SANTA BARBARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2024 REVIEW! Shari and Lamb Chop, directed by Lisa D’Apolito, is a poignant documentary about the beloved ventriloquist and puppeteer Shari Lewis. Lewis and her felt animal pals began bringing smiles to children on television in the 1950s. I did not personally grow up watching Lewis, but I knew of her from talk show appearances and my younger sister watching Lamp Chop’s Play Along (or possibly reruns of one of Lewis’ other shows).
This film shows us Lewis’s whole life, from early childhood to the strong influence of her magician father to the very end. The film makes a parallel to the legendary children’s entertainment innovator Mr. Rogers (whom I grew up watching). It shows that Lewis was actually doing some of those same things before he got started. Lewis was amazingly doing multiple hours of live television every week. All those shows starred just her and her puppets.
Sesame Street puppeteer Megan Piphus Peace discusses what a pioneer Lewis was. She also talks about the intense level of difficulty it was to be a ventriloquist and puppeteer for two different puppets at the same time (one on each hand). The old saying that someone “had trouble walking and chewing bubble gum at the same time” comes to mind, only the exact opposite of that.
“…about the beloved ventriloquist and puppeteer Shari Lewis.”
We also get to see what an incredible dancer Lewis was from clips from variety shows where she would do things like dance with a life-size dummy who was supposed to be the great Fred Astaire. Shari and Lamb Chop does a fantastic job of showing the intense dedication and talent that Lewis had. There’s a perception that she was “just doing a puppet show,” but she did so much more both within the show and outside of it.
D’Apolito is not afraid to look at the unflattering and difficult parts of Lewis’ life either. The subject’s strained relationships with her daughter and her husband are explored. Her intense battle with cancer, twice, is chronicled. All of it together gives a clear picture of the life behind the curtain of someone who lived in the spotlight for most of her time on this planet. Awesomely, despite that they never totally saw eye to eye, Shari Lewis’ daughter, Mallory, carries on the tradition by donning Lamb Chop on the likes of Tik Tok.
Shari and Lewis is an unflinching look at a caring innovator that moved me to tears by the end. D’Apolito makes audiences feel like they knew her, and by the time she faced the inevitable and lost her battle with cancer it feels like the passing of a loved one. That Lewis had a dark period in life when she wasn’t getting that much work and then came back strong for a whole new generation of children makes her all the more relatable and remarkable. Life is about getting knocked down and how you handle it from there. Lewis dusted herself off and got back up with the best of them.
Shari and Lewis screened at the 2024 Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
"…moved me to tears..."
