Posted by DYNAMIC D on 10/23/2009, 5:37 am
198.140.4.205
Soupy Sales, comedian/actor and TV show host whose legacy was revolved around an infinite number of pies in the face, died yesterday after a long bout with numerous ailments at age 83.
He was best known for his popular TV show which started locally in Detroit in 1953, picked up by ABC from 1960-1962, and hitting its peak of popularity on New York's WNEW-TV from 1964-1966. One of his best known shticks, aside from the pies of course, was on the 1965 New Year's Day show when he asked his young TV viewers to tiptoe into their parents' bedrooms (while they were sleeping) and remove those "funny green pieces of paper with pictures of U.S. Presidents" from their pants and pocketbooks. "Put them in an envelope and mail them to me," Soupy instructed the children. "And I'll send you a postcard from Puerto Rico!" Unexpectedly, many kids complied. Although Soupy tried to remedy the problem by donating the money to charity, parents' negative reactions prompted WNEW to suspend Soupy for two weeks, causing young viewers to form a picket line against the station.
In the mid-60's, he recorded a novelty dance record on ABC-Paramount, "The Mouse". Although he had performed it on The Ed Sullivan Show and Hullabaloo, the dance never really caught on.
The mid-60's and 70's saw Soupy on the game show circuit. From 1968-1975 he was a regular panelist alongside long-time panelist Arlene Francis on the syndicated version of What's My Line. He also appeared on both the the 60's NBC and 70's CBS versions of Match Game, Hollywood Squares, and all the variations of Pyramid from 1973-1991.
Soupy Sales is survived by his wife Trudy, two sons Hunt and Tony, and four grandchildren.
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