Charlie Waiting

by Cheri Randolph

Title

Charlie Waiting

Artist

Cheri Randolph

Medium

Photograph

Description

This composition highlights the Charlie McCarthy figure on a 1936 Majestic radio.

Charlie McCarthy was the invention of ventriloquist, Edgar John Bergen, who was the son of Swedish immigrants. He grew up in Decatur, Michigan, and taught himself ventriloquism from a pamphlet when he was 11. A few years later, he commissioned Chicago woodcarver Theodore Mack to sculpt a likeness of a rascally Irish newspaperboy he knew. The head went on a dummy named Charlie McCarthy, who became Bergen's lifelong sidekick.

His first performances were in vaudeville, and he worked in one-reel movie shorts, but his real success was on the radio. He and Charlie were seen at a New York party by Elsa Maxwell for Noël Coward, who recommended them for an engagement at the famous Rainbow Room. It was there that two producers saw Bergen and Charlie perform. They then recommended them for a guest appearance on Rudy Vallée's program. Their initial appearance (December 17, 1936) was so successful that the following year they were given their own show, as part of The Chase and Sanborn Hour.

Bergen and McCarthy are sometimes credited with "saving the world" because, on the night of October 30, 1938, when Orson Welles performed his War of the Worlds radio play hoax that panicked many listeners, most of the American public had instead tuned in to Bergen and McCarthy on another station and never heard Welles' play.

Uploaded

May 10th, 2012

Statistics

Viewed 182 Times  -  Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/17/2024 at 8:11 AM

Colors

Embed

Share

Sales Sheet

Tags