Posted by Jim Burns on October 23, 2009 at 02:19:21:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Soupy Sales R.I.P. posted by Barry on October 23, 2009 at 00:22:41:
Yes, the radio show was funny. (And my favorite segment was LUNCH WITH SOUPY, with Paul Dver doing a terrific Curly Howard impression, as Jerry the Waiter. (Jerry (Babe) Howard/Horwitz was Curly's real name.) If it wasn't necessarily the best venue for Soupy's talents at that point... It's interesting to note that Soupy had actually started out in radio, and I believe was where he even invented Pookie the Lion (later, his puppet sidekick, ultimately voiced and operated by Clyde Adler, and then my old pal, Frank Nastasi).
I didn't meet Soupy until about 1990 when we were both guest speakers at a comic book convention. I had been wondering about a memory I had had for decades, of a skit where Soupy was home watching a murder mystery on television, when he got so worked up by the suspense, he ENTERED the TV, and was then in the movie, helping to right the evildoers, and save the damsel in distress. It was shown on a Sunday night on ABC, in the '70s, as a special. Soupy explained that this was one of his last pilots, one that had been mounted with some network enthusiasm, before a regime change... He seemed delighted that anyone would remember.
But that was the delight, and charm, I would often see Soupy display over the ensuing years, whenever encountering fans.
It's intriguing to remember the breadth of Sales' career. In Detroit, at the time of his first kids shows succes, he also hosted a NIGHT TIME, TONIGHT SHOW-type talk show. (Sales was able to indluge his lifetime love of jazz, with many notable musician guests.)
At the height of his fame, there were pilots, guest-shots with Judy Garland, HOLLYWOOD PALACE appearances, guest-hosting THE TONIGHT SHOW... Later, a regular gig on the SHA NA NA weekly syndicated series... His status as one of television's most durable game-show panelists... And always the nightclubs, and other personal appearances.
As a tot, I loved the mid-1960s series where Sales seemed to be some type of detective, and he'd be menaced, intermittently, by a GORILLA. As a three-year old, I'd tune into the regular, daily SOUPY SALES SHOW, and wonder where the monkey was...
It would be years before I realized that the first show was the ingenious spy/detective spoof, PHILO KVETCH (which I believe ran weekly, on WNEW, on Saturday mornings). Soupy did double duty, as the hero, and his evil nemesis, the orchid-loving The Mask. (And I'll aways dig my memory, from just a few years ago, of the late Frank Nastasi and I riding uptown one night, and him recreating his role as The Mask's henchman, Onions Oregano, as I fed him straight lines...)
It's astonising that the 1960s Soupy Sales phenomenon--the wild enthusiasm that sold out The Paramount, led to a plethora of merchandising (including a comic book published by THE ARCHIE folk, and a couple of special one-shot magazines)--came when he was nearly forty years old.
That wonderful humor, available at least five days a week, for a few years there, has proved to be timeless.
When some of those shows finally resurfaced, almost two decades ago, it was a delight to discover that they were legitimately funny, and not simply a product of their era.
Jim Burns