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MUMBAI: Rubber-faced comedian Soupy Sales, who made an art form out of taking a pie in the face and delighted a generation of Detroiters with his loopy TV show on Channel 7 in the 1950s, expired Thursday night in New York.
Sales, 83, who had not been keeping good health for several years, entered a Bronx hospice, where he died. He is survived by his wife Trudy and two sons Hunt and Tony.
The name Soupy Sales was derived from two things: ‘Soupy‘ was a childhood nickname and ‘Sales‘ was the suggestion of an Ohio television manager who knew of a comic named Chick Sale.
Sales (born as Milton Supman) was the youngest of three sons born to dry-goods store owners. He grew up in Huntington, West Virginia, and did his graduation in Journalism from Marshall University after which he landed a local job as a radio scriptwriter after college, moonlighting as a comedian. The radio station eventually moved him on air and he became the top-rated DJ in the area.
In 1950, Soupy moved to Cincinnati to pursue a television career, starting with America‘s first teen dance show, Soupy‘s Soda Shop. He followed with a variety show featuring his own zany antics called Club Nothing.
The show that began airing in Detroit in 1953 featured a cast of unforgettable characters: an incorrigible dog by the name of White Fang, "the meanest dog in Detroit," who communicated via a series of guttural noises, Black Tooth, an overly affectionate dog whom Sales would constantly tell "don‘t kiss"; Hippy the Hippo, and Willy the Worm.
Soupy‘s talents were not confined to television, however. He recorded a number of chart-topping albums including The Mouse and Spy with a Pie. He also gave live performances on Broadway, in dinner theatres and at comedy clubs.
In the late 1960s, he became a regular on the improvisational program What‘s My Line?, staying for seven years. Throughout the 1970s, Soupy lent his wacky sense of humour to numerous game and variety shows, including Jr. Almost Anything Goes, Sha Na Na and TV‘s Bloopers and Practical Jokes.
