Member Spotlight - MEET Sharon Burtzlaff (curlycat) from Indianapolis.

Where to start?
Well, I grew up on Long Island, NY.
I was “discovered” by a talent scout when I was nine years old. She also represented Richard Thomas who ultimately landed the role of John-Boy in ‘The Walton’s’ and several times we were paired up to audition for brother/sister roles.
My first TV appearance was on a 1960’s game show hosted by Merv Griffin called ‘Play Your Hunch’. After that I landed the role of “Balloon Girl” and understudy for “Baby Louise” in the 1st national tour of ‘Gypsy’ that was playing at the Chicago Opera House. (Bernadette Peters and her sister, Donna Forbes, were also in the show. In 1998, my mother and I were able to meet backstage with Bernadette when she was in Indy for a performance. We were showing her pictures of her Mom and sister from those early days when she told us her Mom had recently passed away and she didn’t have many pictures of her, so we parted with the picture but we were glad it brought her back some happy memories. We found out her sister, Donna, was still in NY and working as a talent agent.)
In 1962 I spent nine months on the road touring the country (93 cities; 29 states and 2 provinces) with the 2nd national tour of ‘The Sound of Music’ as “Louisa”. Luckily we were able to spend at least a week in some of the larger cities. When we got off the road from “The Sound of Music” tour, we moved from Long Island to New York City out of necessity. (My Dad worked there, the professional childrens’ school I attended was there, auditions were held there, and my voice, dance, piano & acting classes were there, etc., etc.) My other credits include modeling, two records, a few commercials (including one that ran for a year for General Mills’ Country Corn Flakes with Rice), extra work on movies & TV shows (I was a regular on ‘The Patty Duke Show’), and summer stock tours. The last job I had was a commercial for GE portable color TVs that ran in 1969. By age 13 I was a senior member of Actor’s Equity and, later, became a member of the Screen Actors Guild.
One of my greatest disappointments though was losing the part of Louisa in the movie version of ‘The Sound of Music”. I auditioned for Darryl F. Zanuck when he was in NYC and I was offered the role; however, my agent was informed that, unknown to Mr. Zanuck, a deal had already been made on the West Coast to hire someone else (the majority of the auditioning was done there) ?. Looking back it amazes me that, at the time, my disappointment had more to do with missing a chance to go the Austria than losing the role that I had played for so long.
Currently, my only claim to fame (other than being a crystal fanatic and being married to CFC’s very own “cattamer”) is at http://portland.broadwayworld.com/bwidb/people/Sharon_McCartin/.
Memories: - Standing backstage on my first night at the Chicago Opera House listening to the overature to Gypsy and waiting for the curtain to rise. – My parents dropping me off backstage at the Latin Quarter in NYC and watching my friend, a showgirl at the time, descend to the stage on a half moon. - Being greeted by Carol Burnett on her way back to her dressing room during a performance of ‘Fade Out, Fade In’ - Having my picture taken in the Aston Martin DB5 at the U.S. premiere of Goldfinger. – Being dressed in winter clothes in the middle of the summer for a scene in ‘The World of Henry Orient’. – Summers in Kennebunkport, Maine.

My Mom took advantage of our theatrical connections as well. Since she had to accompany me on the road tours and had a gift for costuming and sewing, she landed several jobs as a wardrobe mistress and had quite a successful career. Her last job was as head of the wardrobe department for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s production of “Herod, the King”. She was also offered a job as Jane Wyman’s personal dresser but declined because it would have meant going on the road with her. I was also blessed with a talented Dad. He had a band in his younger years and was an accomplished singer and pianist. In his spare time he gave voice lessons.

After my freshman year of high school at Lincoln Square Academy, I decided that it was time to start thinking seriously about my education so I transferred to Martin Luther High School in Maspeth, Queens. From there I went to Valparaiso University in Indiana. My first year I majored in voice with a minor in piano, however, I was disenchanted with the curriculum since they seemed intent on putting me on a track for an operatic career so I switched my major to English. (Nothing wrong with opera but my heart still belongs to “traditional theater”.) I met my first husband at college and after graduation, he joined the Air Force and we lived in Jacksonville, AR for four years before moving to Plymouth, IN. In Plymouth, I was appointed to the position of restitution officer for the Marshall County Courts. My next job was at a local business where I met George. We were both divorced and began spending more and more time together. The rest is history ? In October 1984, we got married, moved to Indianapolis and started our own business. In addition to sales and servicing, I also became proficient in computer programming (basic, dbase and lotus macros) and was the troubleshooter for any software problems that cropped up. When our business first started George and I assembled all our computers from scratch. What an experience! (Anyone remember installing the old memory chips without bending the pins?) For the last 15 years though I have specialized in benefit design and legislative compliance for large group health plans including writing the plan documents and summary plan descriptions for our clients.

As for our hobbies, for many years we were very active in the Bud Light Pool League and won trophies both individually and as team captains. In order to hold qualifying pool tournaments for regionals at our home, we added a family room with two regulation size pool tables to go with our original bar size pool table to meet the tournament 3 table requirement. We are now semi-retired which give us the time to enjoy our garden, feed the wildlife (including “the skunks”, birds, possums, raccoons, rabbits, squirrels and an occasional deer). We both love animals and although we started our marriage with three dogs and four cats, we are now down to two cats, Billie Jean and Girlfriend. Our biggest passion is bargain hunting! We’ve collected everything from antiques (clocks, china, brass inkwells), artwork (Brenders, Frace, Doolittle), and opals to holiday items (Lenox, Waterford, Fitz & Floyd).

Our out-of-country travels have taken us to Hawaii twice, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Toronto, and Montreal. We have a timeshare in Aruba but haven’t had the time to visit for several years now. (The first time we went to Aruba none of the high rise hotels had been built yet. The last time we were there we were sorry to see how many changes had taken place as a result of their endeavor to attract the “spring break crowd”.) My two favorite resorts were the Grand Hyatt in Kauai and the La Conquistador in Puerto Rico. I would go back to either in a heartbeat if I had the chance ?

How did I get hooked on Swarovski? It all started at Macy’s during their after-Christmas sales. We were going there every week to see what new items were put on clearance and there were a few Swarovski roses on a table that caught my eye but they weren’t on clearance. I kept waiting but one by one they started to disappear until none were left. Weeks went by until one day I found one on a clearance table without a box. We had a coupon so we asked the clerk about the box and she finally found it in a back room. I had my rose! ? That night the power in our subdivision went out so I sat on our couch with a flashlight and cleaned all the dust and fingerprints off the rose. The sparkle was absolutely blinding and I just knew I had to have more crystal. Once I found eBay I discovered an entire world of Swarovski. The more research I did, the more I wanted to know. I finally had to join the Crystal Fanatics Club forum on eBay to get some answers. It took a little prodding but Pat convinced me I just had to join CFC. It’s been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made!