John Cosway sent in a great question a few months ago that we all talk about….how many Charlie McCarthy’s are there?
Since this week we’ve posted a couple of blogs about Edgar Bergen, I thought it was a great time to share the correspondence that John and I have had these past few months and the story John wrote.
Below are the emails after John asked his question:
Hi John,
That is a very good question of which the exact answer today still eludes everyone. The fact is that there were many Charlies made for Mr Bergen but the exact number is not known. One is in the Smithsonian, One is in the Radio Museum in Chacago , one is in the David Copperfield collection and Copperfield also owns the frowning Charlie. So that is part of the answer.
Sincerely,
Dan
Hi Dan,
Thank you for your prompt reply. Can we quote you for
a freelance story?
John
John,
Yes you can and I am going to use this question as a blog on my site. I thought it was a great question and others would also like this information.
Thanks
Dan
Hi Dan,
Not sure if you saw the story, but here it is:
http://waybacktimes.com/coswayscorner.html
Thank you for your assistance.
John
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Be sure to check out John’s story.
Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com
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Dan Willinger is a ventriloquism enthusiast and ventriloquist figure collector. He has been collecting for over 25 years. His collection of ventriloquist figures now numbers over 100 figures of which there are over 50 Frank Marshall figures. Because of his love for the art of ventriloquism, Mr. Willinger created the website Ventriloquist Central. For more information about the website, go to: http://www.ventriloquistcentral.com
Copyright 2009 by Dan Willinger
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If this is any help http://www.kalvan.net/album/album1.htm if you scroll down you will see a photo of an original charlie with his owner Teddy Davis. I have no guess as to how many because i have seen photos of Edgar with charlies with the Marshall style hands(cupped with thumb tip and pointer not attached), Marshall with the fingers attached, and the style with the pointer extended. Also, the latest version of charlie(to my knowledge) the one in the Muppets movie, to me looks as if Charlies face is made to look a bit aged like Edgar was. I have also noticed the the same Charlie seems to have a slightly wider head than other Charlies. hope this helps
-Austin Phillips