Temple Tuesday: Shirley and Charlie

It probably sounds very hard to believe that one of the most popular radio programs in the country starred a ventriloquist and his doll, but it’s true. Edgar Bergen (the ventriloquist) and Charlie McCarthy (his not so dumb dummy) had an eleven year run on a radio show sponsored by Chase and Sanborn Coffee from 1937 to 1948. Bergen was the somewhat reserved "straight man” of the act and Charlie was his racy sarcastic counterpart. Together, the "two" made magic. I discovered in 2015 at the Love, Shirley Temple auction that the child star had her very own Charlie McCarthy 20" doll (shown in the photo above) gifted to her directly by Bergen himself. Shirley, Charlie, and Bergen were together in the American Legion Parade in Hollywood, September 20, 1938:



The Charlie McCarthy ventriloquist dolls were made by the Effanbee doll company. The gift might have been the result of a blurb from Silver Screen magazine in October, 1937: “Before leaving for her holiday in Honolulu, little Miss Shirley Temple made only one request of her studio: could she have lunch with Charlie McCarthy? ...Charlie was so pleased when Public Favorite Number 1 asked to lunch with him that he has been insufferable ever since.” Below, Shirley appears on the Charlie McCarthy radio show on NBC, May 4, 1941. The three performed a radio adaptation of the classic fairytale Jack and the Beanstalk.



The Theriault's auction included a photograph of Shirley with Edgar and his Charlie puppet as well as a letter dated October 10, 1938 which thanks the young star for her photograph, noting that “Charlie wanted it for his room, but I thought the den would be a much better place for it.”



Charlie and Edgar paid a visit to Shirley at her Brentwood home in 1941:



A shot of Shirley’s Charlie McCarthy when I saw it on exhibit at the Santa Monica History Museum:



To give you an idea of just how far Edgar/Charlie pushed the censors, here’s a famous dialogue between Charlie and Mae West from December 1937:

Mae: “Come on home with me, honey. I’ll let you play in my wood pile.”
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."

As a result of that show, West was kicked off the airwaves until 1950.

Here’s a vintage shot of the duo with famed gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. From the accompanying publicity blurb:

Charlie McCarthy challenges Hedda Hopper's hat crown on his radio show. "What time do you feed that thing on your head?" he quips. "I don't have to feed it — I just shot it this morning," replies Hopper, while Edgar Bergen referees, looking like "Old Professor Quiz."



A later shot of them at the famous Brown Derby restaurant; I am guessing from the 1970s.



From my own collection comes a shot of the 15" tall composition Charlie from Effanbee with its original button:



and a 20" Charlie, which strangely enough did not include a monocle, nor is there a hole near the eye, which would have indicated one had not been originally included.



See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Shirley For Sale Pt. 4

This panoramic shot shows the bulk of the Shirley Temple movie costumes and memorabilia that was on display at the Santa Monica History Museum for the "Love, Shirley Temple" exhibit. This vintage photo from "Curly Top" 1935 shows Shirley portraying at 16 year old:



Here's the dress today, on display in the back row:



Many of the costumes were from Shirley's 1939 classic, "The Little Princess." This beautiful blue outfit trimmed in fur…



can be seen at the beginning of the film when Shirley arrives at Miss Minchin's School for Girls:



Shirley has a chat with the head of the school, Miss Minchin (Mary Nash):



Her school girl outfit:



Towards the end of the film, there is a dream sequence where Shirley fancies herself a ballerina:



The pretty pink costume today:



She also imagined herself a Princess:



The fur cape/train seemed to go on forever behind the main costume:



"Heidi," 1937, is definitely one of the best known Temple films. This time, the dream sequence had Shirley in this ornate 18th century costume:



Now we can see it in color:



A closeup of the shoes:



In the same sequence, Shirley sang "In Our Little Wooden Shoes" in a dutch outfit:



It has held up very well!



For the climactic scene where Klara is able to walk again…



Shirley wore this beautiful blue velvet dress:



For many of the outfits like this "opera" dress from "Captain January"...



there were accompanying costume sketches/watercolors. The detail is incredible.



The exhibit was much more than just costumes though. Many cherished personal items were included, such as this priceless autograph book filled with inscriptions and drawings from Disney animators:



This model racing car was a gift from friend and frequent costar Bill Robinson. This one-cylinder motor car was the pride and joy of Shirley, but had to be banned from the studio lot as the little tot found the need for speed!



This Charlie McCarthy doll was a gift from ventriloquist Edgar Bergen himself:



There was so much more there and apparently even more that wasn't on display. I anxiously await this collection's fate as the date draws closer to the July 14th auction.

View additional Santa Monica History Museum photos at my main website.