Shari Lewis: Creator of Lamb Chop
Shari Lewis (January 17, 1933 – August 2, 1998) was an American ventriloquist, puppeteer, children’s entertainer, television host, dancer, comedian, singer, actress, author, and symphony conductor. She created and performed the sock puppet Lamb Chop, which debuted on Captain Kangaroo in March 1956 and became her signature character across multiple television programs spanning four decades.
Early Life and Education
Lewis was born Phyllis Naomi Hurwitz in New York City to Jewish parents Ann (née Ritz) and Abraham Hurwitz, an education professor at Yeshiva University originally from Vilnius, Lithuania. Her father, called New York’s “official magician” by Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia during the Great Depression, taught her specialized magic acts by age 13. She also trained in acrobatics, baton twirling, juggling, ice skating, and musical instruments including piano and violin.
Career and Achievements
Lewis won first prize on CBS’s Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts in 1952 for her puppetry work. On July 5, 1953, she made her television hosting debut on Facts N’ Fun, an NBC variety show on WRCA-TV featuring games, crafts, songs, and comedy sketches with ventriloquist dummies Samson and Taffy Twinkle. The program ran until September 26, 1953.
She moved to WPIX in 1953 to host Kartoon Klub, a variety program with a live studio audience that featured reruns of Crusader Rabbit cartoons. The show was retitled Shari & Her Friends on September 23, 1956, and then Shariland a month later. Lewis won New York-area Emmy Awards for her work on Shariland and on Hi Mom (1957–1959), a WRCA-TV series that introduced characters Charlie Horse, Hush Puppy, and Wing Ding.
NBC premiered The Shari Lewis Show on October 1, 1960, replacing The Howdy Doody Show. The program ran until September 28, 1963, and featured Lamb Chop as a sassy alter-ego, along with Hush Puppy (with a Southern accent and shy personality), Charlie Horse (snarky and sarcastic), and Wing Ding (a black crow). In 1961, Lewis played the title character Dulie Hudson in Watching Out for Dulie, a United States Steel Hour production. She guest-starred in shows including Car 54, Where Are You?, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and Love, American Style.
From the late 1960s into the early 1980s, Lewis appeared on British television programs including the Val Doonican Show and the Royal Variety Performance. She briefly hosted The Shari Show, a syndicated puppet program, in 1975. In 1992, Lamb Chop’s Play-Along debuted on PBS as an audience participation show designed to counter passive television viewing; it ran for three years. After the show ended, Lewis and her husband Jeremy Tarcher created The Charlie Horse Music Pizza to introduce children to music at a time when a third of elementary schools were eliminating music from their curricula.
The faith-based video Lamb Chop’s Special Chanukah was released in 1996 and won the Parents’ Choice Award. Lewis testified before Congress in 1993 in favor of children’s television protections, with Lamb Chop permitted to speak alongside her. As an accomplished musician, she conducted major symphonies in the United States, Japan, and Canada. She wrote over 60 children’s books and produced 17 home videos.
Lewis provided the voice of Princess Nida in the animated segment Arabian Knights from the 1968 series The Banana Splits Adventure Hour and voiced the titular character and Cousin Maggie in Famous Studios’ Honey Halfwitch theatrical shorts. With Tarcher, she co-wrote the Star Trek episode “The Lights of Zetar” (1969).
Notable Events and Milestones
Lamb Chop first appeared on Captain Kangaroo in March 1956, launching the character that would define Lewis’s career. The Shari Lewis Show’s debut on October 1, 1960, marked her first network program. In 1984, Lewis was treated for breast cancer. In June 1998, she was diagnosed with uterine cancer and underwent a hysterectomy.
Awards and Honors
Lewis won first prize on Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts in 1952. She received New York-area Emmy Awards for her work on Shariland and Hi Mom. Lamb Chop’s Special Chanukah won the Parents’ Choice Award in 1996. Lewis was a Peabody Award winner for her television work.
Additional Resources
Shari Lewis’s extensive career in children’s entertainment, puppetry, and television production is documented in greater detail through Wikipedia and other biographical archives. Her influence on children’s programming and her creation of Lamb Chop remain significant in the history of American television.
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