Childhood Icons

Two more links to my childhood died this week. The first person who passed away was Soupy Sales. Hated by every parent, we children loved him. To put him in perspective, Krusty the Clown was partially inspired by Soupy and, like The Simpsons, The Soupy Sales Show was edgy and appealed as the antithesis to the gentle Captain Kangaroo.

As any Baby Boomer will tell you, Soupy Sales was famous for two things. First was the constant pie throwing. No one was exempt from getting a pie in the face and the kids loved it. It may seem so tame now but back then it was a prank worthy of Bart Simpson. Seeing Soupy Sales throw a pie at another adult was not only funny but also very gratifying, the equivalent, today, to a kid giving the finger to an adult. And there were a lot of pies thrown as it is estimated that Soupy tossed 20,000 pies. Surprisingly, his show’s guest list read like a Who’s Who of the 1960’s including Frank Sinatra, Shirley McClain, Jerry Lewis and even Judy Garland, all of whom received a pie in the face. Even though half the time we didn’t recognize the famous guests, it didn’t really matter. For we were too busy transferring the face of a teacher or coach or relative onto whomever was really getting hit with a pie and oh, the delight at the thought of that other person covered in pie and whip cream.

But what propelled Soupy Sales from a silly kids show into TV notoriety was his live show the morning of January 1, 1965. Not exactly pleased that he had to work the morning after New Year’s Eve, he pushed the envelope a tad bit too far. Before signing off on his show, he told all of his viewers to tiptoe into their still sleeping parents’ bedroom and take those “funny green pieces of paper with pictures of Presidents” from their parents’ pants and pocketbooks. He then instructed his young viewers to “Put them in an envelope and mail them to me! And I’ll send you a postcard from Puerto Rica!” At that point Soupy got hit with a pie as if to indicate it was a joke.

To his surprise, the children actually did what he told them to do; they stole the money from their parents and mailed it to him! He ended up having to state on air that it was a joke, and after apologizing he further stated that the money he was receiving would go to charity. But the story had a life of its own and snowballed into a huge fiasco in which the network suspending Soupy for two-weeks. Afterwards Soupy ended up even more popular and forever would be linked with this infamous TV story.

The other person who died this week was Vic Mizzy who was 93. Never heard of him? While neither had I. But if you’re a Baby Boomer, you could probably complete the following: “They’re creepy and they’re ….” And if you can’t remember all the words you at least could immediately identify where it’s from. Want to try again? Ok how about remembering the words to this: “The chores, the stores, fresh…, ….. …..”. No? Oh sure if you heard it sung you would know the source immediately.

For you non-Baby Boomers the missing word from the first is “They’re creepy and they’re spooky, mysterious and kooky, they’re all together ooky, the Addams Family”. The answer to the other is “The chores, the stores, fresh air, Times Square” and is the chorus to the theme song for Green Acres. While Vic Mizzy wrote numerous songs and theme songs, these are his best known works.

Although most people turn their noses up at theme songs, I think they are an important part of our culture. By the 1960’s and 70’s nearly everyone in this country had a TV yet at the same time, there weren’t that many channels available so more people watched the same shows than today. Unlike almost anything else before or after, these shows and characters brought the country together. And while most people can barely remember a specific episode from their favorite show, they would be surprised to realize that they had learned the show’s theme song. Some theme songs are more memorable than others and I would put Vic Mizzy’s Addam’s Family and Green Acres in that category.

My belief that theme songs are an important part of our culture stems from an incident I had while I was on a European tour comprised of young people aged 21 to 30. We came from all across the US and had little in common other than this tour and our twenty-something age. One night, while in Vienna Austria, we were booked for dinner in this smallish restaurant on the outskirts of the town. The restaurant was filled with locals who would all start singing at the drop of a hat.

After a few beers we began to haltingly talk to them and were soon asked to sing a song from America. We were stumped to find a song that we all knew. It was impossible as some on the tour like country, others liked pop etc. Then someone in our group started to sing the theme song to the Love Boat. To my surprise I discovered that I actually knew the words and was soon joining in. From there we went to The Brady Bunch, The Addams Family and yes, Green Acres. As silly as it may sound, singing these theme songs brought us together into a united group with shared experiences that helped to remind us we were Americans.

In the passing of Soupy Sales and Vic Mizzy, we say goodbye to two iconic men of the 1960’s. But they left behind images and words that will live forever and will always be a part of my childhood and of one special night in Vienna.