Soupy Sales

 Soupy Sales, born born Milton Supman (January 8, 1926 – October 22, 2009)

He was best known for his local and network children's television show, Lunch with Soupy Sales; a series of comedy sketches frequently ending with Sales receiving a pie in the face, which became his trademark. From 1968 to 1975, he was a regular panelist on the syndicated revival of What's My Line? and appeared on several other TV game shows. Improvised and slapstick in nature, Lunch with Soupy Sales was a rapid-fire stream of comedy sketches, gags, and puns, almost all of which resulted in Sales receiving a pie in the face, which became his trademark. Sales developed pie-throwing into an art form: straight to the face, on top of the head, a pie to both ears from behind, moving into a stationary pie, and countless other variations. He claimed that he and his visitors had been hit by more than 20,000 pies during his career. His show was not without controversy. Angry that he was forced to work on New Years day in 1965, he instructed all of the children watching his show to get in their parents wallets and purses and mail him the funny green paper with president's faces. Many of the young viewers obliged him. There was such an outrage from the parents that the network was forced to suspend him for two weeks. Young viewers picketed the studio and his popularity increased even more.

Following his stint with children's television he appeared through the mid-1970's on numerous game shows. During the 1980's Sales had a daily radio show that followed Don Imus in the morning and preceded shock jock Howard Stern in the afternoon. He continued to make public appearances and do one man shows in his later years. Soupy Sales died at age 83 in hospice care after battling many illnesses, and is buried at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, NY.