Once upon a time... there was a puppet, a very famous puppet, named Charlie McCarthy. He worked with a very funny man named Edgar Bergen. (Edgar's daughter, Candice was so influenced by her older brother, Charlie, she went into acting.) During the 1930's all the way to Charlie's retirement in 1970, there were millions of Charlie McCarthy dolls sold all over the country. Charlie and Edgar were very famous for their work in radio, movies, and television. 

 

In Gouverneur, NY, in the 1940's lived two little boys named Ronnie and Donald Simpson. We speculate that their mother and father, Oira and Edward, got this Charlie McCarthy doll for them. All of them may have listened to Edgar Bergan and Charlie McCarthy on the radio. History is sometimes/often written by speculation.

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The Effanbee toy company was only one officially licensed company that sold Charlie McCarthy dolls. The dolls were an exact copy of Charlie McCarthy and they came in two sizes: 15″ tall and 20″ tall. Both sizes had lots of outfits, ranging from the detective outfit to a full tuxedo. Both sizes had the monocle which attached in a tiny hole in the head.

 

On May 6, 1949, long before Charlie would become part of the collection at the Gouverneur Museum, the Simpson's puppet participated in a pageant. The event was sponsored by the American Legion to benefit the American Legion Band. Charlie was awarded Second Place: The Prince of Toy Land... he also has another ribbon which tells us more about his achievement that day, as he was awarded the ribbon for "Largest Doll" in the contest. 

 

It is lucky he has the ribbons to remember his achievement by, because what he doesn't know is, he isn't a real Charlie McCarthy doll. Unfortunately, this guy is a Charlie McCarthy doll in nickname only. In August, 2019, we sent a photo of our "Prince to Janie Nafsinger of Antique Child Doll Restoration. She said our Prince was a "Dummy Dan" or "Dapper Dan." We (and he) prefers "dapper."  

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And how dapper he is... now.