Where will I send my funny green pieces of paper now?

[tzikeh]

If you never saw Soupy Sales in action, you missed some of the best what-the-fuckery ever to air on television. It was live, with no audience, but the crew served as audience enough; they were always laughing their asses off, and we could *hear* them. Soupy would crack up too, and talk to the cameramen and the rest of the behind-the-scenes gang, and the whole thing was just as much fun as you could have. Lunch With Soupy Sales was a "kids' show" (it would never, ever air now) before the WON'T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN brigade was on the scene. It was wild, it was irreverent, it was surreal.

Frank Sinatra asked to be on Soup's show and take a pie in the face. That's fame.

RIP, Bubbey. We'll look after White Fang, Black Tooth, and Pookie for you.


[} ☺

ETA: From here: May he rest in peace and may there not be too many political cartoons showing St. Peter getting hit with a pie.

EATA: If you can ignore the stupid song, here's a video that showcases, uh, mostly pies in the faces of lots of people (it is estimated that over 20,000 pies were either thrown by or thrown at Soupy during his career--usually thrown at), but you can see both Frank Sinatra and Alice Cooper get pied, as well as White Fang and Pookie, and general mayhem. (The naked woman was a prank from the crew for Soupy's birthday; it was recorded by the camera which was *not* broadcasting at the time, but they kept the footage.)

Comments

[klia.livejournal.com]

So sad. I had a huge crush on him when I was little. <3

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

I did too! He was charismatic and handsome in a weird way. And just random.

[klia.livejournal.com]

Charismatic + weird + goofy + random = adorable. I remember watching him later in stuff like Love Boat and Boy Meets World, and he was a good actor, too.

[hubbit.livejournal.com]

He had one of the biggest, brightest, most infectious smiles in show business, and he projected very well -- he seemed genuinely affable and likable.

[klia.livejournal.com]

He did! I loved his deadpan, but also loved when he broke and totally lost it.

[beledibabe.livejournal.com]

Soupy!! I adored him! His talent was incredibly underrated.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

:D In the mid-60s, he was pretty hip. Kind of a throwback and a pioneer at the same time. With the funny green pieces of paper bit, and the suspension, and then the kids' picket lines because of the suspension, he sure got a lot of attention. Plus "The Mouse" got pretty huge.

But yeah, he was kind of like Ernie Kovacs; people didn't realize quite what he'd done til it was past time to do so.

[klia.livejournal.com]

Oh geez, horrible filk, but it's a really nice piece. Am I terrible to wish Ed Sullivan had gotten pied?

Some of the other clips that one links to are great -- I never saw most of the early stuff! The Soupy and Fess (OMG, Fess Parker, another childhood crush!), Soupy & Pookie, and Fang's Talent Agency are adorable. It never struck me how groundbreaking it was for him to have blues and Motown on his show.

Awww. Even sadder now.

[jackiekjono.livejournal.com]

Ed Sullivan should definately have been pied. But, hey, we vid. This can be fixed, can't it?

[klia.livejournal.com]

Heh. I'm not one of those vidders. *g*

[hubbit.livejournal.com]

I know you will have seen this, but not everyone on your flist follows @JoshMalina, so for their benefit:

Most fitting tribute EVAR.

[luminosity]

2009 SUCKS.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

2009 SUCKS.

It sucks puréed donkey balls through a twisty straw.

[grace-om.livejournal.com]

I know :-(

I heard about this at the end of "Fresh Air" today, and the first thing I thought (after general sadness) was that tzikeh will also be mourning this loss.

RIP Soupy. Have fun with all the other icons up there.