Sybil Bruncheon's "History On This Day... On OTHER WORLDS!"... January 26, ^23<>Rf6…

…on the Planet Camberterry in the Covalian System…

President Gambardten Hihhn had major turn-over among members of his cabinet and committees in the first two years of his first term. And it made him sad. After all, they were all his close friends at one time or another. So he decided to keep them with him... always. Right there in his throne room… and on the payroll too! And that's what happened on this day on other worlds...

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Sybil Bruncheon's "WHO'Z DAT?"... Aquarius Goes Hollywood!... The ACTORS!

[Clockwise from upper left: Edgar Bergen (with Charlie McCarthy); Jimmy Durante; S.Z. Sakall; Clark Gable; Edward Arnold; Ronald Colman, Ronald Reagan, John Carradine]

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Sybil Bruncheon’s “Hollywood’s OTHER Side”… alternative plots for classic films!

Yes, this movie still does look like it’s from the gentle drama OUR VINES HAVE TENDER GRAPES (1945) starring Edward G. Robinson, Agnes Moorehead, Margaret O’Brien, and a host of lovable character actors and actresses from the MGM studio stable… It’s a bucolic, charming, and heartwarming tale told from a little girl’s point of view about a Wisconsin farm and Norwegian immigrants… sort of like I REMEMBER MAMA but with cows instead of San Francisco fog…

But did you know that the original story, still set in the 1940s and Wisconsin, was very, very different from what MGM finally settled on? The title was originally OUR VINES HAVE POISON TENDRILS, and it concerned the dangerous secret world of 3rd grade, Nazi sympathizers, barnyard sabotage, and the use of farm animals as German spies and saboteurs infiltrating the heartland, specifically in the dairy industry. Consequently, little Nell Gustafson (Margaret O’Brien in a chilling and very convincing performance) heads a herd of formerly gentle cows and sheep and turns them into brainwashed fascist-terrorists and assassins. Dressed as Little Bo Peep for a school play titled “Our Fairy-Tale Friends”, she turns Flossie, her favorite lamb, into a flame-throwing storm-trooper who incinerates a brownie and cookie stand at the 4H Jamboree. Pies, cakes, and strudels are horribly destroyed while children dressed as a corn cob, an asparagus, a ham, and other objects of American farm abundance run shrieking in terror! O’Brien’s little Nell points and laughs from the gun-turret of her panzer-tank constructed from Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, and an old Soap Box Derby chassis.

Later, her parents, played by Robinson and Moorhead, are devastated as Nell pledges allegiance to the New World Order during a spelling bee where the competition words include “schnitzel”, “sauerkraut”,  “dachshund”, and “gesundheit”. Needless to say, only her recruited Nazi-pals can spell the words correctly. Her former “best girlfriend” little Becky-Marie Granger is unable in the third round to correctly spell “doppelgänger”, and is dragged to the swing set and summarily shot… without a blindfold…

The film ends with Nell in charge of the local Girl Scouts chapter and being addressed as Fräulein Hiawatha during the annual Our Indian Heritage Festival… needless to say, there are no Native Americans in sight. “The End” projected on the final screen is followed by a giant question mark.

The test audiences were horrified by the implications; sales of American cheese plummeted, and several Good Humor ice cream trucks were attacked and set on fire in suburban neighborhoods. The MGM board immediately reshot and re-edited the entire film… another case of  “Hollywood’s OTHER Side”…

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Sybil Bruncheon's A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS: My Vanilla Orchid…

… many of you know that, although I adore animals, I’m not able at this time to have any animal companions because of my rental situation. I am however by nature a nurturer; it gives my life meaning to be the caretaker and the taker-care-of antiques, strange memorabilia, eccentric historical objects, flea-market-finds, and plants, both out in the garden and inside as domesticated roommates. Case in point; my Vanilla Orchid (Vanilla planifolia)…

… Yes, it’s true. The beautiful vanilla extract that we all love (and is central to so many more foods than just vanilla ice cream) comes from an orchid, specifically from its long, very narrow and shriveled seed pods. It’s only been in the last few years, mostly through cooking shows on TV, that the public has even heard of vanilla coming from a split-opened and scraped seed pod or that the microscopic black seeds are the source of the actual taste. Imagine the big dessert companies of the 1950s ever allowing millions of black specks floating in their vanilla ice cream and marketing it as gourmet and a luxury item! But now, evidence of vanilla seeds is de rigeur in everything from crème brûlée, soufflés, and mousses to vanilla French toast. Only an oaf would now look at a sundae of Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream and ask, “what’s this dirt on my scoop?”…

Back to my kitchen; here is a wonderful though temperamental Vanilla Orchid. It is both “terrestrial” (getting nutrients from soil) and “epiphytic” (living in a tree with its own air-roots). In the wild, they love warm, very humid air and can grow to be over 100’ long in a high tree canopy. They love indirect, filtered light, but avoid direct sunlight like most orchids. Although “epiphytic” orchids live on the bark of trees, they are not parasites. They don’t injure or weaken the trees they climb. Their air roots absorb nutrients from rainfall and fresh air reacting with the bark that they attach themselves to. When you buy an orchid from a nursery or floral service, that orchid growing in some mass-produced ceramic pot actually thinks it’s growing vertically up the side of a tree, not horizontally in some office cubicle or on Grandma’s dining room table. It’s one reason why over 96% of the orchids that are raised and sold die within a month or so… they are starved, drowned, neglected, abused, or tossed in the garbage when their blooms fade and drop. In fact, the average orchid (usually a Phalaenopsis or “moth orchid” will bloom for as much as 4 months before it drops its blossoms!... and then, if loved, take a short break before blooming again!) 

Again, back to my kitchen… I was scared to try a Vanilla Orchid because of their diva-esque reputation, and my natural fear of killing or injuring the innocent and trusting! But a couple of my garden-center pals (Leslie and Kelsey specifically) convinced me that I’d be a good foster-parent, so I took the plunge. I don’t have humidifiers or a greenhouse, but I did, within only a week, have new shoots coming out of the main stems and beginning to leaf and, dare I say, bud? No, I don’t have a 8’ pole for it to climb, but this orchid which is about 6 years old has been “trained”. When any shoots grow too long for the wooden stake provided, the dangling shoot is allowed to just keep drooping over until it can be “woven” back into the existing growth. You can see that this has been done again and again. Left to its own devices in the wild, Vanilla Orchids grow a single woody stalk with long, spear-like leaves scattered along its length!  

And, have you noticed? Yes, the Vanilla Orchid IS the inspiration for the original “Jack and the Beanstalk”! Look closely! Isn’t it exactly what we’ve always been shown as the winding stalk that every Jack has climbed from fairy-tale illustrations to movies, cartoons, and television!? All I do is spritz the wooden stake on all sides, top-to-bottom with distilled H2O in the morning… and then some extra spritzes on the inside of the outer pot betwn it and the inside pot. That keeps the humidity acceptably high without drowning the roots in the soil. Although it’s in a Southern window, the sunlight is speckled or filtered and never too intense. Apparently, my little orchid is fairly happy. Its foliage is glossy, almost fake looking green. Its shoots are exuberant, and both Leslie and Kelsey who have sister-plants from the same batch, say that mine is competitively beautiful… and they both are professionals with complete set-ups in their homes! JEEESH! 

One last note: unlike a Phalaenopsis orchid whose blooms can last for months, a Vanilla Orchid’s blossoms are neither abundant nor hardy. As opposed to a cloud of flours hovering in the air on several stems, Vanilla Orchids reluctantly offer a few smallish blooms tucked into all that “beanstalk” foliage, and they last for one day! ONE DAY!... and the plant has to be very healthy to even THAT! And during that single day, the blossom will drop off, pollinated or not… it doesn’t matter. Only the most talented and fully equipped domestic gardener can manage to actually produce a vanilla bean or two inside a home, and only after their Vanilla Orchid is about 6 or more years old. And the gardener has to hand-polinate the blooms with a toothpick immediately… again, the blossoms only las a matter of hours on a single day. In the wild, a specific bee is the sole pollinater for the Vanilla Orchid!... talk about neurotic and demanding!! Oh well… I’ve been married to neurotic and demanding beauties before… and it was worth it… so… wish me luck. This little Vanilla Orchid is indeed One Of My Favorite Things!

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A New Sybil's "WHO'Z DAT?"... HARRY DAVENPORT (January 19, 1866 – August 9, 1949)

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, if ever, ever there was an actor who was loved, truly loved more than this one, I’ve never heard of him… it’s Harry Davenport (January 19, 1866 – August 9, 1949), everybody’s favorite “grandpa”.

Harold George Bryant Davenport, he was an American film and stage actor who worked in show business from the age of six until his death. Born just one year after the end of the Civil War in Canton, Pennsylvania, where his family lived during the holidays. He also grew up in Philadelphia. Harry came from a long line of stage actors; his father was thespian Edward Loomis Davenport, and his mother, Fanny Vining Davenport, was an English actress and a descendant of the renowned 18th-century Irish stage actor Jack Johnson. His sister was actress Fanny Davenport. In fact all nine of the Davenport children shared their parents’ love for the arts, and several, including Harry, dedicated their lives to performing. Harry himself made his stage debut at the age of five at the Chestnut Theater in Philadelphia in a play written by Richard Edwards, DAMON AND PYTHIAS. Written in a tribute dedicated to Davenport in the “Canton Sunday Telegraph” in 1949 is a notation about the fact that Harry never spent his earnings from that debut.  The story doesn’t refer to his being frugal, but rather endearing and sentimental –  “His pay was $1.95 in coins of every denomination then current and all dated 1871.  A five-dollar gold piece was added as a ‘bonus.'” Davenport kept the old coins in a safe deposit box and often said that a million dollars couldn’t make him get rid of them. And it remained so even during the leanest of times.  

By his teen years Harry Davenport was a veteran stage actor playing Shakespearian stock companies. Working regionally for years, Davenport made his Broadway debut in THE VOYAGE OF SUZETTE (1894) at the age of 28 and appeared there in numerous plays for decades. While still working exclusively on the stage, Davenport also co-founded the Actor’s Equity Association (then called “The White Rats”) with stage legend, Eddie Foy. The union was formed to address theater owners’ exploitation of actors.  Within the first year “The White Rats” had an enthusiastic membership who would cause a close-out of theaters in protest.  It was that difficult situation (for the most part) that prompted Harry to join Vitagraph Studios in NYC at the age of 47, debuting in the 1913 silent short film KENTON'S HEIR, followed the next year by Sidney Drew’s, TOO MANY HUSBANDS, and FOGG'S MILLIONS, and a series of film shorts co-starring another veteran of the stage, Rose Tapley. These included eighteen comedy shorts that made up what is referred to as the “Jarr Family” series.  In it, Davenport played Mr. Jarr, the patriarch of a middle-class family whose misadventures the series revolved around. Aside from playing the head of the Jarr family, Harry was also given directing duties in the stories, which were based on newspaper dailies written by humorist, Roy McCardell starting in 1907. All eighteen of the Jarr family productions at Vitagraph were produced and released in 1915.

In addition, he also directed some silent features and many shorts between 1915 and 1917. Davenport continued to work in film steadily throughout the 1910s, but returned to the stage full-time for the rest of the 1920s after a small, uncredited part in Fred Newmeyer’s, AMONG THOSE PRESENT in 1921. Full-time that is if stage work was available.  Just like many other Americans at the time, Harry and his second wife Phyllis Rankin (a successful actor in her own right) were living through tough financial times.  When not on the stage the couple would make ends meet by teaching acting and theater arts on the side and/or by picking wild strawberries which Phyllis made into preserves. They sold the preserves in New York and were successful enough at it to be able to “hire” local boys to help pick the strawberries. The boys’ pay was the promise of a bicycle to the best picker – a promise that was always kept. 

Harry Davenport made a few films in the early 1930s, but it wasn’t until Phyllis’ untimely death in 1934 that his film career took off after he decided to travel to California to give Hollywood an earnest effort.  Driving cross-country in his jalopy, Harry took his time, stopping in different cities along the way to act in a play or two to earn extra money. Could he ever have imagined that a brand-new career awaited him playing grandfathers, judges, doctors, and ministers. He came to Hollywood at 69 years of age during the height of the Great Depression and became one of the most beloved, admired and prolific actors in film history and one of the best-known and busiest "old men" in Hollywood films during the 1930s and 1940s. 

Settling comfortably in a life in Hollywood, Harry Davenport took on as many movie roles as he could handle. He had a gift for both comedy and drama and specialized in playing earnest, authoritative, wise, and sometimes wise-cracking characters, most often men who others turned to for guidance. He appeared in only one scene for a few minutes as a wise and wryly observant judge in Frank Capra’s YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938), but his performance is unforgettable right to the final shot of him smiling and shaking his head at the pandemonium in his courtroom!

Harry Davenport played Dr. Meade in GONE WITH THE WIND (1939), a role that was both comical and poignant and extremely important to the central story as it unfolded. He completely commands the screen opposite Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, and Olivia de Havilland, During his “twilight” years, when most others would be settling down into retirement, Harry Davenport worked continuously. To put it in perspective, he made thirteen films in what is considered by many to be the greatest year in film, 1939. Thirteen!! Aside from GONE WITH THE WIND, these included John Cromwell’s, MADE FOR EACH OTHER (as Dr. Healy), Irving Cummings’, THE STORY OF ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL (as Judge Rider), William Dieterle’s, JUAREZ starring Paul Muni and Bette Davis, and Gus Meins’, MONEY TO BURN (as Grandpa). And from a productive standpoint that year was only so-so for Harry. He’d appeared in nineteen films in 1937!! 

Some of his other film roles are as the aged King Louis XI of France in THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1939) with film greats Charles Laughton, Thomas Mitchell, Edmond O’Brien, George Zucco, Maureen O'Hara, and Cedric Hardwicke. He played the lone resident in a ghost town in THE BRIDE CAME C.O.D. (1942), filmed on location in Death Valley, He also had supporting roles in Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940), William A. Wellman’s western THE OX-BOW INCIDENT (1943) and in KINGS ROW (1943) with Ronald Reagan. Davenport also played the iconic grandfather of Judy Garland in Vincente Minnelli's classic MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (1944) and the great-uncle of Myrna Loy and Shirley Temple in THE BACHELOR AND THE BOBBY-SOXER (1947).

A lesser film Harry Davenport appeared in, but one we have to mention is the fifth entry in The Thin Man series, Richard Thorpe’s, THE THIN MAN GOES HOME (1945). Harry Davenport plays Dr. Charles, the father of one of the most popular detectives in filmdom, Nick Charles of Nick and Nora fame. A perfect choice!  This particular story shows Nick and Nora returning to Nick’s parents’ house for vacation.  Nick’s father, Dr. Charles, always dreamed of his son becoming a doctor as well and collaborating with him on a project for a new hospital.  Not familiar with his son’s natural talents for investigation, the Doctor views Nick as little more than a beat cop. Meanwhile, Nick longs for his father’s approval so Nora sets out to involve Nick in a murder mystery in his hometown so the old Doctor can be duly impressed. In the end the Doctor is quite impressed with the son’s skills and when he tells the younger Charles, Nick’s vest buttons bust with pride (literally). The super-talented William Powell and Myrna Loy are joined not only by Harry Davenport, but also by the great, Lucille Watson.

Harry Davenport continued to appear in films up until his sudden death of a heart attack on August 9, 1949 at age eighty-three… one hour after he asked his agent Walter Herzbrun about a new film role! His last film was Frank Capra’s musical-comedy, RIDING HIGH (1950), which was released the year after his death. Bette Davis once called Davenport "without a doubt, the greatest character actor of all time.” Bette Davis!... can you imagine?!

Through his marriage to Phyllis, he was the brother-in-law of Lionel Barrymore who was married at the time to Phyllis' sister Doris. His entire family, including in-laws and eventually, all five of Harry Davenport’s own children would become actors or involved in production as well, as would a couple of his grandchildren. He was buried in Kensico Cemetery, Westchester County, New York. In the obituary, a newspaper called him the "white-haired character actor" with "the longest acting career in American history". Harry Davenport appeared in over 160 films. Asked why he made so many films at his age, he replied: “I hate to see men of my age sit down as if their lives were ended and accept a dole. An old man must show that he knows his job and is no loafer. If he can do that, they can take their pension money and buy daisies with it.”

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Sybil Bruncheon's "Christmases Past... Controversial Cards & Weird Wishes!"...

Boys and Girls, did you know that before Hallmark began writing nice little messages about reindeer and elves for Grandma, there were Holiday cards that were much stranger and sometimes had messages that might have frightened Grandma... or even killed her. And instead of Mrs. Santa Claus baking a pie there might be a bad man called Krampus eating a little boy! Mummie has put together some old cards for you to look at and learn from, and the next time you're singing carols or making cookies or opening a present, just remember that if you jumble the letters in Santa's name, they can also spell S-A-T-A-N!!

Bwah Ha Ha Haaa!!!!

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Sybil Bruncheon's "Christmases On Other Worlds... #31...

On the planet KerJijji in the Gonfalon Star System, Mr. Kellen Bzzb#*du and his lovely gamete-partner Debbie raised a well-behaved ambulatory-fetus. Eventually they named it Piff, the evocative name of a fragrant flower that grows on the hillsides of the Hariboo Moors where the Box-Oxen roam.

Kellen began portraying Santa at Christmastime when he was only eight, partly because of his thick, bushy boy-beard, but also because his head-horns had grown so generously at such a young age... sadly, he had gored his mother to death while breastfeeding in the deliver room of their local birthing-barn.

Unlike Earth-versions of Santa, the KerJijji Santa does not "Ho Ho Ho" but rather sort of moos and belches... kind of like a cow with acid reflux. Younglings on KerJijji allow Santa to sit on them, and then, as he moo-belches, they sing Holiday carols involving sky-sledding, puddings made of skittle-beetles, and using Grandma as a piñata until candy or poops come out. On Christmas morning no one is given gifts as the beings on KerJijji are unable to open them... they have five fingers… but no thumbs.

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Sybil Bruncheon's "Christmas... and the morning after..."

Yep, one day you're a super star! An international icon for the entire world! Copied, admired, immortalized in theatre, film, art; written about and TO by millions of adoring fans, the subject of more songs than any other figure in history... and then... you're dumped! Snubbed, forgotten, tossed aside like the withered pine trees in the gutters with their sad tinsel and the odd orphan ornament still hooked into a back-branch. It's 6 in the morning on the 26th, and your only pal is some middle-aged waitress named Maureen, sneaking a smoke after she brings you a cuppa joe and yesterday's pumpkin pie... but it's a double-sized slice, not because she likes you, but because it's all that's left in the dented pie tin, and the crust is missing from half of it... and nope! No whipped cream…

Still, unlike other has-beens or never-weres, you have a little good news, albeit about 11 months away. You'll "be back"... with all the glamour and glitter that a celebrity in fur and velvet like you lives for. So you pay the check, tip Maureen 30%, and head out to the alley behind the diner by the dumpster where you parked. And then, it's up, up, and away!... a flight home. A really long flight home, where your wife is waiting... a nice hot shower and a warm bed. …oh, and a few letters that just arrived...

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Sybil Bruncheon's "Christmases That Mostly WEREN'T!"... some friendly advice...

Katey couldn’t believe Santa actually came up to her at the Fun Park Toy Fair… She had sat on his lap earlier and told him what she wanted for Christmas, and he had listened carefully and took some notes! And here he was again, smiling, laughing, and smelling like some kind of medicine… the kind that made Grampa laugh a lot during football games.

Santa said he was getting Katey the car she asked for, and that he was also giving her a bottle of his funny-medicine. He snuck it to her from under his red suit… and he told her it was okay to drink and drive. There wasn’t any such thing as a five-year-old policemen…

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Sybil Bruncheon's "Christmases That Mostly WEREN'T!"... Rules are rules!

Janey forgot that Daddy said don't go sledding at the Grand Canyon... and Ted wasn't going to remind her...

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