The Great Turkey Giveaway
Posted by Julie | Filed under Did You Know?
Guest Contributor: Jodi Elowitz
Everyone has Thanksgiving traditions and if we are to be of a cynical disposition one would believe that the holiday is no longer about family and friends and giving thanks but more about shopping, football and movies. But of course if we were to look to history (and being a historical society we tend to do this on a daily basis) we would discover that there were stores open on the holiday, the annual Thanksgiving football games were played as early as 1920, and even though vampires did not sparkle in the twilight they certainly were already an important part of pop culture and cinema history, and the art of promotion and marketing was very much alive and well.
Recently I came across some film footage from the JHSUM’s We Knew Who We Were that dealt with an infamous marketing scheme promoted by the Homewood Theater, which was located on Plymouth Avenue, Minneapolis. The Homewood Theater was opened in 1924 by S.G. Lebedoff and is remembered fondly by former residents of the Northside. It was more than just a movie palace, it was a great communal center, where on Saturdays a nickel bought you a day of entertainment and there were so many kids you could not hear the film from all the excitement.
Like other theaters during the Great Depression, the Homewood came up with various promotions in order to entice people to come to the movies. They filled seats with special double features, live acts and raffles. The Homewood held its famous dish raffle on Wednesdays and if you went to enough of the mid-week raffles you could set a nice table.
But it was one special evening in November (year unknown) in which it was decided that the theater would hold a drawing for turkeys. Those with a lucky ticket would take home a beautiful bird. But these were not the white, wrapped Butterballs in a freezer case we have all come to love. Back then most of the patrons would have been Orthodox and the birds, needing to be Kosher, would have to be alive.
The great escape started in the basement when some of the cleverer Tom’s managed to break out of their crates. Without any warning the roving band of birds flew up the stairs and into the aisles of the theater causing an enormous amount of chaos and hilarity. Patrons chased the wayward birds up and down the aisles, through concessions and the lobby and finally out on to Plymouth Avenue where they continued their quest for freedom.
One resident remembered the scene as absolute pandemonium and likened the aftermath to a scene from Death Valley as birds hung from wires and trees the next day.
Needless to say this was the last of the live turkey raffles and as one of the Lebedoff decedents noted, the only turkey in a theater now- is a bad film!
Photo: Copyright Knight Scenes Photography. Used with permission.
