Below is an excerpt from Melana Ryzik’s article for the New York Times:
The violinist Itzhak Perlman made several appearances in the ’80s, and still gets recognized from them. Because the show mixed music so seamlessly with other segments, “it became a classical pill that was very easy to swallow,” he said. (Perlman, who has used crutches since he had childhood polio, also took part in an influential 1981 segment that addressed his physical difference.)