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A rarity: no pie-in-the-face/
mtv.com
When one thinks of Soupy Sales, the thought of a pie-in-the-face can’t be far behind. Sales, who always played it for a laugh, was the target of 20,000 pies to the face.
He got his TV start in Cincinnati and then moved on to Cleveland. But it took relocation to Detroit on WXYZ-TV for viewers to take notice. After that stint, Sales was off to Los Angeles.
Sales, born Milton Supman in Franklin, North Carolina, on January 8, 1926, was part of the only Jewish family in the town. As owners of a dry-goods store, his parents sold sheets to Ku Klux Klan members.
The pinnacle of Sales’ career occurred when he took his self-titled children’s show to New York in 1964. That children’s show was unlike any other on television. With an off-the-cuff, in-your-face (or in-the-camera) style, and an infectious laugh, Sales appealed to children and adults alike.
The show became so popular that in the 1965-1966 season 260 episodes were syndicated outside of New York City.
Sales used puppet “regulars” White Fang and Black Tooth as part of the ensemble. While only on Channel 5 (then WNEW-TV) for two years, his legacy had been cemented.
Veteran newscaster Mitch Lebe remembered, “Soupy was such a big part of our childhood and it was an honor to work with him at the radio station.”
That radio station was WNBC-AM, where Sales, after several years playing the “Game Show Circuit” and other TV guest shots, resurrected his career.
In 1985, WNBC wanted something to bridge between Don Imus, in the morning, and Howard Stern, in the afternoon.
Showing genuine interest, Sales arranged a meeting with Dale Parsons, WNBC program director, and John Hayes, station GM.
Parsons picked up the story.
“Soupy arrived at the restaurant, sat down, and when the waiter came over, asked if he has frog’s legs. The waiter said ‘Yes.’ Sales said, ‘Wear long pants and no one will notice.’ I almost fell out of my chair laughing. …By the time the lunch was over I knew I was going to do anything I could to get him on the air.”
While most regard the show as unsuccessful, translating Sales’ TV run to radio, Parsons had no regrets.
“I loved his show and he was probably the hardest working performer I ever worked with in my broadcasting career.”
In the end, it’s his TV work that Sales is most associated with, having appeared on more than 5,300 live broadcasts--- an amount, he would boast, was the most in the medium’s history.
Sales died at Calvary Hospice in the Bronx, N.Y, where he was admitted last week. Parsons said the comedian suffered a stroke a few years ago.
He is survived by his wife of 29 years, Trudy; two sons from a previous marriage; a brother and four grandchildren.
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