Etymology of "It's been a slice!", "It's been a real slice!"?

[Hugo]

"It's been a slice!"

"It's been a real slice!"

A parting shot, usually meaning, "It's been good!"

Anyone know what the slice is referring to?

My own guess is it's a playfully ambiguous suggestion the experience was a "slice of heaven"; or was it a "slice of hell"? Or perhaps, as one example shows, from "a real slice of life", a full experience.

The earliest I found is in the Edmonton Journal (17 October 1979) and used both phrases:

[Begin headline]
Thanks Mr. Speaker, It's Been A Real Slice!
[End]

[Begin]
Consumer Affairs Minister Julian Koziak said:
"I'm pleased to introduce this bill, as a fresh piece of legislation, being an example of deregulation. By passing this bill, we will be giving a stale legislation the bun," he said.
"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, It's been a slice."
[End]

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7QFlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=aYMNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3035,3999894&dq=been-a-slice&hl=en

I collected some other early to mid-1980s examples here: http://english.stackexchange.com/a/127674/9001 including a possible 1980 that uses "So thanks for the memories, it's been a real slice of life . . .".

Any idea of the origin?

Thanks,

Hugo

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