A good friend of mine died last week. Actually, I never met him in person, but since he came to my home 5 times a week I did consider him to be a friend. If you were lucky enough to have been a kid back in the 50's, you would rush home about noon each weekday to have "Lunch With Soupy".
White Fang and Black Tooth were his constant companions. You never actually saw more than their large paws, but Soupy made you believe that the large unruly, doglike creatures were there.
Mom would have the black & white TV turned on and my lunch ready on a small table in the living room. I would rush in, throw my coat on the floor, kick off my boots, take my seat, and wait for Soupy to come on.
He would always encourage us to eat our food, drink our milk, and take our vita-minees. He had us all saying, "Over the teeth and through the gums, lookout stomach here it comes".
During the show he would get a least one pie in the face and even though I new it was coming, I would always laugh. During his long entertainment career, he claims to have had over 9,000 pies thrown in his face.
Soupy was 83.
