Posted by Allan Sniffen on October 24, 2009 at 09:01:04:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Soupy Sales R.I.P. posted by Big Jay Sorensen on October 23, 2009 at 21:29:00:
>>>One must understand that almost EVERYTHING Imus or Stern did was to mock or bait another staff member to react to something they said. <<<
There is truth that much of what they did was shtick and and done to try and get a reaction. But I wouldn't go so far as to suggest that they didn't believe what they said. It was (and still *is*) clear that neither liked his show.
>>>I thought Soupy was just plain jealous and made it very clear to all of us who worked on Joey's Show <<<
Ok... But that's not really what we're debating.
>>>Like many of you on this board and others of the boomer generation, there was nothing cooler than Soupy on TV.<<<
Which is my point. TV was his medium. He knew how to work the camera, how to use his face and other body mannerisms to get laughs. He couldn't do that on radio which is why his act didn't play as well there.
Dale points out that he could be funny and I'm not suggesting that he was never funny on WNBC. That's unfair. But... that extra element that made him great (the visual) wasn't there. So instead of being great, he was just ok.
>>>ONLY because the OTHER GUYS were SO high up on the "whatever it takes" scale. Soupy's act WAS a kinder and gentler act<<<
That's fair. It's tough to be a nice guy when you're in between radio's two "bad boys". But I don't think it was "only" that. He just couldn't do what he did best. It's like sending somebody to fight with a pistol when the other side has a canon.
Think of it this way. Suppose it was TV. Does anyone here think that Imus sitting in front of a mic talking to Chuck is anywhere near as funny as the TV Soupy did? Same thing with Stern. He just sits there and talks. Soupy did a whole lot more than that, broke a ton of new ground and managed to appeal across generations *because* TV was his medium. If either Imus or Stern tried to break into TV against him, they wouldn't have had a chance.
>>>I've noticed MOST of the posters in this thread simply said they had fond memories of Soupy<<<
As well they should. He was a great performer who had tremendous success.