SOUPY SALES - Behind the Slapstick!

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Once upon a time there was a man who perfected the art of the pie in the face. This man hosted a 1950s and 60s children’s show where one day he got a wild hair encouraging the kids to steal money from their parents and send it to him in the mail promising a post card from Puerto Rico in return. This ill-advised stunt got the man in lots of trouble as you might imagine but also made him notoriously next-level famous almost overnight. So, in true show business fashion, he was allowed to keep his job. Throughout the decades to follow, he went on to appear in countless television, movie and music productions keeping his unique brand of silly humor and slapstick alive all the way into the 2000’s earning his rightful place in the pantheon of comedic legends. In this, the BIG 50th episode of the Dandy Fun House we’re going to tell his tale and learn some amazing Dandy Fun Facts along the way about someone you might think you know. Oh, his name! Milton Supman. But you might remember him better as… SOUPY SALES! Let’s go behind the slapstick and let’s step into the FUN HOUSE!

Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House video show, podcast and blog! THIS is where we slurp a mega-smoothie of retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff! I’m your host Neil Dandy and in this BIG episode number 50 we’re going to take you Behind the Slapstick and into the story of SOUPY SALES! THIS is a show I have been wanting to do for a very long time!

But not as long as the longing you’ll feel once you check out these soup-a-riffic Dandy Fun House t shirts! Designed by yours truly and expertly modeled by stock image personalities, you’re going to love the way you look, I guarantee it! We even cut 4 holes in them. One to crawl your body into, one to stick your head out of and 2 to poke your arms through! Act now and get zero percent off! This deal WILL last long so hurry!

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Alright! SOUPY SALES!
If you’re really old, you’ll probably remember this comedian from his 1950s and 60s children’s show LUNCH WITH SOUPY SALES where he pulled an infamous stunt that almost ended his career but ultimately brought him additional fame and notoriety. If you’re just a little bit old, you’ll likely remember Soupy Sales from his countless appearances as a panelist or celebrity participant in multiple game shows in the late 60’s through the mid 70’s. Then in the late 70’s through early 80’s as a full cast member of the hit tv show, SHA NA NA. And all the way into the 2000s as a radio show host, recording artist and author. With roots firmly in vaudeville and slapstick the tale of Soupy Sales goes back farther than you might think… MUCH FARTHER!

CHILDHOOD

The year, 1926. The town, Franklinton, North Carolina. A little boy named Milton Supman was born to Hungarian immigrants Irving and Sadie Supman. His father a dry goods merchant. He had a couple of older brothers named Leonard and Jack who had some wacky nick names like Ham Bone and Chicken Bone. Milton was dubbed Soup Bone and later shortened to just Soupy.

Catching the performing bug early in life, he found himself auditioning for and acting in a variety of elementary school plays. Moving on to high school Soupy attended Huntington High in Huntington, West Virginia where his performing continued, his popularity grew and he was even voted Most Popular Boy In School.

MILITARY SERVICE

Upon graduating from high school in 1944, Milton Supman enlisted in the US Navy serving honorably aboard the USS Randall during the latter part of World War II and becoming known amongst his shipmates for commandeering the PA system with comedy routines hoping to keep up morale while at war. During the Battle of Okinawa the ship was under constant kamikaze attack. His time in the service instilled a fear of flying stemming from his being assigned to “clean up duty” following a fatal plane crash at the San Diego Naval Base.

SOUPY STARTS HIS POST-MILITARY CAREER

After exiting the Military, Milton Supman completed his college education at Marshall University earning a Masters Degree in Journalism. While there, he further honed his performing skills in nightclubs as a comedian, singer and dancer.

Upon graduation, Milton managed to land a job as a script writer and disc jockey with WHTN Huntington, West Virginia, choosing the stage name Soupy Hines, in part to disguise his Jewish heritage which is something many Jewish performers did during that era.

Charles “Chic” Sale

However, there arose another concern around confusion with the food company Heinz especially since Soupy was already a food-related name, so shortly after launching his DJ career the choice was made to change the latter part of his stage name to Sales in honor of vaudeville legend Charles “Chic” Sale. And thus Soupy Sales was thrust upon an unsuspecting post-war world, or at least the local listening audience in Huntington, West Virginia.

SOUPY MOVES TO CINCY!

Always determined to take his career to the next level, he soon followed an offer to relocate to the larger market of Cincinnati, Ohio where he became a morning radio DJ and regular nightclub performer.

Soupy Sales eventually became popular enough around town that he was offered his own local television show on WKRC-TV as the host of Soupy’s Soda Shop which is regarded as television’s first ever teen dance show and soon thereafter adding a second late night comedy variety show called Club Nothing.

LUNCH WITH SOUPY SALES

But the show that really launched the version of Soupy Sales that became known and loved the world over was his kid’s show LUNCH WITH SOUPY SALES. It debuted in 1953 from the studios of WXYZ-TV in Detroit, Michigan.

It was originally-albeit-briefly called 12 O’Clock Comics and was filled with celebrity special guests, slapstick comedy, jokes galore, smart aleck puppets and lots of what would later become Soupy’s hallmark, pies in the face.

And it wasn’t just a pie in the face, this was developed into a full art form with variations such as a pie on top of the head, pies to both ears from behind, being thrown into a pie. In fact, over the span of his 50+ year career, Soupy Sales estimated that he and his guests had been hit with over 20,000 pies!

PIE-RELATED INJURY!

In one notable pie-related incident, Soupy was knocked to the ground and injured when an enthusiastic young fan threw a pie by surprise at him. It turned out to be a frozen pie, hard as a rock which caught Soupy in the neck and sent him down to dirt-kissing town. The pie police swooped in and now that young fan is about to be released from Pie-rison to live out his final days as a crusty… filling… station… clerk… That’ll teach him!

THE SOUPY SHUFFLE!

And there was also the signature dance… the Soupy Shuffle which was basically a cute little move where Soupy would sort of hop back and forth dragging one foot on the ground while singing the song “Do the Soupy Shuffle!”

SOUPY’S ON!

In addition to all of this, Soupy also hosted a late night show in Detroit called “Soupy’s On” where he featured Detroit’s jazz performers who would often sell out their own shows after appearing on his.

Louis Armstrong

 

Duke Ellington

 

Billie Holiday

 

Miles Davis

Some of his most notable jazz guests included Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and Miles Davis!

SOUPY GOES NATIONAL!

CAPTAIN KANGAROO

In 1955 Lunch With Soupy Sales went national when it was picked up by ABC television to run on Saturday mornings in direct competition with the Today Show and Captain Kangaroo.

SOUPY INVADES LOS ANGELES! (and gets canceled)

In 1960 after 5 succesful years, Soupy relocated to Los Angeles where the network was based, but just one short year after relocating, ABC canceled the show and poor Soupy was sent to the soup lines with the exception of KABC which kept him on as a local program.

SOUPY SALES BECOMES A TONIGHT SHOW HOST!

SOUPY SALES with JERRY VAN DYKE

In 1962 Soupy Sales became an official-albeit-brief guest host of the Tonight Show during the period between Jack Paar leaving and Johnny Carson taking the helm.

THE SOUPY SALES SHOW!

Then came 1964 through 1966. WNEW-TV in New York City picked up the Soupy Sales Show and syndicated 260 episodes to local stations outside the New York market.

FRANK SINATRA Get A Pie In The Face!

This would mark the pinnacle of popularity for Mr. Sales and he would host such top Vegas talent as Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis, Jerry Lewis, Judy Garland and Sammy Davis Jr. whom all lined up with bells on just begging for the status symbol of getting a pie in the face!

During this time he would also contribute his writing talents to the TV series “Here’s Edie.”

DANDY FUN FACT! Soupy was more famous than the President!

During the mid 1950s through the mid 1960s Soupy Sales had become so famous that it was said he could walk down the street next to President Eisenhower and more people would recognize Soupy!

ANOTHER DANDY FUN FACT! Soupy offered $10k to anyone proving he worked “blue.”

Urban legend had it that Soupy Sales would sneak off-color or “blue” humor… (dirty jokes) into his kids show for the amusement of adults (and apparently his adult following was quite sizable!). Although the allegation has been repeatedly disproven as completely false, the rumors persisted to the point where Soupy once had a standing offer of $10,000 to anybody who could prove he worked “blue” on his kids show. Nobody ever collected that prize.

SOUPY’S PUPPET FRIENDS!

WHITE FANG

The Soupy Sales Show was also known for it’s puppet characters like White Fang, the biggest and Meanest Dog in the USA which appeared only as a giant white shaggy paw appearing from the side of the screen and usually armed with a pie for Soupy’s face.

BLACK TOOTH

Black Tooth, the biggest and sweetest dog in the USA which was a giant shaggy black paw that would pull Soupy offscreen and drown him in kisses!

POOKIE THE LION

 

HIPPY THE HIPPO

Pookie the Lion who was a hipster lion who would appear in a window and ask riddles and Hippy the Hippo who only made occasional appearances as a friend of Pookie.

OK, IT’S TIME TO TALK ABOUT “THE INCIDENT”

It was during his time at WNEW-TV that Soupy Sales pulled a stunt that would make him the enemy of parents nationwide and also notoriously next-level famous!