Super Duper Souper

He's a pop culture footnote today but back in the mid 1960's, Soupy Sales was the king of children's TV for a couple of fun-filled years. Following fifteen years of TV hosting experience that ran through Cincinnati, Detroit and Los Angeles, ol' Soup (born Milton Supman) eventually moved to New York when his LA show came off life support and in 1964 launched a new Soupy Sales Show on WNEW-TV (Channel 5 to us natives).  This version lasted for two wacky and cream pie filled seasons and was syndicated nationally by 1965.  On New Year’s Day 1965, quite unhappy that he had to work after what sounds like a typical New Year's Eve of the time, he instructed his audience to go into their mom's purses and dad's billfolds and send him “those little green pieces of paper.”  

While the story has been conflated over the years to Soupy being summarily fired over this bit, it only resulted in his suspension from January 12-15, 1965. The Soupy Sales Show then resumed, presumably after airing a short spate of reruns, until the end of its syndicated and local runs on September 2, 1966.

Topps issued a set of 66 Soupy Sales cards in the midst of Soupy-mania.  Pumped and dumped, these were standard sized, black and white affairs with a facsimile autograph of Soupy in blue ink.  They are largely forgotten today and do not seem to have sold particularly well when issued and the cards may not have been marketed much beyond the Northeast. 

The backs, which are also black and white, used “Soupy Sez” graphics from the television show and featured copyrights for “Soupy Sales-WMC” and “T.C.G.” (Topps Chewing Gum).  This is a typical gag from the show (and set):

It appears that one batch of 66 cards was released with the reverses rotated 180 degree and then another batch was released the same way but with entirely different fronts. It therefore appears likely a master set would be 264 cards, two backs for each front, one of which is also then flipped 180 degrees. Some discussion and dissection can be fount over at the Vintage Non-Sports Forum.

Topps Vault, the major grading services and much of the collecting community thinks they were issued in 1967 (and the Vault even has at least one COA that says 1963!) but that date is impossible for several reasons.

For starters, the wrapper has no commodity code. 

These codes began appearing on Topps wrappers and display boxes in early 1966, tied to Topps moving their manufacturing and packing plant to Duryea, Pennsylvania while their executives, business and creative staffs remained in Brooklyn at Bush Terminal.  My determination that the set came out in 1965, which was the peak of Soupy-mania, is buoyed by this lack of a code. We'll revisit the set dating in a bit.

Color versions of a handful cards were produced, which are possibly unique and appear to be proofs made for internal use at Topps as they are blank backed. Who wouldn't want a shot of Soupy relaxing with a cigarette in his dressing room:

There are not many color proofs known and they are one of the great rarities produced by Topps. 

(UPDATE 2/27/22: Keith Olbermann advises he owns a color proof sheet, and also offers this eye-opening commentary from the front lines back in the 60's:

"My Dad and I went to see him at a Korvette's...and the throng was so great he got pushed through a plate glass window...the crowd pushed him against the window, which buckled and cracked and kind of folded outwards without fully breaking. So he didn't go completely through it, but at that point he, understandably, went home. As did we.")

Yikes!!

There is also a paper version that suffers from a paucity of published information.  Details on this latter issue are hard to come by but it is clear now that they came as an insert in a Soupy Sales wallet that obviously was meant to capitalize on the “little green pieces of paper” incident. I've covered the wallet previously but it's worth another peek:

There is also a gray version.  Here's the thing though, there is a facsimile card reverse on the other side of the wallet that still has Topps indicia:

Hold that thought...

Meanwhile, the wallets originally came with paper Soupy Sales "photos" in the photo window insert; when I acquired my yellow one two paper cards were hiding out within.  There are four differences between the Topps cards sold in packs and the wallet inserts.  

1) The wallet version are made of paper and have no gloss at all.

  

2) Soupy's "autograph" is also different as it was changed from blue to red.  

3) While the wallet photos have the same backs and copyrights as the regular issue cards, they use red accents on the reverse.

4) The wallet photos measure 2 3/8" x 3 9/16" which is close but not identical to a standard sized Topps card (like Soupy's) that measured 2 1/2" x 3 1/2":

As a neat tie-in the regular issue cards have a prominent “Wallet Size Photos” tagline on the wrappers and retail box lid.  There is no checklist known for the paper issue and it's unclear if all 66 cards were reproduced this way.

The wallets were churned out by Standard Plastics, who made various things out of vinyl you may remember if you are of a certain age, such as die-cast car cases. A vinyl Soupy lunchbox was also produced along with a pencil case and what looks like a photo album or maybe a notebook: 

Now check these out, clockwise from top left: wallets, pencil case, photo album (or notebook), lunchbox in a salesman's book page:

Here are similar products made by Standard Plastics, from their stationery division as it turns out, which makes me think these were sold in stores that didn't necessarily just sell toys:

Mattel bought Standard Plastics in 1966 and then made it their parent company at some point. I have no idea why but Mattel also bought the Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1971 so who knows what was going on in their boardroom?!  Soupy may not have moved much product given the arc of his mid-60's "fad-dom" and the wallets can be found with a little patience.

There was more though and in 1965 Topps produced a Fan Magazine of Soupy (the first of two issues for this short-lived publication) and a publisher called Wonder Books put out a series of books with Soupy stories, at least one of which was written by children of Topps executives Woody Gelman (his daughter Barbara, who was a magazine art editor) and Abram Shorin (Robert Shorin). 

The Topps Fan Magazine has images of some of the cards reproduced within, which further nails the card sets as being from ’65. In addition, the retail box bottom uses the old “Brooklyn 32” address for Topps and not a ZIP Code (introduced mid-1963). The Topps pre-ZIP code address on their retail materials was not used on any post-1965 product and the wax wrapper drops the “32” so it would not surprise me if this is the last Topps box that used it. 

I've covered the magazines before, you can click over for a look.

Soupy resurfaced a couple of times as a host of his own show on the tube after 1966 and was a steady guest panelist on game shows in the 60's and 70's.  He was in a bunch of movies, had a radio show for a spell, cut some albums here and there and was one of those guys that was around show business seemingly forever.  His two sons with his first wife Barbara Fox, Hunt (on bass) and Tony (on drums) became rock musicians and were in bands with David Bowie (as part of Tin Machine), Todd Rundgren (Runt) and Iggy Pop among others (if you ever heard that cruise ship commercial with "Lust For Life" they comprised the rhythm section). Soupy died in 2009 but his memory certainly lives on among some of us, although he seems like one of those performers who could be lost to time once we Baby Boomers turn the keys over to the kids.

Premium Time

I have been digging deep into the Bazooka back story of late and finding all sorts of interesting things.  As many regular readers here know, there was a wealth of premiums offered over the years by Topps and Bazooka comics were the source of many of these trinkets and gadgets.  I thought a look at some of the more offbeat Bazooka Joe comics and premium offers would be a fun diversion today.

First up is a 1957 Bazooka Joe one cent comic exhibiting signs of the high speed cutting process used by Topps at the time.  I believe the comics were folded (the diamond marks the spot) and then cut, which explains the Rorschach like pattern.  I especially like the black-and-white first panel and the entire comic seems a bit noir-ish.  Geez, that Jerry Mahoney keychain charm is frightening!

Another 1957 comic with something for the ladies.  You don't often see premiums (or much else) from Topps, so this bride doll is a head turner.  It's alsoan expensive premium by the standards of the times.

This 1965-ish comic possibly features the Topps Gum Card Album discussed here many yonks ago. I don't know why the one above only holds 180 cards when the most common one can house 208. There were also some albums produced in 1965 and 1966 by third parties designed to hold Topps baseball cards but I have no idea what this premium looks like as the graphics are less than helpful!

This "roll" comic (it came with the five cent roll of Bazooka that looked a little like a cigar with score marks) does not have a code that speaks the date to me but the premium represents overstock of the only two issues of Topps Fan Magazines from 1965. A $1.00 value on distributor returns?  Hah!

Sometimes Topps would sneak in something that wasn't a comic.  Here is an insert for the famous Exploding Battleship:

I guess they had a lot of those in the ole warehouse and I suspect they may have tried to move them all out before the big move to Duryea, PA in early 1966.  Other premiums are featured on these as well. Topps had been recycling series of Bazooka Joe's for years, peppering in what stock they had remaining of the Wesley Morse originals but they were drying up by the end of the 70's (Morse had died in 1963).  It would be another decade before they commissioned a redesign but Topps became expert at repurposing the exisiting artwork and stretching out the series as this 1972 one-panel shows:

Those felt baseball pennants go back to the origins of Bazooka, although these are probably the latest in the redesigned series that commenced in 1958-59.  Still #121 was an ancient premium number by 1972 as the most common ones seen were from the "400 series".   

I think the below comic dates to around 1980 and it's a hybrid of Morse's and another artist's work:

The Little Creeps were, accoring to this site, the forerunners of the Garbage Pail Kids:

Things were getting pretty thin in the idea department by 1983, so Topps had Howard Cruse develop a whole new look for Bazooka Joe and His Gang:

This redesign gave the World Metal Dude:

And since I have nowhere else appropriate to show this at the moment, check out this point-of-sale decal for Bazooka:

Say U.N.C.L.E.

As revealed in our November 6th episode, in 1965 Topps briefly flirted with a magazine series for kids under the rubric of Topps Fan Magazines. The first of these featured Soupy Sales and if you click back on the link in the first sentence and scroll a bit you will see a copy of his issue, which is #1 in the run.  I wasn't able to secure a mag of ol' Soup but I did purchase a copy of the second (and last) issue featuring that hit TV show The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

U.N.C.L.E. was a kludgy acronym for United Nations Command for Law and Enforcement in case you were wondering and the show premiered in the fall of 1964 in the explosive wake of the James Bond action thrillers. The first inside page is where all the action is as far as I'm concerned though:

The content is clearly written for boys about 10-12 years old, which is no surprise.  But take a look at that indicia:

Len Brown was Woody Gelman's Creative Editor at Topps in the 1960's and his name on this thing is no surprise but Robert Shorin and Barbara Gelman also appeared as the writers for the Soupy Sales Wonder Book also discussed here in the November 6th post (same click back as before in the first sentence above. The Wonder Book was put out by Grosset & Dunlap whereas this this magazine clearly has Topps provenance, although the "Topps C.G." moniker is clever at hiding their true name.

It would seem Topps and/or possibly Solomon & Gelman's art agency put together the Wonder Book for Grosset and Dunlap as we have previously disclosed Robert Shorin was the son of Topps co-founder Abram Shorin and Barbara Gelman was Woody Gelman's daughter. Woody appears of course, as does Topps Art director Ben Solomon.


The interior of the magazine has at least one shot that also appeared on a card (and likely more but I do not have a set handy to examine in detail):

That's a match to card # 7 in the 55 card series:

Len Brown revealed in an interview some years back that the Topps Fan Magazines made a profit but not enough of one to warrant continuation of the series.  The two extant issues are a true curiosity in the world of Topps in the mid-60's.

This Soupy's Nuts!

For as long as I have been aware of the cards, there has been a persistent bit of conventional hobby wisdom that states the circa 1965 Topps Soupy Sales cards also came in a thin paper version that were wallet inserts. I've always thought that was a bit of an odd thing for Topps to do but recently an eBay auction appeared that gave me pause.

There is indeed a vinyl Soupy Sales wallet from the 1960's:

In its own right that is one awesome piece of 60's kiddie memorabilia but it gets better.  Check this out:

That is a colorized reverse of a Soupy card sans numbering and the T.C.G. indicia is easily seen to the bottom right! Here is a normal Soupy reverse:

There are 66 cards in the set but I have no idea how many Soupy Sez phrases made it to the wallets. The "card" on the wallet is smaller by a quarter inch in each dimension than a standard Topps card at 2 1/4" x 3 1/4" and the entire wallet measures 8 1/2" x 3 1/2" when opened. Here's the front of a regular card in case you are curious:

Even though the current pricing of them does not support it, Soupy Sales cards have always seemed to me to be a bit harder to find than your average card of the mid 60's.  I suspect they sold poorly and were subject to heavy returns from the jobbers.

There are also some very scarce color Topps Soupy cards that are believed to be from 1967 (I think they are a little earlier) but all known versions of those come with blank backs.  I wonder if Topps prepared color backs for those and then when production was abandoned, was able to repurpose them for the wallets.  Stranger things have happened at Topps but I admit it's a bit of a farfetched theory.

Here is the inside of the wallet:

There is no manufacturing information on or in the wallet other than on the "card".  Apparently a gray version is also known and I suspect there could be a couple of other colors as well.But wait, there is another Topps-Soupy connection:

A 1965 book of short, Soupy themed Children's stories, part of a series from a series called Wonder Books has a pretty neat Topps connection as well:

This particular book...

 ...was written by these two people:

Barbara Gelman was Topps Creative Director Woody Gelman's daughter and Robert Shorin the son of Topps co-founder Abram Shorin.  So far as I can determine, other Soupy-themed Wonder Books were not the product of these two author's pens.

But wait, there's more.  From January 1965 comes this little gem:

The comic is dated January 1965 (which just reinforces to my mind the 1965 date for the Topps Soupy Sales cards) and there is a connection between Topps and Archie, namely a series of Blony gum comics a few years prior.  

And still, there is more...check out this #1 issue of the Topps Fan Magazine featuring ol' Soup. I confess I had never heard of this until a posting on the Net54 Vintage Non Sports board alerted me to it:

That scan was posted by David Davis over at the forum. I don't know what lurks within but am told there are replicas of some of the Topps Soupy Sales cards shown.  I'm not sure what to make of all this love for Soupy by Topps but it's pretty neat stuff.

There was even a second issue of this little known rag, which is enroute to me as I type:

I'll post the insides when my copy comes in the post; hopefully I can find a No. 1 somewhere or get scans.