30 minute comedy/variety episodes
Well, I am not really sure how to sell you on this program. Hey, its ventriloquism....on the radio!!! How cool is that? If you listen really carefully, you can't see Edgar Bergen's lips move. Did you know that Charlie McCarthy (the dummy) is supposed to be a kid, yet he wears a tuxedo and monocle. That's right, the kid wears a monocle. Although Edgar Bergen was born to Swedish immigrant parents (real name Bergren) McCarthy is English.
Edgar learned ventriloquism from a pamphlet when he was a child, in a few years he got a local woodcarver to carve a puppet head in the shape of an paperboy Edgar knew. And thus, Charlie McCarthy was born. Edgar and Charlie did the vaudeville circuit for a while. Then they were discovered and given a shot on the Rudy Vallee radio program. They had a good comedy act, but seriously no one really thought that a ventriloquism act would take off on the radio. But they did. Bergen and McCarthy soon got their own radio show on the Chase and Sanborn Hour, the shows they later did were just a half hour.
Their success rested on the witty quick rejoinder between Charlie and Bergen (or their guest). Particularly notable was Charlie's trading insults with W.C. Fields:
W.C. Fields: "Well, 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?"
By making Charlie a “kid” and a puppet at that, Bergen was able to get lines in that the censors at the time wouldn't allow an adult to make. The show had plenty of double entendres, that if you think about is just plain creepy, so best not to think about it.
Notable for Bergen and McCarthy:
For the December 12, 1937 show the guest was Mae West, and the show was so risque for the time that West was banned from radio broadcasting for 12 years (and yet even after Waterworld, Kevin Costner is still allowed to make movies). The skit was called Adam and Eve. Lesson to would be entertainers: don't mix sex, comedy, and the Bible. Yes, this is one of the free episodes we have here.
Bergen and McCarthy made some appearances in tv and movies, but were not as successful as they were on the radio. The Muppet Movie was their last appearance, and the movie is dedicated to them.
Charlie now resides in the Smithsonian.
Bergen received an honorary Oscar (made of wood of course).
The night of Oson Welles' “War of the Worlds” broadcast there is an apocryphal story that many listeners switched from the McCarthy and Bergen show when a musical guest was on to the Welles' broadcast (right when “War of the Worlds” sounded like a very real news broadcast, and thus helped to freak out the nation.
Text from Wikipedia
Purchase as a download, purchase as CD(s), or listen for free
All of our Old Time Radio Programs are in MP3 format. You can play them on your computer, you can transfer them to MP3 players (like the IPod), but, by and large, you cannot play them on stereos, walkmen, or car radios.
The sound quality of Old Time Radio Programs can vary greatly. Some episodes are excellent, others you have to turn up the volume a little and ignore the static. All of the episodes can be listened to and enjoyed. You can listen to our free samples to get a feel for how the programs sound.
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Episode List Set 1
edgar_bergen_37-06-06 W C Fields Joan Blondell.mp3
edgar_bergen_37-09-05 Ida Lupino.mp3
edgar_bergen_37-12-12_Adam_And_Eve_With_Mae_West.mp3
edgar_bergen_38-10-30 Chase and Sanborn Show with Don Ameche.mp3
edgar_bergen_40-04-21 Charles Laughton.mp3
edgar_bergen_40-10-27 Frankie Laine.mp3
edgar_bergen_41-09-21 W C Fields and Abbott and Costello.mp3
edgar_bergen_41-12-07 Judy Garland.mp3
edgar_bergen_42-03-03 Edward Everett Horton.mp3
edgar_bergen_42-05-03 Judy Garland.mp3
edgar_bergen_42-06-29 Walter Brennan.mp3
edgar_bergen_42-09-06 Charles Ruggles.mp3
edgar_bergen_42-10-05 Guest Rosemary Clooney.mp3
edgar_bergen_42-10-11 From Annapolis Naval Academy.mp3
edgar_bergen_42-10-18 From Quantico Marine Base.mp3
edgar_bergen_42-11-02 W.C. Fields.mp3
edgar_bergen_43-02-07 Teresa Wright.mp3
edgar_bergen_43-02-21 Carmen Miranda.mp3
edgar_bergen_43-03-28 Guest Roy Rogers.mp3
edgar_bergen_43-04-11 Martha Raye and Bill Thompson.mp3
edgar_bergen_43-04-18 Ronald Coleman.mp3
edgar_bergen_43-04-25 Barbra Stanwyck.mp3
edgar_bergen_43-05-16 Claudette Colbert and Rags Ragland.mp3
edgar_bergen_43-05-23 Guest Charles Boyer.mp3
edgar_bergen_43-05-30 Guest Walter Pidgeon.mp3
edgar_bergen_43-09-12 Humphrey Bogart.mp3
edgar_bergen_43-09-26 Hedy Lamarr.mp3
edgar_bergen_43-10-31 Dorothy Lamour.mp3
edgar_bergen_43-11-07 Elsa Maxwell.mp3
edgar_bergen_43-12-05 Guests Bert Lahr, Fats Waller and Jane Powell.mp3
edgar_bergen_43-12-12 Bert Lahr and Lena Horne.mp3
edgar_bergen_44-01-23 Greer Garson.mp3
edgar_bergen_44-02-06 Susan Hayward.mp3
edgar_bergen_44-03-06 Cecil B. Demille.mp3
edgar_bergen_44-03-13 Charles Ruggles and Jane Powell.mp3
edgar_bergen_44-04-02 Orson Welles and Jane Powell.mp3
edgar_bergen_44-09-17 Guest Leo Carillo.mp3
edgar_bergen_44-10-29 Halloween.mp3
edgar_bergen_44-11-12 Frank Fay.mp3
edgar_bergen_44-12-03 Don Ameche.mp3
edgar_bergen_44-12-10 Charlie Answers Ad For Edgar.mp3
edgar_bergen_44-12-24 Night Before Christmas.mp3
edgar_bergen_45-01-07 Guest Carmen Miranda.mp3
edgar_bergen_45-01-14 Louis Bromfield.mp3
Episode List Set 02
edgar_bergen_45-01-21 Frank Sinatra.mp3
edgar_bergen_45-02-04 Albert E. Wiggem.mp3
edgar_bergen_45-02-18 Ginny Simms and Veronica Lake.mp3
edgar_bergen_45-02-25 Gene Tierney.mp3
edgar_bergen_45-05-02 Dr. Max Mason.mp3
edgar_bergen_45-05-20 Running Away With Janet Blair.mp3
edgar_bergen_45-09-09 Keenan Wynn.mp3
edgar_bergen_45-09-23 Ann Baxter.mp3
edgar_bergen_45-09-30 Fred Allen and Portland Hoffa.mp3
edgar_bergen_45-10-14 Hildegarde.mp3
edgar_bergen_45-10-21 Fred Allen.mp3
edgar_bergen_45-11-11 Gov Kerr Of Oklahoma.mp3
edgar_bergen_45-11-18 Margaret O'Brien.mp3
edgar_bergen_45-12-16 Trip To The Planetarium.mp3
edgar_bergen_46-02-17 Memories With Ray Milland.mp3
edgar_bergen_46-03-24 At The Barbershop with W.C. Fields.mp3
edgar_bergen_46-06-21 Abbott and Costello Part 1.mp3
edgar_bergen_46-06-28 Abbott and Costello Part 2.mp3
edgar_bergen_46-11-17 Tallulah Bankhead.mp3
edgar_bergen_46-11-24 Everette Edward Horton.mp3
edgar_bergen_47-04-23 Roy Rogers.mp3
edgar_bergen_47-05-09 Getting Ready for Hunting Trip.mp3
edgar_bergen_47-09-02 Jack and the Beanstalk .mp3
edgar_bergen_47-09-14 Michael Romanoff.mp3
edgar_bergen_47-09-21 Walt Disney.mp3
edgar_bergen_47-09-28 Betty Hutton.mp3
edgar_bergen_47-10-05 Don Ameche.mp3
edgar_bergen_47-10-12 Linda Darnell.mp3
edgar_bergen_47-10-19 Jane Wyman.mp3
edgar_bergen_47-10-26 Richard Widmark.mp3
edgar_bergen_47-11-02 Fred Allen.mp3
edgar_bergen_47-11-09 Maurice Evans.mp3
edgar_bergen_47-11-16 Lana Turner.mp3
edgar_bergen_47-11-23 Carmen Miranda.mp3
edgar_bergen_47-11-30 Edward Everett Horton.mp3
edgar_bergen_47-12-07 Roy Rogers.mp3
edgar_bergen_47-12-14 Gregory Peck.mp3
edgar_bergen_48-04-04 Rudy Valee.mp3
edgar_bergen_48-10-17 Don Ameche.mp3
edgar_bergen_48-12-26 Last show for Chase and Sanborn.mp3
edgar_bergen_49-01-19 10th Anniversary Show.mp3
edgar_bergen_49-01-30 Basil Rathbone.mp3
edgar_bergen_49-11-13 Dick Powell.mp3
edgar_bergen_49-12-18 June Allyson.mp3
edgar_bergen_52-10-05 Rosemary Clooney.mp3
edgar_bergen_54-12-26 Hopalong Cassidy.mp3
edgar_bergen_55-11-27 Jack Benny.mp3
edgar_bergen_55-12-18 Xmas With Candy Bergen.mp3
edgar_bergen_Charlie Plans His Own Birthday Party.RA
edgar_bergen_Don Ameche.mp3
Fred Allen.mp3
Guest Jean Arthur.mp3
Guest Marjorie Main.mp3
Guests Bill Thompson and Mary Bolen.mp3
