Tour-ette from my little driveway-garden on a Suburbia Saturday! 4/17/2021 (part III)... a gift!!!

A lovely neighbor brings over a “new addition to the family”…

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Tour-ette from my little driveway-garden on a Suburbia Saturday! 4/17/2021 (part II)... Dig!!!!

Dig!! DIG!!!… JEEESH!

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Tour-ette from my little driveway-garden on a Suburbia Saturday! 4/17/2021 (part I)...

Progress on the cleaning up of the “mulching mess”!…

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Sybil Bruncheon's Merry Memoirs.. : Remembering BRADSHAW SMITH (April 14th, 1954- January 16th, 2012)

Bradshaw was one of my first friends in the cabaret community, which like other branches of the entertainment world has its mix of the warmhearted, the suspicious, the envious, the deceivers, the grand! Although I had emceed several one-night-only shows at major dance clubs in NYC, I had never done a regular (running!) cabaret show before 1988, and I was met with tons of skepticism and sideways glances by the "upperclassmen" when I first came onto the scene. The venue was 88s, a two-story cabaret house with a full restaurant and sing-along piano lounge on the main floor, and the sweetest, loveliest cabaret performance house upstairs. 88’s was one of the great “downtown” cabaret clubs in Greenwich Village which had a reputation for being artsy, quirky, unique, and loaded with original and off-beat talent. At the time I had decided to do a cabaret show, most of them were musical tributes or compilations; one pianist, maybe a small combo, and one singer… twelve songs, some patter, done and done. My proposal was a complete a "book" musical/improv with an actual cast, multiple costumes and changes, scenery, props, programs, and even changing guest stars from other shows who would "drop" in to do specialty numbers each week. I was producing, writing, directing, and acting in it… and even managing to put together the programs that were set up on the tables like standing “menus” as if the Café were a real restaurant… in the Art Deco tower of the Chrysler Building!

Bradshaw, from the first minute I met him and he saw what I was up to, encouraged me, introduced me to friends, and gave me ideas, support, and inspiration. That show, CAFÉ BERLIN ran for 3 years. And when, after years of playing it "safe" in the fickle corporate world, I was laid off, and had to reinvent myself, it was Bradshaw on a sunny April morning on Fire Island who talked to me about my plans for Sybil Bruncheon, and what I could now do with her with the whole new world of technology available....There we were bundling up in our sweaters having coffee in the chilly sunshine of the retreating Winter of 2011, sharing what it means to move on, to embrace new adventures in the face of loss, heartbreak, and adversity. Bradshaw's love for his life-partner John was inspiring to any who knew them and a ferocious rebuke to all those who think that a same-sex couple could never have a meaningful and long lasting relationship.

Over the years, Bradshaw had moved in and out of my life as our careers and fortunes changed and evolved....now we decided that we would start interviewing all the old-timers (a vanishing breed!) out in Cherry Grove and capture their wonderful stories, mischiefs, scandals, gossip, and memories of the Island back in the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s before all of it was lost....a wonderful project for the coming Summer and Fall. And it was just that last week or so of 2011 that I went to his home and picked up the newly reworked and digitized DVDs of CAFE BERLIN. We talked at length about the coming Spring and the Archiving both of his library and the exciting pursuit of the Fire Island project....We both joked that if the Mayans are right and this IS the end of the World, we would rather throw caution to the wind and have a Ball doing our shows and projects, like children playing for all they're worth, and Fate be damned!!! We both agreed to use 2012 for fun, adventure, and new hope!..

I'm sure that Bradshaw is having some of John's brilliant (and I mean BRILLIANT!) apricot cobbler right now while they sit together at end of day looking at the first stars coming out on a Fire Island evening that will always be balmy and perfect....the ocean is rolling softly in the background... I'm sure Bradshaw's making all the lighting and sound arrangements for a perfect paradise to come for the two of them...

I'll stay here, and continue to play in the sand of our Earthbound world... being even more appreciative and grateful for the year, the month, the week, the sunset, the moment that is given....loaned, I should say, and is taken back finally. And that lesson will be one more gift that Bradshaw left behind without even knowing it... you see, he was accidentally generous. 

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Sybil Bruncheon's Game Page from Highlights Magazine! FUN WITH NUNS!!!! Enjoy!…

…one of these things is NOT like the others...

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A New Sybil Bruncheon's "WHO'Z DAT?"... WARD BOND (April 9, 1903 – November 5, 1960)...

 Darlings! Mummy 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??? Well, before we get too immersed in a complicated discussion, let me introduce you to a solid American UNCOMPLICATED guy with a face as chiseled and manly as any that ever graced the silver screen! WARD BOND! (April 9, 1903 – November 5, 1960).  

Born Wardell Edwin Bond in Benkelman, Nebraska, and growing up in Denver, Colorado, Bond’s early years in the prairies and mountains burnished that Western glow on his character that played so well in over 200 films. Reaching an astonishing 6’2” and a lean 195 lbs., Bond played college football at the University of Southern California as a starting lineman on their first national championship in 1928. One of his teammates was a young man named Marion Morrison who would later become Hollywood’s John Wayne. They became life-long friends and colleagues. Bond, Wayne and the entire Southern Cal team were hired to appear in SALUTE (1929), a football film starring George O'Brien and directed by John Ford. It was Bond’s and Wayne’s screen debut and they became friendly with Ford. Both actors would appear in many of Ford's later films. Always cast as a “man’s man”, Bond would often play a friendly cop, a strong and sympathetic cowboy, or, on rare occasions, a thug. His long working relationship with John Ford resulted in 25 films including DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK (1939), THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940), FORT APACHE (1948), THE QUIET MAN (1952), and THE SEARCHERS (1956). Perhaps because of his natural warmth on camera, Bond was cast in several of Frank Capra’s populist-oriented films... LADY FOR A DAY (1933), IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934), YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938), and the iconic IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946).  

His solid unadorned acting style served him beautifully both in dramas and comedies opposite the greatest stars in the industry. Audiences felt that they were seeing the “real” Ward Bond when he appeared on screen in many of the most classic films of the 30s, 40s, and 50s, including BRINGING UP BABY (1938), GONE WITH THE WIND (1939), THE MALTESE FALCON (1941), SERGEANT YORK (1941), THEY WERE EXPENDABLE (1945), JOAN OF ARC (1948), and his final film RIO BRAVO (1959), also done with friend John Wayne. During the 1940s, both Bond and Wayne were members of the conservative political group called the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, whose major rationale was opposition to communists in the film industry. In 1960, Bond campaigned for the Republican presidential nominee Richard M. Nixon. Bond died three days before Democrat John F. Kennedy narrowly defeated Nixon.  

Possibly because of his constant “supporting player” status in the movies, Bond made an easy and successful transition into television in the 50s, starring in the immensely popular NBC western television series “Wagon Train” from 1957 until his death in 1960. “Wagon Train” was inspired by the 1950 film WAGON MASTER in which Bond also appeared, and was influenced by THE BIG TRAIL (1930). The formula for “Wagon Train” allowed for special guest stars from Bond’s old studio days to rotate through as travelers each week, allowing him to work with old friends during his run. He specifically requested friends Terry Wilson for the role of assistant trailmaster Bill Hawks and Frank McGrath as the cook Charlie Wooster. Wilson and McGrath both stayed with the series for the entire run. An inveterate chain smoker like his friend Wayne, Bond died of a massive heart attack at 57 years of age.  

Having made 16 films with his friend over the years, John Wayne gave the eulogy at his funeral. Bond's will bequeathed to Wayne the shotgun with which Wayne had once accidentally shot Bond. Ward Bond has the distinction of appearing in more of the films on both the original and the tenth anniversary edition of the American Film Institute’s “100 Years/100 Movies” lists than any other actor, albeit always as a supporting player. He had also been in 11 films that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, which may be more than any other actor. Although he was married twice (Doris Sellers Childs m.1936-1944; divorced, and Mary Louise May m.1954-1960; his death) he never had any children. For his contribution to the television industry, Bond has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6933 Hollywood Blvd. In 2001, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. There is also a Ward Bond Memorial Park in his birthplace of Benkelman, Nebraska.

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Tour-ette from my little driveway-garden... 4/9/2021... (part II)

… up at the crack of dawn trying to fix the mess of careless landscapers…

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Tour-ette from my little driveway-garden... 4/8/2021... (part I)

…almost like my idiot-brother got into the act!!

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Sybil Bruncheon’s SPRING WEATHER UPDATE: Breamington Fallows…

...and today in the news, Mother Nature was seen just outside her council-flat in Breamington Fallows beginning to load up her old 1934 Charmondely with bulbs, fresh loam, humus, and various wildlife to restock the world for its upcoming Spring. Stopping for just a moment in her busy schedule, she chirped, "I like to think of myself as a kind of Noah-in-reverse! Instead of scrambling to take everything OUT of the world, I get to bring things back in after a long and boring stretch of BLAH!.... and of course, unlike Noah running around in an old bathrobe, I wear sensibly tailored tweed! I am, after all, an Englishwoman!! I have my standards! Oooops! Will you excuse me? A badger is quarreling with the songbirds again! No! NO! You're a ferret!! And that's a turtle! YOU MUSTN'T SHARE BAD-TOUCHES!!! It’s wrong! SHOCKINGLY WRONG!... oh no! I must fly!! Good-bye, my dear! Good-bye!!"...

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Sybil Bruncheon's "EASTER EGGS-traordinaries"... A heartfelt prayer at our Holy Time:

"Oh, Lamb of Sweet Disposition, protecteth us from the wiles of the Great Trickster! ...he that farteth near our simple meals, and replaceth wholesome beans which we have dug from the ground with our prayerful hands with shrew turds and skittle beetles. Just this past Sabbath Day, our loving children opened their few candies bartered from the local Duane Reade Apothecary Shoppe on the corner of Jersey Cow Path and Goody Proctor Blvd. My own daughter, Charity Hope Polite-tress (she is 8 years of age and can already recite Revelations backwards in a convincing baritone!), unwrapped a 6 month old candy saved from thy Birthday only to find that the chocolate treat inside bore a striking resemblance to the Cruel Prankster whose name may not be mentioned in virtuous circles and who likes to make bad faces with his rear-end at our quilting-bees. My dearest childe shrieked in horror and threatened it with her home made cross that she had fashioned from twigs and her own yanked-out hair. The villagers gathered with other infernal candies that the other sweetlings had found in their own huts and lean-tos. We now know that the so-called "tin foil" is the Devil's work because of its similarity to mirrors which have been strictly prohibited by our elders as encouraging the twin sins of Vanity and Washing. And the painting of the foil is clearly a tribute to the Whore of Babylon and her temptations of our innocent young men to the sin of self-touching! Some of our young have also put the hated tin foil in their mouths and noticed that the Fiendish One pricks their gums with lightning flashes and bad tastes....And so, we asketh humbly that you, Kindly Shepherd, protect your lambs from grotesque pranks like these, and also from cavities in our remaining teeth... Thanking Thee in advance, I remain your devoted servant here in the Little Church Of Perpetual Consternation, Reverend Piety Sawyer.”

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