SAM'S NO DUMMY, FARMER GOFF

Fans of Farmer Golf and His Turkey Sam (1982) don't need the reminder--but this second installment does make the jump from County Fair to network-TV without losing its mettle. The illustration is, however, considerably more elaborate; the type is smaller; there are more incidents and, with them, there is more text. What gets turkey Sam on TV is being able to imitate a cow's mooo, a lamb's baaaa,a cat's meeow--and showing irate Farmer Goff (awakened by that mooo before dawn) a sign reading Animal Acts Wanted. With separate visions of stardom, they drive to the studio. And there Farmer Goff thinks again: ""Why should this dumb turkey get all the credit?"" He'll be a ventriloquist, and Sam will be his dummy! Sam, you well know, isn't having any of it: on stage, he contemptuously stays mum. . . until Farmer Goff's desperate MOOOOOO!!! starts an animal stampede and Sam brings it to a halt with an inviting gobble-gobble. More worked-up than last time altogether--but still wry and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny.