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The documentary “Shari & Lamb Chop” arrives as a portrait of an artist whose life was a study in relentless motion. It chronicles the story of the celebrated ventriloquist Shari Lewis, a figure of seemingly inexhaustible talent whose career spanned the defining decades of modern American entertainment.

The film charts a course through her creative origins, her initial television stardom, a period of professional displacement, and a final, triumphant return to the screen.

Through a rich collection of archival footage and contemporary interviews, the movie examines the singular, lifelong partnership between Lewis and her woollen counterpart, Lamb Chop. It tells the story of a pioneer whose dedication established a standard for children’s programming, leaving a permanent mark on the medium.

A Natural Talent, An Accidental Partner

The documentary presents Shari Lewis’s early life as a space where a career in performance was not so much chosen as it was inherited.

There's only one Shari Lewis — but there are two Lamb Chops. When the pioneering Emmy-winning television puppeteer died in 1998 at the age of 65, her daughter Mallory Lewis stepped in to take over her signature sheepish sock puppet character, who has been entertaining children and adults since the mid 1950s, when television was still a young medium. That literal hand-off from mother to daughter provides the emotional climax to Lisa D'Apolito's new documentary, Shari & Lamb Chop, opening in theaters on July 18. And it's the one moment in the film that the younger Lewis finds hard to watch.

As outlined in the documentary, Mallory was present for her mother's last-ever Lamb Chop performance, which took place on the set of the PBS children's show The Charlie Horse Music Pizza, just after Shari had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Footage from that day is included in the film, and Mallory recalls...

It’s fitting that Shari Lewis, the iconic ventriloquist and puppeteer at the center of Lisa D’Apolito’s winning documentary “Shari & Lamb Chop,” never seemed to get too hung up on religion. Another person, someone more compelled by providence or divine fate or what-have-you, would likely have been been far more preoccupied with the origin story behind how they met their most famous partner, their felt-y little soulmate.

For Lewis, it was thus: she was a young entertainer, appearing on an episode of “Captain Kangaroo” in 1956, when someone commented on how heavy and unwieldy her ventriloquist dummies were for a relatively diminutive gal like her. She looked around, found a lamb puppet she “didn’t know,” and the rest is history. Lewis wasn’t very sentimental, but she was open-hearted, and dwelling on how she and Lamb Chop came to be wasn’t exactly her thing. That suits D’Apolito’s doc,...

Iconic ventriloquist and puppeteer Shari Lewis gets a documentary ode to her trailblazing career as a children’s entertainer in “Shari & Lamb Chop.” The new documentary, from “Love, Gilda” director and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Lisa D’Apolito, takes an up-close and personal look at her life and career starting with the CBS television series “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts” in the early 1950s, through “The Shari Lewis Show” and “The Charlie Horse Music Pizza,” with her second husband Jeremy Tarcher.

Kino Lorber releases the documentary in theaters on July 18, with digital, educational, and home video releases to follow. Watch the trailer, an IndieWire exclusive, for “Shari & Lamb Chop” below.

Here’s the official synopsis: “Before Fred Rogers and Jim Henson, there was Shari Lewis, a children’s television pioneer whose whimsical characters and ebullient spirit have guided generations of children as they came of age. Raised in the Bronx by a proud...

Exclusive: Kino Lorber has acquired North American distribution rights to Shari & Lamb Chop, a documentary about children’s TV trailblazer Shari Lewis who created a sensation with her cuddly and feisty sock puppet Lamb Chop.

Lisa D’Apolito directed the film, which made its world premiere at Doc NYC. Kino Lorber plans to open the film theatrically on July 18, followed by a digital, educational, and home video release. Shari & Lamb Chop is produced by White Horse Pictures and MoJo Global Arts and presented by Concord Originals and Olive Hill Media in association with The 51 Fund, Carlene Laughlin and Chicago Media Project.

“Before Fred Rogers and Jim Henson, there was Shari Lewis, a children’s television pioneer whose whimsical characters and ebullient spirit have guided generations of children as they came of age,” notes a release. “Raised in the Bronx by a proud feminist mother and a professor father...

Several generations of kids grew up with Lamb Chop -- the sassy little sock puppet who debuted on "Captain Kangaroo" in 1957, coming to life on the hand of ventriloquist Shari Lewis. During the 1960s, Lewis and Lamb Chop had their own musical-comedy network television show and made countless appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show." In 1992, the duo launched the PBS children's show, "Lamb Chop's Play-Along," which won Emmy Awards for five consecutive years.

Lewis died in 1998 and after a brief career hiatus, Lamb Chop went back to work -- this time sharing the spotlight with Shari's daughter, Mallory Lewis. Huff/Post50 caught up with Lamb Chop and Mallory as the pair were en route to a show in Vancouver. (Mallory was flying coach and Lamb Chop in the overhead; she won't fly in checked luggage, said Mallory.)

How did you and Lamb Chop decide to put an act together?

I was pregnant when Mom died,...

On Friday (December 11), the Fort Hood community came together for Fort Hood Community Strong, a day of healing and remembrance for the 13 members of the military killed at the base a month ago. The show featured a performance by Houston rapper Chamillionaire, who was kind enough to share his thoughts on the day with us.

By Chamillionaire

I feel so privileged to have received an invitation to perform in Killeen, Texas for the Fort Hood Community Strong event for all the soldiers and their families. It's not every day that we get a chance to give back to the people who put their lives on the line to defend our country daily. Me and my party of four received a warm greeting from a group of Uso soldiers who were waiting to pick us up from the airport when we arrived in Killeen. They took pictures and told us numerous...