My lunch with Soupy Sales
It was very sad to wake up this morning to news that Soupy Sales (83) had died after a long illness. Soupy was one of my childhood TV heroes. He was responsible for shaping my warped sense of humor and he inspired me to work in television. Growing up in the "golden age" of TV kids shows is something that I really cherish. Back then kids were able to relate to real people like Soupy, Sandy Becker, Sonny Fox and Chuck McCann, not just watch politically correct cartoons, as kids do today. My earliest memory of Soupy Sales was watching his daily show, Lunch with Soupy Sales, which came out of Detroit at noon and was seen on the ABC network. Like many pre-school kids around the country, I sat in front of the TV and ate my peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a glass of milk, along with Soupy. Of course, for dessert there was the mandatory Jello, which Soupy always jiggled in front of the camera.
Soupy's genius was that he broke down the 4th wall and the studio crew became part of the show, antagonizing and heckling him, along with his puppet pals, Black Tooth, White Fang, Hippy and Pookie. Soupy was also the first to do a kids show that really wasn't just for the kids. There were always jokes and inuendos intended for the huge number of adults who watched the show, some of which got Soupy in hot water. Who can forget Soupy's visit from a stripper and the infamous "little green pices of paper" incident?
A great big BOO to WNYW Fox 5 in New York. Channel 5, which used to be WNEW, was home to The Soupy Sales Show in the 1960's. This morning, Good Day NY barely mentioned Soupy's death except to say that he had died and he used to tape his show in the same studio.
Fortunately, I had the chance to meet Soupy once when I was working on The Sally Jessy Raphael Show back in the late 80's or early 90's. Soupy was a guest along with Adam West (TV's Batman), Bob Denver (Gilligan) and Russell Johnson (The Professor) from Gilligan's Island. Soupy was very nice and autographed one of his record albums for my wife.
Stealing a phrase from my current TV boss, Wendy Williams, Soupy will always be a "friend in my head." It is heartening to see that "Soupy Sales" is trending on Twitter this morning. It's fun to read the Tweets from his many fans.
If you're a Soupy Sales fan too, you should read this wonderful article from today's Detroit Free Press by Tim Kiska, who does a great job tracing Soupy's career from his early days in Detroit and through the various incarnations of The Soupy Sales Show. A quick search of YouTube will bring you a treasure trove of clips from Soupy's shows. I'm going to post two good ones here. First is a great interview with Soupy by Bill O'Reilly and the other is an extended clip from The Soupy Sales Show featuring Soupy Sez and his hit song, "Do the Mouse".Here's a bonus video of Soupy and the stripper I found on YouTube. The clip first shows what was seen on air and then shows an alternate version featuring the naked stripper behind the door. You've got to admit this was pretty ballsy stunt to pull on a kids TV show in the 60's. No one could ever get away with something like this today.
I'd love to hear your comments and memories of Soupy.
