American comedian, clever and imaginative, a popular figure on early TV, raised pie-throwing to an art form, having supposedly tossed 19,000 of them during his show business career.
Born Milton Supman, Sales grew up in Huntington, West Virginia. He received his B.A. in Journalism at Marshall University, then got a job as a radio script writer at a small Huntington station. At night he worked in nightclubs, honing his comedy talent. His scriptwriting eventually led to an on-the-air job, and he became a top-rated disk jockey in the area.
He moved to Cincinnati in 1950, and went into television. “Soupy’s Soda Shop” became America’s first teenage dance television program, followed by another show, “Club Nothing” featuring Sales’ comedy routines, guests and other entertainment.
In 1953, Sales moved to Detroit and became a top-rated TV personality in the area for seven years. He moved to the West Coast in 1960 and his “Soupy Sales Show” was Los Angeles’ number one show, garnering more fan mail than all shows combined on ABC-TV. In September 1964 he took his show to New York, and attracted top stars, a myriad variety of entertainment arenas ranging from Broadway to comedy clubs. He was also a panelist on “What’s My Line?” for seven years.
Suffering from multiple health problems, he died on October 22, 2009 in a Bronx, NY hospice.