Silver Plate Pair Charlie McCarthy spoons

Charlie McCarthy was a dummy partner of American ventriloquist Edgar Bergan. Charlie was part of Bergen’s act as early as high school, and by 1930 was attired in a top hat, tuxedo and monocle.  The character was so well known that his popularity exceeded that of his performer, Bergen.  (Bergen was the father of actress Candice Bergen)

Charlie’s personality was that of a mischievous little boy, who could wisecrack, misbehave and flirt shamelessly in a way that Bergen could not. Bergen’s original dummy was built by carpenter/dummy-maker Theodore Mack, and was later rebuilt by Frank Marshall. A 1938 magazine article reported that “When Edgar Bergen was a high school student in Chicago in the post-war [WWI] period, he got the notion that he wanted a dummy so that he could become a ventriloquist. He came to Mr. [Charlie] Mack’s workshop who assigned [Frank] Marshall to the problem. Bergen wanted a fresh Irish kid, resembling a newsboy that he knew, and the present Charlie McCarthy was made and sold to Bergen for $35 in 1923. However, it was not until 1933 that Charlie and Bergen breezed into Broadway and were an instantaneous hit which was climaxed by their appearance on the radio.”