Comments on: The Churkendoose: Part Chicken, Turkey, Duck and Goose 1946 book

By: acerplatanoides

acerplatanoides — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 08:42:00 +0000

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscovy_Duck

By: Keith Hopkins

Keith Hopkins — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 19:02:00 +0000

There was also a sixties version read by Soupy Sales. I had it when I was a kid. So long ago…

By: rg70

rg70 — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 20:39:00 +0000

My mom was born in ’42. She had this book and passed it on to my brother and I in the 70s. I think it is still somewhere in a box at her house.

By: Jenni Dougal

Jenni Dougal — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 21:00:00 +0000

It’s… Manbearpig!

By: ft

ft — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 09:11:00 +0000

I listened to this a lot as a kid and was delighted to find it a few years ago online. Ray Bolger, in case someone didn’t know, was the Scarecrow in Wizard of Oz.

By: Heevee Lister

Heevee Lister — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 00:44:00 +0000

I didn’t have the book, but as a kid I had (and may still have somewhere) the Ray Bolger record. (My parents weren’t perfect, but they got some things right.)

The Churkendoose always talks in verse. He can’t walk, but he can tap dance. The Rooster is the voice of norms and authority, attacking the intruder, the stranger, the other: “What good are you?”

The Churkendoose wonders, “Can’t the chicken, turkey, duck, and goose, live in peace with the Churkendoose? Does the pear tree say to the apple tree, ‘I hate you ’cause you’re not like me’? Does the green grass ask the sky so blue, ‘I’m green, why aren’t you green too’? … They’re different, yet they get along, and no one seems to think it’s wrong … Can’t you like me just because I’m me?”

In an era when American racism was institutional, The Churkendoose quietly promoted tolerance. It gently suggested that we look beyond external appearances to the real person inside. We could do with a little more kids’ entertainment like that today.

PS – Yes, the Churkendoose was ugly. So was Lederer and Burdick’s Ugly American. Bonus points for the BBer who’s actually read that 1958 book and knows who the good guy is. Hint: the title doesn’t mean what you think it does.

By: CastanhasDoPara

CastanhasDoPara — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 23:29:00 +0000

Quachurkendooswanstritchemu

That makes 8. I invite you to beat that..

Also Shrabster, that is all.

By: Mandana Khoshnevisan

Mandana Khoshnevisan — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 18:48:00 +0000

GASP! I have been trying to remember what this book was called or even if it existed, for YEARS! And there it is! I think my mom, or maybe her brother, must have owned it, and I read it at grandma’s house? I know I’ve read it lots of times, but it was somewhere in the recesses of my … and every time someone talks about a turducken, it comes to mind … but it’s not exactly a hilarious anecdote to relate to others if one can’t remember what it is or whether it even exists.

Thank you, Boingboing. Thank you.

By: chris jimson

chris jimson — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 18:33:00 +0000

I’m sure ultimately it still just tastes like chicken.

By: woid

woid — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 15:15:00 +0000

Ha! Supporting evidence!!!

http://www.kiddierecords.com/2007/index.htm

Narrated by Ray Bolger, with music by Alec Wilder (once-well-known composer, and one of Sinatra’s favorite early-career arrangers).

By: Lilly

Lilly — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 15:05:00 +0000

WELL PLAYED!

By: woid

woid — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 15:04:00 +0000

I will swear, with no supporting evidence, that there is a 78rpm kiddie record of a song called “The Churkendoose” based on this book (or is it the other way around?) — with a lyric something like “Part chicken, turkey, duck and goose… Look out, it’s the Churkendoose.”

Or so a deeply buried, possibly misfiring synapse tells me.

By: kmoser

kmoser — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 13:08:00 +0000

In Soviet Russia, proxy hides behind you!

By: chris coreline

chris coreline — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 10:54:00 +0000

its 1/4 kosher,
fortunately, im 1/4 Jewish.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 10:29:00 +0000

That one works.

Your e-mail certainly suggests that you’re in Russia, but your IP claims to be in White Plains, New York. Maybe it’s time for me to stop using Geobytes. I checked yours and mine on several other IP locators and everybody but them has it correct.

By: Chentzilla

Chentzilla — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 10:19:00 +0000

No, I’m in Russia. Either there’s a proxy I don’t know about, or your IP checker makes a mistake.
Please believe me that I want to share, not to troll.
How about this one:
http://rutube.ru/video/4c8d3ec2932fe6a00f65b9b7e88512e2/#.UJOd8fKVp6Y
?

By: PurpleWyrm

PurpleWyrm — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 10:14:00 +0000

It’s obviously part chicken, part turkey, part duck, part goose and part cassowary

By: purple-stater

purple-stater — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 10:06:00 +0000

My mother still has a copy laying about. Ah, memories. :-)

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 09:33:00 +0000

Okay, what gives? You are in the US, aren’t you?

This video contains content from Quiz Group Pro, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.

By: Guest

Guest — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 09:19:00 +0000

… but less tasty.

By: Chentzilla

Chentzilla — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 08:29:00 +0000

There’s a Soviet cartoon (also children’s picture book) about a goose who exchanged various body parts with other birds, until he turned into an even more bizarre chimera:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsDooCbg2V4

By: Ashen Victor

Ashen Victor — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 08:23:00 +0000

Part Chicken, Turkey, Duck and Goose, all delicious.

By: Boundegar

Boundegar — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 08:11:00 +0000

Except… It’s ALIVE!

By: BarBarSeven

BarBarSeven — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 07:25:00 +0000

It might taste good, but is it kosher?

By: Jake0748

Jake0748 — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 05:50:00 +0000

Ah yes. I see that now. How could I have missed it.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 05:40:00 +0000

This outranks the turducken by one goose.

By: Jake0748

Jake0748 — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 05:38:00 +0000

Is this like the turducken that John Madden was always yapping about?

By: Stefan Jones

Stefan Jones — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 04:57:00 +0000

“Washable cover.” Because the sheer horror of the Churkendoose led many tots to lose their Maypo.

By: Stefan Jones

Stefan Jones — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 04:56:00 +0000

The flesh protrusion is actually an atavistic fin, last expressed in this bloodline 300 million years ago.

With that much genetic engineering, you’ve got to expect some hideous deformities to creep in.

By: gwailo_joe

gwailo_joe — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 04:47:00 +0000

Since when do ANY of those birds have a pink fleshy protrusion growing out the back of their collective skulls?

The Churkendoose is an Abomination.