Several holiday themed TV shows and films have the theme of having a pet turkey that is destined to be Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.  Through the months, the turkey has become a friend to the main character so they are reluctant to cover it with cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving day.

Here are two films that show this:

By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953): This is the sequel of the Doris Day-Gordon MacRea romance “Moonlight Bay” (1951). These films are also based off of Booth Tarkington’s “Penrod” series, which is where Wesley Winfield’s (played by Billy Gray) shenanigans come from.
The Winfield’s have been raising a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner and naturally Wesley has gotten attached to the turkey named Gregory. He sets the turkey free and steals another. The family invites Mr. Winfield’s (Leon Ames) boss to Thanksgiving dinner and wants to impress.  Gregory somehow finds his way into the dining room during the meal. You can see what happens in the video below (Thanksgiving portion starts at 2 minutes until 10:30 minutes).

Giant (1956): At one part of the film, Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor)  packs up and takes her children back to Maryland to stay with her parents. She and Bick (Rock Hudson) have had some marital problems and they feel the separation might help them.  Leslie is there for Thanksgiving with her parents. The two young twins- Jordan and Judy- have a pet turkey they feed and call Pedro who obviously is meant for Thanksgiving dinner. At the dinner table the children say, “Is that Pedro?” And Leslie’s dizzy mother happily says, “Yes darlings.” Tears ensue.

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