Free Thanksgiving movies, episodes and cartoons

Play anything below on demand, or leave Laugh Track (CH 3) on in the background while the turkey roasts. The Thanksgiving titles come first; the last two sections are clearly marked as family picks rather than Thanksgiving stories.

After the leftovers, the season moves on to our free Christmas movies and classic TV Christmas episodes.

Thanksgiving episodes, cartoons and shorts

• The Beverly Hillbillies: Turkey Day 25 min · Laugh Track
  It's almost Thanksgiving and Elly May is determined to save the turkey from the oven. First aired November 27, 1963.
• Jerky Turkey 8 min · Saturday Morning
  Tex Avery's 1945 MGM cartoon: a Pilgrim goes hunting for a wisecracking turkey for the first Thanksgiving dinner.
• A Day of Thanksgiving 12 min · Family Room
  A 1951 Centron short: the Johnsons can't afford a turkey this year, so their father leads them to count the blessings they still have.

Feast-day comedies

• The Gold Rush 87 min · Silent Pictures
  Snowbound and starving, Chaplin's Lone Prospector cooks and serves his own boot: the most famous dinner in silent comedy (1925).
• Hot Water 60 min · Laugh Track
  Harold Lloyd against his overbearing in-laws, a live turkey on a crowded streetcar and a disastrous first drive (1924).
• Our Hospitality 75 min · Silent Pictures
  Buster Keaton is invited to dinner by the family feuding with his own, and they can't shoot him while he's a guest under their roof (1923).
• Petticoat Junction: The President Who Came to Dinner 25 min · Laugh Track
  The railroad's president checks into the Shady Rest incognito, planning to scrap the Cannonball (1963).

Barnyard cartoons for the kids' table

• The Barnyard Concert 6 min · Saturday Morning
  Mickey Mouse conducts a farmyard band (1930).
• The Barnyard Battle 7 min · Laugh Track
  Mickey and the mice defend the farm against an army of cats (1929).
• Farm Foolery 8 min · Saturday Morning
  An Aesop's Sound Fable of rhythm and farmyard gags (1930).
• Farm Frolics 7 min · Saturday Morning
  A Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies tour of the farm (1941).
• Old MacDonald Had a Farm 8 min · Saturday Morning
  A Paramount Noveltoon sing-along on the farm (1945).
• Chicken a La King 7 min · Saturday Morning
  A Fleischer Color Classic love triangle in the chicken yard (1937).

Family TV after the feast

Not Thanksgiving episodes: easy family viewing for the long weekend.

• The Beverly Hillbillies: No Place Like Home 25 min · Laugh Track
  The Clampetts are back at the old cabin, and Jed tells how his grandfather built it.
• The Beverly Hillbillies: The Family Tree 25 min · Laugh Track
  Cousin Pearl wants the family in the society pages, and Jed would rather keep his truck.
• The Beverly Hillbillies: Jed Cuts the Family Tree 25 min · Laugh Track
  Society ladies come calling on the Clampetts again.
• The Joy of Painting: Golden Rays of Sunshine 25 min · Family Room
  Bob Ross, golden light and a quiet half hour.
• The Joy of Painting: Forest River 25 min · Family Room
  A peaceful forest river with Bob Ross.

Cozy family classics

Family favourites from Family Room and Laugh Track, not holiday stories.

• The Kid 53 min · Silent Pictures
  Chaplin's 1921 feature about the Tramp and the child he raises.
• Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm 70 min · Silent Pictures
  Mary Pickford as the irrepressible Rebecca (1917).
• Pollyanna 58 min · Silent Pictures
  Mary Pickford as the girl who plays the 'glad game' (1920).
• Father's Little Dividend 81 min · Family Room
  Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor in the sequel to Father of the Bride (1951).
• Peter Pan 100 min · Silent Pictures
  Betty Bronson in the first film of J. M. Barrie's play (1924).

See also: Free Christmas movies · Free classic family movies · Classic TV shows free · All free collections