The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn’t (1972)

Here’s a little Thanksgiving after-school special for all you Gen Xers out there. This is a clip from the 1972 holiday original The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn’t. Happily, you can tune in to Boomerang at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. (ET) on Thanksgiving Day to see the 30-minute commercial-free special.

The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn’t is the story of a dangerously fateful day for Johnny Cooke, a young Pilgrim boy, and Little Bear, an Indian boy, who are discovered to be missing. The first Thanksgiving feast cannot start without them, and when their friend Jeremy Squirrel hears they are in peril he goes on a daring rescue mission. He braves waterfalls and snarling timber wolves to save his friends and succeeds in saving them and therefore Thanksgiving Day itself. The little hero is then invited to be guest of honor at this very special feast.

“Animated holiday specials such as The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn’t bring back a lot of childhood memories,” said Stacy Isenhower, senior vice president of programming and scheduling for Boomerang and Cartoon Network. “We know that our viewers, both young and old, will feel the spirit of the holiday with this cartoon classic—it reminds us again that there is always a reason to be thankful.”

I wonder how many Gen X and Gen Y parents will be settling down to watch this with their children Thanksgiving morning. Guess what I’ll be doing at 10 a.m. ET?

Do you remember seeing this when it aired in 1972 or in subsequent years?