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October 23, 2009

A Sad Day in the Goomba Household

RIP

On Tuesday afternoon I penned a 10 year deal with an exciting new celebrity blogger who had insisted on sharing his spirited political Conservatism under the nom de guerre Winston Smith. Early this morning, my daughters Saccia and Maglia rushed to my bedside to tell me that Soupy Sales had died. Along with Soupy, my dream of a HuffPo-like empire had shaken off its mortal coil.

I'll miss the big guy. He was a beloved golf buddy, and shared stories of our early days in the Catskills could fill many a winter evening. My fondest memories are of me, DC, Soupy and Sandy Baron at a Stage Deli back table surrounded by wide-eyed showgirls, the air filled with giggles, lies and well-lubricated with celery tonic.

Good-bye, my friend. Be true to your teeth or they'll be false to you.

23 comments:

Rhod said...

Soupy was from West Virginia, which explains his ridge-runner drawl.

If he hadn't been dragged to the Borscht Belt by Goomba, he might have been a big deal on "Hee Haw".

Anonymous said...

Yes, it's sad so many here didn't get to know him the way you and I did ...

Farewell, Winston.

Anonymous said...

But in all seriousness, I just have a couple of thoughts ...

1) Are there no heroes left any more?; and

2) I am really glad I made the trip out to see you and Soup last month to talk about his upcoming special on the Chick-Fil-A Empire: "Chicken Sales for the Soul;" and okay,

3) That night you, Soup, and I spent Wanda "The One" Tousee, Farah Naugthen, and that gal, I can't remember her name, but the one you were paired with ... you know with the three missing (though symmetrically so) teeth will be forever etched in my brain and the diary that I can't find.

Anonymous said...

Her name was Molina, and she was a snappy little dancer. There's little else I remember of the evening except that the rash on my forehead has never fully cleared up.

The diary is, at the moment, in the glove compartment of my F150. It has entertained many a weary hitchhiker.

el chupacabra said...

Goodbye Milton Supman.

Rhod said...

Milton is the name DC used in those days. Goomba introduced himself as Shecky.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Rhod, as in the poet.

Moline? Now it's coming back to me. Her first name was Moe, alright ...

She was a lotta woman.

Anonymous said...

A sad day indeed.

Teresa said...

Until today, I had not heard of SOUPY. Nickie, I am sorry that you have lost an old friend.
Cheer up :) He might be in a better place then us, now.

CI-Roller Dude said...

I was very sad when I heard this news. We should make this a holiday. He was one of my childhood heroes. Right up there with the 3 stooges.

Rhod said...

CI, they could have Sales Sales on this new national holiday.

CI-Roller Dude said...

Rhod,
But we have to stop, bake a pie, and have a pie ready to throw at somebody....anybody.
I always thought" What if wars were fought with a pie to the face?"

T. F. Stern said...

His monumental non-censored blip on the screen was the time he put the letter F on the chalk board and his puppet would say it was the letter K. I shouldn't have to explain this low level humor much more. But suffice to say, "Every time I put up F, you see K", didn't float well with the prudish public in those days.

Rhod said...

CI, there would be no Purple Hearts, that's for sure.

Anonymous said...

I remember a spirited pie fight in 1973. I came away from that skirmish with a crust laceration that oozed boysenberry for months. Betty Crocker awarded me a Gold Medal.

Kid said...

Sorry you lost your friend Nickie.

Sounds like great times indeed.

Coffeypot said...

First, will Obama be a guest speaker at the Boot Camp?

And I feel for your loss, as the whole country of people over 30 feels the loss of a great TV pioneer and comedian.

Velcro said...

Yes, RIP. One of the few clips I recall, and I doubt it got aired, was when someone knocked at the door. He opened it to a girl jumping up and down topless. It was hilarious...

Woodsterman (Odie) said...

When I was in high school he was like a cult figure. He had an afternoon show that played to teens in L.A. About half of my school would hurry home and have their after school snack in front of the TV. Ah Pookie ... I miss you.

sig94 said...

Wow just WOW.
You knew Soupy?
I grew up on Soupy (LI transplant living in Syracuse now).

Thanks Nickie. You brought back some old memories for me. Almost killed myself in the Catskills in 1966. Never did that kind of drinking again.
Well, almost never.

Rhod said...

Sig94. That handle has intrigued me since I first saw it.

Ever carry a PRC/25?

sig94 said...

Hi Rhod-
Stands for Signal 94 - this was the signal at the end of your assigned shift for the old PD radio code. Couldn't go back to the barn without it. God help you if the sgt. caught you there.

When we retire we match to the front of the Public Safety Building behind a bagpiper. The County 911 dispatcher then sounds the all freq alert and reads our names out over the air. It's called the Final 94.

I never used those MIL radios. We had mobile radio units the size of a suitcase in the trunks of police cars and GE portables the size of a great big brick when I came on in '74; things have really changed since then when we used the UHF freq range, 470 MHz or so.

Rhod said...

Ah, that makes sense. Thought you might have been a radioman, as the Marines call them, or radio operator, as the Army (and I think the Navy), used to call them.

Cheers...