Lamb Chop off the Old Block
THIS PUPPET SHOW DOESN'T END.
YES, IT JUST GOES ON AND ON, MY FRIEND
from TV Guide Ulitmate Cable May 20-26, 2000 edition
After puppeteer Shari Lewis died unexpectedly in August 1998, children world wide sent cards expressing their condolences to her only daughter, Mallory Lewis (above, right, with her mother, Shari). Many also asked if Lamb Chop had died, too. "I was moved," says Lewis, 32, who stood in for her Emmy-nominated mother at the Daytime Emmy Awards on May 19. "That's when I knew I had to save Lamb Chop." But while Lewis believed she could keep her mother's award-winning creation alive, Golden Books, the company that owns the licensing rights for the puppet, needed some convincing. "We thought that without Shari there was no [Lamb Chop]," says Gary Hymowitz, vice president of licensing for Golden Books.
To carry on the family legacy, Lewis, who was a writer for Lamb Chop's Play-Along on PBS, assumed the role of the puppet's big sister and took the kindhearted 6-year-old to festivals, a convention in Las Vegas and The Rosie O'Donnell Show. "My mother didn't work her whole life to have Lamb Chop die with her," she says. So, did she pass the test? "Mallory was wonderful," Hymowitz says, adding that Golden Books is trying to start an animated show for her cotton sibling. "I know it's what my mother would want," Lewis says.
-Allison Hope Weiner
After puppeteer Shari Lewis died unexpectedly in August 1998, children world wide sent cards expressing their condolences to her only daughter, Mallory Lewis (above, right, with her mother, Shari). Many also asked if Lamb Chop had died, too. "I was moved," says Lewis, 32, who stood in for her Emmy-nominated mother at the Daytime Emmy Awards on May 19. "That's when I knew I had to save Lamb Chop." But while Lewis believed she could keep her mother's award-winning creation alive, Golden Books, the company that owns the licensing rights for the puppet, needed some convincing. "We thought that without Shari there was no [Lamb Chop]," says Gary Hymowitz, vice president of licensing for Golden Books.