[78-L] Soupy Sales: One of jazz's best friends is gone

[Jeff Sultanof]

Soupy, Chuck McCann and Sandy Becker were my TV heroes growing up in New
York. Brilliant does not begin to describe the sheer creativity of the shows
they hosted; Sandy was so off-the-wall and surreal. I've managed to get DVDs
of the little that is out there from these shows, specifically to share them
with my son when he is old enough to understand them (he is only 14 months
now).

I remember so clearly Soupy's serial "Philo Kvetch," where he ran around New
York like a maniac. His face was rubber, his expressions would make me laugh
for days. It's such a pity that most of his show is now gone. He was a true
star as far as I'm concerned.

Jeff Sultanof

On Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 10:36 PM, Royal Pemberton <ampex354 at gmail.com>wrote:

> And Soupy was truly a master at it.
>
> On Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 9:31 PM, Michael Biel <mbiel at mbiel.com> wrote:
>
> >
> > From: Royal Pemberton <ampex354 at gmail.com>
> > > The UK children's show TISWAS had lots of 'pies', done with shaving
> cream
> > > and all....paper plates were standard. More goop here:
> > > http://www.tiswasonline.com/pies_gunge_water.php?section=pies
> >
> > This would not have met with Soupy's approval and is probably why he was
> > so successful for so many years, and so many celebrities like Frank
> > Sinatra wanted to be on the show and get hit.  Shaving cream is soap and
> > tastes disgusting and could make the person sick. Word of this would
> > travel and turn celebs off. Paper plates would stick to the goop and
> > since they are very lightweight they might not fall away fast enough to
> > show the person's face for an IMMEDIATE reaction shot.  Breaded crust
> > breaks at impact showing the face immediately, and if there are small
> > pieces that fall away one at a time, that increases the humor by
> > lengthening the effect.  Whipped cream and bread pie crust, maybe with
> > some cherry or lemon filling to add color for color TV.  Truly inspired
> > comedy is not casual, it is a science.
> >
> > Mike Biel mbiel at mbiel.com
> >
> > On Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 8:33 PM, Michael Biel <mbiel at mbiel.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Soupy died on the eve of the Friends of Old Time Radio convention, and
> I
> > > opened my broadcast of the event with Soupy's obit. He had made 3 or 4
> > > appearances there in recent years, and was well remembered this weekend
> > > by some of his WNEW-TV co-conspirators such as Chuck McCann. Sandy
> > > Becker's widow Cherie showed some X-rated outtakes of her hubby from
> > > that same station. Soupy had been very ill in recent years and suffered
> > > from an illness which left his body in the way that he looked and
> > > sounded like he had suffered a serious stroke, but his mind was
> > > completely undamaged so it must have been frustrating to him. But he
> > > loved being at FOTR and every once in a while was able to put in a
> > > zinger to top his old-time buddies. The video they showed to end the
> > > tribute was not the usual -- we've seen all those before -- but rather
> > > his Ed Sullivan Show performance of "Do the Mouse" where he pranced
> > > around Ed's audience and coincidentally danced with and met for the
> > > first time his future wife, who remained devoted to him. That simple
> > > video, no jokes and no pies, was strangely moving to me, and it took
> > > about 15 seconds before I was able to talk after it, and I don't think
> I
> > > was fully fluent till several minutes after. There is a picture of a
> > > tribute that has been placed at Soupy's star: a pie.
> > > http://www.newsfromme.com/images11/soupystar.jpg The pie appears to be
> > > in a tin, something that Soupy did not allow. His colleagues told us
> > > that his theory was that the person's face must be immediately visible
> > > as the pie hits and falls away, something that a tin will inhibit. So a
> > > pie throwing hint: filling and crust only.
> > >
> > >
> > > Mike Biel mbiel at mbiel.com
> >
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