Shari Lewis

Early life

Lewis was born Sonia Phyllis 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. LaGuardia during the Great Depression, taught her to perform specialized magic acts by age 13. She also received instruction in acrobatics, juggling, ice skating, baton twirling, piano, and violin. She was taught ventriloquism by John W. Cooper. She 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, 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. Lewis then 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 vent figures, Samson and Taffy Twinkle. The series remained on the air until September 26, 1953.

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, which also appeared, had been previously introduced during Lewis' guest appearance on Captain Kangaroo in March 1956.

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. Guest TV and movie personalities and even occasional stars often appeared on her show, as they did later on Jim Henson's Muppets series.

Capturing kids' imaginations in the early 1960s, consumer versions of Lewis's initial three puppets sold briskly. Subsequent television programs reintroduced these characters (minus the black crow, whose characterization became more problematic after the 1960s) to a new generation of children.

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.

From the late 1960s until the early 1980s, she appeared on a number of British shows, such as the Val Doonican Show and the Royal Variety Performance.

In 1975, Lewis briefly hosted another puppet show that was syndicated, called The Shari Show.

In 1992, her Emmy-winning show Lamb Chop's Play-Along began a five-year run on PBS. Shari came up with "Lamb Chop's Play-Along" as an anti couch potato show. Lewis 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. Lamb Chop and she both appeared in a commercial for PrimeStar in 1997.

When Lewis appeared before Congress in 1993 to testify in favor of protections for children's television, Lamb Chop was granted permission to speak.

An accomplished musician, she conducted major symphonies in the United States, Japan, and Canada. She wrote many books and produced 17 home videos.

Lewis' other work included providing the voice of the Princess in the cartoon segment "Arabian Knights", part of the 1968 seriesThe Banana Splits Adventure Hour. With her husband, Jeremy Tarcher, she cowrote an episode for the original series of Star Trek, "The Lights of Zetar" (1969). Lewis wrote over 60 books for children.

Personal life

Shari acquired the last name Lewis by a brief marriage to her ex-husband, Stan Lewis. Her second husband was publisher Jeremy Tarcher, a brother of novelist Judith Krantz. Shari and Jeremy welcomed their daughter Mallory 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 resumed her mother's work with Lamb Chop in 2000. On September 20, 2015 Shari's husband Jeremy Tarcher died from Parkinson's disease. At the time of his death he was 83.

Death

Shari Lewis was diagnosed with uterine cancer in June 1998. After her diagnosis Shari insisted on taping the last episode of "Charlie Horse Music Pizza". She had previously been treated for breast cancer in 1984. Shari Lewis had a Hysterectomy and was given six weeks to live. After recovering from the hysterectomy Shari then began Chemotherapy at Cedars-Sinai Hospital. While undergoing chemotherapy she developed Viral pneumonia and died on August 2, 1998, at the age of 65. Her body was cremated. She was survived by her husband, daughter, and sister. After her death "Charlie Horse Music Pizza" was canceled.

Awards and honors

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

Television shows

Feature films

Specials

Episodic TV appearances

Partial Discography