Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Soupy Sales has died at 83

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 10-23-2009, 08:46 AM:

An old-school talent is gone.

Story

quote:
Soupy Sales, the rubber-faced comedian whose anything-for-a-chuckle career was built on 20,000 pies to the face and 5,000 live TV appearances across a half-century of laughs, has died. He was 83.

Sales died Thursday night at Calvary Hospice in the Bronx, New York, said his former manager and longtime friend, Dave Usher. Sales had many health problems and entered the hospice last week, Usher said.

At the peak of his fame in the 1950s and '60s, Sales was one of the best-known faces in the nation, Usher said.

Sales retained an openness to fans that turned every restaurant meal into an endless autograph-signing session, Usher said.

Sales began his TV career in Cincinnati and Cleveland, then moved to Detroit, where he drew a large audience on WXYZ-TV. He moved to Los Angeles in 1961.

The comic's pie-throwing schtick became his trademark, and celebrities lined up to take one on the chin alongside Sales. During the early 1960s, stars such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis and Shirley MacLaine received their just desserts side-by-side with the comedian on his television show.

"I'll probably be remembered for the pies, and that's all right," Sales said in a 1985 interview.

Sales was born Milton Supman on Jan. 8, 1926, in Franklinton, North Carolina, where his was the only Jewish family in town.

His greatest success came in New York with "The Soupy Sales Show" — an ostensible children's show that had little to do with Captain Kangaroo and other kiddie fare. Sales' manic, improvisational style also attracted an older audience that responded to his envelope-pushing antics.

Sales, who was typically clad in a black sweater and oversized bow-tie, was once suspended for a week after telling his legion of tiny listeners to empty their mothers' purse and mail him all the pieces of green paper bearing pictures of the presidents.

After moving to Los Angeles, he eventually became a fill-in host on "The Tonight Show."

He moved to New York in 1964 and debuted "The Soupy Sales Show," with co-star puppets White Fang (the meanest dog in the United States) and Black Tooth (the nicest dog in the United States). By the time his Big Apple run ended two years later, Sales had appeared on 5,370 live television programs — the most in the medium's history, he boasted. He had a pair of albums that hit the Billboard Top 10 in 1965; "Do the Mouse" sold 250,000 copies in New York alone.

He joined WNBC-AM as a disc jockey in 1985, a stint best remembered because Sales filled the hours between shock jocks Don Imus and Howard Stern.

Sales is survived by his wife, Trudy, and two sons, Hunt and Tony, a pair of musicians who backed David Bowie in the band Tin Machine.

Posted by Kenneth Wuepper (Member # 1174) on 10-23-2009, 09:05 AM:

I have some memories in my college days of being in the studio when Soupy was airing live from Detroit. His live and in your face slapstick was pretty funny.

He will always be remembered for his surprised look when he opened the door on the set and there was a totally nude girl back there. (she was out of sight to the TV audience)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdUD4giJPOk

He will be missed.

KEN [Frown]

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 10-23-2009, 09:14 AM:

I grew up in NY and remember well his show from the 1960's.
It was one of my favorite TV programs.
In the late 1970's, he was back on the air with a synidacted
show out of Los Angeles. I had just bought my first VCR
(cost me almost $1200!) and I still have VHS tapes of his
shows I recorded back then.

I saw him in Las Vegas in the late 1980's.

Now he's gone to that big "pie in the sky"

Last night I was on e-bay and came across some guy
selling "Soupy Sales Memorial T-Shirts" less than
30min ( ! ) after news of his death 'hit the wires'.
Amazing how fast they can market this stuff in the
internet age. (or to put it another way- - these
shirts were online before 'the soup' was cold. . . )

Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 10-23-2009, 09:27 AM:

Ha ha, great clip showing both the TV version and the real feed of the naked stripper version. I remember seeing the subtle version on one of those clips shows. I am not a big fan of pie throwing humor. But he handled this situation pretty funny and he seems like a naturally funny guy.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 10-23-2009, 09:41 AM:

He had an afternoon show out of KABC-TV in Los Angeles in the 60s. I was just a kid and I loved the show because not only was it funny but there was something vaguely subversive about it, even if I didn't get it completely at the time. My parents, who even though they allowed me to watch the show, didn't entirely approve of it either.

He was one of a kind.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 10-23-2009, 09:52 AM:

Everybody should go find a bunch of funny, green pieces of paper and mail them to the funeral parlor! [Big Grin]

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 10-23-2009, 10:29 AM:

I'll always remember him for "What's My Line".

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 10-23-2009, 06:34 PM:

Sorry to hear about this. We all have to go sometime I suppose. I used to watch this guy when I was little on the 21" Emerson!

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 10-23-2009, 07:58 PM:

Soupy Sales was great. I remember being able to see some of his old TV shows as repeats in syndication on certain cable channels when I was under the age of 10. I always got a kick out of the "White Fang" character.

The prank with the stripper (out of view of most of the cameras) was priceless. Sales' reaction is one of the great moments in TV history.

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 10-24-2009, 07:24 AM:

I had the fun of doing his sound and lights for a few live shows in Florida in the 1970's. He was great on and off the stage and treated us like part of his family....

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 10-24-2009, 09:11 AM:

Haven't seen you for a while, Richard. Glad you're back. [Smile]

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 10-24-2009, 10:19 AM:

Lost 1/3 of the past year due to medical issues...treatment has worked and ramping up to a normal 110% workload / availability. [Cool]

Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 10-24-2009, 10:25 PM:

Some stupid fuckers must have complained about the Soupy Sales stripper nude footage because that video has been removed from youtube for terms of use violation.

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 10-24-2009, 11:13 PM:

Sorry to hear that about you Richard but I'm glad to see that you're back!

And for Soupy, RIP and thank you for planting the seed of appreciation for subversive humor back in my SoCal KABC 7 small-kid days.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 10-25-2009, 10:14 AM:

quote: Pravin Ratnam
Some stupid fuckers must have complained about the Soupy Sales stripper nude footage because that video has been removed from youtube for terms of use violation.

That's absurd. The video was probably pulled by some YT staffer who is too young to know who Soupy Sales was or the context of that video. [Mad]

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 10-25-2009, 04:28 PM:

Aw, people complained about Soupy Sales all the time...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-OGy3Kh7yM

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 10-25-2009, 09:51 PM:

Welcome back, Richard!! Hope you continue to get back up to speed. [Cool]

Sure have missed ya around here.