Dear Erica,
In a male dominated profession, Shari Lewis does not always get her due for being the greatest ventriloquist of all time. Jeff Dunham, Terry Fator and even Edgar Bergen have nothing on her ability to breath life into a puppet. Perhaps only Wayland Flowers matches her ability to sustain a working relationship between dummy and puppeteer, but even he only had a fraction of her talent in other areas.
On top of ventriloquism (in which her mouth and throat NEVER move), Shari sings, dances, contorts, conducts orchestras, performs solo comedy routines, creates balloon animals, plays the violin WITH a puppet, and the list goes on and on. She also makes it all look so easy. Think about it. Despite having a huge cast of puppet characters, this is virtually a one-woman show and she never fails to deliver.
Check out this clip, and at about 5:50 she and Lamp Chop lay into a rousing (and none too simple) rendition of Jingle Bells that will knock your socks off.
It's easy to forget what a talented treasure she truly was because it all looks like a snap. Let me tell you, that snap was a long time in the making. This makes for one very merry Christmas from one very merry Jew.
Till next time,
Bradley
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