SybilSez...

Sybil Bruncheon has been performing on stage, radio, TV, film, and in various Vaudeville, burlesque, church basement, county fair, and sideshow....uh..."venues" for most of her 29 years. She is available for bookings for just about anything and can be reached at bruncheon@hotmail.com and on her website sybilbruncheon.com. She is a proud member of the Actors Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild. Her erdo number is 16.

… yes, Friends, at this time of year, we invite our families and friends to gather in our homes and share the bounty of the Fall season and the harvest of an abundant country...but how many people in rural areas of this nation may be deprived of that abundance? Did you know that in various parts of Appalachia and the Dust Belt, when Thanksgiving delicacies were hard to find, the townspeople would celebrate by actually DRESSING as their favorite recipes!!... and then put on a parade through the community, distracting everyone from their hunger pangs!... Between the festive costumes, the antics of the marchers, the kazoo and jug bands, and the delight of young and old alike, this Holiday tradition always managed to be a favorite and memorable event of the year, and a cherished one.

Several famous authors based short stories and even entire novels on the events of these distant times and places; Harper Lee's "Boo Radley Has Big Radishes", Carson McCullers' "The Artichoke Is A Lonely Side Dish", Truman Capote's "In Cold Leftovers", John Updike's "Rabbit Stew", Ernest Hemingway's "The Bun Also Rises", Willa Cather's "Oh Parsnips!", Sinclair Lewis' "Elmer's Pantry", John Steinbeck's "Travels With Barley", and of course Eugene O'Neill's "All God's Chillun Got Wings, Breasts, and Drumsticks"....

Many others immortalized the "Pilgrim Poverty Parades" as they began to be called... How inspiring that an empty larder can be the source of great art and fond childhood memories too...... (Shown in the photos, clockwise from upper left; Mr. Josiah Arph as "Cornwallis The Game Hen", Meyer Pyerstutz as "a Gourd, or maybe a Punkin", Miss Penelope Simonson as a "Leafy and Nutritious Side Salad With a Light Citrus Vinagrette", Wilbur and Natalie Blunt as "The Parkerhouses", Noah Nutterton as "A Braised Pork Loin", Mrs. Melba Totter as "A Mess o' Cracklins", and in the center, Enid Entwhistle as "A Bedeviled Egg". All photos courtesy of the National Geographic Society, The Library of Congress, and Gourmet Magazine)

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