I couldn't get up to Hollywood Boulevard today to see Soupy Sales receive his star in the cement but my friend Mark Kausler (only one of the great animators working today) made the soggy trek. He sent this e-mail and gave me his okay to post it here for all…
Because of your website, I did something today I've never done before, attended a Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony. Of course, it was the one for Soupy Sales. Only love could get me across town in the pouring rain to see anybody, but for Soupy I made an exception. He definitely does not look well. He's wheelchair bound, and had an eerie sort of fixed smile on his face. When he tried to thank everyone for coming, he could barely talk above a whisper. The only sentence fragment I could hear clearly was: "I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for coming…", he repeated this phrase several times. He did muster up enough strength to push a partial pie into Johnny Grant's face, which I couldn't see very well for the solid wall of backs between me and the scene, but I'm sure that'll be on the news. Marc Summers, who hosts Unwrapped on Food Network was there, and Peter Marshall made an appearance. Summers actually mentioned Clyde Adler and Frank Nastasi, which shows that he knows his stuff. He did a pretty fair White Fang and Black Tooth, as well. Anyway, who knows if I'll ever see Soupy again? I'm glad I made the pilgrimage at least once. The fan club goes on.
And in a subsequent e-mail, Mark mentions that the crowd sang "Happy Birthday" to Soupy, who turns 79 tomorrow. I understand that later in the afternoon, Soupy dedicated an exhibit of his props and memorabilia at The Hollywood History Museum. (For those who don't know: Johnny Grant, the gent with his puss covered in shaving cream above, is — this is his actual title — "the Ceremonial Mayor of Hollywood and Chairman of the Walk of Fame Selection Committee." He's a local personality and fixture of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, and he hosts the star dedications.)
Sorry to hear that Soupy seems to be no healthier than the last time I saw him. He's never quite recovered from a bad fall he took at the 1995 Local Emmy Awards in New York, and I'm not sure what else is the matter with him. I'm glad to hear that Mark could barely see because of the "solid wall of backs," because that means there were a lot of people there. Soupy deserved a big crowd, and I hope it gave him a sense of how loved he is.