I know that somewhere in the depths of my posts there is at least a mention if not a blog on the late Soupy Sales who passed away at age 83, in The Bronx, New York. He died in a hospice after a long illness.

He was born Milton Supman in Franklinton, N.C. The Supmans were the only Jewish family in town and owned a dry goods store. He dubbed himself “Soupy” because his neighbors pronounced his last name as “Soupman.”

In his early years he was a dance-show host and d.j. and collected jazz; he used Charlie Parker’s “Yardbird Suite” as a theme song for his “Lunch With Soupy” show in 1953.*

Soupy kept the Marx Brothers and Harry Ritz kind of slapstick humor live on for us baby boomers in the 1960’s, when he shuffled around on The Soupy sales Show.” His puppet friends included White Fang, Black Tooth and Pookie the Lion. He played the private detective Philo Kvetch. And then he was inviting in the “nut at the door.”

He is long remembered for a stunt where he asked young viewers to look in their parents pockets and send him “little pieces of paper that had pictures of men with beards.”

His shows were planned but appeared spontaneous and mayhem and pie-throwing were de rigeur. As for pies, the formula for a good “pie” was: “you can use whipped cream, but shaving cream is much better because it doesn’t spoil. And no tin plates. The secret is you just can’t push it and shove it in somebody’s face. It as to be done with a pie that has a lot of crust so that it breaks up into a thousand pieces when it hits you.”

Sit with me on the big fluffy couch and take a soupy break.

Check these out, too, embedding was disabled. Give a click here darling.
And here, too.
Do the mouse, yeah!

My dear friend Fred the music maven has posted the Yardbird Suite for me. Please visit to hear Soupy’s theme song.*
here. Very cool.

reply danceinsilence wrote on Oct 29, ’09 If you go here – http://danceinsilence.multiply.com/journal/item/1134 You’ll see the original (though cleaned up version, the original was pulled by youtube) of a surprise b’day the crew did for Soupy on television, and years later he explains to a crowd “the green pieces of paper”. He was an incredibly funny dorky kinda guy that always made me laugh. You’ll have to scroll all the way to the last two vids.

reply catfishred wrote on Oct 29, ’09 I think Soupy’s cameramen had more fun than anyone. LOL I adored that sweet man and was so sorry to hear from Sousonne that he died.

reply greenwytch wrote on Oct 29, ’09 good journey to you, Soupy!  blessed be.

reply sousonne wrote on Oct 29, ’09 Thankfully, Trudy and Hunter didn’t have to put Milt in the hospice until a week before he died.  They tried to keep him home as long as they could.  He had been fighting all sorts of health issues for a few years now, and finally got too much to handle at home.  He was an incredibly sweet man…very loving and kind, but he didn’t allow anyone to walk all over him!  Even though we hadn’t heard about him for a number of years, he still had a loving following even after he aged.  My father was so upset when I told him…he said that he hadn’t spoken to him in a couple of months…and that maybe he should have called more often.  Sadly, that will probably bother my father now, for the rest of his life. (He’s 2 years older than Milt….they were best buddies at Huntington High School…)  I couldn’t bring myself to watch the videos.  Not yet…

reply sanssouciblogs wrote on Oct 29, ’09 Of course I had no idea that anyone I knew had any kind of a connection–that’s quite amazing. He was a very funny, adorable man.

reply parsonsblvd wrote on Oct 29, ’09 RIP Soupy…this guy will miss you. Got in trouble in school doing some of your routines….lol!  ; )

reply sanssouciblogs wrote on Oct 29, ’09 Thanks Fred, here’s the link to Fred’s post of The Yardbird Suite. You da man, Fred. http://parsonsblvd.multiply.com/music/item/1430/

reply rosiefielding2 wrote on Oct 29, ’09 rip soupy   will miss you.

reply sousonne wrote on Oct 29, ’09 Yes…If you check out my photos, in “MY FAMILY” album, there are a couple of photos of my parents and Milt at a party.  LOL…They’ve been there since I’ve had a multiply account!

reply nemo4sun wrote on Oct 29, ’09 i always loved him 🙂

reply locarb wrote on Oct 29, ’09 Soupy was one of a kind. There were too few like hom then and far fewer now. We need more piees and more seltzer in the face. I heartedly recommend it for politicians in Washington.