RIP Soupy Sales

[Zomby Woof]

DETROIT – Soupy Sales, the rubber-faced comedian whose anything-for-a-chuckle career was built on 20,000 pies to the face and 5,000 live TV appearances across a half-century of laughs, died Thursday. He was 83.

Sales died at Calvary Hospice in the Bronx, New York, said his former manager and longtime friend, Dave Usher. Sales had many health problems and entered the hospice last week, Usher said.

At the peak of his fame in the 1950s and '60s, Sales was one of the best-known faces in the nation, Usher said.

"If President Eisenhower would have walked down the street, no one would have recognized him as much as Soupy," said Usher.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091023/ap_on_en_tv/us_obit_sales

[denbot]

1. I loved his show when I was a kid, RIP Soupy.

Remember Fang?

[hobbit709]

2. Oh god, yes. R.I.P. Soupy

[Graybeard]

3. Soupy. White Fang, Black Tooth, Pookie and Hippy

Many wonderful memories. I remember when I was older seeing Soupy as a regular panelist on What's My Line? I was amazed that the grown-ups even knew who he was and "got it".

[peekaloo]

5. Is the story about him asking his kid viewers to go into their parents'

wallets, take out the green paper with pictures and send it to him true?

That's the first thing I ever heard about him and it made me :rofl:

RIP Soupy.

[Graybeard]

6. Yes. It happened on Ch.5 in NY

On New Year's Day 1965 Soupy said, "Send me all those pictures of presidents and I'll send you a post card from Puerto Rico." When the station actually started to get money in the mail and said that some parents were complaining they suspended Soupy for two weeks. The publicity was great. The news showed kids picketing WNEW studios and that was even more good publicity.

[peekaloo]

9. Thank you.

Still funny after all these years. :D

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

4. Being a native of Detroit

I was a lunch with Soupy kid............... :cry:

[Captain Hilts]

7. I LOVED eating lunch with Soupy Sales! nt

[tmyers09]

8. R.I.P.

Dang. Even though I live in southeast Michigan, I am much too young to have watched Soupy Sales. However, I have heard of him, and know his status as a television legend. At least he lived a long and successful life.

Rest in Peace Mr. Sales.

[Graybeard]

10. Welcome to DU. Check out You Tube.

You Tube has tons of Soupy Sales videos of his old shows.

[LiberalEsto]

11. Oh no! Godspeed, Soupy.

I LOVED Soupy Sales when I was in 8th grade. We all used to rush home from junior high school every day to catch his show. I wrote him a fan letter once, and he wrote back. It was the first (and possibly the last) fan letter I ever wrote.

Best of all was his Saturday afternoon detective parody series, "The Adventures of Philo Kvetch". It featured Soupy as Detective Philo Kvetch, chasing his evil nemesis The Mask, and the Mask's evil assistant Onions Oregano, around the New Jersey dockyards and once in a while around Palisades Amusement Park. The show was filmed in grainy black and white, and there were lots of extra villains in gorilla costumes. Whenever Onions Oregano devoured a big onion for a snack, the Mask whipped out a giant perfume atomizer and sprayed him in the face with it. And the Mask had a wonderfully evil laugh, "Nee-hee-hee-hee-hee."

In his later years Soupy supported the cause of religious liberty (freedom FROM religion).

:cry:

[joeybee12]

12. Awww....RIP Soupy

:cry:

[nolabear]

13. Absolutely loved him. There were great stories about the practical jokes

the staff and he played on one another on that show, the best of which was the tendency to hide naked ladies in places where he could see them and no one else could. SURPRISE!! He was one of my favorite after school things, that is until Barnabas Collins came along...

[NNadir]

21. When I was a kid, your parents could call Channel 5, tell Soupy's staff if you were ill, and

he'd wish you to get well on TV.

My parents did that when I had a high fever as a little guy.

I had to be very little, but I remember like yesterday. Sick as I was, I felt like God.

[abq e streeter]

14. RIP--it's a truly special person that dedicates their life to making children smile and laugh

[WinkyDink]

15. NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! OMG, I ADORED HIM! I loved them all: Pookie, White Fang, Black Tooth, etc.

The Jell-o ads! The pies! Always the PIES!

Soupy had the most wonderful, sly laugh; silly puns; and a general sweetness to him that made me a life-long fan, and I'm talkng over 50 years.

Loh-oh-lea, Soupy. RIP.

[GreenPartyVoter]

16. RIP Soupy :^(

[ThatsMyBarack]

17. I remember Soupy....

From To Tell The Truth and other "panel" game shows.

[valerief]

18. RIP, Soupy. I didn't always get your humor when I was a kid (cuz I was a kid

and your kiddie show was really for adults) but I remember enjoying the show.

[frogmarch]

19. Oh, no! Sorry to hear

Soupy died. I remember him best as the actor who played Moses in the movie within the movie And God Spoke "Moses" held up a 6-pack of Coke during the Ten Commandments scene, because the movie within the movie's producers were short on funds and needed to use product placement. Hilarious!

Good bye, Soupy. :-(

[nolabear]

20. ROTFL! Commandments, shmommandments, wee need sponsors!