Sorry for the delay in posts; I had intentions to run this right after Saturday's post about Mad; but the week got away from me and now I see it's Thursday already!
I was never that big a fan of Soupy; he was still airing (whether in all-new shows or re-runs, I know not) in my area when I was a kid, and while I would occasionally take a look, it all seemed so silly to me that I quickly moved onto other more exciting Saturday morning fare, like Shazam! and Isis to an eight year-old, those shows were deadly serious).
But in the 60s at least, Soupy was a genuine phenomenon, as this magazine entirely devoted to him will attest. Here's the intro page, O.D.ing on hyperbole:
...wow, the greatest since Charlie Chaplin?!?
Anyway, this magazine is exactly the kind of thing Warren did so well, except in this case it was made by Topps, taking a few inroads into magazine publishing. It features photos of the things Soupy was most famous for, like getting a pie in the face:
Anyway, this magazine is exactly the kind of thing Warren did so well, except in this case it was made by Topps, taking a few inroads into magazine publishing. It features photos of the things Soupy was most famous for, like getting a pie in the face:
...appearing in Donnie Darko, apparently:
...doing wacky gags with people off-screen:
...as well as getting famous movie stars in on the act. The mug under all that whipped cream is none other than Frank Sinatra!:
(...Soupy was later beaten senseless and left in a field in Hoboken)
There's also informative stuff about the show here, like an interview with Frank Nastasi, the man behind Soupy's most famous co-star, the always unseen White Fang:
There's also informative stuff about the show here, like an interview with Frank Nastasi, the man behind Soupy's most famous co-star, the always unseen White Fang:
There's also a F.A.Q. with Soupy, a profile of his family, and we get to see Soupy so his famous dance, "The Mouse."
In the section called "Soupy's Scrapbook" we get to see just how friggin' huge Soupy was. Here's a shot of people waiting to get in to see a Soupy show--it looks like Beatlemania:
...and check out that marquee. Soupy got billing over Little Richard! Pretty amazing stuff for a comedian whose main bit was throwing a pie!
We get some shots of the show, and then some random facts about Soupy (during WW II, he served during the invasion of Okinawa, and how he started his career as a disk jockey), all wrapped up with this back cover shot:
I'm fascinated by magazines like this, that were a snapshot of a time that seems like it was a million years ago. Is there a comedian around today that is so popular that they could inspire a magazine just about them? Adam Sandler? Mike Myers? Can't picture that, yet here's a 68-page magazine all about Soupy Sales.
When Comic Book Artist (Vol.1) did an all-Tower issue, they delved a little bit into Tower's brief foray into magazine publishing, with longtime Topps staffer Len Brown, who worked firsthand on the Soupy one-shot:
...the other big one-shot Topps did (mentioned above) was a Man From U.N.C.L.E. book, which I hope to get my hands on some time.
Until then...let's throw some pies!
In the section called "Soupy's Scrapbook" we get to see just how friggin' huge Soupy was. Here's a shot of people waiting to get in to see a Soupy show--it looks like Beatlemania:
We get some shots of the show, and then some random facts about Soupy (during WW II, he served during the invasion of Okinawa, and how he started his career as a disk jockey), all wrapped up with this back cover shot:
When Comic Book Artist (Vol.1) did an all-Tower issue, they delved a little bit into Tower's brief foray into magazine publishing, with longtime Topps staffer Len Brown, who worked firsthand on the Soupy one-shot:
Until then...let's throw some pies!
1 comment:
I wonder if Fred Hembeck's been by to check out your Soupy post?
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