I’m not usually prone to impulse buying. But a few days ago I was at my local Harris Teeter grocery store. I was in the pet food aisle since my dog Riley had added dog bones to my shopping list.
As I passed the dog toys, I did a double-take, thinking, “Wow, that toy really reminds me of the puppet Lamb Chop from my childhood.” I picked up one to find its tag read, “The Lamb. The Legend.™ Lamb Chop.” Well, how could I not buy it? (Note: I overpaid since it’s on Amazon Prime for five bucks.)
Lamb Chop was a sock puppet brought to “life” by Shari Lewis (1934-1998). In 1956 Shari and Lamb Chop appeared on the children’s show Captain Kangaroo. Four years later she had her own network television program. Then in the early 90s PBS revived her show so that another generation watched Lamb Chop’s Play-Along.
Although I recall enjoying her show, I was too young to appreciate how truly talented Shari was. Her magician father had exposed her to many facets of entertainment life; she played both violin and piano, studied dance at the American School of Ballet, took singing lessons, juggled, performed acrobatic feats, and learned to be a ventriloquist. Later in life she was a talented orchestra conductor and also wrote over sixty children’s books. Among many other awards, she won a dozen Emmys and the 1983 Kennedy Center Award for Excellence. She was, at all ages, classy while silly and girl-next-door beautiful.
If you watch any of her old clips, though, you’ll see where she really excelled. She loved children. She knew she had an impressionable audience and made the most of it. With Shari’s gentle, sweetly funny, engaging personality, she was able to instill important life lessons without being overbearing.
While Shari had other puppets (such as Charley Horse and Hush Puppy), Lamb Chop was always the star. According to Biography This Week, when Shari Lewis appeared before Congress in 1993 to testify on behalf of protections for children’s television, Lamb Chop was granted permission to speak. I’m sorry but that just cracks me up.
If you’d like to watch a clip of Shari and Lamb Chop at what appears to be a fund-raising event in 1982, I recommend this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxoYKt65vSQ This clearly shows how a children’s program can be tailored for an adult audience.
After Shari died, her daughter Mallory decided to keep up the act. When interviewed by Huff/Post50, Mallory was asked about her audiences being mostly adults when she gives a children’s show. Her reply was this: “Yes, primarily our audiences are adults…who often bring the kids along. Lamb Chop is an icon. She represents a happy time in people’s lives and they love her for it.”
And I guess that’s why I bought the dog toy on impulse. Who doesn’t love an icon that represents a happy time?
To my readers: Care to share a memory about a favorite show you recall from your childhood?
Norma, I recall hearing an interview with Shari Lewis in which she spoke about her musical training. What i remember was that she didn’t like piano lessons very much because you had to “stike the keys”. The first time she placed a violin under her chin she felt the wood against her skin and used the bow to “stroke the strings” and she was hooked! She also spoke of how music helps with mathematics.
I remembered this when we had a meeting with several school folks when Alex went to public school after homeschooling for 7 years. One older adminsitrator cautioned us that college admissions would not look favorably on him taking band every year and yet Alex had been playing the saxophone since he was 7 and barely able to reach all the “keys” (I’m not at all musical so pardon my ignorance of terminology). I was always fond of Shari Lewis and so enjoyed hearing that interview.
Kathy, thanks for being a first time respondent. I enjoyed hearing your story of Alex. I’ll be thinking of you and Alex tomorrow on his birthday. He would have been 30, the same age that Tim would have been on his last birthday. But they will always be just our boys. God’s blessings on you.
I loved seeing the photo of “our dog” with Lamb Chop! Thanks, also, for all the research you did on the subject. I guess all of us turned out to be right, in our individual perspectives, as to when it was on TV.
As to a favorite show from my childhood, there were so many once we got a TV (I actually remember not having one!) but certainly not nearly as many choices as are available now. If I remember correctly, we could only get two channels with our antenna for many years. Anyway, I am leaning towards a show from my teenage years. Do you remember American Bandstand and Dick Clark? I used to look forward to Saturdays when I could enjoy watching the kids dance and listening to the music. I consider myself very lucky to have grown up in such an innocent era, at least for the small town where I still live! Believe it or not, it is still a fairly innocent and good place to live.
Yes, enjoyed the show a lot. In fact, I think I’ll write about that today!