Shari Lewis: applause for a tireless teacher with a sassy sock Originally published in Current, Aug. 10, 1998 By Karen Everhart Bedford Shari Lewis, the versatile and eternally youthful performer who entertained two generations of children with her own beloved family of puppets, died Aug. 2 of complications related to cancer. She was 65. After doctors diagnosed Lewis with uterine cancer in June, she halted production of her latest PBS show, the Charlie Horse Music Pizza, to undergo chemotherapy. Lewis had been in treatment for six weeks when she developed pneumonia and succumbed. PBS continues to run repeats of the daily series, which was designed to introduce musical concepts to children. Lewis had made 23 episodes of the series, including three new ones yet to be broadcast. "Music education can help you learn anything," said Lewis, in promoting Music Pizza before its January 1998 debut. "It builds self-esteem, teaches patience, and is loads of fun." The ventriloquist and puppeteer brought a learn-by-doing style to teaching children on TV. Her 1992 PBS series, Lamb Chop's Play Along, was dubbed the "anti-couch potato show" because Lewis invited kids to actively participate in the program. The series won five consecutive Emmys honoring Lewis as "outstanding performer in a children's series." When the show won a 1993 Emmy for outstanding writing, Lewis and her daughter Mallory Tarcher became the first mother/daughter team to share an Emmy. Lamb-Chop's Play Along marked Lewis's return to children's television after a long absence, and helped revive PBS's preschool line-up with fresh new programming. "She wanted to instill in children to be doers and not just viewers," said Pat Kunkel, director of children's programming for KCET in Los Angeles, coproducing station for Music Pizza. "She believed it was engagement and participation in life, and interest in it, that keeps you going." In 1992, Lewis described her philosophy to a writer for the Los Angeles Times, quoting a Chinese proverb: "I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand." Hush Puppy, Lewis and Dom DeLuise on NBC's Shari Lewis Show in 1960. Lamb Chop, the sock puppet who was the most renowned among Lewis's characters, helped launch Lewis's rise to stardom, and accompanied her along the way. Five years after winning the competition on Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts in 1952, Lewis introduced the mischievous woolly sock puppet on Captain Kangaroo. She was promptly given her own program, The Shari Lewis Show. It ran for several years on NBC, until animation became the mainstay of U.S. children's TV. Lewis had her own weekly TV series on the BBC from 1968 to 1972. Lewis's acting and dancing talents took her to Broadway, where she performed in "Damn Yankees," "Bye Bye Birdie," "Funny Girl," and, eventually "Lamb Chop on Broadway." She also appeared in nightclubs and casinos. Her act included Lamb Chop "in adult mode, tipsy and searching for a martini," according to the L.A. Times. In her lifetime, Lewis won 12 Emmys, a Peabody, the John F. Kennedy Center Award for Excellence and Creativity, seven Parent's Choice Awards, and the Action for Children's Television Award. She wrote more than 60 children's books and created a CD-ROM, numerous audio cassettes and 24 home videos. With her second husband, Jeremy Tarcher, she wrote an episode of the original Star Trek, "The Lights of Zatar." A serious musician who conducted symphonies around the world, Lewis studied at New York's High School of Music and Art, the school made famous by Fame. Her mother, a music coordinator for the New York City Board of Education, began teaching Lewis piano at age two. Her father was a college professor and magician who showed her how to pull a rabbit out of a hat when she was a toddler. He also encouraged her ventriloquism. "Shari Lewis was a warm and wonderful person, with extraordinary talent and limitless generosity of spirit," said PBS President Ervin Duggan, in a statement. "She was a weaver of magic, bringing laughter, knowledge and joy to the hearts of children and adults alike. She will be remembered as a woman of incalculable good works. Her life had real meaning." Lewis is survived by her husband, their daughter, who was creative supervisor of Music Pizza, and a sister, Barbara Okun. Services were private, although a public memorial will be planned. The family requested that memorial donations be sent to the Girl Scouts of America. KCET is receiving cards and letters on behalf of the family.

Lewis and Charlie Horse

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	Outside links: Shari Lewis bio on TVacres.com, Yahoo links, recipe for her no-fry latkes.

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