November 20th, 2020 
Michael Lyons 
When A Charlie Brown Christmas aired on CBS fifty-five years ago, it was a huge ratings hit and seen by 45% of those watching television that evening. Soon, other networks started looking for a similar success. They wanted their “blockbuster holiday special.”
Since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and the theory that “if something works, let’s do it again” is a safe one, networks looked to the newspaper comic pages (remember those?) for inspiration once again.
B.C., a popular comic strip that debuted in 1958 and was extremely popular in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, was one of these chosen as the subject for its own animated TV special, B.C. – The First Thanksgiving, which aired on NBC on November 19th, 1973.
Johnny Hart, the cartoonist who created B.C. was also the co-writer of the special. Set in prehistoric times, the comic strip centered on a group of characters, cave men and women, including the main and title character, “B.C.” Although set against a backdrop of dinosaurs and the dawn of man, gags and story lines very much commented on contemporary society, including politics, celebrities and religion.
B.C. was actually brought to television, thanks to a number of legends in the animation industry. The director of The First Thanksgiving was none other than Abe Levitow. Most famous for his work as an animator alongside another legend, Chuck Jones at Warner Bros, Levitow later went on to work at MGM and the UPA Studios. It was at the last Studio that Levitow directed what is considered to be the very first animated TV Christmas special, Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol in 1962.
In B.C.: The First Thanksgiving, Levitow not only captures the style of Hart’s comic strip perfectly, but also brings fuller, more dynamic animation than usually seen in television animation of the time.
The voice cast of the special is a veritable “who’s who” of animation voice acting legends.
Actor Daws Butler, most famous for voicing some of the popular character’s in Hanna-Barbera’s canon, like Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound, provides the Jack Benny-inspired voice for the lead character, B.C.
Don Messick, another Hanna-Barbera veteran who seemingly voiced every one of the Studio’s characters that Butler didn’t (Messick is most famous for Scooby-Doo) provides the voice for Peter, the slick sidekick, who sounds a lot like John Wayne.
Actor Bob Holt who had been working for years at this point as a voice actor in such films as Charlotte’s Web (1973) and several Dr. Seuss TV specials voiced Wiley, a peg-legged curmudgeon.
And, singer Joanie Sommers provides the voice of Jane, the bossy cave woman, who tries to wrangle the clan to have a special dinner, by looking to add flavor to the “rock soup” with a turkey (hence the “first Thanksgiving”).
She commands the men of the tribe to go out and catch a turkey, which results in some clever, sight gags as the men of the tribe keep missing the opportunity to capture the bird.
This is essentially the entire plot of B.C.: The First Thanksgiving. Outside of the race to get the turkey, there are a lot of moments that set the time & place to capture the flavor of the comic strip.
The opening of the special involves almost no dialogue, as we see B.C. discovering fire, by consistently burning himself. There’s also a glimpse into the tribe’s morning ritual, as we see them, in all their different ways, converging on the water hole. And, there’s an extended moment of animated action, when two of the animal characters from the comic strip, John the Turtle and the Dookey Bird, tangle with each other.
While it wasn’t as successful as A Charlie Brown Christmas, or many other TV holiday specials inspired by comic strips, BC: The First Thanksgiving did go on to win the Best Feature Animation Award from the National Cartoonist Society in 1973.
After it’s first airing, the special wasn’t shown much again on NBC, or other networks. In the 1980’s, it appeared on VHS, but has never been released on DVD, or any streaming platforms. Look for it today in “the land where lost videos go”: You Tube.
There was a follow-up special, BC: A Special Christmas, which aired on HBO in 1981 and featured the voices of the comedy team of Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding.
That special, like BC: The First Thanksgiving, is, unfortunately, relegated to a forgotten list of TV specials and is remembered now only by those who grew up with it, or were avid readers of the daily comic strip.
For animation fans, seeking it out and watching it today is a nice “throwback” to a time when each holiday seemingly had its own TV special and also a time when there was excitement at seeing the static images from daily “funny pages” come to life. It’s a time that now seems…well… prehistoric.
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