Lunch with Soupy Sales

I loved this show as a kid. It was very funny, and the pie throwing slap stick comedy was perfect for a 10 year old, but a lot of the subtle humor was way over our heads, aimed at adults. I remember he used to answer a knock on the door and open it. We never saw who was behind the door unless they entered, but could only imagine who or what was there. In college when I worked at a TV station, I saw some rather blue video tapes. One of them was a Soupy Sales show in which he would answer the door and they would play the song The Stripper. He would ooh, ah and grin before closing the door. I think he reopened the door 4 or 5 times - same song - same comments. The video I saw interspersed cuts from behind the door. Yes there was a stripper there. I heard his crew pulled all kinds of pranks like this and worse, on him while he was doing his live show.

I remember a skit where White Fang told Soupy that he was a magician and could make things appear and disappear. So Soupy says, "OK, make me a chocolate milkshake." White Fang waves his wand and in a puff of smoke, Soupy is turned into a milkshake.

At 8 years old, I thought this was the height of comedy. Edgy and provocative for a kid in the 60s.

I think that between Soupy Sales and Mad Magazine we were all prepared for the events of the late 60s.

Soupy Sales probably helped prepare the way for the later psychedelic era.

Soupy Sales was a great comedian loved by the kids adults and even Big time actors and entertainers. He showed a love for children with the Big Kiss he gave to all the kids. He appealed to the smaller children with the puppets. Overall a Great show and I am glad that there are videos for Our kids to see. I tell my youngest daughter about White Fang and since she was 10 to now 16 she still asks me to imitate the white hand known as Fang and she still gets a kick out it, as I know I did when I was little. And who could forget the Big smile from Pookie. These are the great memories I have and will still have of the show along with many other persons my age. He should see this letter and realize that he was really appreciated and loved by people like me and now my daughter.

When i was growing up in New Jersey, one of the first shows I remember was The Soupy Sales Show on Channel 5 in the afternoon. He was so talented and so funny and while I remember little about his show, I do remember he had several puppets including Pookie the Lion, who always said "Hey Bubbie!" and White Fang the dog who never spoke, just grunted. One memory that has stuck with me for many years is that my mom use to refer to him as "Soupy Salesman." His show will always be remembered for the many pies he threw or got in the face and that was so funny. I never saw the incident where he told his young viewers to send him "those little green pieces of paper" but i've read about it in a number of books. Sadly, most of his shows from the WNEW era (they also aired in syndication) were erased but the ones that still survive are treasures of a very talented man. Let's not forget that he also created the dance "The Mouse" that was also a record. The Soupy Sales Show brings back memories of the 60s.

Milton Supman was born January 8, 1926, in Franklinton, North Carolina. His family was the only Jewish family in the town and Sales often commented (humorously) that the "local Ku Klux Klan members bought the sheets used for their robes from his father's store." Sales got his nickname from his family, who called him "Soup Bone," later shortened to "Soupy." From then on he would be known as Soupy Sales.

For all of the wonderful things Sales gave the world, the daily children's television show "Lunch with Soupy Sales" is how he was best known.The show featured on the spot improvised sketches, many slapstick in nature, gags, puns, banter with the TV crew, which generally concluded with Sales getting a pie in the face. The pie then became his trademark, and also a staple in the TV series. Over the years Soupy Sales estimated that he and his guests had been hit by more than 20,000 pies during his career.

In 1960, Sales moved to the ABC-TV Studios in Los Angeles, California. ABC-TV cancelled the show in March 1961, but it continued as a local program on KABC-TV until January 1962. Sale's guests included Hollywood stars, and people like Frank Sinatra literally "begged" Soupy to be hit with a pie on the show. Sinatra was not only incredibly plastered by pies, he delighted in throwing them back at the cast and TV crew. The episode of Sinatra is available on YouTube and DVD, and it's hilarious seeing Frank behaving like a kid, laughing, as his pal, Sammy Davis, gets another pie in the face! That episode was something like, "The Three Stooges Meets The Rat Pack."

Soupy's TV entourage routinely included the "giant dogs" White Fang and Black Tooth, Pookie, The Man at Door, Hippy, and both puppets and humans seemed to merrily engage each other in Soupy's Playhouse (much like Pee Wee Herman's, but far less eccentric). As a kid, this was the perfect show to watch after school, and because much of the dialogue and humor was also cleverly targeted towards adults, my parents often watched the show with me. It's a shame that the studios did not think to archive the episodes because very little of them exist today for viewing. Amazon offers a small handful of DVDs which include some of the original black and white episodes, and a few later episodes in color. The black and white (Season 1) episodes are the most outrageous and frankly the most fun to watch.

Soupy Sales was one of a kind, and his book, "Soupy Sez!: My Zany Life and Times," is worth reading, especially if you are a fan looking to get a little more insight into his life.