Ironically, I would meet Lew after he read an obituary I wrote about Buffalo Bob. He invited me to New York’s Birdland, where he conducted an orchestra every Friday evening. It was there that he introduced to me to Soupy Sales, the slapstick jokester of a million pies, who had been another TV star of the 1950s.
Often I sat with Soupy, along with other veterans of 50s television, to hear their endless stories of working in the new, live medium when it was just starting. Soupy told me all about pies—especially how to make the ones that would splatter the face perfectly.
He would gulp martinis in a huge glass—happy to listen to Lew’s band play his beloved jazz. After Lew died at age 84 in May, 2006, the old 50’s-era get together at Birdland ended. The last time I saw Soupy Sales was at Lew’s memorial service. But I’ll never forget him. This video on YouTube tells the whole story. RIP, Soupy!
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