Dummy: Charlie McCarthy Movies
The irrepressible Charlie McCarthy was born at the age of 11. More specifically, he was carved from a block of pine by an Illinois carpenter named Theodore Mack, then sold to aspiring teenage ventriloquist Edgar Bergen for 35 dollars. Created in the image of a Chicago newsboy named -- what else? -- Charlie, the little wooden head joined Bergen for a series of private parties, touring shows, and one-night stands, finally finding steady work on vaudeville. At first dressed as a street urchin, Charlie eventually adopted the tuxedo, top hat, and monocle that would one day become world famous. The story goes that one evening, while Bergen's act was bombing in front of a bored night club audience, Charlie suddenly turned to his partner and ad-libbed, "Who the hell ever told you you were a ventriloquist!" He then proceeded to insult each and every member of the audience, while Bergen, who up to this point had been suffering without complaint, sat by in helpless silence (except for his ever-moving lips). The "new," irreverent Charlie McCarthy scored an immediate hit with the audience, inspiring Bergen to continue venting his frustrations through his dummy in a similarly hilarious but better scripted fashion. In 1930, Charlie made his screen debut in a Vitaphone one-reeler, and within a few years was receiving billing over his mentor Bergen. Officially discovered for radio by Rudy Vallee in 1936, Bergen and McCarthy went on to star on the top-rated Chase and Sanborn Hour, later retitled The Charlie McCarthy Show. The duo made their first feature film appearance in The Goldwyn Follies (1938), then went on to star in a series of breezy comedies opposite such film and radio favorites as W.C. Fields, Lucille Ball, and Fibber McGee and Molly. After co-starring in the Disney feature Fun and Fancy Free (1947), Charlie and his fellow dummies Mortimer Snerd and Effie Klinker (together with Bergen, of course) moved into TV, where in the mid-'50s they co-hosted the comedy quiz program Do You Trust Your Wife? Even when his fortunes waned in the 1960s, Charlie continued to live in lavish splendor with the Bergen family, occupying a bedroom that was even larger than that of his "sister" Candice Bergen. Not long after making a cameo appearance in The Muppet Movie, Bergen and McCarthy made a spectacularly successful comeback appearance in Las Vegas -- a comeback cut short by Bergen's fatal heart attack at the age of 75. For all intents and purposes, Charlie McCarthy died right along with Bergen: Since retiring to the Smithsonian Institution in 1978, Charlie has uttered not one, single, solitary word. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1998
He was born William Claude Dukenfield, but to the world for over thirty years he was known as W.C. Fields, star of the vaudeville stage and of the cinema, first starting in silent films and then earning an impressive repertoire in the talkies. His classic films include My Little Chickadee, The Bank Dick, David Copperfield and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break. This one-hour documentary examines the colorful life and professional career of this very talented comedian, and includes archival footage and clips, as well as a discussion of Fields' radio rivalry with Charlie McCarthy. ~ Forrest Spencer, All Movie Guide
- 1970
- PG
Have you ever longed for the day when James Brown, Martha Raye, and Col. Harland Sanders would appear in a movie together? Well, that's barely the tip of the improbable casting iceberg in this bizarre cold-war spoof. The leaders of the American intelligence organization the S.S.A. ("Super Secret Agency") are becoming increasingly alarmed by the disappearance of a number of B-list celebrities, who are being spirited off to Communist Albania. Eager to bring the fading stars back to the Land of the Free, the S.S.A. come up with a simple plan: They'll find four typical guys in their mid-twenties, have them form a rock group, make them into international stars, and wait until they get invited to play a gig in Albania, which will allow them to find out what's become of Rudy Vallee, Butterfly McQueen, and Huntz Hall, among others. Unemployed philosopher Michael A. Miller, Native-American honor student Ray Chippeway, phys-ed major Dennis Larden, and male model Lonny Stevens are drafted by the S.S.A., and after some intensive training by experts (Trini Lopez shows them a few guitar chords, and Richard Pryor gives them a crash course in soul), they become an overnight sensation as The Phynx (yes, it's pronounced "Finks"). Their album sells 17 million copies on the strength of songs like "What Is Your Sign?," and their groupies have to be cleared away by forklift. But fun and games have to go to the back burner when Albanian ruler Markevitch (George Tobias) and his wife, Ruby (Joan Blondell), invite the Phynx to perform at the behest of their son. Pat O'Brien, Xavier Cugat, Patty Andrews, and Dick Clark are just a few of the other notables who make cameo appearances in The Phynx, which had a very brief theatrical release before being sold to television in the early '70s. Legendary songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller penned the songs performed by The Phynx (and Stoller composed the background score), though for some reason they're not covered nearly as often as "Jailhouse Rock," "Hound Dog," or "Yakkety Yak." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Miller, Ray Chippeway, (more)
- 1956
This video contains episodes from two popular television quiz shows from the 1950s. Do You Trust Your Wife starred the talented Edgar Bergen and his wooden counterpart Charlie McCarthy while I've Got a Secret featured host Garry Moore. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1944
A beautiful child (14-year-old Jane Powell in her feature film debut) star tires of life in the spotlight and so disguises herself and sneaks off to join a Civilian Conservation Corps camp to work with normal kids. It doesn't take her long to discover that being "normal" isn't easy as it looks. When a crop is in danger of being ruined because there are not enough people to harvest it, the girl employs some of her famous colleagues to lend a hand. Cameo appearances include W.C. Fields, Charley McCarthy and Edgar Bergen and the dancing Condos Brothers. Songs include: "Too Much in Love," "Here It Is Monday," "Delightfully Dangerous," "Hawaiian War Chant" and "Notre Dame." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edgar Bergen, Jane Powell, (more)
- 1942
Filmed on leftover Magnificent Ambersons sets, Here We Go Again is the most endearingly wacky of RKO Radio's Fibber McGee & Molly vehicles. The story begins as the popular radio duo prepares to leave their home town of Wistful Vista and embark upon a second honeymoon. After discovering that hotel where they originally stayed 20 years earlier is now a rundown fleabag, Fibber (Jim Jordan) and Molly (Marian Jordan) head to fancy-schmansy Silver Tip Lodge, where they run into Molly's former sweetheart Otis Cadwalader (Gale Gordon) and Fibber's "friendly enemy" Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve (Harold Peary). Meanwhile, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his dummy pals Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd are trying to enjoy an outdoor camping trip, only to be periodically interrupted by a hungry bear and an irascible Indian tribe. The destinities of the various characters are brought together when Cadwalader tries to convince Fibber to invest in a revolutionary motor-fuel formula, while Bergen romances Gildersleeve's pretty niece Jean (Ginny Simms). Also contributing to this "comedy salad" are Fibber McGee and Molly regulars Bill Thompson as wispy Wallace Wimple and Isabel Randolph as haughty Mrs. Uppington, and Edgar Bergen's radio orchestra leader Ray Noble. Highlights include Fibber's special effects-laden billiard game, Charlie McCarthy's song-and-dance number "This Delicious Delirium" (the dapper little dummy is rather obviously doubled by a midget in the long shots!), and the film's whimsical black-comedy fadeout gag. An enormous box-office hit, Here We Go Again is an absolute must for old-time radio aficionados. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Jordan, Marian Jordan, (more)
- 1941
Several popular radio personalities converge in the RKO Radio "comedy salad" Look Who's Laughing. Taking a vacation from his radio series, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen sets out in his private plane, accompanied by his dummy Charlie McCarthy. Developing engine trouble, Bergen makes a forced landing in the town of Wistful Vista, home of Fibber McGee and Molly (Jim and Marian Jordan). Here he gets mixed up in a municipal dispute between Fibber and Throckmorton Gildersleeve (Harold Peary) over the impending construction of a local aircraft factory. Before the film's multitude of complications can be straightened out, Fibber and Molly find themselves aloft in a runaway plane, while Charlie McCarthy falls in love with a squeaky-voiced little girl (who turns out to be Molly in disguise). Best scene: A disconsolate Charlie getting "wasted" on ice-cream sodas while counterman Sterling Holloway looks on sympathetically. Lucille Ball is largely wasted as Bergen's secretary, while Fibber McGee and Molly's radio announcer Harlow Wilcox shows up in a character bit. A box-office bonanza, Look Who's Laughing spawned an abundance of future screen assignments for Bergen, McCarthy, Fibber, Molly, and "Gildersleeve." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edgar Bergen, Dummy: Charlie McCarthy, (more)
- 1939
Having proven their box-office value in such films as A Letter of Introduction, Goldwyn Follies and You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his wise-lipped dummy Charlie McCarthy were awarded with a starring vehicle of their own. While entertaining at the home of magazine publisher Court Aldrich (Samuel S. Hinds), Bergen and his "friends" Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd get mixed up in their host's murder. It seems that Aldrich was working hand in glove with gangster Tony Garcia (Harold Huber), who has kept himself busy knocking off the publisher's enemies. Could Garcia be the murderer this time as well, or was it someone else at the party? Inspector Dailey (Edgar Kennedy) wants to find out-but he doesn't want the unsolicited assistance of Charlie McCarthy, who insists upon playing Sherlock Holmes, replete with deerstalker and magnifying glass. Though essentially a "stunt" film, Charlie McCarthy, Detective pleases the crowd with an abundance of hilarious dialogue and a reasonably good mystery subplot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edgar Bergen, Robert Cummings, (more)
- 1939
In his starring film for Universal Pictures, W.C. Fields plays circus manager and all-around flim flam man Larson E. Whipsnade. When he's not trying to fleece the customers or elude the sheriff, Whipsnade busys himself trying to break up the romance between his daughter Vicky (Constance Moore) and carnival ventriloquist Edgar Bergen (playing himself). He also carries on a running feud with Bergen's nattily attired dummy Charlie McCarthy ("I'll slash you into venetian blinds!"). Bergen's other dummy is Mortimer Snerd, who occasionally comments upon the action in his own thickheaded fashion. Anxious to arrange a marriage between Vicki and the wealthy Roger Bel-Goodie III (James Bush), Whipsnade disposes of Bergen and his dummies by sending them aloft in a hot-air baloon. Attending a party at the Bel-Goodie mansion, Whipsnade makes a pest of himself by constantly referring to snakes, a subject that invariably causes Mrs. Bel-Goodie (Mary Forbes) to swoon. He also engages in a zany ping-pong tournament with socialite Ronnie (Ivan Lebedeff). But it is Vicki, and not Whipsnade, who breaks up the engagement by telling off her pompous fiance. At that very instant, Bergen, having escaped from the balloon, arrives to claim Vicki and to help Whipsnade escape the sheriff once more. A partial remake of the W.C. Fields silent Two Flaming Youths, You Can't Cheat an Honest Man was scripted by Fields under the pseudonym "Charles Bogle." As published in the 1973 compendium W.C. Fields by Himself, the original screenplay was to have had dramatic overtones, including the death of Fields' trapeze-artist wife and a climactic soul-baring scene wherein Fields expresses his genuine love for his daughter. All this was jettisoned when it was decided to capitalize on the Fields-Charlie McCarthy "feud" then blazing on radio's Chase and Sanborn Show. While nowhere near as funny as Fields' subsequent Universal feature The Bank Dick, You Can't Cheat an Honest Man still contains a generous supply of laughs. Our favorite line: "Somebody's taken the cork out of my lunch." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- W.C. Fields, Edgar Bergen, (more)
A master blend of high comedy and tense emotional drama, A Letter of Introduction reteams Adolphe Menjou, Andrea Leeds, and Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy, who'd previously costarred in the negligible Goldwyn Follies. Menjou plays John Mannering, a Barrymoresque actor who years earlier had divorced his wife and severed his relationship with his daughter Kay (Andrea Leeds). Now a grown woman, Kay aspires to an acting career, fully determined to make it on her own without her father's help. She goes so far as to change her last name to Martin, and to keep her actual relationship to Mannering a secret from the public. This set-up leads to a dizzying series of complications, including the breakup of Mannering's romance with a tootsie named Lydia Hoyt (Anne Sheridan), who falsely assumes that Kay is Mannering's mistress, and Kay's own romantic travails with vaudeville hoofer Barry Paige (George Murphy). Meanwhile, Kay's ventriloquist friend Bergen and his dummy McCarthy rise to superstardom on radio. It is, in fact, Bergen and Charlie who are instrumental in reuniting the estranged Mannering and Kay, paving the way for the film's tear-stained conclusion. Unavailable for many years, A Letter of Introduction re-emerged on the Public Domain circuit in 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Andrea Leeds, (more)
