For Immediate Release:
May 31, 2000

Contact:
Connie Tejeda (ctejeda@giles.com)
Giles Communications
(914) 422-3800, ext. 124

Shari Lewis Wins Posthumous Daytime Emmy for The Charlie Horse Music Pizza™ on PBS

CARLSBAD, CA—Beloved entertainer Shari Lewis, who passed away in August 1998 after enchanting generations of children with Lamb Chop and other puppet characters, has been honored by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with a Daytime Emmy as Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series for her work on The Charlie Horse Music Pizza on PBS.

The posthumous award, Lewis's 13th Emmy, was presented May 19 at the 27th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Mallory Tarcher, Lewis's daughter and the executive story editor and creative supervisor for Charlie Horse Music Pizza, accepted on her mother's behalf.

Larry R. Linkin, president and CEO of NAMM International Music Products Association, reacted to the news by saying, "I was happy to see Mallory accept the award, and I know Shari's legacy will continue through her daughter's work and through the many memories she left us." NAMM is one of the show's underwriters.

The Charlie Horse Music Pizza, which premiered in January 1998, is a half-hour musical comedy series that features Lewis as the owner of a seaside pizzeria where puppet characters learn about music by trying out various instruments and performing together. Comedy legend Dom DeLuise, who got his television start on Lewis's "The Shari Show" in 1960, plays Cookie the fun-loving chef.

Charlie Horse, Takeout the orangutan, Fingers the raccoon and Hush Puppy join Lamb Chop in rounding out the puppet cast.

Though the show ceased production upon Lewis's death, it continues to air on PBS stations around the country. A companion outreach initiative, "The Charlie Horse Music Experience," gives kids a chance to experience making music at participating retailers in more than 500 communities nationwide.

Lewis, renowned as a puppeteer and ventriloquist, had a lifelong commitment to music stemming from her own mother's work as a music coordinator for the New York City Board of Education. She was also an accomplished writer; in addition to her own well-known shows, she penned a 1969 episode of Star Trek with husband Jeremy Tarcher.

The Charlie Horse Music Pizza is underwritten in large part by NAMM, Remo, The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and KCET Los Angeles.

Other Daytime Emmy nominees for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series included Bill Nye from the syndicated Disney Presents show Bill Nye The Science Guy; the legendary Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood on PBS; and Kevin Clash, who brings Elmo, Hoots, Natasha, Benny and Wolfgang to life on Sesame Street on PBS.

–END–