In the classic movie A Christmas Story, the visit to a department store "Santa Claus" is presented in all of its trauma and terror. So many things could go wrong, in a kid's mind: What if we got our list wrong? What if HE got it wrong? What if he had already decided if we were "naughty or nice" so all we might find on Christmas morning was a bag of coal?
Who decided this would be fun?
Even so, at the large department stores in Memphis — and in recent years, even the Bass Pro Shop at the Pyramid got into the act — a visit to Santa Claus was a rite of passage for boys and girls.
But what about other holidays? Easter, for example. In the Lauderdale Library, I have several souvenir folders capturing scenes like the one above. A child has paid a visit to a rather terrifying and very large Easter bunny, and despite the large and manly hands of the "bunny" the young boy is clearly trying to get away — to face a lifetime of therapy, I imagine.
Now this brings up an interesting question: What was the point of this visit? What does one tell the Easter bunny? Where you might find the best eggs? How on earth would he know that? (Well, for that matter, how on earth DID Santa Claus fit down all those chimneys?)
But, photographic proof shows that Easter bunny visits did indeed take place, and souvenir photos were taken and (presumably) sold to the parents, as mementos of the happy occasion.
I wish I could tell yo where this one took place, but the folder gives no clue -- no location, no date, no name of the "victim."
Where in Memphis was "Bunnyland"??
So if anybody recognizes this child, or remembers where they went to see the Easter Bunny, let me know.
