Milton
Supman (January 8, 1926 –
October 22, 2009), known professionally as Soupy Sales, was an
American comedian, actor, radio/television personality, and jazz aficionado. He
was best known for his local and network children's television show Lunch
with Soupy Sales (1953–1966), 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. During the 1980s, Sales hosted his own
show on WNBC-AM in New York City. Milton Supman was born in Franklinton, North Carolina,
to Irving Supman and Sadie Berman. His father, a Jewish dry goods merchant, had emigrated from Hungary in 1894. His was the only Jewish family in the
town; Sales joked that local Ku Klux Klan members bought the sheets used for their
robes from his father's store. Sales
got his nickname from his family. His older brothers had been nicknamed
"Ham Bone" and "Chicken Bone." Milton was dubbed "Soup
Bone," which was later shortened to "Soupy". When he became a
disc jockey, he began using the stage name Soupy Hines. After he became
established, it was decided that "Hines" was too close to the Heinz
soup company, so he chose Sales, in part after vaudeville comedian Chic Sale. He graduated from Huntington High School
in Huntington, West Virginia in
1944. He enlisted in the United States Navy and
served on the USS Randall (APA-224) in
the South Pacific during
the latter part of World War II. He sometimes entertained his
shipmates by telling jokes and playing crazy characters over the ship's public
address system. One of the characters he created was "White Fang", a
large dog that played outrageous practical jokes on the seamen. The sounds for
"White Fang" came from a recording of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Sales enrolled at Marshall College, where he
earned a master's degree in journalism. While at Marshall, he performed in
nightclubs as a comedian, singer and dancer. After graduating, Sales began
working as a scriptwriter and disc jockey at radio station WHTN (now WVHU)
in Huntington. He moved to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1949, where he worked as a morning
radio DJ and performed in nightclubs. Sales began his television career
on WKRC-TV in Cincinnati with Soupy's Soda Shop,
TV's first teen dance program, and Club Nothing!, a late-night
comedy/variety program.