His noon time and afternoon kid's shows on WNEW, channel 5, out of New York City were some of the first on TV whose humor spanned the generation gap. Soupy was entertaining to both the kids and their parents.
His routines included The Words of Wisdom and reading of the daily newspaper including the want ads and the TV listings. Then there were visits from Soupy's pet: his dogs, White Fang and Black Tooth. Only their paws appeared on camera (a stage hand's arm covered in either white or black fur) and they grunted the syllables of their words which Soupy interpreted. Their appearances usually consisted of a long build up to a corny but funny punchline. Then there was Pooky, a lion puppet who used to sing and swap jokes with Sales.
Of course the most memorable routine of the show was when there would be a knock on the door. Soupy would open it and speak to an unseen visitor, who was supposedly off stage. The two of them would exchange a joke or two and Soupy usually ended up with a pie in his face. That was Soupy Sales legacy. He will always be remembered as the "Pie in the face" guy but his humor was much broader than that.
One time he answered the door, looked off stage and saw a woman wearing nothing but a smile. This was on live TV. Soupy was as cool as a guy could be given those circumstance.
There are several TV legends about Soupy Sales doing or saying things on his shows that were extremely in appropriate or improper. Most are not true. A coupe of them have some substance but have been exaggerated over the years.
Perhaps the most famous is when on a New Years Day program he told the children watching to go into their sleeping parent's wallets and purses and get out "pieces of paper with pictures of men with beards" and send them to him at the TV station. The station was flooded with calls from complaining parents. But according to Sales, "The kids were cool with it." He received thousands of dollars in play money but only 1 real dollar bill.
My dad was the one who was the real fan of Soupy on TV. I was a bit young to really "get him" at the time. Although I've come to appreciate the reruns of the show on video. I knew Soupy from his appearances on game shows in the 70's and 80's. Just this past week I saw him on reruns of the $100,000 Pyramid on GSN network.
I really discovered his comedy and became a fan in the mid 80's when Soupy revamped his career on radio station WNBC out of New York. The radio show had a music/comedy/game show format. It featured the same type of routines as the TV show but with a whole new cast of characters. Those characters were mostly voiced by Soupy's radio side kick, Ray D'ariano. My favorite was the in-house band leader named "Daryl B Mordacum (a play on the phrase "there'll be more to come").
That program kept me entertained and kept me laughing from 10-3 every day for 3 years while I was on the road delivering auto parts each day. Until 1987 when Soupy was fired from the station.
I also was able to come to appreciate Soupy's talents through a record album I bought called "Still Soupy After All of These Years". It's a mixture of some of the classic TV show routines and Soupy's night club act. I really like it. I only have it on tape now but I am going to convert it to CD soon. I also have a book of Sales' favorite jokes he published called "Did you hear the one about". I also have an autographed picture I bought on Ebay.
I didn't find out about Soupy Sales death until I read it in the Entertainment Weekly magazine last week. I was saddened by the news. I read his obituary online and found out he'd been in poor health for the last 5 years or so and finally lost his battle with cancer on October 22nd.
I am and always will be a fan of Soupy Sales. His style of entertaining both children and adults while not talking down or up to either of them will always be something I try to do with the comedy in my ventriloquist act.
Thanks for the laughs Mr. Soupy Sales. You will be missed.
No comments:
Post a Comment