Yes, it’s true. We were identical twins… with all the merriment, mischief, and baggage that goes with being identical twins. Everything about our lives was influenced and weighed by that prank that Nature played on us… and oh, how we paid. I’ve written many stories about how we managed, starting as small children, nearly infants really, and then how we adapted to our lives and our looks as we grew through the decades and in to adulthood; sometimes happy, sometimes not. There were many times… long times that we didn’t even speak. We might be at the same dinner party, the same wedding or funeral, the same café within a few feet of each other and not even look in each other’s direction… and our family and friends would know not to intercede…or interfere. Separately, our tempers could be impressive; together, whether in combat or united, our fury could be scorching. And woe to our adversaries or peacemakers alike…

Every once in a while though, we might be experiencing a sunny patch. Sisterly affection like a Summer breeze; a pleasant lunch at Rumpelmeyer’s or cocktails at the St. Regis. Gossip at “21”, a late night snack at the Stork Club with theatre friends. Or perhaps running into each other out window shopping on 5th Avenue. People everywhere would stop and stare at us, pointing, “Look, there they are! The Bruncheon sisters… Sybil and Dagmar! Sybil and Dagmar!”… We’d been written up in the society columns and seen on the movie newsreels. All of New York City knew or thought they knew us… and complete strangers would wave and say HI!... ask for our autographs, or our advice on which lipstick was the best color, which little chapeau was the most stylish, which cantaloupe was the freshest… and we would smile… and say! So it wasn’t so surprising, when finances got especially lean as the Depression ground on and on and on, and we found ourselves on fairly friendly footing, that we took a job… together. Kind of strange job, although some of our girlfriends in show business were doing it too, when they weren’t exactly in a show… but they were pretty enough and still wanted to be paid for being looked at. Yep. That was us; Sybil and Dagmar, standing in the window at Bergdorf Goodman modeling the latest luncheon outfits. Fashion mannequins nodding to passersby, winking at the sailors, waving to little children, smiling at our girlfriends who might be doing well enough NOT to have to work… lucky, lucky them!

We never let on that we needed the money. One thing that joined us through thick and thin was our ability to float! We were made out of cork. We could make a dollar look like a hundred dollars. We could make standing in a window for hours on end modeling any season’s fashions look like it was lark! A caprice! “Look! There they are! Sybil and Dagmar… or is it Dagmar and Sybil!... whichever!”…

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