Wednesday, December 01, 2021

EP253: Shari Lewis Remembered


Shari Lewis was a remarkable entertainer — ventriloquist, children’s show host, singer, dancer, actor, author, conductor, co-writer of a STAR TREK episode. Ken talks to her daughter, Mallory to get a real sense of just who Shari Lewis really was. You’ll learn about Lamb Chop too.

More podcasts at WAVE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/artist/wave-podcast-network/1437831426


Listen to the Hollywood & Levine podcast!

9 comments :

Pat Reeder said...

Laura and I love Shari Lewis, and we know Mallory Lewis. She's a terrific ventriloquist/entertainer in her own right and does her mom proud. She's doing a lot to keep Shari's legacy alive. Thanks for this interview.

Brian Phillips said...

Can't wait to hear this one. I remember a Love, American Style when Lewis and Paul Winchell played two people that could only speak through their dummies, when it came to courtship matters.

FRIDAY QUESTION: Have you or David Isaacs ever written for an advertising firm? Do you know of any writers that have come from the world of advertising?

Fred said...

“A wonderful episode with an informative fun guest on a great topic,”
says this listener, who has trouble merely reading without moving his lips.
“I can’t wait for the new book and doc,” says this same listener, who still has his first Shari Lewis Golden Book

For early, contemporary Lewis stories:
“Shari Lewis” lantern.mediahust.org search results

https://lantern.mediahist.org/?Author=&Keyword=Shari+Lewis&Lantern+Hack%3A+Enter+%270001%27+to+disable+fulltext+search+and+exclusively+search+metadata=&Second+Keyword=&Third+Keyword=&commit=Search&op=AND&page=2&search_field=advanced&sort=score+desc%2C+dateStart+desc%2C+title+asc&subject=&title=&utf8=✓

“Daughter is born to Shari Lewis” (NBC Press Release)

https://ia803006.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?id=nbctraderelease1962nati_5&itemPath=%2F32%2Fitems%2Fnbctraderelease1962nati_5&server=ia803006.us.archive.org&page=leaf00091_s0

“The Many Faces of Shari” (1961)

https://ia800308.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?id=radiotvmirr00ma&itemPath=%2F26%2Fitems%2Fradiotvmirr00ma&server=ia800308.us.archive.org&page=leaf00049_s0



A Non Mouse said...

I know Shari Lewis from her PBS kids shows Lamb Chop's Play-Along and Charlie Horse Music Pizza. I was really sad when the news announced she died. I also learned about the Jewish holidays from the Shari Lewis specials.

Mike Barer said...

So you speak of first crushes. Maybe that should be a blogpost. I think that mine was sally Field in Gidget. Of course, 99 in Get Smart rated pretty high with me, as well as April Dancer in The Girl From Uncle.

Pat Reeder said...

To Brian Phillips: I broke into writing radio comedy services by first writing and voicing thousands of radio commercials, many of them comedy ads. But I never worked for an ad agency. I applied once to a well-known agency. The creative director asked to see my samples, so I gave him some scripts. Couldn't have been more than six or seven pages with plenty of white space.

When I came back over a week later, he still hadn't read them. He whined (literally) that he couldn't cope with all those words, and did I have some samples that were mostly photos? Considering it was a copywriter job, I decided this was not where I belonged.

Norm said...

So looking forward to this episode.

I was fortunate to have been given B&W copies (color episodes are long gone) of two of 1960's NBC show, one including Margaret Hamilton!

Her talent was beyond compare.

sanford said...

I assume IMBD that Shari Lewis was born in New York City. The county would have the actual birthdate. All Mallory would have to do is go on line and ask for a copy of the birth certificate.

DG said...

I wish I had something more profound to say than "Mallory Lewis was an amazing guest," but... she really was!