For as much credit as Fred Rogers gets and deserves for helping shape the landscape of children’s television, there’s another figure who was also there who deserves to be remembered just as fondly, Shari Lewis.
Lewis was an entertainer, singer, and puppeteer who rose to fame in the 1960s alongside her signature puppet, Lamb Chop. You’ll probably recall her PBS program “Lamb Chop’s Play-Along” and “The Song That Doesn’t End,” which is now already stuck in your head, you’re welcome. The world lost Shari back in 1998, and nearly three decades later, we’re getting a documentary about her career and life from director Lisa D’Apolito (“Love, Gilda”).
“Shari & Lamb Chop” chronicles Lewis’ early success from making guest appearances on shows in the 1950s, to getting her own show in 1960, and eventually coming back even stronger in the early 90s. She was able to bring her talents as a ventriloquist, magician, and performer to millions, only to have to come back into the limelight without changing her values of what children’s television should be.
The trailer features footage of Lewis from across the breadth of her career and interviews with those who were inspired by her. We get some information about how as integral as Lamb Chop was to Shari’s popularity, it was also something of a shackle that she couldn’t always be separated from. After her original show was cancelled, it wasn’t an easy time for Shari; something that is kind of a revelation for those of us who grew up watching her. It’s hard to imagine that beaming, energetic person harboring any kind of sadness or pain.
Even though I was a little older than the target demographic towards the later years of “Lamb Chop’s Play-Along” (I was 10 in 1995) I can still remember watching it for the songs, the good-natured humor, and the magic tricks she would pull off. It was a legitimately warm and cozy show that always felt like a break from the world. And I remember the day I found out she passed away. I was watching PBS and in-between shows, there was a still image broadcasted of her face and the date of her birth and her passing. She had moved on to making the show, “The Charlie Horse Music Pizza,” which I was too old for and didn’t really enjoy. But that image of her and the acknowledgment of her death hit me with a terrible weight that coincidentally coincided with my progression from child to teenager.
When people say phrases like, “there will never be another” someone, it can sound a bit overblown. In the case of Shari Lewis, it’s so tremendously true. In the 27 years since we lost her there has not been another talent or voice quite like hers.
“Shari & Lamb Chop” hits select theaters July 18th. Check out the trailer now:
