Iconic ventriloquist and puppeteer Shari Lewis gets a documentary ode to her trailblazing career as a children’s entertainer in “Shari & Lamb Chop.” The new documentary, from “Love, Gilda” director and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Lisa D’Apolito, takes an up-close and personal look at her life and career starting with the CBS television series “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts” in the early 1950s, through “The Shari Lewis Show” and “The Charlie Horse Music Pizza,” with her second husband Jeremy Tarcher.
Kino Lorber releases the documentary in theaters on July 18, with digital, educational, and home video releases to follow. Watch the trailer, an IndieWire exclusive, for “Shari & Lamb Chop” below.
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Here’s the official synopsis: “Before Fred Rogers and Jim Henson, there was Shari Lewis, a children’s television pioneer whose whimsical characters and ebullient spirit have guided generations of children as they came of age. Raised in the Bronx by a proud feminist mother and a professor father who moonlighted as Peter Pan the Magic Man, Shari became a multitalented dancer, singer, and magician. But when an injury sidelined her dance aspirations, she channeled her creativity into a passion for ventriloquism, creating the now beloved sock puppet characters Charlie Horse, Hush Puppy and, of course, Lamb Chop.
“From her early years of TV success to the crush of her show’s cancellation to her 1990s comeback in her 60s, Lisa D’Apolito’s heartfelt doc charts the life, loves, and career hits and misses of the spunky perfectionist whose talent and perseverance stand as a testament to women’s power and forever changed the landscape of children’s entertainment. Featuring interviews with ventriloquists inspired by Lewis alongside nostalgia-rich clips and home movies, this vibrant portrait brims with the same warmth, wit, and magic that defined her, celebrating the power of imagination and the inner child within.”
The film is produced by White Horse Pictures and MoJo Global Arts and presented by Concord Originals and Olive Hill Media in association with The 51 Fund, Carlene Laughlin, and Chicago Media Project. The film first premiered at DOC NYC.
The documentary is produced with the full cooperation of the Shari Lewis estate, through her daughter Mallory Lewis, who shares in her mother’s legacy performing with Lamb Chop regularly across the U.S.
