SOUPY SALES-Spy with a Pie LP (1965) 10.22.09 R.I.P. M-

$

26

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Soupy Sales - "Spy with a Pie" in mono on mono on ABC Paramount 503

Record Grade: Mint-

Cover Grade: VG+, minor wear and vivid colors, some fraying of the bottom seam and 'browning' in some areas of the back of the jacket from age or exposure to light

Labels: Black and silver, "soundwaves" logo

About the Artist: by Jason Ankeny

The wildest, most innovative children's television host of the baby-boom era, comedian Soupy Sales also scored a series of hit novelty records, including "The Mouse" and "Spy with a Pie." Born Milton Supman in Franklinton, NC, on January 8, 1926, he grew up in Huntington, WV, and later earned a degree in journalism from Marshall University. While working as a radio scriptwriter at Huntington station WHTN, he moonlighted as a standup comic, and ultimately worked his way into a regular on-air position. Reviving his old childhood nickname "Soupy" for broadcasting, Supman also abandoned his surname in favor of the more radio-friendly "Hines," which he later rejected for its similarity to the foodstuffs manufacturer Heinz. Installing "Sales" as a tribute to a friend and rival comedian, he soon emerged as the area's highest-rated DJ and in 1950 relocated to Cincinnati to pursue a career in television. Sales' first series, Soupy's Soda Shop, is believed to be the fledgling medium's first teenage dance program, beating Dick Clark's American Bandstand to air by close to two years. The program was a ratings disappointment, however, and Sales was next installed as the host of a variety series dubbed Club Nothing. In 1953 he moved on to the Detroit market, where he hosted his own daily noon-hour children's show, Lunch with Soupy Sales, on local ABC affiliate WXYZ. A rapid-fire collection of sketches, film shorts, and pratfalls, the show would make its host the Motor City's highest-rated television personality throughout the remainder of the decade. Populated with puppet characters including "White Fang," "Hippie the Hippo," and "Pookie the Lion" (all voiced by Sales' associate Clyde Adler), Lunch with Soupy Sales was most famous for its trademark pie-throwing gag. One estimate places the number of cream pies tossed by and at Sales at close to 20,000. In 1955 ABC aired a daily live 15-minute version of Lunch with Soupy Sales as a summer replacement series for its smash Kukla, Fran and Ollie, and while the network did not renew the series for its national fall lineup, Sales remained a giant of Detroit television, concurrently hosting his own late-night talk show, Soupy's On. ABC finally added Lunch with Soupy Sales to its national Saturday morning lineup in 1959, and when the series became an instant smash, production moved to Los Angeles the following year. After signing to Reprise Records, Sales issued his debut LP, The Soupy Sales Show, in 1961. By the time the follow-up, Up in the Air, appeared in the summer of 1962, diminishing ratings had spelled the end of Lunch with Soupy Sales, but ABC soon launched a new Friday prime-time series, The Soupy Sales Show, that attracted adults as well as children, resulting in cameo appearances by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Burt Lancaster. Creative interference spelled the program's end within three months, however, and Sales migrated to New York City, where in September 1964 he launched a new, nationally syndicated incarnation of The Soupy Sales Show. The most infamous moment of Sales' career followed just months later. On New Year's Day 1965, the comedian -- cranky because network execs forced him to air a live episode of The Soupy Sales Show on a holiday -- instructed his audience to find their father's wallet and remove the "little green pieces of paper with pictures of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Lincoln, and Jefferson on them. Send them to me, and I'll send you a postcard from Puerto Rico." Outcry from parents forced producers to suspend Sales for two weeks, but the resulting publicity buoyed the series to ratings highs and spiked sales of his 1965 novelty dance single, "The Mouse," which resulted in the ABC-Paramount LP Sez 'Do the Mouse' and Other Teen Hits. At the peak of his popularity Sales was the subject of his own title from Archie Comics and headlined the feature film Birds Do It. However, The Soupy Sales Show ended production in the fall of 1966 and its star was often resigned to supporting roles and guest appearances, including a long stint as a featured panelist on the game show What's My Line? In February 1979, the syndicated New Soupy Sales Show debuted, but production was troubled -- Clyde Adler even suffered a heart attack -- and the series was canceled after just one month. After releasing the 1981 album Still Soupy After All These Years, Sales returned to radio, hosting his own series on New York's WNBC, and in 2003 published his autobiography, Soupy Sez: My Zany Life and Times.

All of my records are shipped in sturdy cardboard LP or 45 rpm mailers with appropriate padding (heavy cardboard fillers or bubble wrap or "peanuts" or some combination thereof". With the exception of sealed LP's, all LP's are removed from their outer sleeves to prevent seam splitting. Upon request, I will give your sealed LP's the same treatment. (once an LP is shipped sealed, it cannot be returned once opened).

All records are carefully graded. In an attempt to give customers an accurate impression of condition rather than adhere to somewhat arbitrary criteria, I give an "overall presentation" grade, supplemented when necessary with additional remarks. Please refer to my grading system below for a more detailed explanation.

MY GRADING SYSTEMS: I’ve been told that I grade conservatively. My NM (near mint) is my highest grade for opened records (which would also include unplayed records). It’s a 9 or 10 on a 1-10 scale. M- would be equivalent to an 8; VG++ to a 7; VG+ to a 6; VG to a 5; VG- to a 4; G to a 3; F to a 2 and P to a 1. The same scale applies when I grade covers (jackets). Significant defects are specifically noted and taken into consideration in the grade.

GRADING DESCRIPTIONS

• GRADING Grading is based on the following criteria
• Sealed = store stock new
• Near Mint = like new or near new with only one or two small insignificant defects, a 9 or better on a 1-10 scale
• Mint- = extremely nice. Would be Near Mint, except for a couple of light hairlines or scuffs, which do not affect play
• VG++ = still a very nice record with all or nearly all of its original gloss but may have a few more light, surface marks, hairlines, needle tracks or the like which should not materially effect play
• VG+ = a nice, but used record that may have a series of light scuffs or scratches. It probably plays with a few pops, but has no serious problems.
• VG = a well-used record that still should sound OK when played, but may have moderate surface noise, pops, etc.
• VG- = a very well-worn record that plays through without skipping, but will do until a better copy comes along.
• Good = not actually good at all but probably will play through but with much in the way of surface noise, pops, crackles, etc. Still, will have no cracks, chips or the like
• Fair = you’re getting this record just to own but not to play
• Poor = the sky’s the limit, generally I will discard a record this bad (and sell the cover, jacket or sleeve alone) unless the label holds some particular interest

  VISUAL GRADING: All records are visually graded only unless I state that they are play-graded. Some major labels were pressed on better quality vinyl and will sound better than a record which visually appears the same on "budget" labels which were pressed on lower quality vinyl. Recording techniques also varied. The sound on live albums may be far inferior to studio recordings. There may also be defects in the pressing which are invisible. The point is that an album on a high quality label that was visually graded VG+ may sound better than an album on a budget label that was visually graded Mint- or even Near Mint. Please refer to my return policy, below. But please don’t be shocked if a record visually graded Near Mint doesn’t sound state of the art. If I base my grade on a PLAY GRADE, I will state this specifically in my grading section.

  COVERS: There are really too many possible defects regarding covers to be as specific in my definitions as I had been with my record grades. But please keep in mind these general grading guidelines:

  • I will give greater weight to the condition of the front cover than back cover when assigning an overall grade
  • No cover with a cut out hole or saw mark will be graded Near Mint even if it is still in factory shrink and there is no other wear
  • I will not reduce the grade of a cover for stickers which are glued to the jacket by the record company (eg. Contains the hit song Expressway to Your Heart); but will reduce the grade for stickers glued on the cover by stores, previous owners, etc.
  • If I write that a cover has a bb hole, I’m talking about a small cut out hole
  • A saw mark is a narrow cut in the perimeter of the cover, could be anywhere and vary in length from 1/2” to 2” at the most.
  • The overall grade takes into consideration any stated defects. For example, if I grade a cover VG+ and then state it has 6” top and bottom seam splits - I’ve already reduced the grade because of the seam splits. If the seams weren’t split, the cover would be graded higher such as VG++ or Mint-.

    Shipping Costs: NEW SHIPPING RATES & POLICIES AS OF October 27, 2009. (U.S. rates have increased again!).

    The buyer pays for shipping.

    DOMESTIC SHIPPING WITHIN THE UNITED STATES: Due to increase in postage rates, I have sometimes been losing money on shipping as I send all records in sturdy professional mailers with one or more fillers. Therefore, I now will be using the eBay postage calculator method. This will also result in a more equitable charge for priority mail shipments. Instead of charging $9 across the board, those who live in the southeast and mid-east will reap the benefit of reduced priority mail rates.

    DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL SHIPMENTS: COMBINED SHIPPING - Save money when I mail 2 or more records in the same package.

    INTERNATIONAL SHIPMENTS (NEW POLICIES): Overseas customers are welcome to bid. As with U.S. shipments, I will use eBay's postage calculator for all overseas shipments. Postage to Canada is substantially less than to other countries - if you live in Canada and don't see a separate rate for Canada , please e-mail me and I'll modify the invoice to reflect the lower shipping charges. Surface mail is no longer available for overseas. Express Mail International and Priority Mail International are available - rates are substantially higher than first class international and will be quoted for each purchase if buyer requests this service. Express Mail International or Registered mail is now required for purchases over $100. Generally, Express International costs $35 for 1 album and additional albums are about $5-6 more. Registered costs about $26 for 1 album, about $5 more for each additional album. Registered mail may not be available to certain countries.Why the change? It's because of eBay's and paypal's policies requiring proof of delivery - or - buyer can make a claim for a refund from paypal. This has happened too often to me in the past couple of months. I know that one buyer (twistwatcher, no longer a registered user) that actually received his package but paypal has given me problems and I cannot get the payment back that they reversed. With the other "non-deliveries", I have no way of knowing if the buyer is being truthful and the package was simply "lost or misdelivered" or if the buyer is making a false claim. So...that is the reason for my policy change. I am sorry but the increased risks and costs must be passed on to the international buyer. On the bright side of things, Express Mail International will get you the package much faster and it is safer. Registered mail is much safer (but not as fast). So there are benefits to the buyer as well as the seller.

    Please check out my other eBay auctions and stores listings.

    . I’ve been listing all types of records - mostly LP’s - including 50’s and 60’s rock ‘n’ roll, country, folk jazz, blues, personalities, new wave and punk, surf, psych, spoken word, comedy, etc., etc....... I try to list unusual, unique or obscure records, not the ones that you see all the time. While a majority of my listings are albums, you’ll often find a nice selection of 45’s, EP’s or picture sleeves...and an occasional 78 or two.

    My return policy: . You may return an item if it's not in the conditon described. You may not return items if you decide you don't like the music. I will return the base price of the item unless I make an error in shipment such as sending you the wrong record or cd. In that case, you will be reimbursed for the cost of the item and shipping both ways. In addition, the item must be returned in its original condition , i.e. the way it was shipped when it left my hands. While a very high percentage of my records arrive safe and sound (I use professional mailers and a filler or two, more for 78’s), they occasionally are damaged in transit. If that happens, I won’t accept the return of the record or other item.

    Sealed Records: After a sealed record is paid for, I will gladly open it before mailing to make sure that the record is new & unplayed. If the record is not, I will give a full refund. Even though it is easy to spot most resealed records from the 50's and 60's [I will mention that in the desription if it looks like a possibility], not all records from the 70's & 80's are quite as obvious. Please ask for any details about the seal of a particular record & I will be happy to answer.

    Any other questions? About anything? Please e-mail me at ibuyvinyl@nc.rr.com .