Mary Sharmat; actress
Hyfler/Rosner
SHARMAT--Mary Constance Learson. 69, daughter of Nora C. Brungot (d.) and
James Learson (d.). Survived by children, Lee and James Sharmat, and
companion, Frank Vohs, of cardiac arrest on January 1, 2004. Mary's early
professional career included roles from the Steve Allen Show and Odd Couple
to producing the Follies Bergere. Recently she was a star at the Hampton
Playhouse. Best known as Francis the "Wisk Lady" in the 1990's, she
continued to write plays, perform commercials and voiceover work until her
sudden death. As a lifelong activist she led the NYC Anti-Civil Defense
Peace Movement in the 1960's. For the past ten years she has been known as
the Library Lady for her tireless work on behalf of the Columbus Branch.
Viewing Buckley Funeral Home, 445 W. 43 St., Monday, January 5, 2-5 PM, 7-9
PM. Donations to R. Kirk/Manhattan Plaza AIDS Project, 400 W. 43rd St.,
10036. "Just do everything 100% and you will accomplish what you want. It's
a long life."
Hyfler/Rosner
like a neat lady.
Mary Sharmat, 69, Helped End Air-Raid Drills
By STEPHEN MILLER Staff Reporter of the Sun
Mary Sharmat, who died shortly after midnight on the first day of the new
year, helped bring an end to mass civil defense air-raid drills at the
height of the Cold War through an act of singular courage and determination.
In April of 1959, a drill was planned for New York City. At precisely
noon, sirens would blare and everyone in the city would be required to
report to an air raid shelter or the subways. The thought of it appalled
Sharmat. "I felt that nuclear air-raid drills taught fear and hate towards
an enemy," she wrote in a memoir, adding that they would also be
ineffective. "I would disobey a bad law."
The morning of the drill, she phoned the city desks of newspapers to tell
them she was going to defy the law. She prepared a roast beef so her husband
would have extra food around the house. At 11:30 a.m., she packed up spare
diapers, put her infant son into a stroller, and went to the traffic island
at 86th Street and Broadway, where she sat down and waited to be arrested
after the klaxons sounded.
A Civil Defense warden approached her and insisted she seek cover. She
refused. He summoned police, who threatened to ticket her. She refused to
budge, and the officer simply walked away. Her husband was surprised when
she came home. He was so certain she would be arrested that he had withdrawn
money from their savings account to post bail.
No reporter was on hand to record her act of civil disobedience, but
Sharmat was gratified to read in the next morning's paper that another young
mother, Janice Smith, had been arrested for defying the law. Sharmat was
determined to find the only ally she knew of in her crusade, but how? With
her customary resolve, she began phoning every Smith in the Manhattan phone
book. Mrs. Smith's husband's name was Jack. "I was thankful that J for Jack
is located in the first half of the alphabet," Sharmat wrote.
Starting with mothers they met at playgrounds, the two began building a
political movement. The following year, 1960, 500 demonstrators defied the
annual drill by standing outside City Hall. In 1961, protests were held
nationally, with hundreds of arrests. In 1962, the drills were ended. "Our
skirts gave them courage," Sharmat wrote of the protesters.
She had an independent streak early on, perhaps a trait inherited from
her grandmother, Hilda Brungot, a long-serving member of the New Hampshire
Legislature described in an official state history as "dean of women
legislators at both the state and national levels." Sharmat's father had
been naval attaché to President Franklin Roosevelt, and during World War II
the family was evacuated from the naval base in Guantanamo Bay because of
the Uboat threat.
As a young woman, Sharmat dreamed of being a New York theater producer.
When her parents refused to allow her to move to the city from New
Hampshire, Sharmat told them (inaccurately) that she was becoming an au
pair. She moved to Paris, established her independence, and then relocated
to Manhattan.
She became a producer and actress, appearing on television in dramatic
roles on "Robert Montgomery Presents" and "Kraft Theater," as well as "The
Jack Paar Show," "The Martha Raye Show," and "The Steve Allen Show," where
she had recurring comedic roles as Miss Taboo, Miss Jellybean, and Miss
Doughnut Hole.
After getting married, she and her husband opened Café Bizarre in
Greenwich Village, which became a fashionable spot for readings by Beat
poets like Allan Ginsburg and Gregory Corso. Despite the radical company she
kept, Sharmat's own politics were more along traditional Democratic lines,
and in the 1960s she was a district leader at her Upper West Side Democratic
club. "I wasn't terribly Beat," she told Manhattan Plaza News in 2003. "I
made sandwiches."
She and Mrs. Smith had stayed close friends, and after Sharmat was
divorced from her husband in the mid-1960s, the two opened the Ladies Hobby
Shop on Broadway at 86th Street. The store provided supplies for knitting
and rug hooking, and ran craft classes that, intimates say, frequently
evolved into political meetings.
After her children were grown, she revived her acting career, at first in
regional theatrical productions and later with occasional television and
movie roles. In 1997, a reviewer at the Charlotte Observer described her
performance in a comedy as "a cross between Martha Raye and Marty Feldman."
Her deep, steady voice made her a popular choice for voiceover work, and she
appeared in many commercials, including a series in which she played
Francis, the Wisk lady.
Sharmat reveled in books of adventure, especially those featuring arctic
explorers, many of whom were Norwegians, like her ancestors. A bibliophile
with a penchant for first editions, she was known in some circles as
"Library Lady" for her fund-raising for the Columbus Branch of the New York
Public Library.
At the time she revived her acting career, she told her children, "I am a
gypsy, a free spirit. I cannot be held down." Her dedication to anti-nuclear
causes stayed strong. Last year, she was quoted in Newsday as opposing the
government's recommendations to purchase duct tape in the wake of the World
Trade Center attacks. "It's all about creating enemies for us," she said.
"It's a fear thing."
Mary Sharmat
Born Mary Learson on November 22, 1934, at Long Beach, Calif.; died
January 1 in Manhattan of cardiac arrest; survived by her children, Lee and
James, and her companion, Francis Voh.
"Hyfler/Rosner" <rel...@rcn.com> wrote in message
news:3ff85194$0$6764$61fe...@news.rcn.com...
Bill Schenley
great
> job. Sounded like a neat lady.
And smart, too ...
> Mary Sharmat, 69, Helped End Air-Raid Drills
> By STEPHEN MILLER Staff Reporter of the Sun
Again, nice job, Steve.
> In April of 1959, a drill was planned for New York City.
> At precisely noon, sirens would blare and everyone in
> the city would be required to report to an air raid
shelter
> or the subways. The thought of it appalled Sharmat. "I
felt
> that nuclear air-raid drills taught fear and hate towards
> an enemy," she wrote in a memoir, adding that they
> would also be ineffective.
If a housewife from New York City could figure this out
almost a half a century ago ... why is it taking the rest of
the country so long?
> "I would disobey a bad law."
I could have easily fallen in love with her ... Even if she
was "The Wisk Lady."
<snipped>
> Last year, she was quoted in Newsday as opposing the
> government's recommendations to purchase duct tape in the
> wake of the World Trade Center attacks. "It's all about
> creating enemies for us," she said. "It's a fear thing."
Yep ... And smart, too ...