Wednesday, December 24, 1997
What ever happened to the dummy Charlie McCarthy when ventriloquist Edgar Bergen took him to Tripler Hospital for dental work? Mortimer Snerd
had Tripler careIt was Bergen's other alter ego, Mortimer Snerd, who had a tooth that was fractured at the gum line. It was replaced at Tripler Jan. 6, 1966. Bergen, here a few days on his way to entertain troops in the Far East, brought down the house when Mortimer had the missing tooth replaced.
A crowd of chuckling onlookers jammed a small dental office and peered in through outside windows as a Tripler dentist inserted stainless steel pins and cemented a new plastic tooth onto the stainless steel pins.
"It's not really a gag," Bergen said. "We did lose a tooth here." Before and after, Bergen and Mortimer exchanged wisecracks, delighting the small audience.
"Don't bother with the novocaine," Bergen said. His wife, Frances, found the operation amusing. She later told a reporter if daughter Candice managed to get a part she was after, she would be a star. A professional singer, Frances Bergen appeared with the show on the military circuit in the Far East.
The late Edgar Bergen made 13 motion pictures with Charlie McCarthy. Bergen's Charlie McCarthy Show, which included Mortimer Snerd, was a Sunday night favorite on radio from 1937 to 1957. They also made numerous television appearances.