Happy Franksgiving?
Toward the end of the 1942 movie Holiday Inn staring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire (this movie introduced Irving Berlin's "White Christmas"), a November calendar page pops up on the screen. A turkey drawn on the last Thursday suddenly becomes animated and hops up to the Thursday of the previous week; he then hops back. The turkey continues this peripatetic behavior until, worn out, he looks out at the audience, puts up his cartoon hands in an empty gesture, and shrugs in confusion. Audiences of 1942 got the joke, but 21st century television viewers under age 70 must be as perplexed as the poor turkey. If your over 70 you might recall the three year saga of "Franksgiving."
In August 1939, Lew Hahn, general manager of the Retail Dry Goods Association, sent a message to Secretary of Commerce Harry Hopkins warning him that in the opinion of the nation's retail merchants, 1939's late Thanksgiving, November 30, might have a "possible adverse effect on the production and distribution of holiday goods." Hahn went on to say "I have not sufficient temerity to seek to influence the President of the United States in connection with his Thanksgiving Day proclamation, but... if any relief could be secured it would be not only good for business, but for the public as well."
Presidents had been proclaiming a Thanksgiving holiday on the last Thursday of November since President George Washington in 1789. The average American accepted this date as tradition. Yet, retail businesses knew that in years when the last Thursday fell on the 29th or 30th, the shopping period before Christmas shrank to three weeks. President Roosevelt, perhaps trying to throw a bone to the businessmen who so often railed against him, mentioned at an informal news conference during his August vacation that he would end the old tradition and move 1939's Thanksgiving forward to Thursday, November 23. National astonishment greeted the President's announcement.
Alf Landon, the Republican's unsuccessful 1936 presidential candidate, said, "Another illustration of the confusion which his impulsiveness has caused so frequently during his administration. If the change has any merit at all, more time should have been taken working it out... instead of springing it upon an unprepared country with the omnipotence of a Hitler." James Frasier, the chairman of the selectmen of Plymouth, Massachusetts, where the pilgrims first celebrated the holiday, "heartily disapproved," as did most of New England.
Other than the Hitler analogy, Landon had a point: Changing Thanksgiving Day with only three months notice would have an adverse effect on the holiday plans of millions of Americans. One of the first complaints came from college football teams. Many teams in those days ended their seasons with big Thanksgiving Day rivalries. Some
Latest Articles