Jerky Turkey is an animated theatrical short, directed by Tex Avery, released on 7 April 1945 by MGM. The story for this cartoon was written by Heck Allen, the music by Scott Bradley, and the animation was done by Preston Blair, Ed Love and Ray Abrams. Voices were provided by radio actors Harry Lang, who appeared on the Cisco Kid, and Leone LeDoux, who specialised in baby cries.\r
\r
Plot:\r
The Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock and found a colony. A very large number of Pilgrims (some of them caricatures of Averys animation crew) can be seen standing in line. for their cigarette rations. A Pilgrim goes hunting for a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. The turkey outsmarts the pilgrim many times and eventually the two make up and decide to eat at Joes restaurant which is being advertised by a bear, at the end the bear has eaten the two and reveals that he is Joe and the two complain inside the bears stomach. Many of the gags revolve around life on the home front in the United States during WWII, rationing and the black market. The turkey is a caricature of the comedian Jimmy Durante.