Soupy Sales died this week. Now I know that there are tons and tons of people out there who have never even heard of Soupy Sales. But for people like me, he was a hero. He came on at lunch hour in my area, and everyday I sat and watched my Soupy while eating the proverbial peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich. (you could do that back then.)

Soupy was at the top of the favourite kids shows TV land list, then came Captain Kangaroo with his pal, Mr. Greenjeans. Oh, and there was Howdy Doodie, Popeye and the Friendly Giant, but none of them captured your heart and funny bone like Soupy.

But what made Soupy really special for me and my friends in the Windsor/Detroit area was that Soupy's show was local! The show originated in 1953 from the studios of WXYZ-TV in Detroit. Beginning in October 1959, it was telecast nationally on the ABC television network.

During the time that Lunch with Soupy aired in Detroit, Sales hosted a nighttime show, Soupy's On.The guest star was always a musician, and frequently a jazz performer, at a time when jazz was popular in Detroit and the city was home to twenty-four jazz clubs. Sales believed that his show helped sustain jazz in Detroit, as artists would regularly sell out their nightclub shows after appearing on Soupy's On. I think he was right. Coleman Hawkins, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, and Stan Getz were among the artists who appeared on the show; Miles Davis made six appearances. Clifford Brown's appearance on Soupy's On, according to Sales, may be the only extant footage of Brown, and has been included in Ken Burns' Jazz and an A&E Network biography about Sales.

And probably, Soupy Sales should be known for that contribution to Jazz and Detroit. But, he's not. That's adult stuff. It was us kids that loved and adored him. He came across as being a really nice guy who cared about us.

Now, I've been trying to think of a fairly modern day show that even comes close to Soupy's crazy panache and the only one that comes to mind is Pee Wee's Playhouse, only Soupy was so much funnier and had more class. There was a lot of comic banter with his two "dogs", White Fang and Black Tooth, which were just enormous paws that would wave out from the camera while they "talked." White Fang's words were "Er, er er er" and Black Tooth had a weird pitched voice, kind of like that guy Gollum, from 'Lord of the Rings.' I loved White Fang.

Then there were the two puppets at the window, Pookie the Lion and Hippy the Hippopotamus. I don't think either of them spoke, but Pookie would lip-sync Frank Sinatra singing "Young At Heart." It was a little disturbing.

Somewhere in the episode, Soupy would get a huge, fluffy pie in the face which always made me laugh. Because of Soupy, I threw one at my father, once, a coconut cream pie. I didn't get the big laugh that Soupy always got.

I have to admit that my favourite part of each episode was when Soupy danced. Boy did he dance! He would leap across the stage and make all sorts of moves with such joy and glee that invariably I found myself dancing with him. I can still do his famous Soupy Sale Schuffle.

Then there was the door. At some point in every show there would be a knock at the door and Soupy would answer. Sometimes it was a famous person. Sometimes they'd show some clip from an old movie, like cowboys galloping and shooting toward the camera or an elephant stampede from a Tarzan movie. Once the crew played a trick on Soupy and had a naked lady, out of scene, greet him at the door. We kids didn't know what happened, we just saw Soupy laugh hysterically and try valiantly to regain his composure. The joke was brought up on the six o'clock news that night. (Clearly our town didn't have a whole of happenings going on.)

In retrospect, I have wondered if perhaps Soupy was a little hyperactive, or maybe ADHD, or maybe a little bit Manic. If he was, I'm glad he wasn't treated for it.

Soupy went on to New York and Los Angeles, and hosted many shows. For me, though, I will fondly think of him as the guy with the dogs who entertained me at lunchtime and made me laugh.