Who Was Soupy Sales, and Why We'll Miss Him

Entertainment Weekly ^ | 10/23/09 | Ken Tucker

[Irish Queen]

Soups Sales was very popular with teens in the early sixies. The first time I saw him on TV was at a cast party at our choir teacher's house. The party began right after school and all the kids were surprised when Miss Brocaw wheeled a TV into the living room and turned on Soupy Sales. Miss Brocaw was quite a character. Every Halloween she would tell how she had married a French officer in Paris on October 31, 1946. She'd end the story by saying she soon found out that her dreamboat treat was actually a dirty trick.

Soupy Sales came across the black and white screen as such a lovely, gentle man. It made it all the more sweet that "The Soupy Sales Show" really annoyed my mother.

[Hot Tabasco]

I shall go to the mall and buy some new Manolos. Probably hot pink

Good for you......LOL!

[a fool in paradise]

He didn’t know about it at first. And then he opened the prop door and got an eyeful. And then he went back!

[a fool in paradise]

Meanwhile in 1960s Cleveland Ohio, they had tv hosts like Ghoulardi (later to be known as the voiceover on ABC) who'd blow up M-80s in the studio that were mailed to them by home viewers (he'd blow up models and assorted things).

It's a lot different time. "Cool it with the boom-booms!"

[a fool in paradise]

Without Steve Allen and Soupy Sales, David Letterman would be just another washed up 1970s weatherman.

[nickcarraway]

her dreamboat treat was actually a dirty trick.

Did she elaborate, right when it was getting interesting?

[fatima]

He’s too cute.I saw him in a parade a few years ago.

[fatima]

:)Hehehehe

[pyx]

RIP Soupy, and thank you.

[Mad Dawg]

I loved Soupy.

One time he got hung up with pie on his face and he let White Fang take the commercial. I’m pretty sure I did permanent damage laughing at this alleged dog arm gesturing at a box of cereal and uttering gibberish.

And he would often give the footnote to a joke, as in,
“Bud Abbot, 1952.”

Genius.

[Since 2009-07-21]

Go pollute some other thread jerk!


Soupy was hilarious! How ironic that in the very article above Soupy said this about malcontents: ...maybe some people just like to make happy people unhappy.

[Irish Queen]

Miss Brocaw came to realize that her dreamboat had wooed and wed her because she was in the employ of the American Embassy. When he found out that she was merely a file clerk he left her. She always ended her story with a flip of her hand and the words, “C’est la vie - end of story.”

[nickcarraway]

Thank you, I needed closure on that anecdote. I would have guessed he was looking for U.S. citizenship, but even with her as a file clerk, he could have gotten that. I wonder if she ever saw, I Was a Male War Bride with Cary Grant? She sounds like an interesting teacher.

[GSWarrior]

His musical sons, Hunt and Tony, played with David Bowie in the band Tin Machine,

Let's not hold that against them.

[sonic109]

Like with the 3 Stooges I think most women didn’t find that humor funny. My dad used to watch Soupy with me and my brother and laugh his ass off with us. We didn’t know he was laughing on a whole other level of the show. Mom used to just shake her head at the 3 of us.
Soupy was the best , hip , funny and talented.

[SkiKnee]

There was a show out of Detroit called “The Ghoul”. This guy would come into the studio on one of those bouncing rubber balls, blow things up and had a weird thing for Cheez Wiz. His program would feature bad monster movies and he always closed the program saying: “Turn blue, scratch glass, stay sick, climb walls but don’t get caught!”

Same guy?

[a fool in paradise]

He was a fan who may have operated in a couple of cities circa 1970s-1980s (unless he was making Parma jokes while in Detroit).

The Ghoul is still around.

And yeah, he blew stuff up too.

http://www.theghoul.com/

[SkiKnee]

Thats the guy! Great fun for a bunch of barely controllable teenaged kids.

[a fool in paradise]

He offers several DVDs of hours of old clips from his programs. It’s been decades since there was such a thing as local television and yet everyone seems to bemoan the “end” of local radio.

I had some VHS tapes from some years back but I don’t see one of them here, it was a staged Christmas performance somewhere.

You can probably find bits on Youtube as you can with Ghoulardi and other hosts. But at a point it’s more fun to sit back on the couch and watch something on tv. And unlike bootleg compilations, the money would appear to be going to the creator.

Another tv host (non-horror) who may have been Soupy inspired was/is Uncle Floyd. I’m not familiar with his show but I’ve heard about it because of different seventies rockers who appeared as guests on it.

again there is a website and at least one legit DVD release
http://www.unclefloyd.com/

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Best_of_the_Uncle_Floyd_Show/60037483
Best of the Uncle Floyd Show
(1974) NR
In the mid-1970s, Uncle Floyd Vivino livened up children’s television with his bizarrely hilarious version of 1950s variety shows. His series caught on, and soon, viewers realized there was genius behind this surreal entertainment melding theatre with camp, improv with situation comedy, music with wacky choreography. It also boasted memorable characters such as Eddie Slobbo and Don Goomba, caught here in some of the best episodes from the show.

[HighlyOpinionated]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pae99gvWR8Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNv3rVV1mfs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_OioLUqcFo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As7MaQSc7qc

There’s loads more at YouTube.