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.

Many of you have asked me to dig through my attic and find photos, props, costumes, and other memorabilia, and tell you the stories that go with them, so...

Here we have a wonderful photo taken by the great Francesco Scavullo, who, in addition to being a major photographer for the entertainment world also provided every cover for Cosmopolitan magazine for over 30 years. His townhouse on East 63rd street was filled with portraits of every major music and film star and Presidents and their First Ladies.

When I first appeared in 1985 on the newly created GCN (Gay Cable Network) for Lou Maletta, one of my first viewers was Eric Perkins, Scavullo's studio manager who got Francesco and his partner Sean interested in my late-night shows. It was Eric who arranged for me to have an all-day shoot with Scavullo, and this was back in 1984, when a single portrait of his was priced at $10,000 (black and white!) and $12,000 for color! A SINGLE PORTRAIT!... and Francesco was booked non-stop!

Well, after one of the interns at GCN completely ignored the phone call from the Scavullo Studio approaching us for a photo session (he thought it was a crank-call from a jokester!), we finally scheduled the shoot. Hair and make-up were all arranged, and clothes and jewelry were provide by the major 5th Avenue fashion houses. I arrived at Francesco's beautiful townhouse there on the East side, and Eric and Sean had provided a lunch along with the services of their entire studio staff. We did one "look" after another, chatting and laughing, playing with accessories, fabulous jewelry and outfits, and having a marvelous afternoon. This was back when everything, EVERYTHING was on film! There were no "digital" cameras or formats; no looking at the finished photos on a monitor and making adjustments. The best you could do was to take a couple of polaroids, wait for them to develop, peel them and go from there! So... we finished. Everybody thanked everybody... and I waited.

About a week later, Eric called me to come in and see what we had done... It wasn't just that the photos were beautiful. They were "Scavullos"... like the portraits of Streisand, Julie Andrews, Liza Minelli, Sting (who had been there the day before!), and all the other mega-stars and icons of the time that hung on his walls. And, as if that wasn't enough, Francesco was giving me, as a gift(!), not one, but several of the photos, both black and whites, and even the color Hasselblad 2x2 slides... the originals! I was stunned! STUNNED!... and later when my head cleared and I was showing several friends over dinner that night, we realized that Francesco had given me over a quarter of a million dollars worth of his talent. I can never thank Eric enough for beginning the whole adventure. And my gratitude to Francesco, Sean, and their staff is eternal.

And frankly, after all these years, it would be much cheaper to have the plastic surgery necessary to make me look like those portraits again, than to have new ones taken by Francesco, even if we COULD bring him back from the Heaven where I'm sure he's installed as Head Portraitist... to the Angels!

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February 15th, 1987... thirty-???? (long!) years ago at the fabulous Palladium on East 14th Street in glittering Manhattan! Yes! The great Palladium built back in 1927 and host to major stars, big band acts, Vaudeville, and major movies and rock concerts... Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager bought the entire structure, reimagined and renovated much of it, and kept the most atmospheric wreck and ruin inside and celebrated it... almost as if Stephen Sondheim’s FOLLIES had come true!

It was glamorous, naughty, edgy, sexy, and magical... And I was lucky enough to be hired by the great club promoters at the time to create and emcee major events including Holiday shows. And this invitation was for a satire I created on Awards Ceremonies called the Rudey Awards... I had invented it all, and the trophies were "silver-plated" WWI hand grenades mounted on plexi-glass star-shaped stands. The Rudey Awards were for outstanding breaches of etiquette and good taste... and, being an Aquarius (known for their foresight and prescience!!) I had already selected Rudolph Giuliani, Leona Helmsley, and yes, Donald Trump among others for particular awards in specific categories. Of course, none of them showed up, but their awards were "accepted" by various performers who came up and made hysterical speeches interspersed with musical productions by guest stars and raffle drawings for tremendous prizes! How interesting that Mummie has been nailing these Page 6 thugs and skanks far longer than MSNBC and the major networks... but, like poor Cassandra in the Fall of Troy, I have never been believed or even respected... Oh well... maybe a girl can't have big muscles and a brain too… right?

(photos by Francesco Scavullo)