Goodbye, Soupy Sales

Those old enough to remember Soupy Sales recall a "simpler" time when slapstick comedy made people laugh and television could take our minds off of our problems for a little while instead of creating more problems. Sales used puppets and "pie in the face" humor to successfully satisfy his "schtick" in the 1950s and 60s.

Sales passed away yesterday at the age of 83 at the Calvary Hospice in the Bronx in New York City. He began his career in Ohio before making a name for himself in Detroit. Born Milton Supman on January 8, 1926, Sales' "children's" show attracted just as many adults for his sometimes subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) humor. There was the time when a naked woman came on the set, unbeknownst to Soupy. and there was also the New Year's show when he told the kids to go into their parents' pockets and send those "little pieces of paper with pictures of presidents" on them to him.

In the late 70s, Sales tried to revive the same type of television show that made him a success a couple of decades earlier, but the attempt fell flat. Comedy had changed...and so had the audience.

Then in the mid-1980s, he tried his hand at radio, hosting a midday show on then-WNBC (660 AM) in New York City. His show came on between Don ImusDon Imus' program and Howard SternHoward Stern's show.

And if I recall correctly, one of his sons is married to Spencer TracySpencer Tracy's daughter. If anyone can verify that for me, please do.