Cartoon Graveyard: Happy Thanksgiving, You Ingrates

Hey, so we finished the magazine last night at eleven, thus beating our deadline by TWENTY-FIVE HOURS FLAT. Top that, entire history and future of Squelch! Now we’ve scattered to the four winds to gorge upon bird meat. But before I sign off to hang out with my awesome cousins, I invite you watch that rarest of animals, a not-shitty Thanksgiving special.

Title: The Mouse on the Mayflower

Network: NBC

Premise: The Courtship of Miles Standish, but with songs and evil Cockneys.

This oddity from Rankin-Bass, which I’ve seen about a dozen times because I was a weird kid, follows a churchmouse who tags along with the Pilgrims on the Mayflower. Historical detail about ocean crossings and starvation follows, as well as less-historical subplots such as acting out the aforementioned Tennyson poem and the efforts of three jerks – two English, one American – to spark a war between their respective peoples. No Thanksgiving special for kids can ever really get into the violence that eventually followed the First Thanksgiving hugfest, but at least this one gives you a hint at the distrust and prejudice between the two groups that would lead to it. Also, it has Tennessee Ernie Ford. Let me repeat that. TENNESSEE ERNIE FORD IS IN THIS CARTOON. That alone is why The Mouse On The Mayflower gets my vote for Best Thanksgiving Special Ever. Sure, Charlie Brown is sweet and all, but he ain’t got no Ford. And now, in closing, I’ll let the man himself pummel history into your soft, mushy noggins.