Soupy Sales Has Died

A part of my childhood just died. Soupy Sales has passed away at the age of 83.
Every day before school, I’d watch him and his cheerful bunch of characters on WXYZ in Detroit. They were always so entertaining.

Soupy used to always get a pie shoved into his face. It cracked me up every time. We never knew who do the shoving, but we knew it was going to happen.

Some of his jokes were so stupid, they were funny. He used to do and say the stupidest things, but they were funny. I remember moaning and laughing at the same time. He was great.

For instance, this is an example of what his humor could be like. I found it on MSNBC and I brought back memories….”he would tell his tiny listeners to empty their mothers’ purse and mail him all the pieces of green paper bearing pictures of the presidents.” I don’t remember if I did that or not. Probably not since my mom had a 24-hour stranglehold over her purse. Anyways, he was suspended for a week because of that.

I remember always looking forward to him answering the door when someone knocked on it. We never knew who it was going to be. It was always such a delight to find out who the mystery guest was.

I remember Soupy doing a dance called “the Soupy Shuffle”. It’s strange how that’s not mentioned in articles I have read regarding his death. That was killer dance. It was a mini-version of the moonwalk. Only Soupy never grabbed his crotch.

I remember that ridiculously large bow tie he would wear over his sweater. It always brought a smile to my face. I loved watching that stupid tie bounce up and down as he did the Shuffle.

And Soupy’s expressions were priceless. They were entertaining by themselves. He’d tell a stupid joke and laugh at it himself while looking in the camera. He’d say something stupid and look in the camera with a bewildered look. It was great entertainment.

I remember his side kicks, two dogs with opposite personalities:
There was White Fang. This hand puppet (a large paw) couldn’t speak and would just grunt his answers to Soupy’s questions. I loved White Fang. He was always getting mad over nothing. He was introduced as the meanest dog in America. I remember his white fur was always in disarray.

There was Black Fang. Black Fang was so syrupy sweet he sometimes got me sick. He was a wimp in my opinion. I was always curious to see what he was going to say that day. Black Fang was known as the nicest dog in America. I used to love when Black Fang and White Fang would meet up. They’d fight to the end. It was so entertaining.

I liked Soupy better than Captain Kangaroo. Captain Kangaroo could be a such a wimp at times. Soupy wasn’t a wimp.

Soupy was better than Kukla, Fran & Olly (other kids’ characters) too. Those three characters were a bore, in my opinion. Soupy wasn’t boring in the least.

I am very saddened by the death of my beloved Soupy Sales. He was a definite bright spot in my childhood.