I have no idea of how many of you folks actually remember him, but in his time Soupy Sales was a cult star. He was also clinicaly bonkers, but in the best sense of being bonkers. His afternoon TV show had a near fanatical following. When you consider that most of them at the time were young teen or pre-teen boys, it is fair to assume that a good number of them were probably also bonkers. He broadcast live: no prerecorded tape, no digital effects. Everything you saw was really happening, often much to the consternation of studio executives, sponsors and censors. Especially censors. It was a time when television was still flexing its limits and Soupy Sales was a natural for the “new” medium.
From today’s point of view it seems impossible, but this live show was totally improvised; nobody – including the station management – knew exactly what he was going to do. Sometimes his stage crew pulled gags on him. One time they had a topless lady suddenly appear. She was actually out of camera range, but the crew had rigged his monitors so it looked to Soupy like she was on the air. He was convinced his career was over, but still went on with the show. Later he claimed he really just wanted to get her phone number.
Another time Soupy held up a card with a large letter “K” on it. He announced (maybe in a style that Sesame Street would later mimic) “This is the letter F.” An off camera voice said “No, it’s the letter K.” Soupy turned away, looked at the card again, then, looking straight into the camera with a fiendish grin said:
“That’s funny: I see F you see K!” Hoo-Boy!!!
A pie in the face was an essential part of Soupy’s schtick. Guests on his show often got one, sometimes unexpectedly. Sometimes a crew member threw one at him from someplace off camera. When Soupy was a guest on other shows he brought along his cream pies. Lots of famous people got pies in their faces. Check out the link at the bottom of this piece..........
One stunt nearly did end his career. He asked younger viewers to go find Daddy’s wallet, take out all the green pieces of paper, the ones with pictures of guys with beards on them, and mail them to him. He promised a post card from Puerto Rico in return.
Anyway, it was a bit later that our paths crossed. Syndicated sit-coms had pretty much replaced live TV and nobody was going to take the chance of putting Soupy on live, so he was mostly doing stand-up to a loyal following around the country. On that day, he was my model for magazine cover and some shots for the lead article. Soupy showed up at my studio alone, no entourage or assistants. He carried a paper shopping bag with the stuff to make his trademark “cream” pies. Actually they were made with shaving cream (“Looks better on TV and sticks lots better too!”). After all, the pies were not intended to be eaten, but to be thrown in people’s faces. The art director wanted some shots of him holding a pie; I backed off when ever he picked one up.
Soupy was on throughout the shoot. He improvised bits around every piece of equipment and anything anybody said. It was a truly great stand-up performance, done for us because that is what Soupy did and he did it flawlessly.
I recently came across some of the outtake from the session along with that original cover. That magazine article is long lost, the magazine is history and Soupy passed away several years ago. But looking over that sheet of 35mm slides was a wonderful reminder of some of the great moments I've had on my side of the camera.
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