Editor’s note: This is the 97th of a series about growing up in Marysville during the late 1930s and the 1940s written by Bill Boyd. Each article is a snapshot of the people, businesses and activities during that era as seen through the eyes of a young boy.
Boyd was born in Marysville in 1932, graduated from Marysville High School in 1950, and lived the greater part of his life here.
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Charlie and me
Like just about every other kid who grew up during the 1930s, radio was a big part of my life. There were loads of comedy shows … Fred Alan, Jack Benny, Red Skelton, and Fibber McGee and Molly. There were special kids shows, like Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy and The Lone Ranger. There were mystery shows, musical shows and quiz shows. All in all, there was just about every kind of show a kid could want.
One of my very favorite radio characters was Charlie McCarthy. He and Edgar Bergen used to really crack me up. When I first heard them, I thought they were two real people, but my mother explained that Charlie was just a wooden dummy, and Edgar Bergen was a ventriloquist. I had no idea what that meant, so I asked her to explain.
She told me that Edgar and Charlie were the same person, and Charlie was just a wooden dummy. Edgar Bergen supplied Charlie’s voice, and he did it without moving his lips. She told me that is what a ventriloquist does, and he could also make the dummy’s mouth open and close to make it look like Charlie was talking. Wow, that made me even more fascinated by the show.
I thought the whole idea of talking without moving my lips was really neat. I tried to do it, and it was pretty hard. Some words, such as “celery” were not hard at all, but others like my own name were impossible. I decided to teach myself to become a ventriloquist.
That year, some toy company introduced a small Charlie McCarthy dummy. It looked just like the real Charlie, but it was smaller. Oh boy, did I want one of those for Christmas. I started working on my parents, and I told them how much I wanted to become a ventriloquist. I told them to put a Charlie McCarthy at the top of my wish list.
That Christmas I did receive a Charlie McCarthy, but it was not the real Charlie McCarthy miniature dummy. It was a two dimensional cardboard one. It had a tab that stuck out in back that would open and close the mouth. I guess I was kind of disappointed, but it was certainly better than no Charlie at all. And I began standing in front of a mirror trying to talk for Charlie without moving my lips. It was a slow process, but I kept trying.
One day after school I walked home with a friend of mine named Lloyd Gordon. He had gotten one of the real Charlie dummies for Christmas, and I wanted to see it. It was really great, and I tried to get him to trade it for something, but he wouldn’t even consider it. We had traded stuff before, but there was no way he would part with his Charlie, so I had to keep practicing with my cardboard dummy.
Later that year, an Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy movie came to the Avalon Theater in Marysville. There was no way I was going to miss that, and my parents agreed to take me to see it. I think they, too, really liked Charlie McCarthy.
I don’t remember much about that movie, but I think it also may have had W. C. Fields in it. What I do remember, however, is that I was pretty disappointed in the performance of Edgar Bergen. I’m not talking about his acting, but his talent as a ventriloquist. Even I, a seven-year-old kid, could see his lips moving – not always, but a lot of the time. He was certainly better than I was, but not by a heck of a lot.
Over the next week or so, I did a lot of thinking about my becoming a ventriloquist. I didn’t rule it out, but since I could often see my lips moving, I decided that if I ever did become a ventriloquist, I would do it on the radio, the way Edgar Bergen did. Or if, by chance, I decided to become a juggler, I would also do that on the radio. I think old Edgar knew exactly what he was doing. He was no dummy.
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(Those wishing to contact Bill Boyd can email him at bill@davidwboyd.com)