Soupy Sales
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Soupy Sales (born Milton Supman, January 8, 1926, in Franklinton, North Carolina).
A graduate of Huntington High School, Huntington, West Virginia, and Marshall University, Sales' career began as a script writer and then DJ at radio station WHTN in Huntington.
An American comedian and actor, Sales is best known for his daily noontime children's television show. Improvised and slapstick in nature, Lunch With Soupy Sales was a rapid-fire stream of sketches, gags, and puns. Almost all resulted in Soupy receiving a pie in the face, which became his trademark.
Appearing on the show were the puppets White Fang, "The Meanest Dog in the USA," Black Tooth, "The Sweetest Dog in the World," Hippie the Hippo who never spoke, and Pookie the Lion, who was a 1950s hipster.
The show originated in 1953 from the studios of WXYZ-TV in Detroit, Michigan. It was later syndicated nationally by ABC, and in 1964 found a weekday home at WNEW-TV in New York City. A new show appeared in 1978 with the same format.
Urban legend has it that on New Year's Day 1965 Soupy, miffed at having to work on the holiday, ended his live broadcast by encouraging his young viewers to tiptoe into their still-sleeping parents' bedrooms and remove those "funny green pieces of paper" from their pants and pocketbooks. "Put them in an envelope and mail them to me," Soupy allegedly instructed the children. "And you know what I'm going to send you? A post card from Puerto Rico!" Soupy, in his autobiography "Soupy Sez! My Life and Zany Times," (2001) admits it is true. He was suspended by the station for two weeks for encouraging children to steal. Soupy received $80,000 from viewers, mostly in play money. Any real money was donated to charity.
Another urban legend is that he snuck dirty jokes onto his show. Standards at that time would not have permitted him to remain on the air had he actually told them. There may have been some mildly risque jokes, but none of the ones attributed to legend.
Sales was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on January 7, 2005, the day before his 79th birthday.Template:US-actor-stub