Welcome, all, to Chicken City.
I'm Frederick Fowler,
your congenial c*ck co-host.
Today, I'm going to take you --
We're going to take you!
-Ladies and gentlemen,
meet Henrietta Henningsen,
my fluttery, flighty friend
and co-host.
-So happy!
-Today we, your host chickens,
are going to take you on a tour
of beautiful Chicken City.
-Where chickens rule!
-Yes, obviously.
After our tour,
you will know more
about the chicken
than you ever imagined.
In fact,
you'll be chick-enlightened.
We'll start with a visit
to Poulet Muse,
then the Leghorn Library.
We'll stop in
at Eggenheim Museum
for "The Artful Chicken" show,
and then check out
Fowl Film Festival.
Next, we'll visit
Roostervelt Community College,
not to mention a stop
at the c*ck 'N' Bull Caf.
-Oh, well. We better get going
before the c*ck crows at dawn,
as they say.
-Chickens -- they're everywhere!
Ah! Welcome to the Poulet Muse,
my friends.
I'm going to take you on a tour
of our beautiful museum
that sheds light on our rich
and varied history
throughout all of time.
It is an amazing story
that I dare say
impacts the history
of the entire world.
-Some 150 million years ago,
the archaeopteryx roamed
the Earth with dinosaurs.
It stood on two legs
and had wings and feathers.
And from this mother hen
came all birds,
including we chickens.
Fast-forward
between 5000 and 3000 BC,
in the dark, sprawling forests
of southern Asia.
There, according
to Charles Darwin,
the grandfather of evolution,
lived the red junglefowl.
This was the predecessor
of today's chicken,
called gallus gallus.
Chickenologists
mostly agree gallus domesticus,
or the domesticated chicken,
emerged around 3500 years ago,
not for culinary purposes,
but rather for c*ck.
Limited by an inability to fly,
the migration movement
of chickens
is linked to the movement
of humans.
From Asia,
chickens made their way
throughout the world
alongside
their human counterparts.
Chickens were
a cherished possession
to these long-ago people
in Southeast Asia.
They felt there was
a mystique about chickens
and were sacred
to many cultures.
China has a long history
with chickens
extending back
to before the time of Christ.
In some Chinese
initiation ceremonies,
a white c*ck is k*lled to
signify the death of an old life
and the purity of the new.
c*ck was popular,
and by the Shang era,
around 1000 BC,
the Chinese were the first
to introduce chicken
into their cuisine.
The rooster is the 10th
among the 12th animals
in the Chinese zodiac cycle.
The rooster is celebrated
every 12 years,
with the next cycle in 2029.
If you are born
under the sign of the c*ck,
you are a pioneering spirit,
courageous, highly successful,
and outspoken.
On the downside,
c*ck are selfish,
eccentric, opinionated,
and tend to be loners.
Oh, my goodness.
What does that say about me?
In the 15th Century BC,
one of Egypt's pharaohs
described birds
that "bear every day."
Presumably, these were chickens.
Researchers have described
an icon of a chick
found in the tomb
of Tutankhamen,
also known as -- --
King Tut.
Ancient Egyptians
were also among the first
to mass-produce chickens
and incubate their eggs,
presumably to feed
the throng of pyramid workers.
They created the process
of incubation in hatching ovens
and were capable of producing
20 million chicks each season.
Wouldn't want to count
the chickens in that basket.
In Greece, the birthplace
of Western thought,
the chicken became the subject
of intellectual debate,
literary reference,
scientific scrutiny,
as well as myths and legends.
The c*ck
was considered a creature
of tremendous beauty
and strength
and was associated
with numerous Greek gods.
In Greek mythology,
Demeter,
the goddess of agriculture,
and her daughter Persephone
claimed the chicken
as a symbol of fertility,
while Hermes,
the god of commerce
and a notable polygamist,
possessed the c*ck's
erotic attributes.
The chicken was sacred
to Athena,
who was the goddess
of wisdom and warfare
and the trumpeter of justice.
Athena also happened to have
the c*ck's bellicose nature.
Electrion,
the Greek word for rooster,
was a young soldier
assigned by Ares to stand guard
while he made love to Aphrodite,
who happened to be the wife
of his brother.
When Electrion fell asleep,
the tryst became known,
and Ares changed Electrion
into a rooster, doomed forever
to announce the arrival
of the sun with his crow.
Aristotle was also
one of the earliest
to study the embryonic
development of the chicken,
by opening and accurately
describing the contents of eggs
during each day
of their 21 days of incubation.
Socrates spoke of a chicken
on his deathbed.
After being sentenced to death
by ingesting hemlock,
his last words were...
"We owe a c*ck to Asclepius,"
who was the god of hell.
"Pay it, and do not neglect it."
The ancient Etruscans,
before they succumbed to
Roman rule in the 6th Century,
practiced divination,
including the wishbone custom,
using the dried clavicle
of the chicken to make a wish.
Did they ever hear
of blowing out birthday candles?
At Rome's pinnacle,
chickens were prized
for their supposed
medicinal powers.
Ulisse Aldrovandi,
considered the grandfather
of chicken wisdom,
was an Italian naturalist
who wrote a 400-page
treatise on chickens.
He claimed there is almost
no illness of the body,
both internal and external,
which could not be cured
by the chicken.
From leprosy to pleurisy,
from tumors to humors,
from elephantiasis to phlebitis,
roosters, hens, or chicken parts
were described.
Chicken --
the cure for what ails ya.
Apicius, a Roman gourmet
who lived in the 1st Century AD,
is credited
with writing the first cookbook
in the Western world.
His recipes contain instructions
on how to preserve
and prepare chicken with brines,
herbs, cream sauces,
and even fried up in a pan.
Like in Greece, myths around the
chicken were abundant in Rome.
The c*ck became identified
with numerous gods.
His lust was personified
by Amor, the god of love,
who was also known as Cupid,
and also Priapus,
the god of fertility.
He was linked with Mercury, the
god of property and prosperity,
who was also a trickster
with a reputation
for thievery and gambling.
The c*ck's combativeness
and willingness to die fighting
was a perfect match for Mars,
the fierce god of w*r.
The Romans believed that
the chicken had divine powers
and an ability to communicate
with the netherworld.
Electromancers used chickens
in their rituals
by interpreting messages
from their pecking at grains
scattered on the ground.
In another divination process
called Oraculum Extrupudio,
military decisions were based
solely on a chicken's appetite.
If the chicken ate,
there would be a victory.
During the Punic Wars,
chickens were used
to determine
if there should be a battle.
If the birds
refused their supper,
they were thrown overboard,
with the leader shouting,
"If they won't eat,
let them drink!"
Needless to say,
the Romans lost that battle.
The chicken made an impact
on the early Christian church.
The New Testament contained
several references
to the chicken.
At one point, Jesus compares
himself to a mother hen.
"How oft have I gathered you,
as a hen gathereth
her chickens under her wings!"
After the Last Supper,
Jesus predicted
to his disciple Peter...
"Verily, verily,
I say unto thee,
the c*ck shall not crow
till thou hast denied me
thrice."
Jesus was correct.
He was soon arrested, and Peter
denied any connection to Jesus
three times in a row.
But when he heard the c*ck crow,
he broke down and repented.
The rooster then became
a symbol of repentance
and was often seen
at the foot of Peter.
Around 590 AD,
Pope Gregory I
even named the rooster
as the most suitable emblem
of Christianity.
And in the 9th Century,
Pope Nicholas decreed
that all churches
must display the rooster
on their steeples or domes.
The image of the rooster watched
vigilantly for the rising sun
and was linked
to Christians watching
for the second coming of Christ.
The egg has long been
a universal symbol
associated with Easter.
It is believed the coloring
of Easter eggs
began as an ancient tradition
of staining eggs red
in memory of the blood
of Christ.
While the chicken enjoyed
a prestigious place
in Christianity
as it spread throughout
the European continent,
it would not last forever.
Eventually, its reputation
of the male erotic urges
and its use in pagan rituals
would contribute
to the chicken's fall from grace
in the eyes
of the Christian Church.
One such ritual was alchemy,
which was an ancient science
that combined magic, astrology,
and mystical philosophy
to unlock the mysterious
workings of the universe.
A union between opposites was
an important concept in alchemy,
with the rooster and hen
representing the perfect pairing
of the sun and the moon.
In the Middle Ages,
animal allegories
called bestiaries
became extremely popular
as teaching tools.
They were serious works
based on natural history
and infused with religion,
mythology, and science.
Generally,
the c*ck is portrayed
as an intelligent
and revered creature.
Well, what else would it be?
But other bestiaries
maligned the poor fellow
by depicting it as a basilisk.
Reputed to be the most evil
of all creatures,
the basilisk was hatched
from a c*ck's egg
and supposedly
had the power to k*ll
with either a glance
or its incredibly bad breath.
Maybe a little flossing
and brushing would help things.
Over the next centuries,
the chicken spread
throughout Europe,
In France,
the c*ck has a long history
as a symbol of their country.
In fact, in Latin,
"galus" is the word
for both c*ck and France.
The image of a fighting c*ck,
the "coq gaulois,"
became their national emblem,
and the pride of the poulet
appears throughout France
even today.
And in Italy,
this famous pitcher
dates back
to commemorate an event
that took place
in the town of Galina in 1478.
Galina translates to hen.
The pitcher was created
to honor the chickens
who saved the life
of Giuliano de' Medici
by warning the family
of an impending raid
with their cackling cry.
Giuliano was so thrilled,
he had ceramic replicas
of the rooster made
to be used as wine vessels.
In England,
beginning in the 1500s,
selective breeding of chickens
took place
to improve egg and meat
production.
In 1843, Chinese ports
opened to worldwide commerce,
and the British poultry industry
was turned upside down
by the arrival
of exotic new Chinese breeds,
including...
In 1845, Cochins were exhibited
at London's
first major poultry show
and poultry popularity exploded.
Just five years later,
in Birmingham,
tens of thousands of gawkers
became instant poultry fanciers.
Queen Victoria
increased the excitement
with her new flock of Cochins.
Her poultry housing
looked more like a country manor
than a chicken coop,
and her precious birds
lived in the lap of luxury.
When Queen Victoria
banned c*ck in 1849,
the gentry diverted its
attention from fighting c*ck
and went crazy with show birds.
Even Punch, the British magazine
known for its pithy satires,
had something to say
about the poultry mania.
The first English poultry club
was formed in 1864,
and their standards
of perfection
for every breed was drafted.
In ancient Jewish tradition,
at the Kapara,
on the eve of Yom Kippur,
Orthodox men sacrifice c*ck
and women hens for atonement,
saying...
"This fowl is my substitute.
This is my surrogate.
This is my atonement.
The c*ck or hen
goes to its death
that I may enter into
a long and happy life
and into peace."
Throughout Africa,
customs and attitudes
towards chickens varied.
The Azande tribe in the Sudan
fed a poison called benge
to chickens,
which k*lled some chickens
and spared others.
At sances, the benge-fed
chicken was asked questions,
and the answers were determined
by the chicken's survival...
or not.
In Benin, a matriarchal society,
chickens' images were placed
on the graves of women.
The more powerful the woman,
the bigger the statue.
In voodoo and Santeria,
chicken sacrifices were
important in their religions.
At voodoo ceremonies, the blood
of a sacrificed chicken
is offered to the Iwa,
a voodoo god.
Chicken feet were used as charms
to ward off evil spirits.
In Santeria,
the followers of an orisha
offer a sacrificed chicken
to please the spirit.
As the English colonists
made their way
to Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607,
it is reported
that the 500 chickens on board
were eaten during a famine.
But more chickens soon arrived
as the settlers
made the trek to the colonies.
For the next 250 years or so,
raising chickens
was a casual pastime,
a job usually left
to women and children.
For the most part, the chickens
were not housed or even fed.
They coexisted
with other animals,
living on leftovers and what
Mother Nature could provide.
They slept in trees,
and their eggs had to be hunted.
On average, hens laid
only about 30 eggs a year,
as opposed to the modern
chickens. who lay around 300.
Ouch!
Farmwives often sold the eggs
as a small source of income,
hence the term "egg money."
In 1840,
the rooster entered politics,
when political speeches
were named "crowing,"
today known as "boasting."
The rooster even became
the official emblem
of the National Democratic Party
for a short time,
before it was ousted by the a*s.
In the 1800s,
some of the most famous breeds
were developed --
Dominiques, Plymouth Rocks,
Rhode Island Reds,
and White Leghorns.
But, just as in England,
the Cochin craze
took over the U.S. in 1843,
when the exotic Chinese Cochins
arrived.
An American obsession
with owning and breeding
the world's finest chickens
took hold.
The first exhibition
of fancy poultry in America
was held in Boston's
Quincy Market in 1849
and truly launched
the American poultry industry.
It attracted more than 10,000
people from every walk of life.
In George Burnham's 1855 satire,
"The History of Hen Fever,"
he describes the obsessiveness
of chicken fanciers.
The American Poultry
Association published their own
first standard of perfection
in 1874,
which classifies and describes
the ideal physical appearance,
coloring, and temperament of
the then 41 breeds of chickens.
But soon the market
was oversaturated
with expensive chickens,
and suddenly no one
seemed interested.
The era of the exhibition
chicken may have waned,
but the chicken
was here to stay.
In the early 20th Century,
raising chickens was still
primarily a side business
run by wives
with the help of children.
Chicken meat
was considered a delicacy
that most families reserved for
holidays and special occasions.
The development
of the U.S. poultry industry
paralleled the development
of heavy manufacturing
in urban centers,
and the industry evolved
from traditional, cottage-style
businesses
into large-scale productions.
Much of the population moved to
cities for better-paying jobs,
and the new city dwellers
had to purchase eggs and meat
rather than relying
on their own supply.
The remaining rural farmers
were poorly equipped
to handle the growing demand.
Inadequate roads and
transportation made it difficult
to deliver eggs and poultry
to city markets.
-The U.S. egg industry
received a tremendous boost
during World w*r I as
the demand for eggs increased.
The Daughters
of the American Revolution
started a w*r-effort
fundraising campaign,
telling their contributors...
"Every dime given means an egg.
Every quarter means a chicken."
The U.S. government
encouraged families
to raise their own
backyard chickens
to free up food supplies
for troops and allies overseas.
-As more and more people
got into the business
and chicken farms expanded,
labor prices increased,
land values rose,
and the delicate balance
between expenses and profit
was at the mercy
of fluctuating market forces.
When the First World w*r ended,
there were just
too many egg farmers,
and the booming business
went bust.
Also, the importing of eggs
from China
had become a serious problem
to American farmers.
They lobbied for tariffs
on the imported eggs.
Throughout the country,
poultry cooperatives
were established
to protect the farmers
from the manipulation
of egg prices by wholesalers.
By 1920, the chicken business
was again looking hopeful.
It wasn't long before chicken
was second only to corn
as a revenue producer
for rural farms.
In 1928, just before
the Great Depression,
the Republican presidential
candidate, Herbert C. Hoover,
promised to put,
"A chicken in every pot,"
as the United States economy
began to sour.
This promise worked,
and Hoover won the election.
The Second World w*r was also
good for the chicken industry.
The troops needed to be fed,
and military demand for dried
and powdered eggs was high.
After the w*r, raising poultry
became an American dream.
Following the Depression's
hard times and the w*r's horror,
people yearned
for a simpler life.
To attract
new and hungry consumers,
farmers turned
to science and technology
to increase their profits.
The goal was simply to produce
bigger chickens faster
and increase egg supply.
The hen was moved inside,
because uniformity in growth,
laying, and egg quality
could be better achieved
in a controlled environment.
The move eliminated
the need to hunt for eggs
and the risk of losing them
or the chickens to predators.
The hen was no longer able
to relax under a shady bush,
take dust baths,
or care for her young.
She was housed together
with other hens in coops
or on her own in a small cage,
where she was given
carefully controlled food,
water, and light.
Conveyor belts carried her eggs
to industrial-sized incubators.
Chicken life in the modern era
was now very different
from any other point
in human or chicken history.
-So it wasn't fun
to be a chicken anymore?
Wow!
That's a lot of chicken info!
I feel like my bantam brain
is about to crack!
Hey, I'm feeling
a little peckish.
-Let's head over
to the c*ck 'N' Bull Caf.
-Welcome
to the c*ck 'N' Bull Caf.
My name is Java Jersey, and I'll
be your waiter this afternoon.
Can I interest you
in a c*ck, perhaps?
We have Chicken Gin Giblet,
c*ck-a-Rail c*ck,
Gobbler Cobbler, c*ck Collins,
c*ck-a-Doodle Daiquiri,
or Bantam Beer.
-Why do they call it a c*ck?
-Well, there are many theories,
and most of them have something
to do with the, uh, chicken
in one way or another.
Some say it came
from the practice
of toasting the victor
of a c*ck
by placing feathers
in his drink.
Others attribute it
to a French tradition
of serving liquor concoctions
in an egg-shaped cup.
We'll never know.
-I think I'll start
with the Chicken Gin Giblet.
-Hmm. What do you recommend
for a peckish chicken?
-We have a few specials today.
You could start
with chicken soup,
which was, by the way,
developed in the 12th Century
by Moses Maimonides,
who was the first to suggest it
as a cure for the common cold.
Or there's Chicken Marengo,
which was made for Napoleon I
after a close call at the
Battle of Marengo in Italy.
And there's chicken la king,
which credits Delmonico's
restaurant in New York
for developing the dish
with pimento-laden cream sauce.
Or maybe Chicken Kiev.
I hear that the Russians
view the dish as their own,
but it was refined
by a Ukrainian chef
in the 19th Century from Kiev.
Whatever its history,
it's a delicious dish of chicken
with a rich, buttery sauce
covered in breadcrumbs.
Oh! We also have capon.
Did you know that the Capon
is a castrated rooster
developed in Rome around 161 BC?
There were Roman laws enacted
to limit excessive consumption.
That banned fattening hens
to conserve grain.
So they developed a technique
to castrate the rooster,
making him grow fat and tasty.
-Well, it all sounds delicious,
but I think I'll just have
another c*ck.
Mm. Maybe a Bantam Beer?
-Make mine
a c*ck-a-Doodle Daiquiri.
-Gravel and grubs!
Gravel and grubs!
I love to eat
my gravel and grubs.
-Ooh! I love this TV show!
It's Chicken Lady from
the Canadian sketch comedians
the Kids in the Hall!
-Let me show you more.
This is "Cow and Chicken,"
created by cartoon genius
David Feiss
that first appeared
on the Cartoon Network in 1994.
And since then, 52 brilliant
shows have been created.
There's my favorite barnyard
rooster, Foghorn Leghorn.
He starred in nearly 30
Warner Bros. cartoons.
This one's "Walky Talky Hawky."
It was released in 1946
and was nominated for an Oscar.
Ooh, and how about
"Super Chicken"?
It was a cartoon show
produced by the creators
of "Rocky and Bullwinkle."
Mm-hmm. Only 17 six-minute
episodes were ever made
between 1967 and 1968.
The star of the show
is Henry Cabot Henhouse III,
the richest chicken in the world
and an amateur scientist.
In each episode,
Henry would drink
his super sauce
and turn into the superhero
known as Super Chicken.
Gotta watch this.
Ah, yes. "Green Acres."
Folks from the big city living
on a shabby farm in Hooterville.
This old classic was on CBS
for seven years in the 1960s.
-You don't order eggs...
-Oh, watch Lisa get
on-demand eggs from her chicken.
Classic.
-Chickenman!
-He's everywhere,
he's everywhere!
-At the same time
when "Green Acres" was on,
the classic radio serial
"Chickenman" was launched
by d*ck Orkin of WCFL Radio
in Chicago.
Mm-hmm.
The series eventually played
on more than 1,500
radio stations
in the United States
and overseas.
And now let's listen
to some chicken music.
Oh, please!
- Whoo-hoo!
Whoo-hoo-hoo!
Whoo-hoo, hoo,
whoo-hoo, whoo-hoo!
Whoo!
-Ooh! My favorite tune,
"The Us Dance."
Come on, honey. Let's cut a rug.
-I don't think I know the steps.
-Oh, nonsense. Just cut loose.
-When you think
of chicken music,
one of the first songs
that comes to mind
is the always popular
at weddings
and at German festivals
"The Chicken Dance."
Surprisingly, this song
is relatively contemporary,
written by Swiss composer
Werner Thomas in the 1950s.
-Oh, gosh. I'm doing it.
I'm really doing it.
-Well, of course!
Every chicken
can do the chicken dance.
It's in our DNA.
Aah!
Well, I guess you do have
two left claws.
Now, after all these c*ck,
I'm rarin' to ruffle
my feathers.
-Calm down.
We're going into a quiet zone.
Just pretend
you're walking on eggshells.
So let's continue our tour
and head over
to the Leghorn Library.
-Holy New Hampshire red!
That's a lot of books!
-Well, it's no surprise,
given the chicken's
important status
in cultures around the world,
that they've been the subject
of countless books
by notable authors.
-Well, I'm gonna go check out
some of the chick lit.
-Welcome to the Leghorn Library.
I'm Abigail Australorp,
head librarian.
-We're here to learn
about the importance
of chickens in literature.
-Well,
the first important author
that had a lot to say
about chickens
was the famous fableist Aesop,
allegedly a Greek sl*ve
who lived about 600 BC.
Best known for the story
of "The Tortoise and the Hare,"
Aesop also extracted great
wisdom from hens and roosters
and featured them in his tales.
The often used expression,
"Don't count your chickens
before they're hatched,"
is the moral from
"The Milkwoman and her Pail."
In it, she hatches up a plan
to sell her milk to buy chickens
to then sell for a new gown.
The plan goes awry
when she spills the milk.
In his famous
"Canterbury Tales,"
Chaucer immortalized
the character of Chanticleer
in "The Nun's Priest's Tale."
This famous 14th-Century
rooster is typical of c*ck.
He is elegant and intellectual,
egotistical and vain,
but likable enough.
And of course
he has seven wives.
In the tale,
Pertolete, his favorite wife,
accuses Chanticleer
of being a coward
when he tells her
of a premonition
of his impending doom
at the hands of a fox.
Sure enough, Sir Russell,
a cunning fox,
appears to lure Chanticleer
away from the barnyard,
enticing him with flattery,
and then snatching him
in his mouth.
Chanticleer outwits the fox
when appealing
to Sir Russell's pride
and escapes
when he opens his mouth.
While many of the cultural
references to chickens
have focused on the bravado
and prestige of roosters,
Hans Christian Andersen explores
the character of the hen.
In his allegory,
"It's Perfectly True!",
Andersen uses the hen
to perpetuate the stereotype
of the vanity of women
who go to great lengths
to attract men
by altering their appearance.
-In the story, the hen
plucks out all her feathers,
thinking it will make her
more attractive to the rooster.
Many people think that
the most famous chicken tale
is the story of "Henny Penny."
We know her as Chicken Little
in the U.S.
When an object falls
on her head...
...Henny Penny assumes
the sky is falling.
On her way to tell the king,
she is joined
by her friends c*ck Locky,
Ducky Daddles, Goosey Loosey,
Turkey Lurkey, and Gander Panda,
who join in her fear
of impending doom.
Some of my other
favorite chicken tales
are Edmond Rostand
of "Cyrano de Bergerac" fame,
who wrote "Chanticleer,"
the story of an idealistic,
vain rooster
who falls in love
with a pheasant hen
and becomes henpecked
by her seductive demands...
...and P.G. Wodehouse's
"Love Among the Chickens,"
the story of Stanley
Featherstonehaugh Ukridge's
scheme to achieve fame
and fortune by raising chickens.
Let's listen.
-I've thought it over, lad,
and it's as clear as mud.
Chickens, eggs,
and the money's streaming in
faster than you can bank it.
It's the idea of a lifetime!
You get your first hen on tick.
Well, then you let this hen --
this first, original hen,
this on-tick hen --
you let it set
and hatch chickens.
Then, suppose you have
a dozen hens.
Very well, then.
When each of the dozens
has a dozen chickens,
you send the old hens back
to the chappies
you borrowed them from
with thanks for the kind loan.
Starting business with
144 free chickens to your name!
As might be expected,
"Love Among the Chickens"
went amok.
Shakespeare doesn't neglect
chickens in his writings.
In "Macbeth,"
upon hearing
of the savage slaughter
of his wife and children,
Macduff cries...
And in
"The Merry Wives of Windsor,"
Bardolph wants to know
if Falstaff wants eggs
in his wine this time.
And Falstaff yells that no,
he doesn't want
any chicken sperms in his drink.
And we mustn't forget
chicken poems.
My favorite,
"The Red Wheelbarrow"
by William Carlos Williams.
-Thank you so much
for sharing your deep knowledge
of chicken literature.
Well, that was interesting,
wasn't it?
-And inspiring.
It makes me want to do
some serious writing myself.
-Why don't you?
-Well, every time I try,
it all
looks like chicken scratch.
-Naturally.
Ah. The art museum.
And look. The current show
is "The Artful Chicken."
Did you know that nearly
every artist throughout history
has a chicken
in their body of work?
Well, that gives them something
to crow about.
Yolk, yolk!
-It does prove that
the chicken is the ultimate icon
in the world of art.
We're here
for "The Artful Chicken" show.
We like our eyes open
to the wonderful world
of chickens and art.
-Well, then you're in
the right place, my friends.
My name is Olivia Orpington, the
curator of the Eggenheim Museum.
First of all, there aren't
too many artistic isms
where the chicken isn't.
From Realism to Naturalism...
from Impressionism to Cubism...
and from Dadaism to Modernism,
the chicken has inspired
the masters
through generations
of art history across the world.
The first recorded piece
of chicken art
dates back
to prehistoric times in Harappa,
a great city in the valley
of the Indus River,
in what is today Pakistan
and one of the earliest
agricultural civilizations.
Around 3000 BC,
two clay figurines
of a c*ck and a hen were found
by archeologists.
This important find
not only proved
the existence of the chicken,
but it also signified
the beginning of an art
that reflects the history
and culture of civilization --
an art that has finally
been recognized
as a legitimate genre --
chicken art.
Artists like Nuremberg's
Albrecht Duerer
paid homage to the rooster's
virility and strength.
In his coat of arms, Duerer,
one of the great artists
of the German Renaissance,
depicts a white c*ck
standing atop a helmet
with a frightened-looking
lion below.
Even the most ferocious
of animals
were terrified
of the noble bird.
There are many reasons
artists painted chickens.
They portray despair and death
in Francisco Goya's still life.
Painted during Napoleon's
invasion and occupation
of Spain,
he portrays a lifeless,
defeated,
and dramatically deceased
chicken --
one of the many death scenes
Goya imagined
in this violent
and uncertain period of history.
To Chaim Soutine,
his hatred toward chickens
was evident in his 20 versions
of "Dead Birds,"
all plucked
and hanging on hooks.
This, by the way,
stemmed
from a childhood punishment
of being locked
in the chicken coop.
Now, here's an artist
that we can all relate to --
French illustrator
J.G. Grandville.
His chickens
are obviously inspired
by all of us in Chicken City.
The paintings of J.W. Ludlow
served a very practical purpose
at the height
of chicken enthusiasm
in mid-19th Century England.
His 50 meticulous renderings
of perfect chickens
in Lewis Wright's
"Book of Poultry"
helped to standardize the breeds
and served as a guide for judges
at contests and exhibitions.
To Marc Chagall, chickens
exuded joy, hope, and love,
often like angels.
Ito Jakuchu
used his depiction of chickens
to reflect
and express his commitment
to Zen Buddhist principles.
Alone, they serve as
a metaphor for the individual,
possibly Jakuchu himself,
isolated and in search
of spiritual enlightenment.
In pairs or groups,
Jakuchu's chickens seem to make
eye contact with each other
and exude a feeling of harmony.
Pablo Picasso was not only one
of the most influential artists
of the 20th Century,
but also a great chicken artist.
Through his 60-year career,
chickens appear
not only as powerful icons,
but as reflections
of Picasso's emotional state,
personal life
and political leanings.
His 1938 painting,
"A Girl with c*ck,"
is said to reflect the tension
between his wife
and two mistresses.
At the same time,
his Spanish homeland
was torn apart by a civil w*r.
Here, a cold
and androgynous person,
whom some claim resembles
Picasso himself,
is holding a terrified rooster
by his throat on her lap.
It appears as though
she is ready
to sacrifice
or castrate the chicken.
Picasso claims that the painting
represents the destruction
of a helpless humanity
by the forces of evil.
But some suggest
it may also be a response
to a perceived threat
to Picasso's masculinity.
While living in occupied France
during World w*r II,
Picasso was watched by the Nazis
and forced to refrain
from controversy.
His 1944 painting,
"c*ck of the Liberation,"
was said to be a symbol
of his loyalty to the French.
In the aftermath of the w*r,
Picasso's paintings
evoked its horrors.
In "The c*ck and the Knife,"
he depicts a freshly
sacrificed rooster,
atop what appears to be
an altar,
with his feet bound
and throat slit.
John Heartfield,
a Berlin-based Dadaist,
displayed his hatred of Hitler
in his famous photo montage.
As Hitler is sharpening
his knife with a sinister leer
while an innocent
French chicken awaits its fate,
the French Foreign Minister,
Bonnet,
reassures the viewer
by saying, "Don't be afraid.
Hitler is a vegetarian."
Meanwhile, in the United States,
portraiture was still
the dominant art form,
and the chicken was
a popular source of inspiration.
Jacob Maentel was a painter
who traveled the countryside
to paint portraits in the 1800s.
Notice in his
"Boy with Rooster,"
the boy's hair mimics that
of the rooster's comb,
and the tail appears
to be part of the boy.
Grant Wood, an Iowa painter
in the 1900s, loved chickens.
His first drawing, at age 3,
showed a cluster of tiny arcs,
or half-moons,
all positioned
in the same direction.
He told his mother
that they were chickens.
Throughout his career,
Wood never tired of the birds.
In "The Appraisal,"
Wood contrasts two women
from different worlds.
A country woman
wearing simple clothes
clutches her Plymouth Rock and
discusses the price of the hen
with a flashy,
fur-clad woman from the city
wearing pearl earrings
and carrying a fancy purse.
Wood's "Adolescence"
is a poignant barnyard metaphor
about the pain and struggle
of growing up.
The shy and insecure
pubescent chicken
at the center of the painting
awkwardly attempts
to hide her body.
This pin-feathered
spring chicken,
whose plumage
has not fully developed,
stands in stark contrast
to the scowling, matronly hens
at her side.
If bigger is better
and more is more,
contemporary American artist
Douglas Argue's
untitled chicken painting is
the ultimate chicken painting.
Not only is it monumental --
12' x 18' --
but it evokes a feeling
of infinite chickens,
each a unique entity with
its own personality and details.
He painted without models,
yet each chicken is different.
He has never
been around chickens
and claims he has no
particular feelings about them.
Although it depicts
a large-scale
chicken-raising operation
Argue protests
that this painting
is neither a social commentary
about mass production
nor the plight of chickens.
Even so, this painting hit a raw
nerve with the poultry industry.
In 1903, the House of Faberg
created the Chanticleer Egg.
On the hour, Chanticleer,
made of gold
with yellow, blue,
and green enamel,
and adorned with rose diamonds,
springs from the top of the egg,
nods his head, flaps his wings,
and moves his beak
as if to crow.
-Wow. Those Faberg eggs
are beautiful, aren't they?
-Aw, they sure are.
But I'd hate to have to try
and hatch one!
-Yeah. Ouch.
-Before you leave,
let me show you more
of my favorite chicken pieces
from our collection.
-Hey!
The Fowl Film Festival
opens today
at the Apollo Cinema!
I'm in the mood
for a good chick flick!
-Folks probably don't know
that chickens have been featured
in some great Hollywood films --
some serious, some humorous,
but all a great tribute
to our relatives.
-Ohh! Can't wait!
Roll 'em, Roger!
-Welcome. I'm Roger Eggbert.
Welcome to
the Fowl Film Festival.
As you will see today,
chickens play important roles
in many of the world's
most celebrated films.
Sometimes they're
the stars of a film
or they're referenced
in memorable movie quotes...
or sometimes they're featured
as symbols in the mise-en-scne.
One of the first significant
chicken film sightings
was the 1925 silent classic
"The Gold Rush"
starring Charlie Chaplin.
In it, Chaplin plays
a luckless prospector
barely surviving
a harsh winter in the Yukon.
Sharing his shack is Big Jim,
who, in a starving,
delirious state,
sees Chaplin as a potential meal
as he morphs
into a giant chicken.
"Freaks," from 1932,
is a disturbing film
that takes place
in a traveling circus.
-Hello.
-Hello.
-Cleopatra, a beautiful acrobat,
woos and wins the love
of a m*dget, Hans,
who has acquired a fortune.
When she plots his m*rder,
he and his freak friends
transform her from a
once-beauty to chicken lady,
her lot in life to become
a spectacle in a sideshow.
-Believe it or not,
there she is.
-Bawk!
Bawk! Bawk! Bawk!
Bawk! Bawk! Bawk!
-"The Blue Angel," a 1930 film
by director
Josef von Sternberg,
is a chicken classic.
At the wedding of upstanding
Professor Rath to Lola,
the sultry and seductive
chanteuse
at the Blue Angel Caf,
a simple egg trick foreshadows
the later demise of the couple.
Ba-bawk! Bawk!
Ba-bawk!
-Professor Rath's life plummets
after he loses his teaching job,
becomes financially dependent
on his unfaithful wife,
and is forced
to perform the egg trick.
-An egg.
Good, fresh-laid egg.
-This humiliation turns
the professor into a rage,
and as he strangles her,
her death screams
are mixed
with his c*ck crowing.
-"The Egg and I,
Betty MacDonald's
best-selling book,
was made into a movie in 1947
starring Fred MacMurray
and Claudette Colbert...
-...and Claudette Colbert,
never so winsome!
-On their honeymoon.
to the horror of Betty,
Bob makes
a special announcement.
-We can begin to figure out
more important offspring.
-Oh, darling.
-Maybe five or six hundred
of them.
-Five, six hundred what?
-Well, chicks, of course.
-Somehow, they survive
every imaginable disaster
that could befall
such an inexperienced pair,
and the film
has a Hollywood ending.
Another fun film farm movie is
"Ma and Paw Kettle at Home."
In it, the Kettles' son
applies for a scholarship,
describing their run-down farm
as a farmer's dream.
So when an inspector visits
the Kettles' farm,
he is met
with unsuspecting challenges,
and a hen subjects him
to one more humiliation.
-Even Doris Day
got into the chicken mood
with the song
"King Chanticleer"
from the 1953 film
"Shine on, Harvest Moon."
Outrunning a chicken
is one of life's challenges,
as evidenced in these
iconic chicken chase scenes.
The chicken in the
opening scene of "City of God"
witnesses her potential fate
and manages to elude
the angry and hungry crowd.
-I want you to try to --
to chase this little chicken.
-And in the boxing movie
"Rocky II,"
Rocky Balboa's trainer, Mickey,
challenges him
to catch a live chicken,
part of the training for his
rematch against Apollo Creed.
-Pick him up!
You look like a girl out there!
What's the matter with you?!
-Feel like
a Kentucky fried idiot.
-In "Song of Love,"
starring Katharine Hepburn
and Paul Henreid,
their brood of children
attempt to capture a chicken,
after which Katharine
is terrified to k*ll a chicken
for their evening meal.
Chicken for dinner.
-k*ll it?
-Well, naturally.
We can't eat it alive.
-Morning, miss!
What's for breakfast?!
-Sometimes chickens are symbolic
of things to come.
In "Goin' South," the scene
of two chickens having sex
symbolically mimics
the sexual tension
between outlaw Jack Nicholson
and spinster Mary Steenburgen.
-How's about a little dessert?
-"Food of the Gods"
is a sci-fi film
based on
the 1904 H. G. Wells book
"Food of the Gods
and How It Came to the Earth."
In the film,
a group of friends travel
to a remote island in Canada
only to be attacked
by giant k*ller animals,
including chickens.
As it turns out,
local farmers there
found a strange edible substance
that causes rapid growth.
Unfortunately,
this turns the animal world
into gargantuan beasts
that start terrorizing
the island.
Perhaps inspired
by "Food for the Gods,"
in the sci-fi film
comedy film "Sleeper,"
Woody Allen finds himself
200 years in the future
where food is grown
in gigantic proportions.
-That's a big chicken.
What a way to go,
to be pecked to death!
-"Chicken Run" was
the first classic chicken film
in the 21st century.
Set on a poultry farm
which has all the grim aspects
of a prisoner-of-w*r camp,
the flock dreams of freedom.
-We've got to get out of here.
-The hens,
faced with the hard choice
of either producing more eggs
or being sent
to the chopping block,
plot their escape,
led by the scrappy hen Ginger.
The hens find themselves
in deep trouble
when the evil Mrs. Tweedy
and her hen-pecked husband,
owners of the farm,
purchase a massive
chicken pie-making machine.
An uncertain hope arrives in the
form of a fast-talking Rocky,
an American rooster
on the lam from a carnival,
who agrees to teach the girls
how to fly to freedom
with mixed results.
-Ow!
-Ow!
-One of my favorite
chicken scenes is --
well, this really needs
no explanation --
in "Hot Shots! Part Deux."
-Gah!
-In "Cairo, Nest of Spies,"
Dujardin's character,
secret agent OSS 117,
finds himself in a chicken coop
when something feathered
whizzes by him at top speed.
"It's a chicken!" he discovers,
cradling its lifeless frame
tenderly in his arms.
"Mon dieu!" he exclaims,
taking in the moment.
Then an enemy agent begins
flinging even more chickens
at OSS 117
as a chicken barrage ensues.
-I'd like an omelet.
-And then there's Jack Nicholson
in "Five Easy Pieces,"
attempting to order
a piece of toast from
a stern, uptight waitress.
-A number two.
Chicken-salad sand.
Hold the butter, the lettuce,
the mayonnaise.
And a cup of coffee.
Anything else?
-Yeah, now all you have to do
is hold the chicken,
bring me the toast,
give me a check
for the chicken-salad sandwich,
and you haven't
broken any rules.
-You want me to
hold the chicken, huh?
-I want you to hold it
between your knees.
-In James Dean's searing
"Rebel Without a Cause,"
the Chicken Run
is the site of the film's
pivotal fatal car crash.
Part of the Italian film
"Bread and Chocolate"
by Franco Brusati
takes place in
a chicken slaughterhouse
and in a converted chicken coop,
where the family lives, eats,
and even sleeps
with the chickens.
"The Ghost and Mr. Chicken,"
which stars the bug-eyed actor
Don Knotts,
is a chicken film in name only.
Knotts portrays
a wannabe reporter
on the trail of a ghost
in a haunted house.
Reminiscent
of his television role
in "The Andy Griffith Show,"
he is afraid of
just about everything.
As such, he is
the only chicken in the film.
In the classic film
"Citizen Kane,"
in a rare moment of levity,
Charles Foster Kane
entertains his lover, Susan,
with a shadow puppet of a
rooster -- comb, beak, and all.
- It's supposed to be a rooster.
- No. A rooster.
Gee, you know
an awful lot of tricks.
-Clark Gable and Greer Garson
star as a mismatched pair
in the 1945 romantic comedy
titled "Adventure."
Gable, a rowdy merchant mariner,
and Garson,
a sophisticated librarian,
clash over lifestyles
and values,
but they bond over
stealing chickens for fun,
and, of course,
they fall in love.
-Make like a rooster.
-What for?
-Wanna catch us a hen.
-Ohh!
Oh, I bet it won't work,
but here goes.
I thought you said
we'd catch us a hen.
-We will, but a hen's a realist.
No hen would come running
for a rooster she can't see.
-In the 1930s, Clark Gable
was married to Carole Lombard,
and they were Hollywood's
most adorable chicken couple.
Not only did they own chickens,
but they also attempted
an egg-laying operation
with 600 Rhode Island Reds,
whose eggs were sold
under the label The King's Eggs,
obviously capitalizing on
the photogenic Clark's nickname.
Even though Lombard
allegedly sang the hens
to sleep each night,
the flock's production
was sporadic.
When the stars realized
that their production cost
per egg was $1,
they abandoned
the foul fowl venture.
-Ooh! Those films make me
want to see more!
How about it? Want to do a
little...Netchicks and chill?H
Hoh-hoh!
-Maybe later, but now
we're heading to our last stop,
Theodore Roostervelt
Community College,
and I hope you will listen
and learn a little more
about our culture
for cluck's sake.
-You sound madder
than a wet hen!
-No, I just don't want you
to have egg on your face
not knowing important facts
about our chicken kin.
So why don't we hop along
and hear what Professor Eggbar
has to bawk about?
-Welcome, my little chickies,
to Theodore Roostervelt
Community College.
I am the distinguished poultry
professor, Barnveld Eggbar.
Today we're going to learn many
fun facts about us, the chicken.
But first, a pop quiz.
Which came first --
the chicken or the egg?
Humans have been asking that
question for thousands of years.
At one time, reputations
were staked on this vital issue.
The early Christian Church
insisted
that all living creatures
were created by God
and refused to believe
that life evolved from seeds --
or, in our case, eggs.
Even Aristotle in 300 B.C.
mused on this
and concluded that both
the chicken and the egg
must have always existed
simultaneously.
But most scientists
state unequivocally
that the egg came first.
Science wins!
-Yay!
-So I guess
we'll settle on the egg.
-Whoo-hoo!
-Now, since you're old enough
to learn about
the chickens and the bees,
we're gonna move on
to our next lesson --
Chicken Sex Ed.
First of all,
anatomically speaking,
the male chicken,
also known as a c*ck,
actually has no c*ck at all.
Instead, both the chicken
and the rooster
have orifice called
a cloaca, or vent.
To make a baby chicken,
the randy rooster
must service the hen.
Often after a little dance,
he leaps on her back,
grabbing her by
the scruff of her neck.
He wriggles for a second or two
then jumps off
and ruffles his feathers,
often crowing
to announce his conquest!
c*ck-a-doodle-doo!
Then the hen jiggles
as the airborne sperm
transfers from him to her.
Thus, the egg is fertilized.
The hen lays the egg,
and it takes 21 days for the egg
to develop into a chicken.
But never fear --
the delicious eggs
that humans eat
do not need a rooster
in the barnyard.
Instead,
when a hen starts ovulating,
it takes 24 to 26 hours
for her to create a perfect egg.
She lays unfertilized eggs,
and humans say
they taste just delicious!
In our next lesson,
Chicken English,
we will learn
the many words inspired by us.
By the way,
no other animal has influenced
the English language
as much as we chickens.
Some words are naughty,
some are nice,
but they all have a place
in Webster's Dictionary.
The word "chicken" refers
to both the male
and the female chicken,
but it has other meanings.
Like when a human is afraid,
they might be called chicken
or chicken-hearted.
And if they lose their nerve,
they "chicken out."
Hen is the female chicken,
and if she's over a year old,
she's called a bitty.
"Bitty" is also used to describe
a fussy, middle-aged woman.
A pullet is a young hen,
typically less than a year old.
"Rooster" is the word
for an adult male fowl,
as we have discussed,
also called a c*ck.
The word "c*ck,"
as an anatomical description,
is often thought to derive
from the stopcock,
which is a cylinder-shaped
spigot that spews liquid.
Albrecht Durer in the 1400s
depicted such a stopcock.
Other c*ck words
are "c*ck tease."
And then there's
"c*ck of the walk,"
"c*ck sure," "c*ck up,"
"c*ck,"
"c*ck optimist,"
which Mitzi Gaynor sang about
in "South Pacific."
Something like that,
if I remember Mitzi right.
-In England, the word "pecker"
refers to a beak or nose.
However, a "pecker"
in the United States
refers to a different
anatomical part.
There's even more
chicken-related words
and expressions like...
hen house, mother hen,
madder than a wet hen,
hen cackle,
rare as the hen's teeth,
hen-pecked, peckish,
pecking order, spring chicken.
By the way, in the chickens'
world, it's a spring-born chick.
But don't ever say
"She's no spring chicken"
about a middle-aged woman
unless you want to
get cold-c*ck!
And that's only
scratching the surface.
There are hundreds more
words and terms
you can find in books like this.
Now, since summer vacation
is soon upon us,
you'll want to venture out
and cross many roads
to get to the other side,
so here are a few suggestions
for some of my favorite
chicken destinations.
First, you may want to check out
the Mike the Headless Chicken
Festival in Fruita, Colorado.
It's a well-known festival
celebrating the miraculous life
of a famous fowl owned
by Lloyd Olsen in 1945.
Mike was heading
for a large stew pot,
but he remarkably survived
the chop of the axe.
Olsen fed the plucky poultry
grains and water
with an eye-dropper
through its neck,
and Mike eventually grew
to weigh eight healthy pounds!
Olsen took Mike
on a national tour,
billing him as the
"Headless Wonder Chicken."
But one night,
Mike tragically died.
But Olsen, shrewd as he was,
collected the $10,000
insurance money.
Mike's short life
is still celebrated annually
with a festival held
in Colorado.
Ohh! Here's another
fun side trip.
Oktoberfest Zinzinnati
in Cincinnati, Ohio,
where tens of thousands
of kazoo players
convene every year
for the world's largest
chicken dance.
If you're heading west,
there's the Chicken Ranch,
a very famous brothel
about 60 miles west
of Las Vegas, Nevada.
The first Chicken Ranch
opened in 1905
in La Grange, Texas,
and the bordello earned
its name by accepting chickens
in lieu of cash
during the Depression.
It was forced to close
after a reporter wrote
an expos about it,
but it was reborn
as the new Chicken Ranch
near Sin City, Las Vegas,
expanding its reputation
to be the best little whorehouse
in the West.
It was even memorialized
as a Broadway musical
in Hollywood film --
"The Best Little Whorehouse
in Texas."
I love that film!
Dolly Parton, Burt Reynolds.
Oh, sweet Jesus!
Or you can always visit
Chicken, Alaska.
They say you'll have
a clucking good time there,
especially at the Chickenstock
Music Festival.
In the Heartland, you can visit
the National Poultry Museum
at the Agricultural Center
in Bonners Springs, Kansas.
Another one of my favorites
is the Chicken Show
in Wayne, Nebraska.
-We're a town
of only about 5,000,
so it is a great tourism event.
We have people from
Arkansas, New Hampshire,
all over the United States
coming,
so it puts Wayne, Nebraska,
on the map.
One of our most famous events
is the Chicken Flying Meet.
We have tall mailboxes
that require a ladder
to get up to them.
They place a chicken
inside of it,
and they shove them out
through the rear end
with a large plunger.
Whoever's chicken
flies the farthest wins.
-There's a street parade
with partially clothed
Chickendale dancers.
Ooh!
And the Chicken Coupe,
a 1967 Cadillac Coupe DeVille,
painted egg-yolk yellow,
and sporting a 12-foot
glass rooster called Sasquawk.
Hah!
There's also a beak contest
in which human noses
are awarded prizes
based on proportion,
cleanliness, and general beauty.
And a cluck-off!
-Key West was once considered
the chicken mecca in the U.S.
when Cubans migrated there
in the 1860s
with their red junglefowl
roosters in tow
for c*ck.
c*ck was
deemed ill*gal in 1986,
and chickens were left to roam
the streets and live freely.
But not everyone loved
the feral population.
A chicken catcher
was hired in 2004,
but after a year of taunts
by chicken lovers, he quit.
If you're a fan
of fried chicken,
which I find
a bit cannibalistic,
you could always celebrate
the life of Colonel Sanders
at the World Chicken Festival
in London, Kentucky.
So. my little chicken students,
I hope you have learned a lot
about we amazing chickens.
Have a wonderful summer.
Go shake your tail feathers
and have
an eggtraordinary vacation.
-Well, my little
fowl-weathered friend,
I hope you have a newfound
appreciation of our history.
We've come a long way from
the primitive red junglefowl.
These days, we practically
rule the roost.
In fact, there are nearly
26 billion of us on Earth,
outnumbering humans
and every other bird species
on the planet by far.
-Who knew we chickens
did so much
for music, art,
film, and history?
Really something to crow about!
Mah-hah-hah-hah!
I am definitely
chicken-lightened,
and I hope you are, too.
Ohh! You know,
I can't wait to fly the coop,
cross the road,
and check out some
of those chicken-friendly
museums and festivals!
Let's blow the nest egg
and hit the road!
Are you game?
-You read my mind.
c*ck-a-doodle-doo!
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