Sybil Bruncheon's "Springtime Weddings from Here & There!"... Sassparilla City, VA.

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The wedding of Pamela Okrun; Pam’s wedding was meant to be a perfect Springtime affair. Everyone in charming flowery pastels (all different too, and in each girl’s favorite color!), and all in that oh-so-flattering “Empire” style that worked on every size and shape. No one could remember a happier bridal party ever! No quarrels or jealousies! And all the girls claiming that they would indeed be able to wear their bridesmaids dresses again “in real life”! How disappointing then to have Pamela contract canine scabbiosis and to have her bridal bonnet turned into an “itch collar”. Thank goodness her vet, Dr. Terry Fillman, was at the ceremony. That’s him in the green.

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A New Sybil Bruncheon's "WHO'Z DAT?"... BRIGITTE HELM (March 17, 1906 - June 11, 1996)

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Darlings! Mummie has made a decision! After reading dozens of posts and having hundreds of conversations with well-meaning folks who just don't know about the great CHARACTER actors who gave films the depth and genius that surrounded and supported the so-called "stars", I am going to post a regular, special entry called "SYBIL'S WHO'Z DAT?"....there'll be photos and a mini-bio, and the next time you see one of those familiar, fabulous faces that you just "can't quite place".......well, maybe these posts will help. Some of these actors worked more, had longer and broader careers, and ended up happier, more loved, and even wealthier than the "stars" that the public "worships". (I think there may be a metaphor in that! What do you think???). And speaking of “character” actors, Mummie is going to introduce everyone to the concept of a “character LEAD”!! ….and this person was one of the greatest stars overseas. She had the advantage of being both beautiful and very talented, and was unafraid of stretching herself to fully inhabit her roles. She’s Brigitte Helm (March 17th, 1906 – June 11th, 1996).

          Born Brigitte Eva Gisela Schittenhelm in Berlin, Germany, she was the daughter of a Prussian Army officer who died when she was a toddler. She grew to be a serious, idealistic boarding school student with plans to become an astronomer, but she appeared willingly enough in school plays to please her friends and mother. In fact, Helm regarded acting with Prussian disdain as an immoral occupation on its face and had no plans to pursue it as a career.

         Then her mother, who had no such notions, sent her daughter's photograph to the screenwriter, Thea von Harbou, the wife of Fritz Lang. Brigitte, who was just 17 when she was tricked into taking a screen test, was suddenly on her way to stardom. Lang cast her as the female lead in his early masterpiece, METROPOLIS (1924), then the most expensive German film ever made. She later became the most sought-after actress of the glory days of the German film industry, a tall blond beauty who starred in more than 35 movies and set directors against one another in the competition for her services. Ms. Helm was regarded as such a perfect embodiment of the era's ideal of cool sophistication that when she turned Josef von Sternberg down for the starring role in "Blue Angel," he had to settle for Marlene Dietrich. Yet for all the acclaim she received, Ms. Helm could never eclipse the role, or rather roles, in which the good Maria, an oppressed working girl, is transformed into an evil robotic doppelganger of herself in Fritz Lang's "Metropolis."

        Even today, 90 years after it was released, METROPOLIS is not only a cult classic, it is regularly listed among the half-dozen most important films ever made. This is a tribute, to be sure, to Lang's grotesque science-fiction vision, and the array of fabulous special effects he used to bring it to the screen. The film depicts the world of 2006, a time, Lang envisioned, when a ruling class lives in decadent luxury in the lofty heights of skyscrapers linked by aerial railways, while beneath the streets slave-like workers toil in unbearable conditions to sustain their masters.

        But for all the steam and special effects, for many who have seen the movie in its various incarnations, including a tinted version and one accompanied by music, the most compelling lingering image is neither the towers above nor the hellish factories below. It is the startling transformation of Ms. Helm from an idealistic young woman into a monstrous robot and then to a barely clad creature performing a lascivious dance in a brothel and corrupting every man who sets his eyes on her. While he may not have been the sadist many of his actors made him out to be, director Fritz Lang was such a hard-driving perfectionist that Ms. Helm, who worked virtually every day for 18 months, often hanging upside down or standing in water up to her waist for hours at a time, found the experience excruciating.

After one torturous ordeal, when she wondered why a double could not have taken her place during the nine days it took to shoot a scene in which she is encased in a metallic robot shell, her face obscured, Lang haughtily claimed an auteur's creative sensibility. "I have to feel that you are inside the robot," he said. "I was able to see you even when I didn't." After the movie made her an overnight star, Ms. Helm, who had her own artistic standards, refused to make another movie with Lang. Helm was one of those stars that made a successful transition to sound, but refused to abandon Germany for Hollywood. METROPOLIS financially ruined UFA (Berlin’s major film studio, the Universum Film-Aktien Gesellschaft), but it made Brigitte Helm an overnight success. UFA gave her a ten-year contract and wanted to typecast her as a man-eating vamp: she twice had to play ALRAUNE (1928- the silent version, and again in 1930-the sound version). A science fiction horror story, Alraune is the legendary woman born of the seed of a hanged murderer artificially placed in the womb of a whore, who drives men to their deaths. But by 1929 she had already attempted to refuse all vamp roles. She took UFA to court and lost; the trial cost her a fortune and after that she acted mostly in order to pay off her debts.

In addition to many mediocre and sometimes downright bad films, the director G.W. Pabst gave her some great acting opportunities. In THE LOVES OF JEANNE NEY (1927) she plays a helpless blind woman who is seduced by a rogue. In CRISIS (1928), she portrays a spoilt woman of the world who from sheer boredom almost destroys her own life. They included L’ARGENT (1928), GLORIA (1931), THE BLUE DANUBE (1932), L’ANTLANTIDE (1932), and GOLD (1934)

In her films of the early 1930s Brigitte Helm became the embodiment of the affluent, modern woman. With her slim figure and austere pre-Raphaelite profile, she seems unapproachable, a model fashion-conscious woman, under whose ice-cold outer appearance criminal energies flicker. Ms. Helm was regarded as such a perfect embodiment of the era's ideal of cool sophistication that when she turned Josef von Sternberg down for the starring role in BLUE ANGEL (1930), he had to settle for Marlene Dietrich. Later on, Helm was considered for the title role in THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935) before Elsa Lanchester was given the role.

Her role as the Hoschstaplerin ("The Deceiver") in DIE SCHONEN TAGE VON ARANJUEZ (The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez) (1933) was reprised in 1935 by Marlene Dietrich in the film DESIRE. In the G.W. Pabst film L’ATLANTIDE (1932), Helm plays an opaque, static goddess, the mere sight of whom makes men crazy. Her power is not of this world, but incomprehensible, magical. This was Helm's last really great role, a legendary mysterious sphinx of the German cinema. Helm acted in 29 German, French and English films.

But just as suddenly as she had emerged, she disappeared again. At the height of her success, she had told one critic that her whole film career was a matter of indifference to her and that she would much rather be a housewife: to cook, bring up her children and look after her husband. After a few bad press reviews of her later films and a car accident, for which she was sentenced to a brief jail sentence, she withdrew into her private life. In 1935, disgusted with the Nazi takeover of the film industry, she abruptly quit, marrying an industrialist, Hugo von Kunheim, himself a Nazi opponent, and Jewish. Helm incurred the wrath of Nazi Germany for "race defilement" by marrying him. She withdrew from the cinema, and she and her family fled to Switzerland. From then on she never appeared on stage, film or on television, and she refused all invitations and turned down almost all requests for interviews. She lived the rest of her life quietly there in Switzerland, and died on June 11, 1996. She was 90 years old. She was survived by her four sons.

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Sybil Bruncheon's "Springtime Weddings from Here & There!"... Wilkes Barre, Pa.

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The wedding of Greta Handbethers; For once, all the bridesmaids seemed to be happy enough with the gowns that were designed for them. Sadly, Greta's childhood friend, Mary Alice Coop had spilled hot chocolate on her own the night before during a scary movie marathon on channel 7. She made the mistake of washing her gown with some of her Dad's dark socks... oh well…

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New Career Opportunities for Super-Heroes with dwindling industry potential...

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Everyone's favorite super-hero, Dr. Star-Lina has returned to the planet Earth after an extensive sabbatical at Inter-Dimensional Cosmic Cosmetology College somewhere in the Orion belt-pouch cluster. He is now a licensed make-up and facial expert, but can also cut and color. Of course, none of these new talents will interfere with his previous powers:

1) Recognizing all known species of garden and wildflowers and arranging them in tasteful yet festive displays for birthdays, bon voyages, group lay-offs, and pet funerals.

2) Preparing vegan approved dishes using only twigs, fallen pinecones, pollen, leaves, grass trimmings, and road-kill (but only if it dies of old age or natural causes before stumbling into the street)

3) Finding interesting, gaily colored and patterned fabrics of indeterminate content and draping it on the bias for instant Nativity, presidential, and medlcal tableaus at children's birthdays.

4) Reciting the names of colors, countries, and party guests BACKWARDS to the amazement and delight of paying onlookers.

5) Rescuing innocent persons from villains, miscreants, and creatures from outer space, usually just by screaming like a woman and scratching the evil-doer very badly... or messing up their hair… or hair-like tentacle-thingies…

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A New Sybil's Tour-ette at LaGuardia... and we're off to Minneapolis. 3/11/2019

… Is Minneapolis becoming my second home?… Paging Mary Richards!

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Sybil Bruncheon's "Springtime Weddings from Here & There!"... Perrysburg, Ohio.

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The wedding of Elizabeth Hale Hampton; The theme of the wedding had been decided as "A Midsummer Night's Dream" where all the bridesmaids and attendants would be dressed as fairies, butterflies, and moths. Sadly, Ms. Hampton's Uncle Ned, who had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, crop-dusted the ceremony. The evening news reported seven dead, and thirteen in critical condition, including the bride and groom.

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Sybil Bruncheon's "Springtime Weddings from Here & There!"... Las Vegas, NV.

The wedding of Carla-Marie Fiorentino; Carla-Marie’s father Big-Gino was a big-wig in the casino world and had major ties to the underworld. She wanted some big-name entertainment at the reception and dinner, so Gino put the pressure on Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr. and of course, Frank Sinatra. Yep! That’s Mrs. Sinatra over there on the right... and none too happy.

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Sybil Bruncheon’s “A DEBBIE DOWNER ALERT”... even at Holiday Time!

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Do you have a Debbie Downer on your Facebook page? I do.. Even at Holiday Time!!!! They just look at your photos but don’t read the story and then make stupid or redundant statements! Or they “help” rewrite your story in their comments never having written a story themselves; they snark about this or that on YOUR posts but never offer anything of interest on their own pages; tell you how wrinkled, old, fat, or ugly you are while looking like Jabba The Hutt themselves; …Oh, the list goes on and on! And so, in the spirit of Holiday merry-making and cheer, I’m posting some of my very favorite comments that I’ve gotten THIS past year! Sadly, there’s only room for ten, but OH how I could fill the room! If nothing else, Debbie Downer is prolific!….

-1) "Sybil, dear, technically nutmeg is also a fruit and should never be given to children because of its hallucinogenic qualities. You're thoughtless... and should be arrested!"

- 2) "Have you ever considered what would have happened had Tiny Tim been a Buddhist and believed in his own reincarnation?"

- 3) "Some readers may not realize that you're making a joke about plum pudding because they have been injured in a fiery dessert catastrophe. I don't think being burned by a pudding is funny. I feel sorry for you."

- 4) "That is Alistair Sim as Scrooge... but I like Reginald Owen... or is it Reginald Gardner?.... or is it Reginald Marsh?"...

- 5) "I have an allergy to cranberries and popcorn but I CAN eat the string. I like eating string, thread, and angel hair spaghetti. Heck, I like eating hair, period!"

- 6) "Isn't it funny? Holly is very poisonous! So is mistletoe! Very Poisonous! And poinsettias are very poisonous....technically, everything about Christmas is very poisonous. That's why I hate Santa Claus! And I told him so at Macy's...right before I slugged him."

- 7) "I got coal in my stocking one year, and I heated my washing machine box in the alley for a week. I was warm... but I had to eat my cat... and my box finally caught fire."

- 8) "Why a miracle on 34th Street....and which one too? East 34th or West 34th? I waited for three hours on East 34th and 2nd Avenue, and nothing happened....until a bus splashed me with mud."....

- 9) "I almost hit a reindeer once....but I was on my sled and it ran away. I was scared and cried and cried.... I was 37 at the time."

- 10) "Sybil...I do a one-woman show of the nativity scene and I play all the parts, including the shepherds, the stable owner and his wife, the three wise men and Mary, Joseph, and the blesséd Christ-child. My favorite part though is getting on all fours and making animal sounds and pretending I live in a barn! Oh, and for that part, I take off all my clothes.”… Yup!


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Breaking News from the CNN News Desk:... a new crop of Democratic candidates for POTUS

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A growing field of potential Democratic presidential candidates has now brought the number to 314 as of this week. In just the last week, these nine have registered their names with the nomination board.

Top row (l. to r.)

1) State Senator Jillian Tynan; entering as a champion of the Narcolepsy Activation Front, empowering all people who suffer from unexpected sleepiness or even boredom. "Equal Pay For the Asleep AND the Awake! NOW!!"

2) Town Comptroller Patty Kampus; centrist conciliator from the Empathy Lobby, interested in seeing BOTH sides of every argument, simultaneously... and being able to discuss it all in two different voices at the same time. (will definitely need a special detail of security personnel if elected to keep her from walking into walls)

3) Phyllis Buskin, political socialite, whose entire proposed campaign will be based on air-pollution. Tomkin is the heiress to the Buskin Baked Bean fortune and has spent millions of dollars on the possible discovery of a “gasless baked bean”. Barring that, she is now very invested with the Prince Matchabelli company in a bean that might produce flatulence along the lines of Wind Song… or Poof!

Middle row (l. to r.)

4) Edna Marie Calendula; (possibly 112 years old). Edna has had no experience in politics but is the great- great-grandmother of one hundred and eighty-nine descendants, and figures that if she could make nourishing lunches for that many people in four generations she should be able to do something about inflation, environmental breakdown, and deepening political schisms all on a typical housewife's budget... and still not sacrifice vitamins, minerals, and old-fashioned common sense.

5) Former Mayor of Kotter's Falls, Idaho, Kirk Flant; record-holder of surviving more lightning strikes than anyone in history, Kirk’s “green” campaign cause is the promotion of a sustainable world for our children. Bathing only in the rain, and encouraging people to generate their own electricity by standing under trees or near flag poles are two of his groundbreaking ideas. Not for the faint of heart.

6) School Superintendent Felipe Charmont; Francophile and Three Musketeers re-enactor, Charmont suggests that education is the most important issue for the next century. He states that all public and private schools should require students from pre-K to college graduates should be in period costumes and should go out into the world and live as the culture and in the language of their choice. At all costs, contemporary American culture should be shunned… and eliminated. His favorite milieu?... Versailles in the 1730s… or perhaps the Neanderthal caverns in Lascaux, complete with his own flint spear and bear pelt… cut on the bias, of course!

Bottom row (l. to r.)

7) Water Commissioner Garren Hockweiler; a former chronic depression sufferer, he has made his entire platform the “Mission of Mirth”. All of his public appearances have been accompanied by deafening recordings of hysterical laughing played so loudly that they drown out his actual speeches. In print, he claims that “words are the enemy of joy, especially when they deal with depressing things like facts”. His promise to his constituents is that his presidency will be “fact-free”… but FUN!

8) Hong Chow Gung, city council member and restauranteur. Hong is very concerned in the growing epidemic of allergies. Suffering himself from over fifty-three separate airborne, food-borne, and contact allergies, he has turned his own restaurant, The Sneezing Lily, into an amateur laboratory with MSG ice cream, ground pepper aerosols, fiber-glass napkins and table cloths, and cat-dander dumplings. His customers have reported improvements in their allergy sensitivities… that is the ones who haven’t died.

9) Columnist Joselle Hampdour; pundit and newscaster known for her huge following both in print and on air. Her position as a harsh critic of any and every political idea has earned her the title of Snarker-In-Chief. Interestingly, she won the Miss INcongeniality title in the Miss America contest of 2013. Her talent was onstage taxidermy of her beloved cocker spaniel during the broadcast.

Film at 6. Thirty-five new hopefuls at 11.

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