I remember watching this show on Saturday mornings about noon. I was about 12 or so. My big brother Jack was 17 and nothing could get him out of bed on a Saturday morning -- nothing except the Soupy Sales Show. I remember the pies, I remember Pookie and Hippie. My brother Frank is a dentist now. His favorite bit of wisdom came at the end of a Soupy Sales show:"Be true to your teeth and they won't be false to you".
The Soupy Sales Show became one of the silliest and most popular children's shows ever, a show that would not die. Kids loved the fast-paced (for the Fifties) assault of puns, innuendoes and asides - many adults found it enjoyable as well.
Soupy Sales must surely hold the record for most pies in the face, it was a regular feature on all of his various series. Supporting characters on his shows included - 'White Fang' (the world's largest dog - you only saw his giant paw), 'Black Tooth', 'Marilyn Monwolf', 'Hippy the Hippo', and 'Herman the Flea', all puppets. "I play straight man to a pair of hands" the kid show host once stated.
The first Soupy Sales Show was a live fifteen minute summer replacement show for 'Kukla, Fran and Ollie' in 1955, produced out of WXYZ in Detroit. Soon after that came "Comics', a WXYZ daytime program for kids that consistently drew better ratings than the network fare (like Authur Godfrey and Tennessee Ernie Ford).
Occasionally top stars like Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington were guests on the show. At the same time he was doing the kid show, Soupy also produced a late night show called 'Soupy's On'. Adults and kids alike loved Soupy Sales, Time magazine called him "the last genuine comedy primitive" and he was, he had a genuine true spark that lit up the screen. He was all three Marx Brothers and a pack of hot dogs.
Lunch with Soupy Sales was seen on ABC Saturday mornings during the 1959 - 1960 season - brought back in December 1960 until March 1961. Soupy's sponsor was Jello ("It wiggles, kids") and Soupy laid claim to taking 14,000 pies (bakery crust with shaving cream) to the face. "There's no message to this show" Sales explained, "It's actually a kid's show for adults - we even get letters now from people who have pie-throwing parties in their basements."
There were more pies to come. In 1962, Soupy Sales was back on ABC at night, this time as a mid-season replacement series (from January to March) broadcasting from Hollywood. By now Soupy was finding it hard to go out in public. "The kids scream at me. They always want me to carry on like I was one of them."
The next version of The Soupy Sales Show was a weekday morning show originating from New York that debuted in 1964 (national syndication began in 1965).
It was on New Year's day, 1965, that Soupy asked his young audience to go to Daddy's wallet and get those "little green pieces of paper with pictures of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Lincoln, and Jefferson on them, send them to me, and I'll send you a postcard from Puerto Rico." This led to a week's suspension (most people believe he was fired outright).
"Soupy was in a class by himself.", writer William R. Forstchen tells us, "My Catholic school in downtown Newark had a gym teacher with a sense of humor, who would play Soupy's "Do the Mouse," while we did our warm up exercises. I actually saw the infamous, "get your parent's wallet" episode, but I wonder how many remember the even better "come back" episode when Soupy, after being suspended for a couple of weeks, was finally allowed back on the air.
"The show opened with an absolutely riotous rendition of "Happy Days are Here Again," with stock footage of dancing girls high kicking it and mob scenes of thousands of people cheering. It was obvious to all of us that our beloved Soupy was unrepentant and we repressed youths were behind him. I must dispute the thesis, read on your site, that Froggy from 'Andy's Gang' was the cause of 60s rebelliousness. It was Soupy who inspired my generation to anarchy."
TV partner Josh Silverstein writes, "I remember when Soupy was returning from his suspension after the 'little pieces of green paper' remark. For several days the station played a promo showing taped wild celebrations with the song "Happy Days Are Here Again" blaring, and then they fade to Soupy as he walks in the front door on the set, walks up to the camera, shouts "Hi!" and ducks, avoiding the pie. He stands up, laughs triumphantly and, "Bang!" gets a pie in the face anyway, afterwards saying, "Ya sure know how to hurt a guy..."
Soupy Sales was a gifted performer, with a sophisticated sense of humor and a contagious laughter. There must have been a few jokesters on the show's staff as well. There is a widely distributed clip of a backstage prank from the 1960's - Soupy answers a knock at the door and there's a naked woman behind the 'mystery guest' door!
Soupy Sales said later he was sure the TV audience could see the naked girl dancing in front of him on this live broadcast (they couldn't), and that he would be run out of town after he got off the air!
The Cast
Soupy Sales Himself 
White Fang (1961-64) Clyde Adler
Black Tooth (1961-64) Clyde Adler
Marilyn Mon Wolf (1961-64) Clyde Adler
Herman the Flea (1961-64) Clyde Adler
Pookie the Lion (1961-64) Clyde Adler
Hippie the Hippo (1961-64) Clyde Adler
White Fang (1964-67) Frank Natasi
Black Tooth (1964-67) Frank Natasi
Marilyn Mon Wolf (1964-67) Frank Natasi
Herman the Flea (1964-67) Frank Natasi
Pookie the Lion (1964-67) Frank Natasi
Hippie the Hippo (1964-67) Frank Natasi