Soupy Sales Late Night Detroit Variety Show

After serving twenty-six months in the United States Navy in World War II--twelve in the Pacific theater--Milton Supman took his G.I. Bill benefits and earned a master's degree in journalism in 1949. While attending Marshall College in Huntington, West Virgina, Supman was bit by the show business bug and began working part-time doing standup comedy in local nightclubs and dee-jaying a morning radio show on WHTN-AM.

Supman moved to Cincinnati when he landed a television spot on WKRC-TV hosting a teen dance show called Soupy's Soda Shop--the first in the country. Supman worked under the stage name Soupy Hines. When his show was cancelled, a friend at the station told Soupy about Detroit station WXYZ-TV that was looking for live entertainers to round out its local programming schedule.

The unemployed, twenty-seven-year-old performer legally changed his stage name to Soupy Sales; took his young wife and baby to stay with relatives in Huntington, West Virgina; and drove to Detroit with $10 in his pocket. He auditioned for Channel 7 general manager John Pival to host a daily, children's lunchtime show. Pival was impressed and hired him. Soupy used his fast-talking, improvisational skills to good effect and soon made his program a success. Soupy wanted to show he had the talent to attract more than a kiddie audience.

When an 11:00 PM slot opened up unexpectedly two months later, program director Pete Strand reserved the time slot for Soupy to do an adult-focused, variety show of comedy and music entertainment. Soupy's On debuted on November 10th, 1953.

 

Unlike his lunchtime show which was roughly outlined and ad libbed giving it a spontaneous flair, the evening show was scripted and well-rehearsed. Soupy and his stage director Pete Strand wrote the nightly opening monologue and comedy sketches each afternoon for the evening broadcast. The show opened with Soupy doing a standup routine followed by a cutting-edge comic sketch and live guest performances by some of the best jazz muscians of the era.

Soupy was a jazz lover living in a jazz town. Detroit at that time was the home to twenty-four jazz clubs before urban renewal in 1959 wiped out the Black Bottom and Paradise Valley neighborhoods where most of the jazz clubs were located. Soupy's nighttime show soon became a scheduled stop for jazz performers like Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Billie Holiday, George Shearing, Della Reese, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis, who was living in the Detroit area at the time.

Soupy's house band "Two Joes and a Hank" led by Hal Gordon had some chops too. Guitarist Joe Messina and drummer Jack Brokensha later became members of Motown's Funk Brothers. Rounding out the group was Joe Oddo, who played bass, and Hank Trevision, who played piano. Soupy's theme song was Charlie Parker's "Yardbird Suite."

Soupy portrayed an array of comic characters like belching Sheriff Wyatt Burp, European crooner Charles Vichysoisse, Colonel Claude Bottom, and Western cowboy hero The Lone Stranger. Other performers were Clyde Adler who played Indian mystic Kuda Dux and Mississippi gambler Wes Jefferson; character actress Bertha Forman, with fifty years of show business experience, played Soupy's mother-in-law; attractive blonde Jane Hamilton played ditzy literary critic Harriet Von Loon and hip-swinging floozy Bubbles, Soupy's on-screen wife.

 

Detroit's most recognized voice actor Rube Weiss--announcer for Detroit Dragway commercials and the official Hudson's department store Santa for many years--played Charlie Pan and the Lone Stranger's sidekick Pronto.

Rube Weiss

Soupy and his troupe pioneered late-night comedy shows and paved the way for programs like Saturday Night Live. His show was before the age of videotape and only one Kinescope segment (a fixed 16mm camera filming a TV program directly from the screen) survives from the show which is linked below. Soupy interviews trumpeter Clifford Brown at the end of Brown's performance.

The final episode of Soupy's On aired November 27, 1959. Soupy had done 3,300 morning and evening shows for WXYZ in six years when his variety show was cancelled. At the time, Soupy was the highest paid celebrity in Detroit television. When the station declined to renegotiate Soupy's contract, he was free to shop his talents in Hollywood.

In a statement to Detroit local media, Soupy took a moment to make it real. "I've been working in a state of exhaustion for years. My workday begins at 9:00 am and ends at 2:30 am. I get three hours of sleep at night and another two hours in the afternoon. You wear a little ragged after awhile. I see my fans more than I see my own family," Soupy said. "But let's face it. Here in Detroit, local live television is dying because the networks are producing more of their own programming and crowding out local talent."      

Soupy Sales relocated to Los Angeles and appeared in some television episodes and several movies but never became a television or movie star in Hollywood. He wasn't leading man material, and his face was too well-known for him to be a convincing character actor. But he recreated himself as a "TV personality" and made a steady living as a panelist on the game show circuit doing programs like Hollywood Squares, $20,000 Pyramid, To Tell the Truth, and What's My Line.

Here is the only surviving clip of Soupy's On from 1956 featuring jazz great Clifford Brown.

Lunch With Soupy 

Eastern Michigan University Student Queried - "Is Paul (McCartney) Dead?"

The biggest hoax in the history of Rock & Roll is surely the "Is Paul Dead?" controversy. On Sunday afternoon, October 12, 1969, Thomas Zarski, an Eastern Michigan University student, called [Uncle Russ] Gibb, a concert promoter and popular D.J. for Detroit's underground music radio station - WKNR-FM.

On the air, Zarski asked Gibb what he knew about the death of Paul McCartney. This was the first the D.J. heard of it. "Have you ever played "Revolution 9" from the The White Album backwards?" Zarski asked.

Gibb hadn't. Skeptical, he humored his call-in listener and played the song backwards. For the first time his audience heard, "Turn me on, dead man." Then WKNR's phone started ringing off the hook.

Apparently, the rumor started when Tim Harper wrote an article on September 17, 1969 in the Drake University (Iowa) newspaper. The story circulated by word of mouth through the counter culture underground for a month until Zarski caught wind of it. He called Uncle Russ asking about it. Gibb had solid connections with the local Detroit and British rock scene because he was a concert promoter at the Grande Ballroom--Detroit's rock Mecca.

University of Michigan student Fred LaBour heard the October 12th radio broadcast and published an article two days later in the October 14th edition of The Michigan Daily as a record review parody of the Beatles' latest album Abbey Road. This article was credited for giving the story legs and was the key exposure that propelled the hoax nationally and internationally.

The legend goes that Paul died in November of 1966 in a car crash. The three categories of clues were:

1. Clues found on the album covers and liner sleeve notes,
2. Clues found playing the records forward, and
3. Clues found playing the records backwards.

The clues came from the albums:

1. Yesterday and Today,
2. Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,
3. Magical Mystery Tour,
4. The Beatles [the White Album], and
5. Abbey Road.

Some people thought the Beatles masterminded the hoax because of the large number of clues. They thought there were too many for this story to be merely coincidental. 

The story peaked in America on November 7th, 1969, when Life magazine ran an interview with Paul McCartney at his farm in Scotland, debunking the myth.

For more detailed information on the myth and the clues, check out these links: 

http://turnmeondeadman.com/the-paul-is-dead-rumor/ 

http://keenerpodcast.com/?page_id=602

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqBf6iNPVOg

Detroit's Shock Theater

In 1957, Universal Pictures syndicated a television package of fifty-two classic horror movies released by Screen Gems called Shock Theatre. The package included the original Dracula, Frankenstein, Mummy, and Wolfman movies. Shock Theatre premiered with Lugosi's Dracula in Detroit on WXYZ channel seven at 11:30 pm on Friday, February 7, 1958.

Each syndicated television market had their own host. Detroit had one of the first horror movie personalities in the country. The show was hosted by Mr. X--Tom "Doc" Dougall--a classically trained actor who taught English at the Detroit Institute of Technology and moonlighted as a vampire on Friday nights. Unlike later horror movie hosts who would spoof their roles or riff on the movies they showed, Dougall was grimly serious and set a solemn tone for what was to follow. What most people don't know about Professor Dougall is that he co-wrote several Lone Ranger and Green Hornet scripts for WXYZ radio.

The opening of the show was memorable, but I was only nine years old when I started staying up every Friday night to see the classic monsters and mad-scientists--The Invisible Man comes to mind. This is how I remember the opening:

The show's marquee card came up with ominous organ music and a crack of thunder in the background. Replete in vampire garb with cape, Mr. X walked slowly on screen holding a huge open book announcing the night's feature in a scary voice. Next, he would say, "Before we release the forces of evil, insulate yourself against them." With a sense of impending doom, Mr. X continued, "Lock your doors, close your windows, and dim your lights. Prepare for Shock." The camera came in for an extreme close-up of Mr. X's face, more lightening and thunder effects, and finally his gaunt face morphed into a skull. Then the film would roll.

There was something positively unholy about the show which made it an instant success with my generation of ghoulish Detroit Baby Boomers. The show's ominous organ music set the mood for the audience. The piece was listed only as #7 on a recording of Video Moods licensed for commercial television and not available to the public.

No video link to Detroit's Shock Theatre's opening has surfaced, but the above newspaper ad for the show gives an idea of the facial dissolve special effect. If anyone knows where I can find a link, Gmail me so I can add it to this post. Thanks.

Detroit's Baby Boomer Kid Show Hosts:
https://fornology.blogspot.com/2017/12/detroit-baby-boomer-kids-show-hosts.html

The Women Pioneers of CKLW AM Radio--Jo Jo Shutty and Rosalie Trombley

When we Detroit Baby Boomers were in our teens, CKLW-AM radio was known as "The Big 8." The station broadcast out of Windsor, Ontario, and they had offices in Southfield, Michigan. The Canadian station's 50,000 watt transmitter dwarfed everything within its broadcast signal, making CKLW the dominant AM station in the region on both sides of the Detroit River. 

During the day, CKLW's signal could be heard throughout Southeastern Michigan, much of Ohio, and beyond. In the evenings, the station directed its signal to a northeastern nightime signal, so it would not interfer with powerful Mexican AM radio signals to avoid static overlap. The Canadian station could be heard as far away as Des Moines, Iowa; Cincinnati, Ohio; Toronto, Ontario; and the Eastern Seaboard. On a good night when the atmospheric conditions allowed, CKLW could be heard in Scandinavia.

The station first broadcast in 1932 during the Great Depression. With the growing popularity of television in the 1950s, CKLW radio began to lose its traditional adult audience base. A decision was made in 1967 to target a younger demographic. CKLW-AM began programming locally-based disc-jockeys playing Top 40 singles for their younger listeners. The management commissioned the Johnny Mann Singers to produce an upbeat, youthful-sounding station ID jingle. Three months later, CKLW became the number one pop radio outlet in their market and one of the top ten AM stations in North America.

To complete the station's makeover, management hired twenty-two-year-old Byron MacGregor as their news director, the youngest in the station's history. MacGregor was known for his deep resonant voice and high-energy delivery. The news was repackaged as 20/20 News because they offered their news programing at twenty minutes after the hour and twenty minutes before the hour. When all the other radio stations in town had their news at the top of the hour and half-past the hour, CKLW was playing music.

The Big 8's newscasts were delivered in a rapid-fire manner to make the news sound more sensational and exciting. The sound of a teletype machine clicking audibly in the background gave the news the sound of immediacy.

Another news innovation at CKLW-AM was having North America's first female helicopter traffic and news reporter, Jo Jo Shutty. Jo Jo, as she was popularly known, spent up to seven hours a day reporting live on Detroit traffic. As a news person, Jo Jo would often be the first reporter on the scene of breaking stories where she would do live remotes. Jo Jo became an instant celebrity.

Jo Jo Shutty grew up in West Bloomfield, Michigan. At nine years old, she became a world champion baton twirler, and at seventeen while a student at Berkley High School, she became Miss Teenage Detroit. Jo Jo went to Michigan State University graduating Cum Laude with a bachelor of arts degree in television, radio, and film.

Jo Jo Shutty was twenty-six-years-old and single when she was hired to be the "Eyes in the Sky" for CKLW-AM radio on Monday, September 9, 1974. News director Byron MacGregor thought he had hired a helicopter traffic reporter, but soon discovered she became a radio personality much loved in the Detroit and Windsor area. Jo Jo's feminine voice was a welcome change from the deep-voiced, male dee-jays who dominated the radio airwaves. Her starting salary was $20,000 with an attractive fringe benefits package.

Six months later, Byron MacGregor married Jo Jo Shutty at Marygrove College in their Sacred Heart Chapel. They were both twenty-seven years old. Just shy of twenty years later, Byron MacGregor died unexpectedly from complications of pneumonia on Tuesday, January 3, 1995, in Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital.

The real powerhouse behind the Big 8's popularity was a woman unknown by most people outside the radio and music communities. Rosalie Trombley was CKLW's music director from 1967 through 1984. She had an incredible ability for recognizing talent and hit singles, earning her the title "The Girl with the Golden Ear."

Rosalie Trombley with Bob Seger on the occasion of Seger's 1978 album "Stranger in Town."

Trombley helped the careers of many Detroit and Canadian musicians by debuting their music over the airwaves: artists and groups like Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Supremes, Little Stevie Wonder, the Funkadelics, and many musicians like Bob Seger, Mitch Rider, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Gordon Lightfoot, Paul Anka, Joni Mitchell, and Anne Murray to name just a few.

Trombley chose the right blend of pop music that appealed to young Black and White audiences on both sides of the Detroit River. On the CKLW television side, dee-jay Robin Seymour hosted a popular afternoon dance program named Swinging Time, giving many of these artists their first television exposure as well.

The rise of FM stereo radio and album-oriented programming in the 1970s began eroding CKLW's youthful audience. Rock & Roll grew up and so did its audience. The Big 8 Top 40 format was abandoned in the 1980s, replaced with fully-automated programming of jazz standards and Big Band music for an older demographic. The station's Golden Age was over.

 

Rosalie Trombley passed away on November 23, 2021 at the age of eighty-two. At her funeral, Jo Jo Shutty called Trombley "an important mentor whose power as a woman in a male-dominated industry commanded respect." Trombley was posthumously inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame as a legend of AM pop radio.

 

Because of Trombley's importance and influence in the pop music business, the Windsor, Ontario City Council approved $100,000 for the creation, installation, and unveiling of a life-sized, bronze statue of Trombley leaning against a big 8. The statue was unveiled at Windsor's Riverfront Park by artist Donna Mayne on September 18, 2023, to coincide with Rosalie's eighty-fourth birthday.

Swinging Time's Robin Seymour

CKLW Jingle 

Detroit's Famous Eastern Market

What was to become known as the Eastern Market began as a hay, lumber, and cordwood market in Detroit at Cadillac Square in 1841. Soon after, farmers from the countryside brought their produce there, and the area became known as the Central Market. 

As the city grew, so did the market. City aldermen decided to relocate the market in the mid-1880s on two sites to better serve city residents and give farmers and livestock owners other venues to sell their products. Detroit's Common Council named them the Eastern and the Western Markets.

The first Eastern Market structure was built in 1886, but on December 23, 1890, a fifty-one mile an hour wind gust collapsed the roof of the structure. Farmer Agustus Barrow and his wife were at the market selling their produce from their wagon. To protect themselves from the wind, Barrow drove under the shelter when the roof fell in on them.

Both of Barrow's horses were killed and Barrow's head was split open. Mrs. Barrow had both arms broken and her shoulder dislocated. Mrs. Lizzie Valentine lost eleven chickens and her chicken coops in the collapse. In all, several wagons were crushed and two horses were killed. Claims against the city totalled $10,522.50.

Old school home delivery.

The subsequent investigation found that the stone foundation the cast iron columns of the structure rested upon were not securely anchored. Nor was the huge, umbrella-shaped timber roof attached to the pillars at the top. Weight and balance held the structure together. The judge who heard the case sided with the plaintiffs and found the city negligent.

The demolition and reconstruction of a secure pavilion became a city priority. Within three months, the Northwestern Stone and Marble Company was awarded the contract to regrade and pave the vacant lot for $2,300. A month later, Detroit's Common Council approved $20,000 to construct a new and improved covered pavillion. The Western Market was also funded $20,000 for improvements to that facility on Fort Street.

Proposals for Shed 1, an open-air sheltered pavilion in a cross shape supported by sturdy cast iron columns anchored at each end, were opened on September19, 1891. Nine construction companies bids ranged from $15,330 to $17,708. The lowest bidder, M. Blay & Son, was awarded the contract. 

Completed on April 26th, 1892, the pavilion contained over 150 covered stalls with many more uncovered stalls surrounding it. The market clerk collected ten cents for every wagon standing on market property, and an ordinance was passed making it illegal to sell produce or livestock within 500 feet of the Eastern Market boundaries. Additional sheds were built through the 1920s with Shed 5 being built in 1939. 

During World War II, the Eastern Market became a hub for the wholesale food distribution industry and an important part of America's war effort. With the construction of the I-375 in 1964, the interstate cut through the footprint of Shed 1, so the original building was torn down.

In the 1970s, murals began to decorate the stalls rented by farmers and the surrounding buildings making the area colorful and festive. In 1974, the Eastern Market was designated a Michigan Historic Site, and in 1978, it was entered into the National Register of Historic Places.

Today, the Eastern Market is the largest public market in the United States covering forty-three acres at 2934 Russel Street between Mack and Gratiot Avenues. The market also boasts the largest open-air flowerbed market in the country. On a typical Saturday, 45,000 people shop in many of the specialty shops in the market district.

Since 2015, the Eastern Market has hosted the annual Detroit Festival of Books on the third Sunday of July. It is the largest book festival in the state of Michigan. Housed in Shed 5, this event is free to the public and attracts over 10,000 people from Metropolitan Detroit. My wife and I hope to see you there next Sunday on July 16th, from 10 am until 4 pm.

Detroit's Kosher Nostra--The Purple Gang

George "The Animal" Steele in His Own Words

George "The Animal" Steele and his favorite snack.

William James Myers was raised a happy child in Madison Heights, Michigan until dyslexia separated him from his classmates. He was left behind in second grade because he couldn't read. By the time Myers was in junior high school, he was a year older and a year bigger than his peers, and he began to gain notice in school sports. By the time he began Madison High School, the coaches were waiting for him.

Upon graduation, Myers was awarded a full ride scholarship to play football at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. All he wanted to do was play football, with little concern for the educational opportunity before him. Questionable judgements and bad knees kept him off the gridiron.

With the help of his newlywed wife Patricia, he was able to earn a bachelor's degree at Michigan State and a master's degree with a teaching credential at Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant. He was hired as a teacher and a wrestling/football coach at his former high school where he excelled. By then, Jim and Pat had three children and the Myers family was having trouble making ends meet on a teacher's salary.

Jim and Pat Myers

On the advice of a friend, he went to see Bert Ruby, a Detroit prowrestling promoter who sent Myers to Windsor, Ontario to learn the secrets of the squared circle to supplement his meager teaching income. He began to wrestle out-of-town matches wearing a face mask and wrestling under the name "The Student" to protect his privacy. The extra money came in handy.

In 1967, Myers was scouted by World Wrestling Federation's Bruno Sammartino and began working in the Pittsburg, Pennsylvania television market. Sammartino urged Myers to ditch the mask and change his ring name to George "The Animal" Steele. His finishing move became the flying hammerlock.

The "Animal" character was stooped over with a thrust forward shaved head. The thick mat of fur on his back fed into the promotion that he was the long sought after Missing Link. The Animal rarely spoke more than a grunt or a syllable or two and stuck out his green tongue at the crowd. He ate Clorets mints just before his matches. At least his breath was fresh.

Steele cultivated his menacing imbelcile routine in his promotional interviews often appearing with managers like Lou Albano or Classy Freddie Blasse to speak for him. He developed his wildman character by tearing up turnbuckles and throwing the shredded foam rubber at his opponents who stood by looking bewildered. His Neanderthal image couldn't be more different than the private man. 

In 1988, Myers was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. He retired from prowrestling and moved to Coco Beach, Flordia where he lived until his death on February 16, 2017 from kidney failure at the age of seventy-nine.

Before his death, Jim Myers made a candid and touching hour-long video expressly for his fans which tells his life story much better than anyone else can. For viewers interested mainly in Jim Myers' wrestling career, pick up the interview 34 minutes in. Anyone interested in the man, view the whole video.

A Walk Through Life with Jim Myers - AKA George "The Animal" Steele

George "The Animal" Steele vs. Randy "Macho Man" Savage

High Flying in Detroit with Leaping Larry Chene

Arguably the most popular wrestler in the Detroit, Michigan area in the early 1960s was Leaping Larry Chene--born Arthur Lawrence Beauchene on June 22, 1924 on Detroit's Eastside. He attended St. Bernard Catholic School where he played team sports. In the early 1940s, he took naval pre-flight training at the University of Iowa and the University of Michigan. Chene wrestled competitively in college before enlisting to fight in World War II. 

After the war, Beauchene started a trucking business which involved long hours and marginal profits. In 1951, Detroit wrestling promoter Bert Ruby needed someone to fill in for one of his injured wrestlers and approached Beauchene knowing he had a wrestling background. Ruby offered him $27.50 for wrestling a thirty-minute bout. He wrestled under a shortened, Americanized version of his real name--Larry Chene. Years later, he was quoted as saying, "This was the easiest money I ever made."

Shortly after, Chene shut down his struggling trucking business and learned the secrets of the squared circle. Chene wrestled in small, local venues five or six times a week for different small promotions while he developed his craft. Then in 1953, he signed a six-week contract to wrestle in Texas. He liked the steady work and the money. Chene had a growing family to provide for, so he stayed for several years developing his high-flying, Leaping Larry Chene persona.

Chene was a spectacular aerial performer whose signature move was the flying head scissors. He was a likeable "good guy" who fans related to when he took a beating at the hands of an assortment of uncouth villains. Unlike his opponents, Chene was personable and bantered with the referees and the crowd. He was always quick with a smile and an autograph when he met the public.

John Squires remembers back in the early 1960's "Dearborn High had a wrestling night in the gym. Larry, the Sheik, Bobo, all were there. Larry got thrown out of the ring and while he was laying in front of us, he borrowed my friend's penny loafer (shoe) and stuck it in the back of his tights. Chene jumped back in the ring and hit the Sheik in the forehead with it and the Sheik started bleeding. Not sure if it was fake or not, but it sure looked good."

Wrestling Promoter Bert Ruby

Chene returned to Detroit in 1960 a seasoned professional wrestler. He signed a contract with old friend Bert Ruby, who was looking for a star to headline his new Motor City Wrestling (MCW) television program which aired Saturday afternoons on WXYZ-TV Channel 7. Chene was featured and quickly became a fan favorite. The television show was essentially an advertisement for Ruby's growing wrestling promotions which were now happening at larger venues like the Olympia arena and Detroit's new Cobo Hall Convention Center. Big money was being made.

During a live Saturday afternoon match on August 26, 1961 to promote an Olympia event, Chene wrestled La Bestia (The Beast)--The Sicilian Sheep Herder. The Beast caught Chene from behind with a bear hug and shook him up and down while squeezing. Chene uncharacteristicly cried out and The Beast dropped him on the mat. The referee stopped the match and the program cut to a commercial break.

The MCW doctor on hand called an ambulance and transported the injured wrestler to Riverside Hospital in Trenton, Michigan where he was diagnosed with a torn stomach muscle requiring surgery and a lengthy period of recuperation. To keep his name in the wrestling public's mind, Chene did the color commentary for MCW until his abodmen healed. Meanwhile, a grudge match with The Beast was heavily promoted for a month before it was scheduled.

 

In those days, the matches were three falls. The Beast won the first fall and Chene won the second. In a rage, The Beast threw Chene out of the ring. The Beast's manager, Martino Angelo, promptly attacked Chene on the concrete floor. When the referee wasn't able to restore order, he handed the split decision to Chene after disqualifying The Beast.

During his career, Chene won more matches than he lost, and he held many championship titles and belts during his thirteen-year tenure delighting fans. Early in the morning on October 2, 1964, Chene was returning home from a match in Davenport, Iowa when his car went off the shoulder of Interstate 80 and flipped over near Ottawa, Illinois. Initial reports indicated Chene's car hit a telephone pole but that was found to be false. Illinois State Police reported finding a speeding ticket for traveling 92 mph issued to Chene five hours before he was found dead in his car. He was almost forty years old.

On Tuesday, October 6, 1964, services were held for Arthur Lawrence Beauchene at St. David's Roman Catholic Church on E. Outer Drive in Detroit. Beauchene lived in Harper Woods with his wife Mary and their six children. His body is interred in Mt. Olivet Cemetery. Edward George Farhat, the original Sheik, paid for the funeral.

Leaping Larry Chene match with post match interview