Soupy Sales Gone…
— I can’t take the loss of many more of my childhood icons; Captain Kangaroo has passed on, and now also Soupy Sales at age 83. Soupy in my opinion has never gotten the credit or recognition that he deserved; a comedian of television, radio, and film born Milton Supman, Soupy drew heavily from slapstick and also used word play and improvisation. His comedy wasn’t always sophisticated, but it could be clever and was always funny; taking a pie in the face was a stock in trade, and Soupy estimated that he and his visitors took 20,000 pies in the course of his career. Soupy was big at the time in the New York area where I grew up in to the extent that kids would imitate him and do his routines.
Soupy had furry elements; two of the visitors to his shows were dogs called White Fang and Black Tooth, who appeared at his door as giant shaggy paws with felt triangular claws. White Fang spoke with unintelligible growls and grunts which Soupy repeated back to his audience in English; Black Tooth was also unintelligible, but was into giving loud and sloppy kisses to Soupy off-camera. Then there was Pookie the Lion, a hip character prone to appearing in Soupy’s window who you could understand. – -Soupy even had a novelty dance record and song called The Mouse which was wildly popular in the mid-1960’s!- –Hey!–Do the Mouse, Yeah! I last saw Soupy on game shows, those last retreats of celebrities past their popularity prime. Even then, he was funny, using his improv talents to transcend the medium and material that he had to work with.
As Soupy was influenced by the Marx Brothers, so he also influenced other comedians including Andy Kaufman and Paul Reubens; if you twist and press Soupy’s persona, you get Pee-wee Herman! Soupy was an earlier prototype of the cheerfully demented childrens’ TV show host, filled with manic energy. All of these comics realized that much comic inspiration can be drawn from childhood, which can be darker and more twisted than many realize…
Thank you, Soupy, for all the laughter and the furry undertones! To quote lyrics from The Mouse, “every cat in the neighborhood will be in shock.”
Cats, you see, loved Soupy Sales, and will miss him as will I…
Tags: Black Tooth, Pookie the Lion, Soupy Sales, White Fang
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October 24, 2009 at 12:51 pm
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October 26, 2009 at 9:49 pm
I was initially stunned to read this. I remember that show! It used to be telecast on old Channel 5, out of NYC. Usually before or after the “Jerry Mahoney Show” starring Paul Winchell.
I also remember seeing him “Do The Mouse” on THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW, one Sunday night. It made going to bed, for another dreary week of elementary school, that much better.
*Too bad, he and White Fang couldn’t have followed that up with their version of “Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones!*
In the mid-1980’s, he became the afternoon DJ for WNBC-FM radio. One of his funnier regular bits was a spoof of mail-order item commercials. With punchlines like, “If you’re not completely satisfied, simply return the unused portion of the product, and we’ll return the unused portion of your money.”
He also appeared on late-night talk shows like “The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder,” where he revealed the old story about his on-air telling of a blue joke that ends “Everytime I see F, YOU SEE K,” was comppletely false.
R.I.P, Soupy. And, to quote Bob Hope: Thanks for the memories!
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October 26, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Then there were the strippers at the door, which Soupy saw but no one else did!
I would have loved the White Fang/Black Tooth version of “Satisfaction!” We wouldn’t have understood a word, but would have known what it was!
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October 27, 2009 at 5:01 pm
How it might have sounded, if they’d actually done it.
SOUPY: “I can’t get no…”
WF: “Ooh-ah-ooh!”
SOUPY: “…satisfaction!”
WF: “Ooh-ah-ooh!”
SOUPY: “No-no! NO!”
WF: “Ooh-ah-ooh! Ooh-ah-ooh-ah-ooh-ah-OOH!”
SOUPY: “Hey-hey-hey! That’s what I say…”
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October 27, 2009 at 6:55 pm
I’d buy that record!
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