Edgar Bergen

Edgar Bergen (1903–1978) was an American ventriloquist, actor, and radio performer whose best-known puppet characters were Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd.

Charlie McCarthy: A top-hatted wooden dummy portrayed by ventriloquist Edgar Bergen as a sharp-tongued, worldly boy. Bergen’s most famous character became the witty centerpiece of his radio performances.
Ventriloquism: A performance art in which a speaker creates the illusion that a voice comes from another source, often a puppet. Bergen used vocal control and misdirection to make his dummies seem to speak.
Vaudeville: A form of popular theater built from short, varied acts presented on the same bill. Bergen developed his ventriloquist act in the variety-show tradition vaudeville sustained.
Radio audience: People who receive and listen to radio broadcasts. Listeners embraced a ventriloquist whose most distinctive visual effect radio could not show.
Mortimer Snerd: A wooden dummy portrayed by Edgar Bergen as a slow-witted, drawling countryman. Mortimer supplied a comic foil to Charlie McCarthy’s quick wit.
Radio comedy: Comedy created for broadcast through spoken performance, sound, and timing rather than visual action. Radio let Bergen’s characters work through dialogue and voice alone.
Harry Lester: A Chicago ventriloquist who taught Edgar Bergen the craft during Bergen’s youth. Lester introduced Bergen to ventriloquism and helped launch his performing career.
Radio star: A performer whose public fame is built substantially through radio broadcasting. Bergen became a leading radio personality despite the medium’s lack of visible puppets.
The Chase and Sanborn Hour: A major American radio variety program sponsored by Chase and Sanborn coffee from 1929 to 1948. Bergen and his characters became nationally famous through this program.
Character comedy: Comedy built around recurring fictional personalities with distinctive voices, behavior, and relationships. Bergen’s dummies functioned as contrasting characters, not merely props.

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