Soupy Sales Obituary.
Stephanie Lynne Thorburn
October 24, 2009
Comedian Soupy Sales, father of musicians Hunt and Tony Sales, has sadly died on Thursday, 22nd October aged 83. Soupy´s illustrious career comprised some 5,000 live television appearances, spanning a half- century. His TV programme ´Soupy´s On´ which aired five nights a week in Detroit in the 1950´s, was today praised by Reuters for breaking new ground in the pre-civil rights era, featuring some formidable jazz performers including Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk.
Soupy was born Milton Supman on Jan 8th 1926 in Franklinton NC, where notably his was the only Jewish family in town at that time. He studied at Marshall College as a journalism major, earning a degree in 1949. Sales' TV career began in Cincinnati and Cleveland, followed by Detroit, where he achieved a large audience on WXYZ-TV. He later moved to Los Angeles in 1961. His most memorable achievement was ´The Soupy Sales Show´, a children´s programme that had its New York debut in 1964, featuring Soupy´s improvisational style humour. Two years later, he had appeared on some 5,370 live TV programmes and his talents also extended to the Billboard Top 10. In 1965, ´Do The Mouse´ sold 250,000 copies in New York alone! Sales had an enduring career and remained a popular television personality, appearing regularly on the game show ´What´s My Line?´ and featuring as himself in the 1998 movie ´Holy Man´, starring Eddie Murphy.
´The Soupy Sales Show´ ran as a live TV programme for 13 years in the States, before syndicating abroad. Undoubtedly the programme had broad appeal amongst adults as well as children. The highlight of every show was definitely his cream-pie in the face antic, resulting in Sales being hit by more than 25,000 pies in his lifetime! Celebrities who enjoyed the burlesque gag included Sammy Davis Jr., Tony Curtis, and Mickey Rooney. On one memorable night Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Trini Lopez were all party to the habitual cream-pie. His irreverent sense of humour was certainly an attribute and trademark of his extensive career. CNN remembered Soupy through the words of his friend and manager Paul Dver, emphasising that he was indeed an "American comedy icon", and noting too the distinctive ´magic´ surrounding the comic. His spontaneous humour and charismatic personality defined him as one of the last of a generation of great TV comedians.
Soupy Sales is survived by his wife Trudy Sales, four grandchildren and his sons Hunt and Tony Sales, who cultivated a reputation in the music industry as a formidable rhythm section, performing with Iggy Pop on Lust For Life, 1977 and with David Bowie in Tin Machine.
Sources and further obituary features online in commemoration of Soupy Sales include: -
Reuters: -
http://www.reuters.com/article/mediaNews/idUSN237795220091023
The Associated Press: -
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gJ-8A5RJvk5EwfcUEinx0CoOGM9gD9BGJ0T80
CNN.com Entertainment: -
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/23/soupy.sales/
In due course I will be updating my Sales Brothers resource page with an obituary to Soupy and also hopefully more positive news on the evolution of some of my current project work on the the Sales Brothers: -
See: - http://www.webjam.com/salesbrothersdefinitive
Stephanie Lynne Thorburn.
Soupy was born Milton Supman on Jan 8th 1926 in Franklinton NC, where notably his was the only Jewish family in town at that time. He studied at Marshall College as a journalism major, earning a degree in 1949. Sales' TV career began in Cincinnati and Cleveland, followed by Detroit, where he achieved a large audience on WXYZ-TV. He later moved to Los Angeles in 1961. His most memorable achievement was ´The Soupy Sales Show´, a children´s programme that had its New York debut in 1964, featuring Soupy´s improvisational style humour. Two years later, he had appeared on some 5,370 live TV programmes and his talents also extended to the Billboard Top 10. In 1965, ´Do The Mouse´ sold 250,000 copies in New York alone! Sales had an enduring career and remained a popular television personality, appearing regularly on the game show ´What´s My Line?´ and featuring as himself in the 1998 movie ´Holy Man´, starring Eddie Murphy.
´The Soupy Sales Show´ ran as a live TV programme for 13 years in the States, before syndicating abroad. Undoubtedly the programme had broad appeal amongst adults as well as children. The highlight of every show was definitely his cream-pie in the face antic, resulting in Sales being hit by more than 25,000 pies in his lifetime! Celebrities who enjoyed the burlesque gag included Sammy Davis Jr., Tony Curtis, and Mickey Rooney. On one memorable night Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Trini Lopez were all party to the habitual cream-pie. His irreverent sense of humour was certainly an attribute and trademark of his extensive career. CNN remembered Soupy through the words of his friend and manager Paul Dver, emphasising that he was indeed an "American comedy icon", and noting too the distinctive ´magic´ surrounding the comic. His spontaneous humour and charismatic personality defined him as one of the last of a generation of great TV comedians.
Soupy Sales is survived by his wife Trudy Sales, four grandchildren and his sons Hunt and Tony Sales, who cultivated a reputation in the music industry as a formidable rhythm section, performing with Iggy Pop on Lust For Life, 1977 and with David Bowie in Tin Machine.
Sources and further obituary features online in commemoration of Soupy Sales include: -
Reuters: -
http://www.reuters.com/article/mediaNews/idUSN237795220091023
The Associated Press: -
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gJ-8A5RJvk5EwfcUEinx0CoOGM9gD9BGJ0T80
CNN.com Entertainment: -
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/23/soupy.sales/
In due course I will be updating my Sales Brothers resource page with an obituary to Soupy and also hopefully more positive news on the evolution of some of my current project work on the the Sales Brothers: -
See: - http://www.webjam.com/salesbrothersdefinitive
Stephanie Lynne Thorburn.
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