Mary Hamman

Mary Hamman (2 August 1907 – 18 November 1984) was an American writer and editor. She was an editor for Pictorial Review, Good Housekeeping, Mademoiselle, the modern living editor for LIFE, editor-in-chief for Bride & Home.

She was born in Baltimore, Maryland, a daughter of Johns Hopkins clinician Dr. Louis Hamman. Her move to Manhattan was during prohibition, which fueled many stories.

She was one of a "trio of formidable and colorful women" the other two being Mary Letherbee, movie editor; and Sally Kirkland, fashion editor. Together they led the "back of the book" at LIFE and were given free rein by Ed Thompson as managing editor and later editor in chief. When Thompson went on to found the Smithsonian Magazine Hamman would often write the humor page inside the back cover.

Jack Coggins, a friend from the days of LIFE and later a neighbor, said:

Sho Sho (Mrs Colin MacLeod), a childhood friend from Baltimore who with her husband was a neighbor in Manhattan and Bucks County, remembered a trip returning from New Hampshire:

Hamman liked nothing better than a good prank or joke, as did her father. There are many stories similar to this one from her surgeon brother Louis Hamman, Jr.:

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