Soupy Sales
Written : 10/22/09
SOUPY SALES …….. FOR POOKIE……AND PHILO KVETCH
Soupy Sales died in The Bronx today at the age of 83. In 1964 he moved from LA to NYC and held court on channel 5 WNEW for 3 years. That same year I moved to The Bronx as an 8th grader. Soupy was the perfect codified innuendo filled stuff of 8th grade in a more innocent pre cable era. As I met my new friends in The Bronx we could not believe what he was saying on TV : “ My baby can’t make an apple pie, but she can sure make my banana cream.”
As I bonded with my new friends in The Bronx we adopted 8th grade nicknames. Mine began as Beany and evolved into Beans an adaptation of the mispronunciation of my last name Beinstein, which is Weinstein with a B or Bernstein with an i. Dave Whyne became Pookie after the lion puppet on Soupy Sales . He remains Pook to his close friends 45 years later. Bob Kretsch became Philo Kvetch after the Sam Spade style detective on Sales show. Kretsch didn’t need to be Kvetch but he still responds to the occasional Philo.
There was the legendary 1965 New Years Day TV incident where Soupy encouraged kids to go to their parents wallets while they were “ sleeping off” the new years festivities and take out the pieces of green paper with old men and mail them to Soupy. Kids did..and he got suspended.
In September 65 Soupy released a novelty song titled The Mouse and it shot past The Beatles up the charts . The flip side was Pafalafaka with the pithy lyric:
Pafalafaka..pafalafaka..they whisper it all over Turkey
Pafalafaka..pafalafaka..it sounds so nice and so perky..
Christmas time 1965 Soupy decided to bring a rock and roll extravaganza to The Paramount Theater on Broadway. The same venerable hall which had made Frank Sinatra a post war superstar with the bobby soxers 20 years earlier. Sinatra was a fan of Soupy’s and a guest on his TV show. Not an easy guest to pie in the face. I was at The Soupy Sales Paramount show with Kretsch and the late Jerry Probst ( we all called him Monkey for his unbound energy). The bill was headlined by The Hullabaloos a British quartet who were trying to capitalize on Beatlemania in a subtle way. They had released a cover version of Buddy Holly’s I’m Gonna Love You Too. The same Buddy Holly whom The Beatles had tongue in cheek borrowed their name from ( Beatles, Cricketts). …but The Hullabaloos sucked and the crowd began to throw the free Hullabaloo records that we had received toward the stage Frisbee style.The drummer kept ducking. Little Richard was also on that bill.His peg pants band all wearing white suits. Little did we know that we were seeing Jimi Hendrix ( ne Jimi James) in his band.
We found a broken cigarette machine in the lobby and the three of us filled every pocket and stuffed our shirts with packs of Luckies , Kools and anything else that came out for free. Soupy performed The Mouse live and brought the house down as we stood with the crowd and dropped numerous packs of smokes out of our bulging shirts. Love that little side step skip and the buck tooth mousey chewing face.
I have collected LP albums for over 45 years. I display the covers in frames both in my home and my office at WDST Radio Woodstock (wdst.com… shameless plug). I rotate them now and again and oddly enough for the past month a 1980’s reissue of Soupy Sales album of songs and skits has been sitting in front of me facing my desk. When I heard of Soupy’s passing today from Ken Ehrlich another of the Bronx 64 crowd, it took about five minutes to realize that I was looking directly at Soupy’s face and it made me smile.
His early 1980’s radio time at WNBC 660am in NYC was the last of the legendary AM radio lineups.. Imus in the morning.. Soupy mid day..and Howard Stern in the afternoon. His sons Hunt and Tony Sales would make their mark as a rock and roll rhythm section working with everyone from David Bowie to Todd Rundgren.
Soupy Sales , born Milton Supman in Franklinton N.C. and raised in West Virginia. Son of Irving and Sadie Supman, Hungarian Jewish immigrants and dry goods merchants. The only Jews in town. He never did loose the southern accent or the Jewish shtick, an odd combination and he made it work.
So here’s to Pookie and Hippie and Black Tooth and White Fang,
Philo Kvetch, Onions Oregano and all the characters that brought this little bit of vaudeville into the lives of a bunch of kids in The Bronx. I am doubly touched that he passed there.
Another irony that connects Soupy with The Bronx…. Tomorrow night I hope to see the Yankees win the pennant in The Bronx and see someone get a pie in the face.