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Arthur Carlson from WKRP in Cincinnati really believed that turkeys could fly...[video]
maggiesfarm ^

Posted on 11/22/2012 8:57:54 AM PST by virgil283

"Did you know that this scene is ranked #1 of all the sit-com scenes?:: "-- I remember this, because for weeks afterward every time someone dropped an item, they'd say something like, "As God is my witness, I thought ball point pens could fly.---Happy Thanksgiving, all. Keep an eye out for any low-flying helicopters".. [Oddly enough, this famous WKRP episode was loosely based on a real event! Back in 1946 (some sources say 1945), Yellville, Arkansas inaugurated the "Turkey Trot Festival" which included a wild turkey calling contest, a turkey target shoot, a Miss Drumsticks Pageant and oh yeah: a live turkey release from the roof of the courthouse.

After a few years, someone thought it might be fun to actually toss the poor gobblers out of a low-flying airplane for the event. This repeated for a number of years until 1989 when a national animal-rights protest cast the event in a bad light and the "National Enquirer" splashed a photo of the event across the nation forcing promoters to abandon the turkey drop. Sometimes, real life is funnier - or plain stranger - than anything you can make up]


TOPICS: Music/Entertainment; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: turkeyscouldfly
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http://radio.about.com/od/thanksgivingradio/a/WKRP-In-Cincinnati-Turkey-Drop-Episode.htm
1 posted on 11/22/2012 8:58:02 AM PST by virgil283
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To: virgil283

Funniest episode—ever.

Truly.


2 posted on 11/22/2012 9:00:28 AM PST by Hulka
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To: virgil283

Well.....they did vote for Obama, didn’t they?


3 posted on 11/22/2012 9:00:35 AM PST by Gaffer
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To: virgil283

Turkey's were hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement!!!


4 posted on 11/22/2012 9:01:09 AM PST by KC_Lion (Build the America you want to live in at your address, and keep looking up.-Sarah Palin)
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To: virgil283

All I can say about the show is “Jan Smithers”....mmmmmm, mmmm, mmmmmm.


5 posted on 11/22/2012 9:01:35 AM PST by Gaffer
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To: virgil283

Wild turkeys wonder onto my property all the time. When my dog chases them they DO fly away when he gets close. They are just a little more adept at flying than chickens. And some of my chickens can fly a fair distance.


6 posted on 11/22/2012 9:02:39 AM PST by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
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To: virgil283

Oh, the humanity!


7 posted on 11/22/2012 9:02:55 AM PST by kik5150
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To: Gaffer

Ditto.


8 posted on 11/22/2012 9:03:53 AM PST by stboz
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To: cuban leaf

Wonder = wander

BTW, I don’t think they migrate. They can’t fly that well. ;-)


9 posted on 11/22/2012 9:05:05 AM PST by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
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To: virgil283

I seem to remember about that time that WKRP or another show did a parody. Instead of dropping live turkeys, they dropped frozen turkeys. Of course, the scene was on the sidewalk as people were trying to get out of the way of falling frozen butterballs crashing into vehicles, etc.


10 posted on 11/22/2012 9:09:14 AM PST by TomGuy
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To: cuban leaf
We have wild turkeys here too. Funny, they will line up in the evening like airplanes on a taxiway, then, one at a time, launch into the pine trees for night time roost.
11 posted on 11/22/2012 9:09:14 AM PST by Cboldt
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To: cuban leaf

CL..you are right as rain.... ‘wild’ turkeys can fly short distances and ‘swoop’ [glide] long distances. Also what amazes me is that when frightened they can keep a large tree between you and him, as so he seems to dissapper...


12 posted on 11/22/2012 9:11:37 AM PST by virgil283 ( "I Tawt I Taw A Proletariat.....I did I did...)
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To: Cboldt

The native turkeys have returned to southern Michigan in force. These days its rare to see a pheasant but the turkeys are everywhere.


13 posted on 11/22/2012 9:13:35 AM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: virgil283

Turkeys can fly. Just look at how Barack and Moochelle get around the country.


14 posted on 11/22/2012 9:14:41 AM PST by MIchaelTArchangel
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To: virgil283

I remember the show like yesterday. This episode, and the Chuckles the Clown episode, were breathtakingly funny.


15 posted on 11/22/2012 9:22:42 AM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: MIchaelTArchangel

Now, that there’s funny!!!


16 posted on 11/22/2012 9:29:26 AM PST by Nea Wood (When life gets too hard to stand, kneel.)
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To: virgil283

BTW, here’s a better clip of the WKRP turkey episode:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf3mgmEdfwg&feature=related


17 posted on 11/22/2012 9:30:59 AM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: virgil283

Turkeys can fly. They roost in trees. How do ya think they get up there, climb? LOL


18 posted on 11/22/2012 9:34:42 AM PST by TheRhinelander
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To: TomGuy

Tomguy : “WKRP did a parody. Instead of dropping live turkeys, they dropped frozen turkeys”....Some say this is an urban legend going back to the ‘Rooster Booster’ or chicken gun for testing bird strikes on airliners...


19 posted on 11/22/2012 9:36:57 AM PST by virgil283 ( "I Tawt I Taw A Proletariat.....I did I did...)
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To: virgil283

This episode was played 4 times in a row yesterday on ... er, either ME-TV or Antenna-TV. I had to watch it twice, even though I’ve got it on recorded media anyway. It’s a great show.

And yes... Jan Smithers was so beautiful. I’ve had a tremendous crush on her ever since 1974’s “Where the Lilies Bloom.” A good movie about Appalachian kids living on their own after their father dies, if you ever get the chance. (They keep the father’s death a secret so as to not break up the sibling family.)

And the older I get the more I appreciate Loni Anderson in that role. She was hot, even with the horrible big hair.

“Oh my God, they’re turkeys!”


20 posted on 11/22/2012 9:41:43 AM PST by MarineBrat (Better dead than red!)
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