Charlie McCarthy Dummy

Charlie McCarthy ventriloquist dummy
Charlie McCarthy and his human, the ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, got their start on radio in 1936, then had success in other media through the 1970s. View object record
Kevin Bright
Producer and Director of the hit television series Friends  
 

I have an original Charlie McCarthy retail dummy. I think McCarthy set the tone for a lot of acts that followed, including Wayland Flowers and Madame, Shari Lewis, Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney, and Buffalo Bob and Howdy Doody. They all owe a debt to Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy.

Carole Bayer Sager
Lyricist, Singer, and Songwriter 
 

When I was very small, I had a ventriloquist act. My parents used to ask me to perform for their friends when we stayed in the Beach Colony in Rockaway, Long Island, and Far Rockaway. I would happily pick up my Charlie McCarthy dummy and perform. Even then, the dummy was saying things for me that I couldn’t say for myself. I think that was the extension into writing songs and having other people sing them, because the songs could say things for me that I might not say directly.