Shari Lewis

Shari Lewis (born Phyllis Naomi Hurwitz; January 17, 1933 – August 2, 1998) was an American ventriloquist, puppeteer, children's entertainer, comedian, and television show host. She was best known as the original puppeteer of the sock puppet Lamb Chop, first appearing on Captain Kangaroo in March 1956 and then Hi Mom, a local morning television show that aired on WRCA-TV (now WNBC-TV) in New York City.

Shari Lewis
Lewis with Lamb Chop in June, 1993
Born
Phyllis Naomi Hurwitz

(1933-01-17)January 17, 1933
The Bronx, New York, U.S.
DiedAugust 2, 1998(1998-08-02) (aged 65)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationVentriloquist, puppeteer, author, children's television show host, singer
Years active1952–1998
Spouse(s)
Stan Lewis
​
​
(m. 1953; div. 1957)​

Jeremy Tarcher
​
​
(m. 1958; her death 1998)​
ChildrenMallory Tarcher

Early life

Lewis was born Phyllis Naomi Hurwitz to Jewish parents, Ann Ritz and Abraham Hurwitz, an education professor at Yeshiva University. She had one sister. Her parents encouraged her to perform and her father, who had been named New York City's "official magician" by Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia during the Great Depression,[1] taught her to perform specialized magic acts by the age of 13. She also received instruction in acrobatics, juggling, ice skating, baton twirling, piano, and violin.[2] She was taught ventriloquism by John W. Cooper.

She continued to study the piano and violin at New York's High School of Music and Art, dance at the School of American Ballet, and acting with Sanford Meisner of the Neighborhood Playhouse. She attended Barnard College of Columbia University, but left after one year to go into show business.

Career

In 1952, Lewis and her puppetry won first prize on the CBS television series Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. She hosted several New York children's series through the decade. On July 5, 1953, Lewis made her television hosting debut on Facts N'Fun on NBC-owned WRCA-TV. The program was a variety show in which she engaged her viewers and studio audiences in games, songs, stories, craftmaking, informational segments, and interviews with guest performers and personalities. She also performed comedy skits with two ventriloquist's dummies, Samson and Taffy Twinkle. The series remained on the air until September 26, 1953.[3]

She moved to WPIX in 1953 to replace Ted Steele as host of Kartoon Klub, which featured a variety format with a live studio audience. Lewis performed with Randy Rocket and Taffy Twinkle, and the program also featured reruns of Crusader Rabbit cartoons. Kartoon Klub later changed its title to Shari & Her Friends on September 23, 1956, and then to Shariland a month later. Lewis won New York-area Emmy Awards for her work on Shariland and a succeeding series on WRCA-TV, Hi Mom (1957–1959), which introduced Charlie Horse, Hush Puppy, and Wing Ding. Lamb Chop, also appearing, had previously been introduced during Lewis' guest appearance on Captain Kangaroo in March 1956.[3]

Lewis with her puppets, Lamb Chop and Charlie Horse, 1960

NBC gave Lewis her first network program, The Shari Lewis Show, which debuted on October 1, 1960, replacing The Howdy Doody Show. The show ran until September 28, 1963, and featured such characters as Hush Puppy, Charlie Horse, Lamb Chop, and Wing Ding, a black crow. Lamb Chop, which was little more than a sock with eyes, served as a sassy alter ego for Lewis. Hush Puppy had a Southern accent and a reserved, shy personality, while Charlie Horse was a slow-witted, goofy character.

In 1961, she played title character Dulie Hudson in Watching Out for Dulie, a United States Steel Hour production. She occasionally guest-starred in TV shows such as Car 54, Where Are You?, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and Love, American Style.[3]

From the late 1960s until the early 1980s, she appeared in a number of British shows, such as the Val Doonican Show and the Royal Variety Performance.[3] In 1975, Lewis briefly hosted another, syndicated puppet show called The Shari Show. In 1992, her show Lamb Chop's Play-Along began a five-year run on PBS,[4] created as an audience participation "anti-couch potato" show.[5]

When Lamb Chop's Play-Along ended, Lewis and her husband Jeremy Tarcher created The Charlie Horse Music Pizza.[6] A third of elementary schools were cutting music classes from their curriculum at the time, and Lewis and Tarcher felt that they could introduce children to music through the show.[7]

The video Lamb Chop's Special Chanukah was released in 1996 and received the Parents' Choice award of the year. Lewis and Lamb Chop both appeared in a commercial for PrimeStar in 1997.[3] When Lewis appeared before Congress in 1993 to testify in favor of protections for children's television, Lamb Chop gained permission to speak.[8] An accomplished musician, she conducted major symphonies in the United States, Japan, and Canada. She wrote many books and produced 17 home videos.[9]

Lewis's other work included providing the voice of the Princess in the cartoon segment Arabian Knights, part of the 1968 series The Banana Splits Adventure Hour. Her other voice work in animation includes Paramount Cartoon Studios' Honey Halfwitch theatrical cartoon shorts. Lewis voices the titular character as well as her Cousin Maggie.

With her husband, Jeremy Tarcher, she co-wrote an episode for the original series of Star Trek, "The Lights of Zetar" (1969). Lewis wrote over 60 books for children.[10]

Personal life

Lewis kept her surname from her first marriage to Stan Lewis (1930–1968). Her second husband was publisher Jeremy Tarcher (1932–2015), a brother of novelist Judith Krantz. Lewis met Tarcher on the set of a radio show; they married a year later.[11] Their daughter, Mallory Tarcher, was born on June 19, 1963.

Mallory Tarcher wrote for the shows Lamb Chop's Play-Along and The Charlie Horse Music Pizza. She legally changed her last name to Lewis and took over her mother's work with Lamb Chop in 2000.[12] On September 20, 2015, 17 years after her death, Shari Lewis’ husband Jeremy Tarcher died from Parkinson's disease; he was 83.[13][14] Prior to her death Shari Lewis sold the rights to Lamb Chop to DreamWorks. Her daughter Mallory still owns the live performing rights to the Lamb Chop character.[15]

Illness and death

Lewis was treated for breast cancer in 1984.[16] In June 1998 she was diagnosed with uterine cancer. She had a hysterectomy, but her doctors informed her that the cancer was inoperable and she was given six weeks to live.[17][18] After her diagnosis, Lewis insisted on taping a final episode of The Charlie Horse Music Pizza.[19] After recovering from the hysterectomy, she began chemotherapy at Cedars-Sinai Hospital.[20] While undergoing chemotherapy, she developed viral pneumonia and died on August 2, 1998, at the age of 65.[21][22][23] After her death The Charlie Horse Music Pizza was cancelled.[24] The last episode of The Charlie Horse Music Pizza aired on January 17, 1999, what would have been her 66th birthday.[25] Her body was cremated.

Awards and honors

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

  • 12 Emmy Awards
  • Peabody Award (1960)
  • Monte Carlo Prize for the World's Best Television Variety Show (1963)
  • 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)
  • In 1979, the Supersisters trading card set was produced and distributed; one of the cards featured Lewis's name and picture.[26]
  • In 1998, she was posthumously awarded the Women in Film Lucy Award in recognition of her excellence and innovation in her creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television.[27]

Television shows

Feature films
  • You Can Do It!—1984
  • Have I Got A Story For You—1984
  • Kooky Classics—1984

Specials

Episodic TV appearances
  • Lewis was included on the long list of entertainers who appeared on ABC's The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom, a variety series, which aired from 1957–1960. She was seen on November 20 and December 18, 1958 episodes.
  • Lewis appeared on April 14, 1960, and again on January 12, 1961, on NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford.[30]
  • Lewis, Lamb Chop (dressed as Santa), and Charlie Horse sang "Jingle Bells" on "The Ed Sullivan Show" (Season 15, Episode 15, broadcast Dec 24, 1961)
  • Lewis guest-starred in two episodes of the NBC police sitcom Car 54, Where Are You?, as Melinda Walsh in "How High is Up?" (1962) and as Judy Sanford in "Puncher and Judy" (1963).
  • In "The Off-Broadway Affair", a season 3 episode of the NBC spy-adventure series The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Lewis guest-starred as a perky, somewhat ditzy understudy. Originally broadcast November 18, 1966.
  • Lewis and Lamb Chop guest-starred on Episode 2.20, "Lamb Chop's on the Menu", of the sitcom The Nanny broadcast on CBS, February 13, 1995.
  • Lewis and Lamb Chop guest-starred on the 27th-season finale episode (Episode 3525) of Sesame Street, broadcast on May 17, 1996.
  • Lewis and Lamb Chop guest-starred on Episode 3.14, "Little Bo Peep", of the sitcom Cybill broadcast on CBS, January 20, 1997.

Partial discography

References
  1. "Abraham Hurwitz Dead at 76; New York's Official Magician". The New York Times. October 1, 1981. p. 12. Retrieved February 14, 2011.
  2. "Shari Lewis". Grandtimes.com. Retrieved December 26, 2014.
  3. "Shari Lewis". IMDb. Retrieved December 26, 2014.
  4. Still a Handsome Couple: Shari Lewis and Sidekick Lamb Chop Teach Kids to 'Play-Along', Los Angeles Times, July 27, 1993.
  5. Playing Along With Shari: Puppeteer Lewis is Back with a PBS series for kids and their parents, Los Angeles Times; accessed February 4, 2018.
  6. SIGNOFF; Shari Lewis's Jazzy New Pals , The New York Times
  7. "Shari Lewis, Television Puppeteer, Dies at 65", Washington Post, August 4, 1998; retrieved May 6, 2018.
  8. LEWIS THROWS VOICE TO PUSH FOR QUALITY TV , Deseret News
  9. "Sheri Lewis". Angelawards.com. Retrieved December 26, 2014.
  10. This Day in Jewish History 1998: A Ventriloquist Whose Sock Addressed Congress Dies, haaretz.com; accessed February 3, 2019.
  11. "At 40, Lamb Chop Still Plays Along Successfully", Los Angeles Times, March 16, 1996.
  12. Lamb Chop, the Next Generation, Los Angeles Times, June 4, 2000.
  13. Jeremy Tarcher dies at 83; maverick publisher of New Age bestsellers , Los Angeles Times
  14. Jeremy P. Tarcher, Publisher of Nonfiction Best Sellers Dies At 83 , The New York Times
  15. Shari Lewis' daughter keeps Lamb Chop alive, in Mesa 1/5
  16. "'Lamb Chop' Creator Shari Lewis Struggled with Marriage and Motherhood", countryliving.com; accessed February 4, 2018.
  17. Shari Lewis' Farewell / Ch. 13 to broadcast late puppeteer's last
  18. The Voice of Lamb Chop, cancertodaymag.org; accessed February 4, 2018.
  19. Sheep Shape
  20. Puppeteer Shari Lewis, 65, Creator, Voice Of Lamb Chop, chicagotribune.com, August 4, 1998; accessed February 4, 2018.
  21. Shari Lewis, TV Puppeteer Loved by Children, Dies at 65, The New York Times, August 4, 1998; accessed February 4, 2018.
  22. "Shari Lewis (1933–1998)". Lambchop.tv. Archived from the original on 25 August 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
  23. Puppeteer Shari Lewis Dies, cbsnews.com; accessed February 4, 2018
  24. Entertainer Shari Lewis Dies at 65
  25. Shari Lewis' Farewell / Ch. 13 to broadcast late puppeteer's last
  26. Wulf, Steve (2015-03-23). "Supersisters: Original Roster". Espn.go.com. Retrieved 2015-06-04.
  27. "Past Recipients-Lucy Award". Women in Film. Archived from the original on 2011-08-30. Retrieved 2011-06-08.
  28. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/c1cd570b8f384d6d9eebed526f4d6d6e
  29. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/f30830ec73b74b4cb1929a039d0c8b4e
  30. "The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show". Ctva.biz. Retrieved November 25, 2010.
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