I am too young to seriously appreciate Soupy Sales, so in lieu of words of my own, how about a few from Kathy O'Connell, host of the long-running Kids Corner radio show, who had this to say about her friend Soupy in an interview earlier this year:
You know Soupy Sales -- how did that come about and how's he doing?Condolences to Soupy's family, both immediate, close, and around the world...
Basically, my friends and I stalked him when we were kids. If you’ve ever seen the movies The World of Henry Orient and The King of Comedy, my teenage years were a combination of those two movies. A community of 50 or so regulars grew among the kids who came to see Soupy’s show on Channel 5 in the ‘60’s. In that simpler time, my mother let me take the train from Long Island to his shows in NYC regularly. After Soupy’s show ended, some of his “gang” continued to go to his appearances, hang out in front of his house, even go to the airport when he went out of town. A friend and I even went to Atlanta to see Soupy in the play “Finian’s Rainbow” in 1968! I spent my college money on that, which didn’t go over very well in my house. Given what I wound up doing for a living, I say to him all the time: “Thank God I’ve wasted my life on you.” I have two Peabody awards because I followed that man!
