Farewell to the Pieman: Soupy Sales, 1926-2009

On local and then national television, Soupy Sales taught three generations of American kids what funny was

Everett

Soupy Sales with Pookie the Lion and Hippie the Hippo on his TV show

"I don't mind you guys comin' round my house," Soupy Sales once said to the off-camera guys who were cracking up at his jokes, "but why'd you have to bring cameras in?" His afternoon TV show, which was aimed at kids and ran in Detroit, Los Angeles and New York off and on from the 1950s through the '70s, had the seeming informality of a friendly fellow you would hire to entertain the tots. He'd crack venerable jokes, play with puppets, teach the occasional verity ("Don't eat just before dinner") and, at the end, get a custard pie in the face....

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