The HENRY Swann BOOK SERIES

anthologies

THREE AUTHORS:

Doug Garr,

Ross Klavan

Charles Salzberg

Painting by Ron Leach

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soupy & ME

​As a kid growing up in New York City, The Soupy Sales Show was must-see TV. One day, an agent friend asked me if I’d like to work with Soupy on his memoir. I don’t know if I actually said, “are you kidding?!” but that’s certainly the way I felt. I’d get to hang out with a childhood idol!

​I was hired without even meeting Soupy, but when I did I realized that although his mind was totally intact, and he was as sweet and kind a man as I hoped he would be, he had a lot of trouble speaking. He’d start off fine, but five or six minutes into the conversation his voice would begin to “droop,” and within a few minutes later, I could hardly hear him at all.​

​​How could I possibly collaborate on someone’s memoir if he was unable to talk to me about his life? I had to come up with a plan.

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It struck me that I could find people who knew Soupy, both privately and professionally, and interview them about Soupy and his show. That way, I could use whatever Soupy was able to tell me directly, whatever research I could find and also let the reader hear these old friends and coworkers talk about Soupy and his career. 

​Fortunately, most of them were still around, and so, when and if you read the book, you’ll see that I was able to give the reader an inside look at Soupy Sales without him opening his mouth.