His first performances were in
vaudeville, at which point he legally changed his last name to the easier-to-pronounce "Bergen". 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 regular cast roles as part of
The Chase and Sanborn Hour. 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. 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). Bergen's success on radio was paralleled in the
United Kingdom by
Peter Brough and his dummy
Archie 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 in
top hat, cape, and
monocle)—a debonair, girl-crazy, child-about-town. As a child, and a wooden one at that, Charlie could get away with
double entendres which were otherwise impossible under broadcast standards of the time. :
Charlie: "May I have a kiss good-bye?" :
Dale Evans: "Well, I can't see any harm in that!" :
Charlie: "Oh. I wish you could. A harmless kiss doesn't sound very thrilling." Charlie and
Mae West had this conversation in 1937. :
Charlie: "Not so loud, Mae, not so loud! All my girlfriends are listening." :
Mae: "Oh, yeah! You're all wood and a yard long." :
Charlie: "Yeah." :
Mae: "You weren't so nervous and backward when you came up to see me at my apartment. In fact, you didn't need any encouragement to kiss me." :
Charlie: "Did I do that?" :
Mae: "Why, you certainly did. I got marks to prove it. An' splinters, too." Charlie's feud with
W. C. Fields was a regular feature of the show. :
W. C. Fields: "Well, if it isn't Charlie McCarthy, the woodpecker's pinup boy!" :
Charlie: "Well, if it isn't W.C. Fields, the man who keeps Seagram's in business!" :
W. C. Fields: "I love children. I can remember when, with my own little unsteady legs, I toddled from room to room." :
Charlie: "When was that? Last night?" :
W. C. Fields: "Quiet, Wormwood, or I'll whittle you into a venetian blind." :
Charlie: "Ooh, that makes me shutter!" :
W. C. Fields: "Tell me, Charles, is it true that your father was a gate-leg table?" :
Charlie: "If it is, your father was under it." :
W. C. Fields: "Why, you stunted spruce, I'll throw a Japanese beetle on you." :
Charlie: "Why, you bar-fly you, I'll stick a wick in your mouth, and use you for an alcohol lamp!" :
Charlie: "Pink elephants take aspirin to get rid of W. C. Fields." :
W.C. Fields: "Step out of the sun Charles. You may come unglued." :
Charlie: "Mind if I stand in the shade of your nose?" 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" because, on the night of October 30, 1938, when
Orson Welles performed his
War 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. Conversely, it has also been theorized 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 the
War of the Worlds presentation already underway with a realistic-sounding reporter detailing terrible events.
Ray Noble was the musical director and composer, and teenage singer
Anita Gordon provided the songs on his show. 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 from
ABC'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 that
Stop the Music was too popular to compete with. His final NBC broadcast was on December 26, 1948. ==
The Charlie McCarthy Show==