Soupy’s Final Bow

Another character from my boyhood has passed on to that great entertainment venue in the sky: Milton Supman, better known as the “rubber-faced” comedian and TV personality Soupy Sales, has died at age 83 in New York City.

The Web site Television Obscurities notes, “During the 1950s and 1960s he hosted a children’s show titled Lunch with Soupy Sales; at various times it aired locally and nationally. He was also a regular fixture on game shows like What’s My Line? and The Hollywood Squares.” Variety adds that Sales’ “anything-for-a-chuckle career was built on 20,000 pies to the face and 5,000 live TV appearances across a half-century of laughs.”

The comic’s pie-throwing schtick became his trademark, and celebrities lined up to take one on the chin alongside Sales. During the early 1960s, stars such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis, and Shirley MacLaine received their just desserts side-by-side with the comedian on his television show.

“I’ll probably be remembered for the pies, and that’s all right,” Sales said in a 1985 interview.

The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, TV Squad, and Ivan G. Shreve Jr.’s Thrilling Days of Yesteryear all carry substantive obituaries.

READ MORE: “The Hat Squad: Soupy Sales, Pie-oneer,” by Toby O’B (Inner Toob).