Holiday for Drumsticks is a 1949 Merrie Melodies short directed by Arthur Davis.
Plot[]
A hillbilly husband brings home a turkey named Tom Turk. After shooting back at their feuding neighbor, the wife prepares some food to fatten up Tom for Thanksgiving. Tom is thrown into the animal pen. Daffy Duck, who happens to be one of the farm animals, is jealous of all of the food that the turkey is receiving. Once he sees a feast for Tom, Daffy rushes to the turkey and tells him to stop eating. Daffy explains that the hillbillies want to fatten up Tom then eat him, so Daffy says that the turkey should reduce his weight so the hillbillies won't eat the skinny turkey.
In a montage, the turkey exercises day by day, while Daffy eats up the entire feast that was supposed to be for Tom. On Thanksgiving Day, Tom is now extremely slim, while Daffy is fat. Pa finds Tom and states that it's too bony for him to eat. However, the tables turn when Daffy brags that he is a healthy duck himself and that the hillbillies can't eat duck for Thanksgiving. Pa finds Daffy a suitable alternative and attempts to axe and shoot him. Daffy frantically tries to lose his weight, but he nearly gets shot in all attempts. Daffy begs Tom to save him, and Tom hides him in various areas, before admitting that Daffy can't be saved aside from moving to a country that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving. Tom tells Daffy to take an airplane to Rio de Janeiro, which is a trick to get Daffy into the oven. However, the hillbillies are unable to cook Daffy, as Daffy keeps blowing the matches out.
Censorship[]
- On ABC's The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show, two scenes involving gun use were cut:[2]
- Ma and Pa's neighbor firing a rifle at them (with Ma using the bullets to pour the coffee, Pa using the bullets to light the match for his pipe, the bullets hitting Pa's hat when he hangs it up, and Pa firing back at their neighbor, followed by his agonized scream).
- Daffy trying to lose weight by sweating it off in a sauna machine, only for Pa to shoot the sauna machine and it to shrink tightly around Daffy's neck.
References[]