No, it's not just New Hampshire primary day, but the birthday of show-business legend Milton Supman, aka Soupy Sales. Yes, the man who honed pie-throwing (and receiving) into a science, celebrates his 82nd birthday today.
When I was in high school Soupy had an afternoon "kiddie show" on WNEW-TV full of pratfalls, puns, cheesy props and sets, jokes with the TV crew, hand and arm puppets, and pies galore. Occasionally famous people - Frank Sinatra, Tab Hunter, Sammy Davis, Jr., Trini Lopez - would drop in for silly sketches, insults from Soupy, and the inevitable face-plant into a pie.
Here's a video clip from one of his shows.
His sidekicks Pookie the Lion, White Fang, Black Tooth, Herbie the elephant trainer with Bertha and Bessie, et al. , were key elements of the New York show, as was Frank Nastasi. "Soupy Sez" featured some inane saying, whose meaning Soupy would then try to expalin to the viewers, often to the snide comments of the crew.
And who could forget his dances, "The Mouse", and the "Soupy Shuffle".
Soupy came on in New York at 4 PM weekdays, and I (and many classmates) would often race home from high school to watch him. Ostensibly a kiddie show, The Soupy Sales Show had a wide following among cognoscenti and ignoramuses alike. When my Harvard-educated father was home he'd watch it and guffaw along with us (we all also enjoyed The Three Stooges). My mother did not share our enthusiasm until she learned that Soupy was a fellow Tar Heel - born in Franklinton, NC - then he became okay.
Many "urban legends" surround Soupy's show, such as infamous double-entendres and smutty jokes that would get him suspended for a week or so. He denies any dirty jokes but on New Year's Day 1965 he did ask kids to send him "funny green pieces of paper" from their parents' wallets. He supposedly was caught on camera after a commercial spitting out a mouthful of that foul-tasting drink Ovaltine, exclaiming, "God, that stuff tastes terrible!" He was off the air for a week. And yes, Ovaltine did taste terrible.
After his NYC show went off the air in 1966, Soupy headed back to Los Angeles where he often appeared as a panelist on game shows. His "kiddie show" returned for just one year in 1978. He showed up recently on the WNBC-AM radio in New York.
What a character! Happy Birthday, Soupy!
"Show me a novel caught up in a tornado and I'll show you a book that is 'Gone with the Wind'" -- Soupy Sales
Comments