Growing up in the burbs of Detroit, I remember my Dad lining us kids up to watch Soupy Sales.
Soupy was played by Milton Supman, and became famous for his pie throwing antics.
From WIKI:
On January 1, 1965, miffed at having to work on the holiday, Sales ended his live broadcast by encouraging his young viewers to tiptoe into their still-sleeping parents’ bedrooms and remove those “funny green pieces of paper with pictures of U.S. Presidents” from their pants and pocketbooks. “Put them in an envelope and mail them to me,” Soupy instructed the children. “And I’ll send you a postcard from Puerto Rico!” He was then hit with a pie.
Several days later, a chagrined Soupy announced that money was unexpectedly being received in the mail. He explained that he had been joking and announced that the contributions would be donated to charity. As parents’ complaints increased, WNEW’s management felt compelled to suspend Sales for two weeks. Young viewers picketed Channel 5. The uproar surrounding Sales’ suspension increased his popularity.
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Dan:
Man, even after ALL these years…it’s still funny sh*t!
(Pookie could always sell a song)
The improv and the spontaneity of it was fantastic…
Then again, a LOT of TV was that way…like Steve Allen, Jack Paar, and even Ernie Kovacs.
Damn, I miss those days.
“More excited than a puppy in a room full of bouncing balls…” I also remember watching him as a kid. Not everything about Detroit in those days was bad. A lot of great memories.
Ric,
You and I are most likely the only two here in Fort Wayne that remember Twin Pine’s “Milky the Clown,” or touring the Vernor’s plant on Woodward Avenue. Or, watching the Lions play football in Tiger Stadium, or Poopdeck Paul and Captain Jolly.
Our house also had a laundry chute AND a milk chute and the Twin Pines Dairy milkman would take the wire container of bottles out of the chute and replace them with full bottles. The caps were waxed cardboard.
http://detroitfirefighters.net/images/twinpines.jpg