Soupy Sales: In Living Black & White (B&W)

For the most part, it's great. One gets to see White Fang, Black Tooth, and Pookie. There are plenty of visitors (including Fess Parker) at Soupy's front door and joking with the crew. There are also funny skits with Soupy and Frank Natassi. Soupy even does the Mouse! The video includes 5 episodes and 1 bonus segment. I didn't care for episode 3 because there is no White Fang, Black Tooth, Pookie, and Hippy, just visitors at his door, then, there is a rather long skit that I didn't find humorous. The bonus segment includes a short skit with Soupy and Donald O'Connor as vaudevillians, a funny skit with White Fang, and Soupy listening to the radio. The entire video ends with Soupy in the middle of listening to the radio, which is a little disappointing because it leaves one hanging. Otherwise there is a lot of Soupy magic and fun, and oh a few pies in the face.

to those enlightened few that got to experience soupy's true genius it was a life changing experince in much the same way that the beatles, dylan, ernie kovaks, little richard, lenny bruce & sun ra was as it's influence was permanent. it was low budget live television at it's best . he did so much with so little... soupy's "home" consisted of him and assorted neighbors and pets ALL represented by hands and voices (various puppets like pookie, hippy, & rita also appeared) and from that true innovation took place. there are some very cool moments from the WNEW mid sixties shows here. i particulary loved a ten/fifteen minute section when soupy is just talking to the crew.... don't get to see that these days..that all said, i'm wondering what is in the mind of the people compiling this series...... first of all - all descriptions of this set claimed to have some of BOTH the ABC "lunch w/ soupy sales" from the late fifties and early sixties w/ clyde adler as soupy's sidekick along with the WNEW shows (with Frank Nastasi)...... there is nothing from the lunchtime show which means no clyde adler (all advertisted)...... so this is weird..... the WNEW years were indeed great - - it made soupy a superstar for a few years. but the lunchtime ABC/ detroit shows were superior as it was totally fresh and truly dangerous tv. i know that there are at least 12 of these that exist (via the Biography show) - - the first set which featured the seventies show is kind of a waste...... honestly when soupy returned to this format a decade after the WNEW show, it was a pale imitation to his previous shows.... for those who have seen his unaired special w/ ernest borgnine and judy garland, that is what i wish soupy did when he returned to television in the seventies - not the old format......anyway i give five stars for these brilliant shows...... just PLEASE (to the compilers) in the future releases get the "lunch with soupy sales" shows released in their original form (complete with jello commercials), continue with the mid-sixties shows one the lunch time shows are out, and please keep the late seventies shows in the vault...god bless soupy sales.

While the dvd's were well done, I am dissappointed that in both sets of this show, neither really covers his first Soupy Sales Show from the 50's.In my view, the other programs weren't nearly as good as his first show that aired in the 50's.Ture, on this one they included a bit on one of the original shows showing what he was actually watching behind the door while they were playing "The Stripper" music, but, outside of that, I was pretty dissappointed.William Cahill

For anyone who is still wondering, I can confirm that all the shows in this collection are from Soupy's wonderful time in the mid 1960s on Channel 5 in New York City. Frank Nastasi voiced the puppets and the "man at the door." The show was an amazing accomplishment as it was live and produced on a shoestring. In one bit Soupy knocks over the table and Pookie says "There goes the budget!"The five shows plus extras have many wonderful bits including Pookie's "singing" and the surreal Radio sketches (I didn't realize at age 11 or 12 how musically hip Soupy was). There is a great deal of wonderful material here and any fan of Soupy or comedy or live TV should get it. Notice how Nastasi may occasionally blow a line but Soupy, though he may be about to laugh, never does. He had a genius for live TV.That said, I would like to bring up one point. It's been stated that Channel 5 erased all or most of these shows. However a poster on Youtube claims that some man has about 75 films of the WNEW classics, and indeed on Youtube you can find more Soupy material that doesn't appear here, including the wonderful "Philo Kvetch" detective farce. So I hope, and I hope you'll all agree that more of these great B & W shows will make it to DVD someday very soon!Soupy we love you!

Growing up in NYC in the 60s was cool enough but Soupy was huge. His early evening show on Channel 5 was watched by everyone from kids to adults. This DVD covers a lot of what made the show great. Although by today's standards it looks low tech and quaint, it was never meant to be a sophisticated comedy show. It's charm came from the characters on the show and the ad-libbed style of presenting them. Everyone imitated White Fang, Black Tooth and Pooky with his "Hi ya boobie", a line that became a standard "hello" at the time. In a time when we were all concerned with the cold war the war in Vietnam, and civil rights Soupy made me laugh, a lot every afternoon. Getting very close to 60 now, I often think of my "good old days". Watching this DVD brought it all back. These shows were thought to be erased as was the usual TV custom back then, but we see that a few survived. If you were a Soupy fan back then, this is the DVD for you. If you don't know who Soupy is you probably won't "get it" Soup's on. Have fun!

I had this DVD mailed to my brother as a gift. He called me thanking me for bringing all those great memories back, as he had watched this DVD the same day it arrived! I hope he'll bring it to my house when he visits, so we can watch it together. Excellent material, especially for us baby boomers who watched Soupy growing up!!