THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 23, 1995 TAG: 9508230034
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROY A. BAHLS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 119 lines
AFTER NEARLY HALF a century of joking around, Soupy Sales has a quip to answer nearly any straight line.
``I'm 69,'' Sales said in a telephone interview from his New York City apartment, ``but I have the body of a 20-year-old. . . waiting for me in the other room.''
Soupy sails into Hampton Roads this weekend with his off-the-wall skits, corny jokes and pie-in-the-face comic antics. He's doing shows at Cozzy's Comedy Club in Newport News and Toons Comedy Club in Virginia Beach.
From 1955 through 1966, and again in 1978, ``The Soupy Sales Show'' was the after-school and weekend TV comedy dose for the baby-boomer generation. The kids loved his rubbery mug, crazy sight gags and puppet pals.
When adults started tuning into his loosely scripted show, they found zany zingers that floated over the heads of his kiddie audience, like his dictionary definition of ``Stagnation: a country with no women.''
And to tickle the funny bones of both young and old, there were always a few pies flying at Soupy or his guests.
``It was just considered a kid's show in those days,'' Sales said. ``I started ABC's Saturday morning programming. We had more adults watching than kids.''
Sales was born in Franklinton, N.C.
``Because,'' he said, ``I wanted to be near my mother.''
At the age of 8, young Milton Supman moved to Huntington, W.Va., and went on to get a degree in journalism at Marshall University. After landing a $20-a- week job as a radio script writer at a small station, he became a top-rated disc jockey and started polishing his comedy at clubs and roadhouses.
Sales served aboard the U.S.S. Randall and participated in the invasion of Okinawa.
``I found a way to beat the Army,'' he said. ``I joined the Navy.''
From there it was off to Cincinnati for his first television show, ``Soupy's Soda Shop.'' The year was 1950.
``I did the first TV dance show six months before they ever had `American Bandstand,' '' he said. ``But my luck was that the owner of the station said, `Who wants to see a bunch of teenagers dance? Get that show off the air.' ''
But Sales wasn't the only one to get booted.
``They fired Rod Serling at the same time,'' he said. ``He was a writer at the station, and they were upset with him because he was always submitting scripts about guys from another planet. So they said, `and get rid of that weirdo.' We used to laugh about that later.''
After moving to the West Coast in 1960, it took ``The Soupy Sales Show'' only one year to become Los Angeles' No. 1 television show. On one of his Friday night broadcasts, the ratings went through the roof, becoming the first show to beat a ``Rawhide'' episode. His guest, who graciously took a pie in the face, was Frank Sinatra.
``It was his idea,'' Sales said. ``If not, I would have been a right turn on I-95 going into Connecticut.''
He traded jokes and pies with Jerry Lewis, Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster, Mickey Rooney and Alice Cooper.
``I used to look like Cary Grant,'' Sales joked, ``but not after being hit with 19,000 pies.''
The goofy guy flourished in the ad-lib atmosphere. His technicians and stage-crew could often be heard laughing in the background as he surrounded himself with puppet pals Pookie the Lion and Hippy the Hippo.
He often played straight man for his dog characters, White Fang and Black Tooth, who were supposedly so big that viewers could only see their fuzzy paws.
In 1964 Soupy packed up and took his show to New York.
It was 6:55 on New Year's night in 1965 when Sales decided not to waste the last few minutes of his show.
``I went up to the camera and said, `Hey kids, last night was New Year's Eve and your mother and dad were out having a great time. They are probably still in the bedroom sleeping and what I want you to do is tiptoe in their bedroom and go in your mom's pocketbook and your dad's pants, which are probably on the floor. You'll see a lot of green pieces of paper with pictures of guys with beards. Put them in an envelope and send them to me at Soupy Sales, Channel 5, New York, New York. And you know what I'm going to send you? A postcard from Puerto Rico.' ''
``We got $80,000,'' Sales said with a giggle, ``. . . in Monopoly money and play money. Although I did get a dollar from some 28-year-old girl who said, `I've seen your show and you should go to Puerto Rico.' But some woman wrote a letter to the FCC and they sent a copy to Metro Media and they suspended me. Which was the best thing that ever happened to me. It was the most famous ad-lib in the history of television.''
His TV credits include guest spots on ``The Ed Sullivan Show,'' ``The Tonight Show,'' The Real McCoys,'' Route 66,'' ``Saturday Night Live'' and most recently ``Wings.''
And then there are the game shows including ``To Tell the Truth,'' ``Match Game,'' ``I've Got a Secret,'' ``Password'' and ``Hollywood Squares.''
He is a 15-year veteran of the $20,000, $25,000 and $50,000 ``Pyramid'' shows. ``I'm the highest money winner of all time on that. I won over half a million dollars for the other people and we just got scale, but that was our job.''
He even has a few movies to his credit. In his latest, ``. . . And God Spoke,'' he plays Moses in the movie-within-a-movie spoof of Bible epics. It airs again on Cinemax Monday.
There are also three video compilations (on Rhino Home Video) of his old TV shows.
His life is featured on A&E's ``Biography'' series, airing at 2 p.m. Sept. 3.
While on the road, Sales has come to expect a certain type of audience.
``I don't get young kids,'' he said. ``I get people who never go to comedy clubs. They are anywhere from 27 to 70 and they don't sit around and suck on their beer for three days. They drink and eat.''
And how does Sales view his lengthy career?
``In 1996 it'll be 50 years,'' Sales said. ``I'm very excited and happy about that because I think when you're doing something you like to do, you're a big success.''
And that's no joke. ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo
Soupy Sales
B\W photo
From 1955 through 1966, kids loved ``The Soupy Sales Show'' with
Sales' crazy sight gags and puppet pals.
by CNB