| Soupy Sales |
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Information About ™Soupy Sales |
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A graduate of Huntington High School in Huntington , West Virginia and Marshall University , Sales' career began as a script writer and then DJ at radio station WHTN in Huntington. Soupy had gotten his unusual nickname from his family. His older brothers had been nicknamed "Hambone" and "Chicken Bone"; young Milton was dubbed "Soup Bone", which was later shortened to "Soupy". When he became a disc jockey, he began using the stage name "Soupy Hines". After he became established, it was decided that "Hines" sounded too close to Heinz , which made a line of soups at that time, and so Soupy chose the surname "Sales" after a comedian by that name. LUNCH WITH SOUPY SALES Sales is best known for his long-running daily noontime children's Television show. Improvised and slapstick in nature, ''Lunch With Soupy Sales'' was a rapid-fire stream of Sketch es, gags, and Pun s. Almost all resulted in Soupy receiving a Pie in the face, which became his trademark. Characters on the show Appearing on the show were the Puppet s:
Other famous characters were:
HISTORY OF THE SHOW 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 and ran for one season. Sales later had a radio show for several years on WNBC radio in New York, at the same time Howard Stern had an afternoon show on that station. They did not get along, and there was a well-known incident of Stern's people cutting the wires in Soupy's in-studio piano. NEW YEAR'S DAY INCIDENT CLAIMS THAT SALES TOLD DIRTY JOKES ON AIR For some unexplained reason, the show became a hit not only with children but also with college students. Urban Legend has it that this was because Sales sneaked Dirty Joke s onto his show for their amusement. Sales vehemently denies that and states in his autobiography: : ". . . about those myths. There were all these other things I was supposed to have said, like "What begins with 'F' and ends with 'UCK' . . . a firetruck," or, "I took my wife to the ball game and kissed her on the strikes and she kissed me on the balls," or, "My wife is a great cook, she makes great pies -- I eat her cherry and she eats my banana." And people would swear that I said it! Now, you know that in those days you couldn't say nuthin' ''(like that on television)''. : "I got so annoyed at these stories that I used to have a standing offer of ten thousand dollars cash to anyone who could prove that I said any of the things that people claim I've said. Look, at every TV station, whether you know it or not, there's a little spool in the master machine in engineering that records everything that's said, everything that goes on. And believe me, if I said half the things I'm supposed to have said, they would be on some blooper record making the rounds. : "After many years, I think I finally figured out how these ridiculous stories got started. Kids would come home and they'd tell a dirty joke, you know, grade school humor, and the parents would say, "Where'd you hear that?" And they'd say "The Soupy Sales Show," because I happened to have the biggest show in town. And they'd call another person and say, "Gladys -- did you hear the joke that Soupy Sales was telling on his show?" and the word of mouth goes on and on, until people start to believe you actually said things like that." TOPLESS DANCER PRANK ON SALES There was a door in the set behind him. At one point in the show there would be a knock, and Soupy would answer it. He never knew in advance who would be there. Normally, the guest would be a fairly major celebrity. One time, as Sales was ending the show, when he opened the door he saw a topless dancer gyrating with a Balloon . Viewers saw only the balloon (although a second, non-broadcasting camera captured the uncensored version) and Sales was forced to try and keep the show going without letting on as to the risque events backstage. This event (in censored and uncensored variations) has been featured on many Blooper compilations. ''WHAT'S MY LINE?'' From 1968 to 1975, Sales was a regular panelist on the syndicated revival of '' What's My Line? ''. He generally was the first panelist introduced and occupied the chair at the far left side of the panel (facing the camera). AWARDED STAR ON HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME Sales was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame on January 7 , 2005 , a day before his 79th birthday. HIS SONS' ACTIVITIES Soupy's sons, musicians Hunt Sales and Tony Sales, played bass and drums in the band Tin Machine with David Bowie , as well as playing on the album Runt by Todd Rundgren . REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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