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.

True Story! Did you know that as the Great Depression deepened in 1930 and on into 1931, folks tried anything they could think of to lift their spirits. Finally, as Halloween neared, some inventive people decided to bring Trick-or-Treating TO the children instead of the Treaters coming to the neighbors' front doors... Nice ladies with special trays would walk the streets distributing candies, homemade cupcakes, and other sweets to grateful and pleasantly surprised passers-by. It all worked out beautifully!... and Halloween in 1931 was always remembered as a magical time by people all over the United States.

It worked out so beautifully, that the following Halloween in 1932, Trick-or-Treating was extended past the 31st and on into the first week of November. Again, a season of cheer, simple joys, and even a general optimism and feeling of shared brotherhood with one's fellow citizens. The following year, as the Depression worsened and the economy and stock market plummeted even further, the Trick-or-Treat Tray-Ladies (as they were NOW known!) continued to distribute all sorts of things through the Fall, past Christmas, and into the New Year.

Sadly, they had given up handing out only candies and had moved on to cheaply manufactured cosmetics that caused rashes, bath-tub hootch made out of paint thinner, defective nylons and underpants, old scratched record albums with filthy songs, and stained photos of bad people with no clothes on making funny faces... Needless to say, they made a fortune. But Halloween in the second half of the 20th century never really recovered...

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