Screening Date: Sun. Nov. 17, 2024
Time: 12:00pm
Venue: Bryant Lake Bowl
Cost: $15
Premiere Status: MN
Run Time/Year/Country: 92min, 2024, USA
Director: Lisa D'Apolito

Shari Lewis changed the face of children’s television even before Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street. Through the creation of her sock puppet sidekicks, Hush Puppy, Charlie Horse, and the beloved Lamb Chop, Shari created a playful, non-judgmental world for children and adults alike. As the daughter of the Official Magician of New York City and a performer with her own aspirations, Shari rose to fame at a young age, hosting pioneering children’s shows. When her own national show was unexpectedly cancelled, Shari moved to Hollywood – and later to Las Vegas – to reinvent herself as an actress and dancer. But no matter how hard she worked, audiences only wanted to see Lamb Chop. It was a blessing and a curse that she created something as magical as Lamb Chop, who was becoming a cultural icon and threatened to overshadow Shari herself.

Shari was the queen of reinvention. She used her puppets as an outlet – to say the things that women couldn’t say in mid-century America and also to maintain control over her personal story. Shari spent nearly 40 years trying to get back on television and, in the 1990s, she finally succeeded. She defied ageism in her 60s, singing and dancing in her own TV show, PBS’s Lamb Chop’s Play Along. Shari and Lamb Chop become more popular than ever before and connected with a whole new generation of children. Shari used her renewed popularity to reinforce her commitment to children’s education.

At its heart, "Shari & Lamb Chop" is an empowering story of a multi-talented, continually underestimated woman who refused to give up in the face of myriad obstacles, who lost her voice for a time and, by finding it again, wound up enriching the lives of multiple generations of children. Shari leaves a profound legacy of lessons to live by in our ever-changing, complex world. Perhaps most powerfully: The more you are friends with your own self, the better you will survive what the world throws at you.

PRECEDED BY

Film Title: THE MUSIC FACTORY
Director: Cina Espejond og, Alf Martin Løvvold
Run Time/Year/Country: 9min, 2023, Norway
Premiere Status: North American
Synopsis: In “The Music Factory” we meet Herbert, who has synesthesia; a cross-sensory condition that makes him see shapes and colours when he hears sound and music and we are presented with the story of how he found his way to the music factory.