 Soupy
Sales - Soupy Sales (a.k.a. "Milton Supman") started with a
TV local show in Detroit called SOUPY'S ON in 1953 and later hosted
his own children's program THE SOUPY SALES SHOW/ABC/1955-1967 which
featured outrageous riddles, puns, old jokes and a gallery of animal
puppet characters including Pookie the Lion, Hippy the Hippo, Herman
the Flea, Willy the Worm and his two off-camera canines called Black
Tooth, and White Fang (all you saw was their black or white paws).
Soupy was most famous for having cream pies (some 25,000) thrown
into his face or tossing them into the faces of others including
Frank Sinatra (a.k.a. "Old Blue Eyes") and Sammy Davis, Jr.
In 1979,
Soupy Sales produced a new series of 90 shows, syndicated by Viacom
that reproduced many of his early antics on television. Although
many of his original shows no longer exist (videos erased to record
over new programming) many will remember his funny songs like "What
Did the Animals Say?" (a laundry list of animals who just grunted "Ruh
Uh Ruh Uh" when asked "What did the - Tiger, Lion, Hippo, Zebra,
Gorilla, etc.- say?" on the "Spy With A Pie" record album
ABC/Paramount Records,1964) as well as his novelty dances
"Do
The Mouse" and "The Soupy Shuffle."
Puppeteer Clyde Adler and Soupy Sales doing the
White Fang the Dog routine
Soupy Sales was born January 8, 1926
in Franklinton, North Carolina, and grew up in Huntington, West
Virginia. He graduated with a B.A. in Journalism from Marshall
University, and then got a job as a radio script writer at WHTN, a
small station in Huntington.
Since then he has performed in radio,
TV, films, theater and clubs for over 50 years including SOUPY'S
SODA SHOP (1950 Cincinnati - this was America's first teen dance
program); CLUB NOTHING (a 45-minute talk-show); LUNCH WITH SOUPY
(1959-62); WHAT'S MY LINE and TO TELL THE TRUTH (game show guest
panelist); JUNIOR ALMOST ANYTHING GOES (kid's game show host from
1976-77); SHA NA. NA (musical variety show regular from 1978-81) and
TV's BLOOPERS & PRACTICAL JOKES.
You can read about Soupy's life
story in his autobiography "Soupy Sez!" or watch snippets of his zany
antics on the video Absolutely the Best of the Soupy Sales Show
(Rhino Video, 1998).
Soupy Sales was also the target of a number of risqué urban
myths. Here is what he has to say in his autobiography:
"...about those myths. There were all these other things I was
supposed to have said, like "What begins with 'F' and ends with 'UCK'
...a firetruck," or, "I took my wife to the ball game and kissed
her on the strikes and she kissed me on the balls," or, "My wife
is a great cook, she makes great pies -- I eat her cherry and she
eats my banana." And people would swear that I said it! Now, you
know that in those days you couldn't say nuthin'"
I got so annoyed at these stories that I used to have a
standing offer of ten thousand dollars cash to anyone who could
prove that I said any of the things that people claim I've said.
Look, at every TV station, whether you know it or not, there's a
little spool in the master machine in engineering that records
everything that's said, everything that goes on. And believe me,
if I said half the things I'm supposed to have said, they would be
on some blooper record making the rounds." - from "Soupy Sez"
TRIVIA NOTE: According to Sales' autobiography,
the name Soupy Sales was derived from his childhood nicknames "Soupy
or Soupbone" and "Sales" in honor of a 1920s actor Chick Sale (Soupy
added the final "s" ). Sales has also gone by the name "Soupy Hines
("Hines" for the famous soup company) See also
MONEY- Soupy Sales" and
FACELESS FAVORITES - "Animal Character"
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