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» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Community   » Film-Yak   » Soupy Sales has died at 83 (Page 1)

 
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Author Topic: Soupy Sales has died at 83
Tim Reed
Better Projection Pays

Posts: 5246
From: Northampton, PA
Registered: Sep 1999


 - posted 10-23-2009 08:46 AM      Profile for Tim Reed   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
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.


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Kenneth Wuepper
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1026
From: Saginaw, MI, USA
Registered: Feb 2002


 - posted 10-23-2009 09:05 AM      Profile for Kenneth Wuepper   Email Kenneth Wuepper   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
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]

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Jim Cassedy
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1661
From: San Francisco, CA
Registered: Dec 2006


 - posted 10-23-2009 09:14 AM      Profile for Jim Cassedy   Email Jim Cassedy   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
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. . . )

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Pravin Ratnam
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 844
From: Atlanta, GA,USA
Registered: Sep 2002


 - posted 10-23-2009 09:27 AM      Profile for Pravin Ratnam   Email Pravin Ratnam   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
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.

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David Stambaugh
Film God

Posts: 4021
From: Eugene, Oregon
Registered: Jan 2002


 - posted 10-23-2009 09:41 AM      Profile for David Stambaugh   Author's Homepage   Email David Stambaugh   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
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.

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99


 - posted 10-23-2009 09:52 AM      Profile for Randy Stankey   Email Randy Stankey   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Everybody should go find a bunch of funny, green pieces of paper and mail them to the funeral parlor! [Big Grin]

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Sam Graham
AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues.

Posts: 1431
From: Waukee, IA
Registered: Dec 2004


 - posted 10-23-2009 10:29 AM      Profile for Sam Graham   Author's Homepage   Email Sam Graham   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I'll always remember him for "What's My Line".

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99


 - posted 10-23-2009 06:34 PM      Profile for Mark Gulbrandsen   Email Mark Gulbrandsen   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
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!

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001


 - posted 10-23-2009 07:58 PM      Profile for Bobby Henderson   Email Bobby Henderson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
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.

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Richard Fowler
Film God

Posts: 2392
From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA
Registered: Jun 2001


 - posted 10-24-2009 07:24 AM      Profile for Richard Fowler   Email Richard Fowler   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
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....

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Tim Reed
Better Projection Pays

Posts: 5246
From: Northampton, PA
Registered: Sep 1999


 - posted 10-24-2009 09:11 AM      Profile for Tim Reed   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Haven't seen you for a while, Richard. Glad you're back. [Smile]

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Richard Fowler
Film God

Posts: 2392
From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA
Registered: Jun 2001


 - posted 10-24-2009 10:19 AM      Profile for Richard Fowler   Email Richard Fowler   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Lost 1/3 of the past year due to medical issues...treatment has worked and ramping up to a normal 110% workload / availability. [Cool]

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Pravin Ratnam
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 844
From: Atlanta, GA,USA
Registered: Sep 2002


 - posted 10-24-2009 10:25 PM      Profile for Pravin Ratnam   Email Pravin Ratnam   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
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.

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Paul Mayer
Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under!

Posts: 3836
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Feb 2000


 - posted 10-24-2009 11:13 PM      Profile for Paul Mayer   Author's Homepage   Email Paul Mayer   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
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.

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David Stambaugh
Film God

Posts: 4021
From: Eugene, Oregon
Registered: Jan 2002


 - posted 10-25-2009 10:14 AM      Profile for David Stambaugh   Author's Homepage   Email David Stambaugh   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
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]

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