Jerky Turkey

1945 film

Jerky Turkey

Film poster

Directed by| Tex Avery
Story by| Heck Allen
Produced by| Fred Quimby
Starring| Tex Avery
Frank Graham
Leone LeDoux
Wally Maher
(all uncredited)
Music by| Scott Bradley
Animation by| Preston Blair
Ed Love
Ray Abrams
Irvin Spence (uncredited)
Layouts by| Claude Smith (uncredited)
Backgrounds by| John Didrik Johnsen (uncredited)
Color process| Technicolor

Production
company

MGM Cartoons

Distributed by| Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Release date

* April 7, 1945 (1945-04-07)

Running time

| 7 minutes
Language| English

Jerky Turkey is a 1945 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon directed by Tex Avery.[1] Jerky Turkey is one of three MGM cartoons in the public domain in the United States as its copyright was not renewed.[2]

## Plot

[edit]

A video of the short.

In 16207⁄8, Pilgrims, riding a caricatured Mayflower with a number of World War II-era anachronisms (such as a navy gunnery deck, a Henry J. Kaiser nameplate and a fuel rationing card) land at Plymouth Rock and establish a colony, where they quickly separate into "Ye Democrats" and "Ye Republicans." The Pilgrims all stand in line for cigarettes (some are caricatures of Avery's animation crew), while the town crier bemoans that he has been made eligible for the draft with a card bearing his "1-A" eligibility in his hand.

A pear-shaped Pilgrim, who speaks with the milquetoast mannerisms of Bill Thompson (here impersonated because he had been drafted and was unavailable), emerges from his dilapidated teardrop trailer home and goes hunting for a turkey for a Thanksgiving dinner. The turkey emerges from the "House of Seven Gobbles" (a literal black market in disguise) and, seeing an easy mark and speaking in an impersonation of Jimmy Durante, offers himself to the pilgrim, only to use this as the start of a series of rapid-fire gags that stretch the limits of even cartoon physics, with the turkey consistently getting the best of his increasingly befuddled and frustrated opponent.

Eventually the two make up and decide to "eat at Joe's," following the advice of a clapboard-wearing bear advertising his steakhouse that appears throughout the short. When they reach Joe's steakhouse, the door closes, loud crashes and thuds are heard, and the bear is seen coming out of the restaurant without his sandwich board; on his back is a tattoo which reads "I'm Joe". Joe the bear is grinning and picking his teeth, as the swallowed-whole turkey and pilgrim sulk in Joe's stomach. The pilgrim closes the cartoon by holding up a sign of his own: "DON'T eat at Joe's."

## Voice cast

[edit]

* Tex Avery as Crows Nest Pilgrim, Turkey Call, Turkey Gobble, Junior Pilgrim[3][4][5]
* Frank Graham as Indian
* Leone LeDoux as Crying Pilgrim
* Wally Maher as Jimmy Durante Turkey[6][7]

## Production

[edit]

Some voices were provided by radio actors Wally Maher and Leone LeDoux, who had previously voiced Screwy Squirrel and who specialized in baby cries, respectively.[8] Some internet sources cite voice actor Daws Butler as the voice of jerky turkey, but he did not make his first voice appearance until 1948 in Screen Gems' Short Snorts on Sports.[9][10] Butler would go on to voice numerous characters in later Avery productions, including 1948’s Little Rural Riding Hood his first with the company.[10] Much like other Avery shorts, this cartoon features a celebrity voice impersonation. In this short it is a Jimmy Durante impression.[11]

While it's not known if he would have had a cameo, The Turkey from the short can be seen in a storyboard of a deleted scene from Who Framed Roger Rabbit entitled "Acme's Funeral".[12]

## In other media

[edit]

* In the late 1980s, footage from this cartoon was used for a video for the 1965 Fontella Bass hit "Rescue Me" that aired on the cable channel VH1.[13]

## See also

[edit]

* To Spring (1936)
* Doggone Tired (1949)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 146–147\. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.
2. ^ "Public Domain Cartoons" (PDF). Retrieved February 18, 2023.
3. ^ ""Pretty Long Wait, Wasn't It?": TEX AVERY'S VOICE ACTORS (Volume 3) |". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
4. ^ "Today's Video Link". News From ME. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
5. ^ "Didn't Tex Avery do a lot of the voices in his cartoons?". News From ME. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
6. ^ "Tralfaz: Not Quite a Turkey Trot". Tralfaz. November 23, 2017. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
7. ^ "RADIO ROUND-UP: Authentic Radio Voices in Cartoons |". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
8. ^ The Animated Film Encyclopedia, Graham Webb, McFarland Publishers, 2000.
9. ^ "Jerky Turkey". TVGuide.com. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
10. ^ a b "Daws Butler". www.rusc.com. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
11. ^ Place-Verghnes, Floriane (2006). Tex Avery: A Unique Legacy. John Libbey Publishing. p. 67\. ISBN 9780861969197. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
12. ^ "The Funeral of Marvin Acme |". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
13. ^ Fontella Bass - Rescue Me (Obscure Music Video) (YouTube video). Retrieved 2025-04-13.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jerky Turkey.

* Jerky Turkey at IMDb
* Jerky Turkey (1945) (Remastered HD) on YouTube
* Available at the Internet Archive

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Tex Avery

Short subjects
by studio|

| Walter Lantz|

* Towne Hall Follies (1935)
* The Quail Hunt (1935)
* I'm Cold (1954)
* Crazy Mixed Up Pup (1955)
* The Legend of Rockabye Point (1955)
* Sh-h-h-h-h-h (1955)

|

Warner Bros.|

* Gold Diggers of '49 (1935)
* Plane Dippy (1936)
* Page Miss Glory (1936)
* The Blow Out (1936)
* I'd Love to Take Orders from You (1936)
* I Love to Singa (1936)
* Porky the Rain Maker (1936)
* The Village Smithy (1936)
* Milk and Money (1936)
* Don't Look Now  (1936)
* Porky the Wrestler (1937)
* Picador Porky (1937)
* I Only Have Eyes for You (1937)
* Porky's Duck Hunt (1937)
* Uncle Tom's Bungalow (1937)
* Ain't We Got Fun (1937)
* Egghead Rides Again (1937)
* A Sunbonnet Blue (1937)
* Porky's Garden (1937)
* I Wanna Be a Sailor (1937)
* Little Red Walking Hood (1937)
* Daffy Duck & Egghead (1938)
* The Sneezing Weasel (1938)
* The Penguin Parade (1938)
* The Isle of Pingo Pongo (1938)
* Cinderella Meets Fella (1938)
* A Feud There Was (1938)
* Johnny Smith and Poker-Huntas (1938)
* Daffy Duck in Hollywood (1938)
* The Mice Will Play (1938)
* Hamateur Night (1939)
* A Day at the Zoo (1939)
* Thugs with Dirty Mugs (1939)
* Believe It or Else (1939)
* Dangerous Dan McFoo (1939)
* Detouring America (1939)
* Land of the Midnight Fun (1939)
* Fresh Fish (1939)
* Screwball Football (1939)
* The Early Worm Gets the Bird (1940)
* Cross-Country Detours (1940)
* The Bear's Tale (1940)
* A Gander at Mother Goose (1940)
* Circus Today (1940)
* A Wild Hare (1940)
* Ceiling Hero (1940)
* Wacky Wild Life (1940)
* Of Fox and Hounds (1940)
* Holiday Highlights (1940)
* The Crackpot Quail (1941)
* The Haunted Mouse (1941)
* Tortoise Beats Hare (1941)
* Hollywood Steps Out (1941)
* Porky's Preview (1941)
* The Heckling Hare (1941)
* Aviation Vacation (1941)
* All This and Rabbit Stew (1941)
* The Bug Parade (1941)
* The Cagey Canary (1941)
* Wabbit Twouble (1941)
* Aloha Hooey (1942)
* Crazy Cruise (1942)

Paramount Pictures|

* Down on the Farm (1941)
* In a Pet Shop (1941)
* In the Zoo (1941)

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|

* Blitz Wolf (1942)
* The Early Bird Dood It! (1942)
* Dumb-Hounded (1943)
* Red Hot Riding Hood (1943)
* Who Killed Who? (1943)
* One Ham's Family (1943)
* What's Buzzin' Buzzard (1943)
* Screwy Squirrel (1944)
* Batty Baseball (1944)
* Happy-Go-Nutty (1944)
* Big Heel-Watha (1944)
* The Screwy Truant (1945)
* The Shooting of Dan McGoo (1945)
* Jerky Turkey (1945)
* Swing Shift Cinderella (1945)
* Wild and Woolfy (1945)
* Lonesome Lenny (1946)
* The Hick Chick (1946)
* Northwest Hounded Police (1946)
* Henpecked Hoboes (1946)
* Hound Hunters (1947)
* Red Hot Rangers (1947)
* Uncle Tom's Cabaña (1947)
* Slap Happy Lion (1947)
* King-Size Canary (1947)
* What Price Fleadom (1948)
* Little 'Tinker (1948)
* Half-Pint Pygmy (1948)
* Lucky Ducky (1948)
* The Cat That Hated People (1948)
* Bad Luck Blackie (1949)
* Señor Droopy (1949)
* The House of Tomorrow (1949)
* Doggone Tired (1949)
* Wags to Riches (1949)
* Little Rural Riding Hood (1949)
* Out-Foxed (1949)
* The Counterfeit Cat (1949)
* Ventriloquist Cat (1950)
* The Cuckoo Clock (1950)
* Garden Gopher (1950)
* The Chump Champ (1950)
* The Peachy Cobbler (1950)
* Cock-a-Doodle Dog (1951)
* Daredevil Droopy (1951)
* Droopy's Good Deed (1951)
* Symphony in Slang (1951)
* Car of Tomorrow (1951)
* Droopy's Double Trouble (1951)
* Magical Maestro (1952)
* One Cab's Family (1952)
* Rock-a-Bye Bear (1952)
* Little Johnny Jet (1953)
* The T.V. of Tomorrow (1953)
* The Three Little Pups (1953)
* Drag-a-Long Droopy (1954)
* Billy Boy (1954)
* Homesteader Droopy (1954)
* The Farm of Tomorrow (1954)
* The Flea Circus (1954)
* Dixieland Droopy (1954)
* Field and Scream (1955)
* The First Bad Man (1955)
* Deputy Droopy (1955)
* Cellbound (1955)
* Millionaire Droopy (1956)
* Cat's Meow (1957)

Characters|

* Big Bad Wolf
* Bugs Bunny
* Butch
* Cecil Turtle
* Chilly Willy
* Daffy Duck
* Droopy
* Elmer Fudd
* George and Junior
* Porky Pig
* Red
* Screwy Squirrel
* Willoughby

Related|

* Casper's First Christmas
* The Kwicky Koala Show
* The Tex Avery Show
* The Wacky World of Tex Avery
* Tex Avery Screwball Classics

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