When I was a kid I LOVED The Soupy Sales Show, a real NYC local TV institution.
Soupy Sales, who died yesterday in hospice at the age of 83, was corny, funny, sweet and sometimes a little too adult for kids. But that was part of the fun. In fact, he was thrown off the air for a week because of a joke tellling listeners to go to their mothers'
purse and mail him all the pieces of green paper bearing pictures of
the presidents.
The show included puppets with names like White Fang, Black
Tooth and Pookie, and off-camera characters, including the
infamous naked girl.
And the best best part of the show: when a co-star lobbed a pie into Soupy's face. According to Soupy, he was hit by more than
25,000 pies in his lifetime
I was just reminded of a classic Soupy Sales schtick: The Mouse. The Mouse was Soupy's dance. He would bare his upper teeth,
raise his hands to his ears and wiggled his fingers while chewing in
time to the music.
Omigod: I just remembered he was often a contestant on What's My Line? a local game show I used to watch, too. Great, great show.
I was in high school, Prospect Heights, (all girls at the time,) and Soupy Sales was immensely popular. We thought he was so incredible we begged and pleaded with our drama teacher to watch the show, which he finally agreed to. The next day we waited for his take on the show. He walked into the classroom, slowly shaking his head and said in wearily “Girls, girls, girls.” Made no difference to us, we were still thought Soupy was simply hysterical.
And who can forget “The Soupy Sales Walk?” Loved the show. Mourned its passing.
I remember loving him too. Bye, Soupy!