the way, in the film you hear the expression 'was this trip really necessary'. That's because it was made during WWII and this phrase was coined to discourage people from frivolous travel since most of the gas was needed for the war effort. Here, it takes on a whole new meaning! Also, the reason the town crier is crying is because he's been declared 1-A--meaning he's been ruled fit and ready for the draft (and 4-F is the opposite--unfit for the draft).

Consider pilgrims standing in line waiting to be passed their weekly ration of ... cigarettes? Then consider a pilgrim not wanting to stand in line, and goes to the black market to get hold of a turkey. This one he meets after having called by a lure-whistle, that sounds: "HEY, TURKEY!!" - However, the turkey and the pilgrim are both caught up by the owner of Joe's Diner...

I find Tex Avery's cartoons hugely variable. His Screwy Squirrel toons are hilarious, and I regret that he made only three of them. His best Warners toons ('Thugs with Dirty Mugs') are both innovative and uproariously funny. But his Droopy cartoons just stink, and far too much of his other work is quite dire.

'Jerky Turkey' just isn't funny at all. Allegedly depicting the voyage of the Pilgrims to Plymouth Rock in the year 1620-7/8 (ha bloody ha), this 1945 toon is firmly stuck in World War Two, with topical references (such as 'C cards') that will be utterly incomprehensible to modern audiences. The animation is poor to the point of neglect: one long sequence features a protracted pan across a single drawing, with no movement at all ... which would be acceptable, if something funny was happening.

The main character is voiced by Bill Thompson, using the same adenoidal whimper that he had previously used for portraying Wally Wimple in the radio programme 'Fibber McGee and Molly' and would later use for the unfunny Droopy. I wonder if Avery designed this Pilgrim, who doesn't resemble a typical Avery character. The Pilgrim has an absolutely enormous nose that looks distressing rather than funny. He stalks a turkey (definitely designed by Preston Blair) who sounds and acts like Jimmy Durante ... but who, alas, isn't remotely as funny as the genuine Schnozzola. It doesn't help that the Durante character has a SMALLER nose than the Pilgrim. There's a very weak running gag which has a very weak and obvious pay-off. (First rule of survival in the cartooniverse: Never trust a bear.)

Tex Avery, I forgive you for this 'Turkey' because you gave us so many laughs elsewhere. 'Jerky Turkey' barely merits a rating of 1 out of 10.