Alan’s TTIM Stories #18

Why did I enjoy Craig Ferguson’s late night show? Craig presided over a show with a talking robot sidekick and a dancing Secretariat in a stall to the right of the interview desk. A light bulb lit over my head. The antics reminded me of a 1960’s show host – Soupy Sales.

Soupy (a childhood nick name) was born Milton Supman in Franklin, North Carolina, in 1926. He served in the Navy during World War II aboard the USS Randall, shipping supplies to the Marines on Pacific islands. He honed his comedic craft on the ship’s PA system to entertain the sailors.

After graduating from Marshall University in Journalism, he worked as a scriptwriter and disc jockey at a radio station. He moved to Cincinnati 1949 to become the morning radio DJ. The next step was television, hosting a teen dance program and a late-night comedy/variety show. Different titles and formulas came with the same Soupy: Soupy’s Soda Shop, Club Nothing!, Lunch with Soupy Sales, Soupy’s On, New Soupy Sales Show, Junior Almost Anything Goes,

The Soupy Sales Show  bounced from Detroit to Los Angeles to New York City. The show was zany, goofy, silly, and juvenile (which matched my maturity level). His flexible face facilitated an infectious grin. The show included mainly off-camera performers with hands and arms or paws in a doorway accompanied by the voice of an annoyed neighbor or the grunts of a large pet – White Fang the dog.

He perfected the fine art of the pie-in-the-face with an estimated 20,000 thrown during his career. Even Frank Sinatra fell victim. Soupy’s humor could be a quick one-liner or a painfully drawn out sketch by today’s short attention span standards. Patience was needed to deliver the laugh, many times climaxing with the afore mentioned cream pie.

Soupy pulled off one of the greatest pranks in broadcast history in 1965 – equal to the Orson Welles’ Martian invasion. Irritated at being asked to work on a holiday, he ended the show with a whispered request into the camera encouraging his young viewers to pull out the funny looking green papers with a president picture out of sleeping parents’ wallets, put them in an envelope, and send them to the station. Their actions would be rewarded by a postcard from Puerto Rico. The result was thousands of dollars (refunded or donated to charities) and a short suspension for the prankster.

The Soupy Sales Show ended in 1966.  The following years tested his talent with dozens of television guest appearances, plus endeavors in the movies and Broadway. Steady work came as a regular panelist on What’s My Line between 1968 and 1975. All displayed his brand of humor, but never matched the magic of the daytime children’s show.

Why did I like his show? The merchant of smiles made me laugh at a difficult time in history and my own personal experiences when laughter provided a temporary respite. Let’s lift a glass to toast the memory of a comic genius and laugh, unapologetically, at another pie in the face.

“Don’t be afraid to embrace your inner silliness.”
Soupy Sales

Sources:
Wikipedia
imdb.com
Bookey Book Summary
“The Transmogrification of Soupy Sales”
by Saul Braun, Esquire Magazine, October 1, 1967

Note: Clips of the Soupy Sales Show are available on YouTube.

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Announcement of Alan’s TTIM Stories are found on Facebook.com/alan.vandervoort or Instagram & Treads vandervoort_author. All Stories are available at  www.alanvandervoort.com. Novels by the author include: Sandhills – A Novel and Key Largo Summer, found at Booklocker.com and other online booksellers.