Edgar Bergen | |
|---|---|
 Bergen with his dummiesCharlie McCarthy (left) and Mortimer Snerd in 1949 | |
| Born | Edgar John Berggren (1903-02-16)February 16, 1903 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | September 30, 1978(1978-09-30) (aged 75) Paradise, Nevada, U.S. |
| Resting place | Inglewood Park Cemetery |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1919–1978 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2; includingCandice |
Edgar John Bergen (néBerggren; February 16, 1903 – September 30, 1978) was an American ventriloquist, comedian, actor, vaudevillian and radio performer. He was best known for his charactersCharlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. Bergen pioneered modern-dayventriloquism and has been described by puppetry organizationUNIMA as the “quintessential ventriloquist of the 20th century”.[1] He was the father of actressCandice Bergen.
Bergen was born inChicago, one of five children and the younger of two sons ofSwedish immigrants Nilla Svensdotter (née Osberg) and Johan Henriksson Berggren.[2] He lived on a farm nearDecatur, Michigan until he was four, when his family returned to Sweden, where he learned the language. After his family had returned to Chicago, when he was eleven, he taught himself ventriloquism from a pamphlet called "The Wizard's Manual". He attendedLake View High School. After his father died, when Edgar was 16, he went out to work as an apprentice accountant, a furnace stoker, a player-piano operator, and a projectionist in a silent-movie house.
Edgar so impressed the famous ventriloquistHarry Lester that he gave the teenager almost daily lessons for three months in the fundamentals of ventriloquism. In the fall of 1919, Edgar paid Chicago woodcarver Theodore Mack $36 ($688.59 in 2025) to sculpt a likeness of a rascally red-headed Irishnewspaper boy he knew. The head went on adummy named Charlie McCarthy, which became Bergen's lifelongsidekick. He had created the body himself, using a nine-inch length of broomstick for the backbone, and rubber bands and cords to control the lower jaw mechanism of the mouth.
For college, he attendedNorthwestern University, where he enrolled in the pre-med program to please his mother. He later switched to speech and drama, but never completed his degree.[3] He gave his first public performance at Waveland Avenue Congregational Church located on the northeast corner of Waveland and Janssen. He lived across the street from the church. In 1965, he gave the church a generous contribution, a thoughtful letter, and a photograph of himself which had been requested by the minister and was displayed in the church's assembly room which was dedicated to Bergen. He cut out an "R" and a "G" from his family name and went from Berggren to Bergen on the showbills. Between June 1922 and August 1925, he performed every summer on the professionalChautauqua circuit and at the Lyceum theater in Chicago. Bergen had an interest in aviation, becoming a private pilot.[4]
His first performances were invaudeville, at which point he legally changed his last name to the easier-to-pronounce "Bergen". He worked in one-reelmovie shorts, but his real success was on the radio. He and Charlie were seen at a New York party byElsa Maxwell forNoël Coward, who recommended them for an engagement at the famousRainbow Room. It was there that two producers saw Bergen and Charlie perform. They then recommended them for a guest appearance onRudy Vallée's program.
Their initial appearance (December 17, 1936) was so successful that the following year they were given regular cast roles as part ofThe Chase and Sanborn Hour.[5] Under various sponsors (and two different networks), they were on the air from May 9, 1937, to July 1, 1956. The popularity of a ventriloquist on radio, when one could see neither the dummies nor his skill, surprised and puzzled many critics, then and now. Even knowing that Bergen provided the voice, listeners perceived Charlie as a genuine person.[6] In 1947, Sam Berman caricatured Bergen and McCarthy for the network's glossy promotional book,NBC Parade of Stars: As Heard Over Your Favorite NBC Station.
Bergen's skill as an entertainer, especially his characterization of Charlie, carried the show (many recordings of which have survived).[5] Bergen's success on radio was paralleled in theUnited Kingdom byPeter Brough and his dummyArchie Andrews (Educating Archie).
For the radio program, Bergen developed other characters, notably the slow-witted Mortimer Snerd and the man-hungry Effie Klinker. The star remained Charlie, who was always presented as a highly precocious child (albeit intop hat, cape, andmonocle)—a debonair, girl-crazy, child-about-town. As a child, and a wooden one at that, Charlie could get away withdouble entendres which were otherwise impossible under broadcast standards of the time.
Charlie andMae West had this conversation in 1937.
Charlie's feud withW. C. Fields was a regular feature of the show.
Bergen was not a technically skilled ventriloquist, and Charlie McCarthy frequently twitted him for moving his lips. However, Bergen's sense of comedic timing was superb, and he handled Charlie's snappy dialog with aplomb. Bergen's wit in creating McCarthy's striking personality and that of his other characters was the making of the show. Bergen's popularity as a ventriloquist on radio, where the trick of "throwing his voice" was not visible, suggests his appeal was primarily the personality he applied to his characters.
Bergen and McCarthy are sometimes credited with "saving the world"[according to whom?] because, on the night of October 30, 1938, whenOrson Welles performed hisWar of the Worlds radio play that panicked many listeners, most of the American public had instead tuned to Bergen and McCarthy on another station and never heard Welles' play.[citation needed] Conversely, it has also been theorized[according to whom?] that Bergen inadvertently contributed to the hysteria. When the musical portion of Bergen's show,The Chase and Sanborn Hour, aired approximately 12 minutes into the show, many listeners adjusted their dial and found theWar of the Worlds presentation already underway with a realistic-sounding reporter detailing terrible events.[citation needed]
Ray Noble was the musical director and composer, and teenage singerAnita Gordon provided the songs on his show.[citation needed] Gordon was said to have been discovered by Charlie, who had a crush on her.
In the fall (autumn) of 1948, Edgar and Charlie faced serious competition fromABC's "jackpot" quiz show,Stop the Music, which suddenly drew more listeners (Fred Allen faced a similar problem because he directly appeared before them). In December 1948, Edgar announced he was temporarily "retiring" from radio, admitting thatStop the Music was too popular to compete with.[citation needed] His final NBC broadcast was on December 26, 1948.
In October 1949, Bergen went toCBS, with a new weekly program,The Charlie McCarthy Show, sponsored byCoca-Cola.[7] After their sponsorship ended in June 1952,Warner-Hudnut, Inc., on behalf of "Lanolin Plus" cosmetics, primarily sponsored the series until the end of the 1953–54 season. In October 1954,Kraft Foods sponsored a newEdgar Bergen Hour. After Kraft's departure, the series continued with participating sponsors as a 55-minute series in the fall of 1955. However, because more people were watching television on Sunday nights than listened to radio (and advertisers preferred to sponsor TV shows by then), the series finally ended on July 1, 1956.
In addition to his work as a ventriloquist, Bergen was also an actor and comic strip creator. He established the syndicated comic stripMortimer and Charlie, which ran in newspapers from July 10, 1939, to May 1940,[8] illustrated first byBen Batsford[9] and then by Carl Buettner.[10] The comic strip's writer was uncredited, but some of the gags certainly were lifted from the hit radio show.[11] Between 1947 and 1954Harvey Eisenberg also drew a comic strip based on Charlie McCarthy, scripted by Bergen.[12]
Bergen and his alter ego Charlie McCarthy were given top billing in several films, including theTechnicolor extravaganzaThe Goldwyn Follies (1938), opposite theRitz Brothers. That year they also appeared inYou Can't Cheat an Honest Man withW. C. Fields. At the height of their popularity in 1937, Bergen was presented anHonorary Oscar (in the form of a wooden Oscar statuette, the only wooden Oscar given so far) for his creation of Charlie McCarthy. Bergen, along with Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd, was also featured in the 1938 filmLetter of Introduction.[citation needed]
As an actor alone, Bergen portrayed the timid suitor of the sister Trina inI Remember Mama (1948), and appeared inCaptain China (1949),The Hanged Man (1964) andDon't Make Waves (1967). Other film roles for the team includeLook Who's Laughing (1941) andHere We Go Again (1942), both withFibber McGee and Molly. Charlie McCarthy wore a US Army uniform inStage Door Canteen (1943) with Mortimer Snerd. Bergen, McCarthy and Snerd were also featured inWalt Disney'sFun and Fancy Free (1947). He later cameoed in all-star films such asThe Phynx (1970),Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976), andThe Muppet Movie (1979). In 1977, Bergen had made a guest appearance on a second-season episode ofThe Muppet Show, the highly acclaimed television comedy/variety program produced byJim Henson who considered Bergen a major inspiration.[13] His daughter Candice had also guest-starred on the show during its first season. Bergen died shortly after filming hisMuppet Movie scene, which was also his final public appearance, and was subsequently dedicated to him. In 2009 Bergen was featured in the comedy documentaryI'm No Dummy,[14] directed byBryan W. Simon.
 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(July 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Although his regular series never made the transition totelevision, Bergen made numerous appearances on the medium during his career. His first appearance was with Charlie McCarthy onNBC's pioneering television variety showHour Glass in November 1946. In a filmedThanksgiving special, billed as his official TV debut, sponsored byCoca-Cola onCBS in 1950, the new character Podine Puffington was introduced; this saucy Southern belle was as tall as a real woman, in contrast to Bergen's other sit-on-the-knee sized characters. On Christmas Day that same year, Bergen and McCarthy appeared as guests onWalt Disney's first television show,One Hour in Wonderland.
In 1954, Bergen was a co-host on a memorable TV musical special,General Foods 25th Anniversary Show: A Salute to Rodgers and Hammerstein.
On December 26, 1954, Bergen appeared onWhat's My Line as a mystery guest. Bergen also hosted the television game showDo You Trust Your Wife? in 1956–1957, later succeeded, in a daytime edition, byJohnny Carson.
He appeared in theChristmas 1957 episode ofNBC'sThe Gisele MacKenzie Show. In 1958, Bergen appeared with his 12-year-old daughterCandice on an episode ofYou Bet Your Life starringGroucho Marx. In 1959, he appeared in the second episode titled "Dossier" of the NBCespionageseriesFive Fingers starringDavid Hedison. On May 21, 1959, he guest-starred with Charlie McCarthy on NBC'sThe Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford. Bergen continued to appear regularly on television during the 1960s and into the 1970s, appearing onThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as late as 1977. He guest-starred as Charlie in the 1960 episode "Moment of Fear" ofCBS'sThe DuPont Show with June Allyson. He did a stint as one of theWhat's My Line? mystery guests on the popular Sunday night CBS series. His colleaguePaul Winchell happened to be a panel member during that episode.[15] Bergen appeared on the NBC interview programHere's Hollywood.
Bergen appeared as Grandpa Zeb Walton in the originalWaltons television movie,The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971). The role was played byWill Geer in the subsequent TV series. During the run ofThe Waltons—which took place throughout the 1930s and 1940s—the voices of Bergen and Charlie McCarthy were sporadically heard from the Waltons' radio, as family members regularly tuned in for that program.
He appeared onThe Muppet Show in Season 2. His daughter,Candice Bergen had appeared in Season 1.
In 1941, Bergen met 18-year-oldFrances Westerman, a young fashion model who had graduated from Los Angeles High School the prior year. He spotted her in the audience of his radio program, where she was the guest of one of his staff members. A long-distance courtship, spanning years, ensued. The two were married in Mexico on June 28, 1945.
On May 9, 1946, Frances gave birth to future actressCandice Bergen, whose first performances were on Bergen's radio show. By 1950, the family lived on Beverly Grove Drive in Los Angeles.[16] The couple's second child was film and TV editor Kris Bergen. Frances also acted in several movies, co-starred in the 1958 TV seriesYancy Derringer, and guest-starred in many other shows.
In mid-September 1978, Bergen announced his retirement and sent his monocled, top-hatted partner, Charlie McCarthy, to theNational Museum of American History at theSmithsonian Institution inWashington, D.C. He opened for Andy Williams atCaesar's Palace Hotel Las Vegas on September 27, for a two-week "Farewell to Show Business" engagement. Three days later, on September 30, 1978, he died of kidney disease.[17] Bergen was interred with his parents (buried under their true surname of "Berggren") inInglewood Park Cemetery,Inglewood, California.
In his will, according to Candice Bergen's memoir,A Fine Romance, he left his daughter nothing but bequeathed his dummy, Charlie McCarthy, $10,000. "I'd chased my father's approval all my life, and here was proof I'd never get it," the actress wrote. "I was hurt, shocked, when I discovered he had left me out of his will." She further explained that her father had provided this inheritance for the dummy so that the funds could be managed, invested, and reinvested to provide for his future performances. She said her father wrote in his will: "I make this provision for sentimental reasons, which to me are vital due to the association with Charlie McCarthy, who has been my constant companion and who has taken on the character of a real person and from whom I have never been separated even for a day." Throughout the book, she suggested that her father seemed to have a stronger kinship with Charlie than with her. The dummy "dominated" her childhood, she explained, and even had his own bedroom in their house. "Those were unique circumstances to grow up in," she wrote. "Sometimes I have to give myself credit for being a functional human being. I knew my father loved me, but with his Swedish reserve, it wasn't his nature to tell me."[18]
A message in theclosing credits dedicatesThe Muppet Movie (which featured Bergen and Charlie in their last screen appearance) to the memory and magic of Bergen. In 1990, Bergen was elected to theRadio Hall of Fame, the same year thatThe Charlie McCarthy Show was selected as an honored program. In 1991, the United States Postal Service honored him with a 29-cent commemorative stamp.
On October 2, 2006, Bergen's widow, Frances Westerman Bergen, died atCedars-Sinai Medical Center inLos Angeles, aged 84, from undisclosed causes.[19] Unlike her husband, she is buried inForest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills).
Bergen was inducted into theHollywood Walk of Fame with three stars in 1960, for his contributions to television,motion pictures, and radio. The stars are located at 6425, 6766, and 6801Hollywood Boulevard, respectively.[20]
