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.

Nowadays, we all think of Thanksgiving as a cheerful Holiday full of national tradition, family affection, and civic good will, but did you know that 100 years ago, there was a mischievous and occasionally sinister side to the celebration? Well, there was! Here are some Thanksgiving greeting cards with very strange overtones... some even with children! You be the judge...

Card #1; Designed by Elmér Friedkush, a former nursery school principal, this card from 1897, had a disturbing caption printed on the back (in very, very fine print!); "Little Sonya took great pleasure in showing the turkey how ugly he was!... and then she made a poot in the face of her kitty, Mrs. Whiskers! But that was alright for she never wore pantalettes under her dresses! What a naughty little girl she was!"...

Card #2; This card was drawn by the German political cartoonist, Fritzy Kalmuchen in 1901. Known for his extremist views, his pro-Prussian nationalism, and his obsession with Aryan mysticism, he became a devotee of the budding science of Freudian dream study… here he shows a little elf/boy trying to hypnotize a turkey into allowing him to behead it. Notice that the ax is highly decorated and matches the elf/boy’s costume. Fritzy reveals in the caption on the back that the turkey hypnotizes the elf/boy right back… and convinces him to behead himself…

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