Soupy Sales
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Notable works and roles | Lunch with Soupy Sales |
Milton Supman (January 8, 1926 – October 22, 2009), known professionally as Soupy Sales, was an American comedian, actor, radio-television personality, and jazz aficionado.
Early life
Milton Supman was born in
Sales got his nickname from his family. His older brothers had been nicknamed "Ham Bone" and "Chicken Bone". Milton was dubbed "Soup Bone", which was later shortened to "Soupy". When he became a disc jockey, he began using the stage name Soupy Hines. After he became established, it was decided that "Hines" was too close to the Heinz soup company, so he chose Sales, in part after
Sales enrolled at Marshall University, known as Marshall College at that time, where he earned a master's degree in journalism. While there, he performed in nightclubs as a comedian, singer and dancer.
Career
After graduating from Marshall, Sales began working as a scriptwriter and
Lunch with Soupy Sales
Sales is best known for his daily children's television show, Lunch with Soupy Sales. It was originally called 12 O'Clock Comics, and later known as The Soupy Sales Show.[5] Improvised and slapstick in nature, it was a rapid-fire stream of comedy sketches, gags and puns, almost all of which resulted in Sales receiving a pie in the face, which became his trademark. He developed pie-throwing into an art form: straight to the face, on top of the head, a pie to both ears from behind, moving into a stationary pie, and countless other variations. He claimed that he and his visitors had been hit by more than 20,000 pies during his career.[1] He recounted a time when a young fan mistakenly threw a frozen pie at his neck and he "dropped like a pile of bricks".[1]
History
Detroit
Lunch with Soupy Sales began in 1953 from the studios of WXYZ-TV, Channel 7, in the historic Maccabees Building in Detroit. Sales occasionally took the studio cameras to the lawn of the Detroit Public Library, across the street from the studios, and talked with local students walking to and from school. Beginning no later than July 4, 1955, a Saturday version of Sales' lunch show was broadcast nationally on the ABC television network.[6] His lunchtime program on weekdays was moved to early morning opposite Today and Captain Kangaroo.
During the same period that Lunch with Soupy Sales aired in Detroit, Sales also hosted a nighttime show, Soupy's On, to compete with
Sales briefly had a third dinnertime show filmed largely in Detroit's Palmer Park area. His three shows were rumored to earn him in excess of $100,000 per year. One of his character puppets was Willy the Worm, a "balloon" propelled worm that emerged from its house and used a high pitched voice to announce birthdays or special events on the noontime show; but the character never appeared when Soupy moved to
Los Angeles
In 1960, Sales moved to the ABC-TV studios in
New York
On September 7, 1964, Sales found a new weekday home at
The New Soupy Sales Show: Los Angeles
The New Soupy Sales Show appeared in 1978 with the same format, and ran for one season. 65 episodes were briefly syndicated, through Air Time International, to local stations in early 1979. It was taped in Los Angeles at KTLA, with Clyde Adler returning to work as a puppeteer with Sales.[11]
Characters
Clyde Adler, the show's floor manager and a film editor at Detroit's WXYZ, performed in sketches and voiced and operated all puppets on Sales' show in Detroit in the 1950s and in Los Angeles from 1959 to 1962, as well as in 1978. Actor Frank Nastasi, who played the part of Gramps on WXYZ-TV's other kids' show Wixie Wonderland, assumed the role of straight man and puppeteer when Sales took the show to New York from 1964 to 1966. Nastasi was originally from Detroit and had worked with Sales at WXYZ. Appearing on the show were both puppets and live performers.[citation needed]
The puppets were:
- White Fang, "The Biggest and Meanest Dog in the USA", who appeared only as a giant white shaggy paw with black triangular felt "claws", jutting out from the corner of the screen. Fang spoke with unintelligible short grunts and growls, which Soupy repeated back in English, for comic effect. White Fang was often the pie thrower when Soupy's jokes bombed.
- Black Tooth, "The Biggest and Sweetest Dog in the USA", also seen only as a giant black paw with white triangular felt claws, and with more feminine, but similarly unintelligible, dialogue. Black Tooth's trademark was pulling Soupy off-camera to give loud and noisy kisses.
- For a short time there was a third dog character that became White Fang's girlfriend, Marilyn Monwolf. She caused some rivalry of affections between Black Tooth and White Fang, but later jilted them both for Joe Dogmaggio.
- Pookie the Lion, a lion puppet appearing in a large window behind Soupy (1950s), was a hipster with a rapier wit. For example: Soupy: "Do you know why my life is so miserable?" Pookie: "You got me!" Soupy: "That's why!" One of Pookie's favorite lines when greeting Soupy was, "Hey bubby... want a kiss?". In the Detroit shows, Pookie never spoke but communicated in whistles. That puppet also was used to mouth the words while pantomiming novelty records on the show.
- Hippy the Hippo, a minor character who occasionally appeared with Pookie the Lion. Frank Nastasi gave Hippy a voice for the New York shows. Clyde Adler also voiced Hippy in the shows done in the late 1970s.
New Year's Day incident
On January 1, 1965, miffed at having to work on the holiday, Sales ended his live broadcast by encouraging his young viewers to tiptoe into their still-sleeping parents' bedrooms and remove those "funny green pieces of paper with pictures of U.S. presidents" from their pants and pocketbooks. "Put them in an envelope and mail them to me and I'll send you a postcard from Puerto Rico", Sales instructed the children.[12] Several days later, substantial amounts of money had begun arriving in the mail; Sales stated that the total amount received was in the thousands of dollars but qualified that by stating that much of that was Monopoly or play money.[13] Sales said he had been joking, and that whatever real money had been sent would be donated to charity, but as parents' complaints increased, WNEW's management suspended Sales for two weeks.[14]
Records
One of the fans of the Soupy Sales show was Frank Sinatra. It appears Sinatra became a fan after his daughter Nancy begged him to visit the show. When Sinatra started his own record label, Reprise Records, he signed Sales to a recording contract, which produced two albums: The Soupy Sales Show in 1961 and Up in the Air in 1962.[15]
Sales' novelty dance record, '"The Mouse", dates from the mid-1960s period of his career, when his show was based in New York. The single, released on the
Game shows
From 1968 to 1975, Sales was a regular panelist on the syndicated revival of
Radio show
Sales hosted a midday radio show on
Film
Sales had a sporadic film career that spanned over 40 years, including:
- 1961 – The Two Little Bears
- 1963 – Critic's Choice
- 1966 – Birds Do It (starring role). Sales was vocal in his dislike for this film, writing in his autobiography that "it's now shown in six states as capital punishment."[20]
- 1977 – Don't Push, I'll Charge When I'm Ready
- 1993 – The Making of... 'And God Spoke' - his memorable appearance as himself, hired by two incompetent filmmakers to portray Moses because Charlton Heston was not available.
- 1999 – Palmer's Pick Up
- 2000 – A Little Bit of Lipstick
- 2000 – Behind the Seams
- 2001 – This Train
- 2005 – The Innocent and the Damned
- 2005 – Angels with Angles
Television
- Sales' first dramatic acting roles came in 1960 as an unnamed stable owner in "The Legacy" and as Meyers in "The Hope Chest" on the ABC television series The Rebel, starring Nick Adams.
- Sales appeared as himself in one of the later episodes of the CBS military sitcom/drama series Hennesey, starring Jackie Cooper.
- Sales made several guest appearances on The Carol Burnett Show.[21]
- 1962 – Miss Teen USA pageant at Pacific Ocean Park in Santa Monica, California, where Sales hosted and crowned the winner (Linda Henning, 15, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota)[22]
- 1962 – Ensign O'Toole, TV series, Season 1, Episode 5, "Operation Jinx", with Sales as Jinx Johnson
- 1963 - Route 66, TV series, Season 4 Episode 19 “This Will Hurt Me More Than It Will Hurt you” with Sales as Harlan Livingston III
- 1963 – Sales played "Hank Salamanca", a musician guest at the farm, on The Real McCoys, episode 32 "The McCoy Sound".
- 1964 – "This is Going to Hurt Me More Than It Hurts You", Route 66, Episode 113 in the fourth and last season, fourth-to-last episode
- 1969 – The Beverly Hillbillies: Milburn Drysdale's nephew, Air Force ace Jet Bradford.
- 1982-1984 - Saturday Supercade - Sales provided the voice for the Nintendo character Donkey Kong, becoming the first actor to portray the character.
- 1989 – Monsters: Season 2 Episode 6, as "Traveling Salesman".
- 1994 – Wings: Season 6 Episode 8, "Miss Jenkins": Sales played a character named Fred Gardner, and performed "Simon Says" with Lowell.
- 2001 – Black Scorpion: super-villain Professor Prophet
Personal life
Sales was married twice: first to Barbara Fox, from 1950 until their divorce in 1979. They had two sons, both of whom are rock musicians: bassist
Sales died on October 22, 2009, at Calvary Hospice in
.Reruns
Janet Oseroff was Sales' manager in the last years of his life, and she continues to represent his estate with Sales' wife Trudy.
References
- ^ Goldstein, Richard (October 23, 2009). "Soupy Sales, Slapstick Comedian, Dies at 83". The New York Times. p. A26. Retrieved October 23, 2009.
- ^ a b Ratliff, Ben (October 23, 2009). "Soupy Sales, Jazz Maven, Brought Gigs to the Small Screen". The New York Times. Retrieved October 24, 2009.
- ^ Carlson, Michael (October 31, 2009). "Soupy Sales: Anarchic and pioneering children's TV personality". The Independent. London. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
- ^ "Soupy Sales". Hollywood Celebrity Corner. Archived from the original on January 18, 2014. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
- ISBN 978-0823083152. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
- ^ Woo, Elaine (September 16, 2014). "Soupy Sales dies at 83; slapstick comic had hit TV show in 1960s". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
In 1955, the show was picked up by ABC as a summer replacement for "Kukla, Fran and Ollie" and renamed "The Soupy Sales Show."
- ^ ISSN 0162-6973.
- ^ "The Tonight Show Starring Soupy Sales". TV Party. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
- ISSN 0161-0775.
- ^ Hinckley, David (October 23, 2009). "Friend remembers Soupy Sales as someone who'd 'do anything for you'". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on October 26, 2009. Retrieved October 24, 2009.
- ^ "The New Soupy Sales Show". TV.com. Archived from the original on October 21, 2019. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
- ^ Mikkelson, David (March 20, 2001). "Soupy Sales' 'Green Pieces of Paper' Scandal". Snopes.
- ^ "Beloved By 60's Era Kids, TV Host Soupy Sales Dead". CBS News. October 22, 2009. Archived from the original on August 8, 2010. Retrieved October 23, 2009.
- ISBN 978-0-8713-1935-7.
- ^ Hot List, CrazyCollege.org; accessed August 30, 2015.
- ^ "Soupy Sales Top Songs". Music VF. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
- ^ "Soupy Sales: Spy With A Pie". Discogs. 1965. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
- ISBN 978-0-8160-3847-3.
- ^ "Soupy Sales". Turner Classic Movies.
- ISBN 978-0-8713-1935-7.
- ^ "The Carol Burnett Show". TVGuide.com.
- ^ "Miss Teen". newspapers.com. Ottawa, Kansas: The Ottawa Herald. April 23, 1962. p. 4. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
Photo caption: Linda Henning (center), 15, Sioux Falls, S D. [South Dakota], is crowned Miss Teen USA at Pacific Ocean Park in Santa Monica, Calif., by television comedian Soupy Sales.
- The New York Daily News, October 23, 2009.
- ^ Grossweiner, Bob; Cohen, Jane. "Industry Profile: Janet Oseroff". Celebrity Access. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
- ^ "Soupy Sales". JLTV. Archived from the original on March 13, 2018. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
- ^ Retro Television Network schedule
Further reading
Articles
- Fields, Sidney (May 4, 1965). "Only Human: Clown Prince of TV". New York Daily News.
Books
- Kiska, Tim. From Soupy to Nuts!: A History of Detroit Television (Momentum Books, 2005); ISBN 978-1-879094-70-3
- Shor, Francis. Soupy Sales and the Detroit Experience: Manufacturing a Television Personality (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021); ISBN 978-1-5275-7640-7
External links
- Soupy Sales at IMDb
- Soupy Sales discography at Discogs
- Soupy Sales at the TCM Movie Database
- Soupy Sales at the Internet Broadway Database