Shari Lewis (January 17, 1933 - August 2, 1998) was an American ventriloquist, puppeteer, and children's television show host, most popular during the 1960s and 1990s. She is best known as the original puppeteer of Lamb Chop, first appearing on Hi Mom, a local morning show that aired on WNBC in New York.

Early life

Born Shari Phyllis Hurwitz, Lewis' father was a founding member of Yeshiva University in New York City. Her parents encouraged her to perform, and by age 13 her father taught her to perform specialized magic acts. She also received instruction in acrobatics, juggling, piano and violin. She was taught ventriloquism by John W. Cooper. Lewis continued piano and violin at New York's High School of Music and Art, dance at the American School of Ballet, and acting with Sanford Meisner of the Neighborhood Playhouse. She attended Barnard College for one year, then left college to go into show business.

Career

In 1952, Lewis and her puppetry won first prize on "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts" television show. In March 1956, Shari and Lamb Chop were on Captain Kangaroo and later that year she had her own show, "Shariland," on local TV (first WPIX, later WRCA), which ran through 1958. She graduated to network television in 1960 as host and puppeteer of The Shari Lewis Show on NBC, taking the slot vacated by "Howdy Doody". The programs featured such characters as Hush Puppy, Charlie Horse, Lamb Chop, and Wing Ding. Lamb Chop, who was little more than a sock with eyes, served as a sassy alter-ego for Shari. Subsequent television programs introduced these characters (minus the black crow, whose characterization became more problematic after the 1960s) to a new generation of children. In 1992, her new Emmy-winning show Lamb Chop's Play-Along began a five year run on PBS. Shari also starred in another hit PBS series The Charlie Horse Music Pizza, which was one of her last projects before her death. The video Lamb Chop's Special Chanukah was released in 1996 and received the Parents' Choice award of the year.

Death

She was diagnosed with uterine cancer in June 1998, and while undergoing treatment at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, on August 2, 1998, Lewis died at the age of 65 after developing viral pneumonia. She was cremated. Alex Vitoulis, rumored to be the basis for Charlie Horse, and ACPM of Billboard Magazine, delivered her eulogy.

Awards/Honors

Lewis was the recipient of numerous awards during her lifetime, including:

• 12 Emmy Awards
• Peabody Award (1960)
• John F. Kennedy Center Award for Excellence and Creativity (1983)
• 7 Parents' Choice Awards
• Action for Children's Television Award
• 1995 American Academy of Children's Entertainment award for Entertainer of the Year
• Dor L'Dor award of the B'nai B'rith (1996)
• 3 Houston Film Festival awards
• Silver Circle Award of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (1996)
• Film Advisory Board Award of Excellence (1996)
• 2 Charleston Film Festival Gold Awards (1995)
• Houston World Festival silver and bronze awards (1995)
• New York Film and Video Festival Silver Award (1995)
• Monte Carlo Prize for the World's Best Television Variety Show (1963)

In addition to writing over 60 books for children, she and her second husband wrote an episode for the third and final season of the original Star Trek series entitled "The Lights of Zetar". This was produced in 1968. Lewis had hoped to play the part of "Lt. Mira Romaine," but the role was given to actress Jan Shutan.

Family

Her first husband was Stan Lewis. Her second husband, who survived her, was Jeremy Tarcher, a brother of the novelist Judith Krantz.

Lewis's daughter, Mallory Tarcher, wrote for the shows Lamb Chop's Play-Along and The Charlie Horse Music Pizza. She legally changed her name to Mallory Lewis, and in 2000, she resumed her mother's work with the Lamb Chop character.

Jeremy Tarcher has/had a publishing company, with books about paranormal (psychic) phenomena.

Television shows

• Shariland - 1956-1958
• The Shari Lewis Show - 1960
• The Shari Lewis Show (BBC) - 1975
• The Shari Show (Syndicated) - 1975-1976
• Lamb Chop's Play-Along - 1992
• Guest starred on "The Nanny" - 1995
• Charlie Horse Music Pizza - 1998

Discography

• Hi Kids on CD (Shout! Factory) Originally released in 1959 via Golden Records

Episodic TV appearances

• The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (1966) - Lewis was the guest star in the episode known as "The Off-Broadway Affair"; she played an adorably perky, somewhat ditzy understudy.

• Lewis (and Lamb Chop) guest-starred on episode 2.20, "Lamb Chop's on the Menu" of The Nanny, which premiered on February 13 1995.

Cultural references

• In the episode Dummy for Love on season 2 of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Salem has photoshopped images of himself with various celebrities such as Mother Theresa to give to Zelda so she'll put in a good word for him at the Witches Council so he'll have a reduced sentence. Later, Zelda finds a hidden photo of him and Shari Lewis, and Salem nervously attacks her questioning with, 'That's from my personal collection!'.

References

External links

• "Kitten Kaboodle's biography of Shari Lewis