Mortimer Snerd: “Bergen is not talking for me…I have another
ventriloquist under the desk.”
Dim-witted Mortimer Snerd is special
guest Edgar Bergen’s second-most famous dummy, after Charlie McCarthy. The panelists have all been supplied with
dummies in their likenesses, and try to operate them as they ask the
questions. Chuck McCann provides the
voice of Snerd from beneath the desk.
McCann is the popular host of a local NYC children’s show at this point
in his career. He would go on to become a familiar face in television and film,
usually in comedies but occasionally in dramatic roles as well.
Steve Fanning from the Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus tells why
the circus had to return to New Jersey after moving to Philadelphia: “I forgot
an elephant”
Fanning’s
missing elephant Bessie joins him on stage.
Traveling circuses have fallen out of favor in recent years, largely due
to modern concerns over the treatment of performing animals, but in the 1960s
they were still a popular form of family entertainment. At the time, Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. billed
itself as “The World’s Largest Circus,” though the biggest and most famous
player in the 20th century was the Ringling Brothers and Barnum
& Bailey Circus. Both companies have
ceased operations within the last few years.
Mr. Borjeva from Sweden: “I’m going to spin all these plates in
the air…at the same time”
The Borjevas
(his wife assists) get 32 plates spinning on tempered steel spindles. Plate spinning was a visually interesting but
weirdly specific novelty act that proved quite popular on TV variety shows of
the 50s and 60s. The Ed Sullivan Show (1948-1971) in particular featured plate
spinners so often that it became something of a cliché. If you thought of a Sullivan novelty act,
chances are you thought of a plate spinner.
In fact, the Borjevas made several appearances on the Sullivan program,
though Erich Brenn was by far the most popular practitioner of the art featured
on the show.
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