{"id":45614,"date":"2024-11-29T07:26:43","date_gmt":"2024-11-29T12:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=45614"},"modified":"2024-11-29T07:28:29","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T12:28:29","slug":"the-bootleg-files-b-c-the-first-thanksgiving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2024\/11\/29\/the-bootleg-files-b-c-the-first-thanksgiving\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bootleg Files – B.C.: The First Thanksgiving"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 887: <\/strong>\u201cB.C.: The First Thanksgiving\u201d (1973 animated television special). <\/p>\n

LAST SEEN:<\/strong> On YouTube. <\/p>\n

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO:<\/strong> On a VHS video release.
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\nREASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: <\/strong>It fell through the cracks.<\/p>\n

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE:<\/strong> Probably not. <\/p>\n

The transition from newspaper comic strip to film or television production is not an easy journey. For every \u201cPopeye the Sailor\u201d or \u201cPeanuts\u201d that seamlessly moved from the funny pages to the screen, there are too many comic strips that tried and failed to make the jump.
\n<\/p>\n

One of the more intriguing comic strips that stumbled in this passage was Johnny Hart\u2019s \u201cB.C.\u201d Begun in 1958, Hart used a prehistoric setting where silly cavepeople cohabitated with talking animals and dinosaurs. Hart\u2019s characters worked best in droll observational humor, often with intentional contemporary anachronisms. And while \u201cB.C.\u201d was never truly laugh-out-loud material, it could be relied upon as being a pleasant distraction.<\/p>\n

In the early 1970s, Hart\u2019s characters began to show up in animated shorts, starting with the standalone \u201cB.C.: The Shadow\u201d that aired on ABC\u2019s \u201cCuriosity Shop\u201d and then in a series of public service announcements to promote ACTION, a Nixon-era initiative designed to centralize the administration of federal domestic and international volunteer agencies. As a result of these endeavors, Hart was encouraged to write a script for a half-hour television special \u2013 and since holiday-themed shows always attracted an audience, he opted to put B.C. and his friends in a romp around Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

There are no Pilgrims in \u201cB.C.: The First Thanksgiving,\u201d nor is there Plymouth Rock. But there are lots of rocks, which are the key ingredients in the rock soup that Fat Broad is making. As her politically incorrect name would suggest, she is generously proportioned and rather on the crass side \u2013 she orders the cavemen to get a turkey needed to add flavoring to the rock soup, and much of the production involves the cavemen chasing the turkey endlessly around the barren prehistoric landscape. <\/p>\n

For the most part, \u201cB.C.: The First Thanksgiving\u201d is a plotless series of vignettes designed to play off the eccentricities of Hart\u2019s characters. The best part of the special is the introductory segment, which is a dialogue-free sketch of B.C. accidentally discovering fire and repeatedly burning his hand in the process \u2013 the fired-up caveman slowly walks out of the viewer\u2019s range to wail in agony over his fried fingers. Another amusing segment involves the human and animal characters plus Gronk the dinosaur making an extremely noise use of a narrow river for drinking and bathing, but the growing cacophony of riparian noises awakes and angers the grouch peglegged caveman Wiley, who yells at all gathered to be quiet.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the weirdest element of \u201cB.C: The First Thanksgiving\u201d \u2013 when the characters\u2019 actions slowly unfold without dialogue, it is amusing. Indeed, there is almost a Tatiesque element of slow growing yet focused comedy during these segments. But when the production involves in-depth dialogue or engages in anvil-heavy slapstick chases with the turkey, it falls flat. The dismally ham-fisted nature of the chase segments is understandable since the production was helmed by Abe Levitow, who directed one true animated classic (\u201cMr. Magoo\u2019s Christmas Carol\u201d), one near-classic (\u201cGay Purr-ee\u201d) and a lot of mediocre shorts (including some of the 1960s-era Tom and Jerry titles) that were weighed down by uninventive chase sequences.<\/p>\n

But why were the dialogue-driven scenes so uninteresting? Hart\u2019s screenplay made a couple of half-hearted efforts to be contemporary \u2013 B.C. breaks the fourth wall several times to address the viewer with a voice and mannerisms meant to recall Jack Benny, while there is a thudding one-liner where the turkey\u2019s appearance is compared to Barbra Streisand. At one point, the turkey and Fat Broad also take on Laurel and Hardy\u2019s voices \u2013 don\u2019t ask why. There is also a much-too-long scene with B.C. slipping into his masked alter ego persona of The Midnight Skulker to answer a call from a tree-based telephone. Daws Butler, Don Messick and an uncredited Mel Blanc were among the voice performers, but their talents were wasted with dull dialogue.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Hart may have erred by putting \u201cB.C.\u201d into an extended production rather than keeping the concept in short films \u2013 the old axiom of achieving more with less. Although this special was seen on NBC on November 19, 1973, and would win the Best Feature Animation Award from the National Cartoonist Society, it failed to register with audiences. Eight years would pass before a second and final television special based on \u201cB.C.\u201d turned up, this time on HBO as a Christmas special.<\/p>\n

\u201cB.C.: The First Thanksgiving\u201d turned up on VHS video in 1984, but to date there is no DVD or Blu-ray release. A decent copy of the production is on YouTube \u2013 and while it is not essential viewing, it is an interesting curio with a few funny moments.<\/p>\n