Turkey Days Gone By

by Lynne Rostochil.  Photos from the Oklahoma History Center.

Of all of the holidays, Thanksgiving is, by far, my favorite.  It’s the one holiday that remains relatively untouched by consumerism and offers us the rare opportunity to press the Pause button on life and take stock of all of the things that make us happy and grateful.  The only goal of the day is surrounding yourself with loved ones and good food and maybe taking in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and football.  What’s not to love about that?

So, to celebrate the day, I’ve compiled some images from the Oklahoma History Center’s vast photographic archive of Thanksgivings past to get you in the spirit for all of the fun.

Thanksgiving is all about (hopefully happy) reunions, like this one from 1955:

And this one from 1953, in which Vernon Cowan was spending his first holiday home after being released from a Korean POW camp:

Yeah, he knows all about being thankful after that experience, I’m sure.  If you’re the crafty type and want to take on more than just cooking for Thanksgiving, why not try making one of these delightful table centerpieces:

Alas, I don’t have a crafty bone in my body, but I can make a mean turkey just like this lovely lady did back in 1950:

Delicious … although these guys don’t think so:

And what’s Thanksgiving without making pilgrim hats out of construction paper and putting on a little show?

Does the cute boy on the left look familiar?  In the newspaper caption, he’s identified as Joey Slack, who has grown up to be one of the most talented and best-known local artists, the incomparable Joe Slack.

Finally, if you like a little cheesecake with your turkey, here’s a cute one from 1948:

If you love old movies and TV shows, she might be familiar to you, too.  She is Phyllis Coates, who would go on to play Lois Lane opposite George Reeves in the movie, “Superman and the Mole Men” and the first season of the TV series, “Superman”:

After the first season, Phyllis left the show and was replaced by the Lois Lane that most of us remember, Noel Neill (who had originally appeared as Lois Lane in a few Superman movies in the late 1940s):

So, there’s your little bit of trivia for the day.  Gobble, gobble!