1926-2009

[spatch]

Soupy Sales is dead. In case you don't know who Soupy was, he was the dignified, sophisticated children's show host as seen below:



I don't have time for a proper writeup on the man right now, but I do know that when reached for comment, a disconsolate White Fang said "Reh reh. Reh reh reah. Reh reah reh-reh reaaaaah."

So instead of the story of the time Soupy got away with socking Frank Sinatra in the face with a pie, please feel free to do The Mouse all you want with Soupy Sales.

Hey! Do the Mouse, yeah!
Hey! You can do it in your house, yeah!
On the rug or on the wall
If your folks get bugged, do it in the hall
Do the Mouse, yeah!
Let's do the Mouse, c'mon and do the Mouse with me!

Comments

[orionsmom.livejournal.com]

hehe... my dad tells stories of Soupy Sales. Something about how he convinced kids to go into their parents wallets and purses and send him the green paper within. Dunno if its true or not, but its a great story.

[aphrabehn.livejournal.com]

It's true! The show aired live...and he was fired or suspended, I think.

Was Soupy the one who had the semi-nude woman on stage? A woman covering up her uh...bits with balloons? Or was that Milton Berle?

[spatch]

Unlike many apocryphal kid's show stories (Uncle Don's "That oughta hold the little bastards", etc.) the green paper story is true. Soupy pulled that gag on a New Year's Day, apparently irked that he had to come in and do a show after celebrating the night before. He said if the kids mailed him in the pieces of paper, he'd send them "a postcard from Puerto Rico!"

Soupy was suspended for only two weeks. Fan outcry brought him back.

The semi-nude woman story is true, too, to a degree. It involved Soupy's regular door gag, where he'd answer the door to find a celebrity guest or just a pie in the face. The door opened sideways onto the set to allow the celebrity to step in and make an entrance (or a hand to emerge with a pie.)

As a birthday present for Soupy, the crew once got an exotic dancer to stand topless behind the door, holding a balloon. She was off-camera the entire time so the Folks At Home never saw her, but Soupy's reaction was totally genuine.

(AH HA! Here's the outtake! And oh, wow, Soupy's take around 0:32 is absolutely PRICELESS. Please note that the video shows the clip twice: Once as it was transmitted live, and another time with a cut to the actual topless lady, as they naturally put a camera on her specifically for the internal gag reel. So you will see boobies if you watch the second iteration, just warning folks...)

His show was fast and loose and the crew interaction was always hilarious. I love stuff like this and wish it could happen again today.

[sernin.livejournal.com]

drat - video removed due to terms of use violation

[bluesauce.livejournal.com]

Man. There'll never be another one quite like him.

[k-sui.livejournal.com]

What's wrong, Fang? Every I time I say F, you see K!

[spatch]

Ah, I knew I was forgetting a classic. Am still not quite sure whether or not it actually happened, but it's a wonderful little bit of subversion.

[k-sui.livejournal.com]

If Cecil Adams says it happened, kind of, then I'm in.

Along with resk, worked at a hotel in Ann Arbor many moons ago when Soupy would come in to dine in the restaurant every so often . . . and with a different significantly younger woman each time.

And, well, there's the Tin Machine connection which is still one of the single strangest entertainment factoids of all time. "Yeah, hi, I'm Soupy Sales. My kids play in a band with David Bowie."

[smacaski.livejournal.com]

Soupy's TV show was of course well before my time, but I do remember him making a cameo on the TV show Wings, where he tests Lowell (played by Thomas Haden Church) in a lightning fast battle of Simon Says. That 2-minute cameo was probably the high point of the whole series.

[redtheblue.livejournal.com]

I picked up on Soupy Sales when I was a kid in the 90s and he stuck in my head. Now, every closed door on stage potentially has White Fang behind it.