16. Giving Life to Lamb Chop
On the show Captain Kangaroo, in March 1956, Lewis debuted a new puppet named Lamb Chop. Response to the self-proclaimed six-year-old lamb was so positive, the following year Lamb Chop became a fixture on Lewis’ new show on WRCA-TV: Hi Mom. That show would include a host of characters, Charlie Horse, Hush Puppy, and Wing Ding, but Lamp Chop was the emergent star of the group. Lewis also won an Emmy for her work on that show, causing the network to sit up and pay attention. In 1960, NBC gave her a new show.
15. Starring on The Shari Lewis Show
On October 1, 1960, The Shari Lewis Show bumped the longest running nationally-syndicated children’s show at that time, The Howdy Doody Show. It is some kind of retribution that Captain Kangaroo, hosted by Bob Keeshan, played a part in Lamp Chop’s debut. The Howdy Doody Show had fired Keeshan years earlier, opening up his schedule to host his own show, Captain Kangaroo. But, back to The Shari Lewis Show… All the old gang was back together on the big network show, Hush Puppy, Charlie Horse, Wing Ding, and Lamb Chop.