Philip Brunelle, Janis Hardy, John Hartford, Garrison Keillor, Tom Keith, Kate MacKenzie, John Nieman, Plymouth Church Festival Choir, Vern Sutton.
We Gather Together in Silent Resentment ( Garrison Keillor , Plymouth Church Festival Choir ) Nobody Knows the Trouble I See ( Garrison Keillor , Plymouth Church Festival Choir ) Notre Dame Fight Song ( Garrison Keillor , Plymouth Church Festival Choir ) Onward Christian Choirs (Plymouth Church Festival Choir ) Bringing in the Cheese (Sheaves) (Plymouth Church Festival Choir ) Thanksgiving ( Vern Sutton ) Thank the Lord for This Thanksgiving Day ( Vern Sutton ) Hit the Trail for Home Sweet Home ( Vern Sutton ) You're a Million Miles from Nowhere ( Vern Sutton ) Make Everyday Thanksgiving Day ( Vern Sutton ) Longing for My Prairie Home ( Vern Sutton ) I'm Still Here ( John Hartford ) Ain't it Gone Gone? ( John Hartford ) The Old Lamp Lighting Time in the Valley ( Garrison Keillor , Kate MacKenzie ) Sitting Alone in the Old Rocking Chair ( Garrison Keillor , Kate MacKenzie ) Learning to Smile All Over Again ( John Hartford ) Theme Song for falling In Love ( John Hartford ) Bless This House ( Janis Hardy ) Let all things now living ( Philip Brunelle , Plymouth Church Festival Choir ) Meatballs ( Garrison Keillor , John Hartford ) Steamboats & Cotton ( John Hartford ) Turkey In The Raspberries ( John Nieman , John Hartford ) Thanksgiving Cantata ( Vern Sutton , Philip Brunelle , Janis Hardy ) Bringing in the Sheaves (Plymouth Church Festival Choir )
Bertha's Kitty Boutique (Garrison is concerned that the Turkey will go the was of the dodo bird and people will turn to dogs and cats. Bertha urges people to conserve turkey so there will be enough in the future.) Chruch Choir Salaries (Vern Sutton discusses that churches pay up to $35,000 yearly to choir members.) The Loraine Nissle Show (This week her guest is Verna Schoenecker.) Turkey Gobble (Tom Keith's famous Thanksgiving treat!)
IT WAS A COLD, CLOUDY, WINDY, GREY DAY ON THANKSGIVING. THE HOUSE WAS FULL AT THE LUTHERAN CHURCH ON THURSDAY MORNING. PASTOR INGQVIST HADN'T EXPECTED A CROWD SO HIE DIDN'T PREPARE MUCH. HE BUSILY LOOKED THROUGH HIS INDEX CARDS FOR MORE SERMON MATERIAL. EARLY IN THE SERVICE THE PIRE SIGNAL WENT OFF AND ALL THE CROWD ENVISIONED THEIR TURKEY'S BURNING AND FLAMES DESTROYING THEIR HOMES. THE FIREFIGHTERS ALL LEFT? DURING THE SERVICE BUD CAME BACK IN A FEW MINUTES AFTER THEY FOUND OUT BUD HAD ACCIDENTALLY SET OFF THE SIREN WHEN HE REACHED ‘TO GET SOMETHING BEHIND A WALL JOIST PASTOR INGQVIST DIDN'T THINK HE PREACHED MUCH OF A SERMON BUT ABOUT HALF OF THE CONGREGATION TOLD HIM AFTERWARD THAT IT WAS ONE OF THE BEST THEY HAD EVER HEARD. LUTHERANS MEAN WHAT ‘THEY SAY AND WHEN VAL TOLLEFSON GAVE HIM A TWO-HANDED HANDSHAKE HE KNEW THAT WAS COMPARABLE TO A STANDING OVATION. CLARENCE BUNSEN WAS NOT AT CHURCH BECAUSE HE HAS HAD FIREPLACE TROUBLE. HE WAS NOT PEELING THANKFUL AND AS HE WALKED TO THE BATHROOM TO PEE HE STEPPED ON TWO SCREWS. HE TOOK A BATH INSTEAD OF A SHOWER AND THAT MADE HIM FEEL OLD. AS HE COMBED HIS HAIR A BIG CLUMP OF HAIR FELL OUT. HE HAD RECEIVED A CALL FROM HIS DAUGHTER, BARBARA ANN, AND BY THE TONE OF HER VOICE HE KNEW SOMETHING WAS WRONG. ALL CLARENCE COULD THINK ABOUT WAS DIVORCE. HER HUSBAND WAS THE KIND OF PERSON WHO WORKED TOO HARD AND WAS TOO SERIOUS. ALL CLARENCE COULD 'THINK ABOUT WAS HIS DAUGHTER BEING ALONE. CLARENCE STAYED HOME AND COOKED THE DINNER AND TRIED TO START A FIRE IN THE FIREPLACE. THE FIREPLACE HAD BEEN WORKED ON BY AN EXPERT FROM CALIFORNIA NAMED SCHLOCK. MR, SCHLOCK HAD PUT AN INSERT IN THE FIREPLACE AND A LINER IN THE CHIMNEY. ALL OF THIS TOOK HIM A DAY AND A HALF AND WHEN HE WAS DONE THE HEAT WENT UP AND THE SMOKE ENTERED THE HOUSE. MR, SCHLOCK ATTRIBUTED THIS TO A CONVEX AIR FLOW. WHEN CLARENCE SUGGESTED A REFUND IT DIDN'T GO OVER WELL WITH MR. SCHLOCK. CLARENCE HAD TO CALL CARL KREBSBACH IN TO TAKE A LOOK AT IT, BARBARA ANN ARRIVED AS CLARENCE WAS LOOKING AT THE FIREPLACE WITH CARL. SEEING HIS DAUGHTER CAUSED HIM TO GO UPSTAIRS AND WIPE HIS EYES BECAUSE NORWEGIAN MEN DON'T CRY IN FRONT OF ‘THEIR DAUGHTERS. CLARENCE TRIED TO TALK TO HIS SON-IN-LAW ABOUT THE MINNESOTA VIKINGS AND THINGS LIKE THAT BUT HIS COMMENTS WERE PEW. BARBARA FINALLY ANNOUNCED THAT THEY WERE GOING TO HAVE A BABY. CLARENCE WAS DAZED AND AFTER THAT ANNOUNCEMENT NOTHING MATTERED. THE PIE HAD BURNED, THE TURKEY WAS CRISPY ON THE OUTSIDE AND DRY ON ‘THE INSIDE BUT THAT WAS UNIMPORTANT. THEY ALL ATE A QUIET DINNER. THE PRESENCE OF THE UNBORN CHILD INSPIRED CLARENCE, CLARENCE AND BARBARA DID THE DISHES AND SANG SOME SONGS THEY HAD REMEMBERED UNTIL THE SON-IN-LAW CAME INTO ‘THE KITCHEN TO ANNOUNCE ‘THAT SOMETHING WAS WRONG WITH THE FIREPLACE. CLARENCE THREW BURNING LOGS OUT OF THE HOUSE THAT WAS NOW FILLED WITH SMOKE. AFTER THIS INCIDENT BARBARA HAD A PAIN IN HER SIDE THAT CLARENCE SAID NEEDED ATTENTION AT THE HOSPITAL. ‘THEY DROVE TOWARD ST. CLOUD UNTIL THE THE PAIN SUBSIDED AND THEY JUST WENT FOR A DRIVE AFTER THAT. BARBARA ANN FELT BETTER AFTER THE RIDE, JUST LIKE SHE DID WHEN SHE USED TO TAKE RIDES FOR STOMACH ACHES AS A LITTLE GIRL. CLARENCE ‘TELLS BARBARA ANN ABOUT WHEN HE FIRST LEARNED HIS WIFE WAS PREGNANT WITH HER BACK IN 1952.
Garrison thinks Thanksgiving should be a four-day weekend because we lost Lincoln's birthday! Vern, Phillip & Janis will collect a list of things the audience is thankful for and perform a song at the end of the show. they continue to work on the cantata throughout the show.
1986.11.28 Star Tribune
Archival contributors: Ken Kuhl