Yesterday a friend and I stopped at "Junket" on Minnehaha Blvd in Minneapolis, which is a a shop that probably has more junk than I have ever seen in one store. While poking around in the basement I saw this "person" who looked a great deal like Charlie McCarthy. Remember Charlie?
At the request of Edgar Bergen--who was a ventriloquist--a carpenter carved a dummy based on a kid Bergen knew. Charlie and Bergen had a very successful career in show business beginning on the stage, moving to radio, movies, and, eventually, television.
In some ways, Charlie was almost real. When Bergen's real life daughter appeared on his show, she was introduced as Charlie's little sister. Because he was heard on the radio, many people did not know that Charlie was a ventriloquist dummy and not a real person. His personality was so vibrant, it is like he was a completely separate person.
You can find recordings of Charlie and his human, Bergen, on Old Time Radio.
(Credit: http://www.charliemccarthy.org)
(Credit: http://www.charliemccarthy.org)
I do remember and you are right, this looks just like Charlie.
ReplyDeleteI've always found these dummies to be rather unsettling.
ReplyDeleteEeek! Forget spiders or snake, those things are what I find scary!
ReplyDeleteWhilst I don't remember the show my Dad told me many times how much he had loved it.
I remember him quite well, but I have to agree with William about these dummies!
ReplyDeletei do remember seeing him before. :)
ReplyDeleteI loved Bergen and Charlie!!! But I agree with William, too. I remember some scenes from Everybody Loves Raymond where a dummy ended up being thought almost human and very threatening. Funny, but eerie!
ReplyDeleteBTW, I was going to make some comment about dummies and 8th-graders, but then decided not to. Although when I woke up this morning all I saw was fog, dense fog. I told Lois it was an 8th-grader kind of morning - dense fog.
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing him on the Ed Sullivan Show. Some ventriloquists are really good... not any lips at all.
ReplyDeleteI remember too. That should tell you something about my age. I would have been tempted to take him home with me.
ReplyDeleteThose dolls always freaked me out when I was a kid.
ReplyDeleteI kinda remember him...and kinda thought it was a little creepy.I think it may depend on what sorts of entertainment one grew up with. He wasn't part of it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe a Charlie off-spring for sure. Indeed I remember.
ReplyDeleteThere was a time those dolls were very popular, those performers you don't see anymore it seems.
ReplyDeleteUgh... these dolls still freak me out as an adult!
ReplyDeleteI think I had one of those when I was a kid. I wonder what happened to it, I remember having fun with it when relatives would come over.
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