Dear dumb guy: Who invented the rubber chicken – and why? - Culinarily Curious in Cleveland

Dear Cleveland: Like most of society’s great inventions – the light bulb, the blender, the internal combustion engine – the rubber chicken was invented by accident. Had it not been for the fumbling fingers of John “Harshbottom” Sebastapool, we might not have the cultural touchstone that is the rubber chicken.

Sebastapool (whose nickname is a story unto itself, and frankly not one that is safe for work), a large and burly man of Nordic origin, worked in a butcher shop in Brooklyn in the 1930s. His skill with the cleaver gained him some regional attention, as he was able to completely butcher a chicken in under 20 seconds. In time, this became an attraction, as people drove from all over the country to watch him through the glass window of Bruegger’s Butcher Shop.

Bruegger’s, you say? Why yes, and thank you for paying attention, for the owner of this butcher shop was none other than Sydney Bruegger, the Swiss tire magnate.

I’ll save you the gory details of what happened that hot August night in 1939 – a vulcanization plant, too much whiskey and a mad Nordic butcher. In retrospect, how could it have gone any other way? When it was over, Sebastapool’s career as a butcher was over, owing to the loss of his right hand – but while a hand may have died in that fiery furnace, the rubber chicken was born!

Here’s another thing you may not know about the rubber chicken: In 1982, a rubber chicken was briefly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives. Nicknamed “Chicken McThomas” by a laughing bunch of congressmen, the faux critter served 18 hours before being unseated by the narrowest of voting margins.