Charlie

It seems like the more time that passes by the faster it goes.  Is that some quantum rule? All I know is, things I did 30 years ago don't really seem like the ancient history my children seem to believe.

Thirty-five years ago I bought a 1930s  Effanbee  Charlie McCarthy doll from a collector.  It was in perfect shape, mint condition as the collectors used to say. It was more money than I should have spent on "eye candy", but it really was beautiful and for many years occupied a place of honor at our house in Sherman Oaks.  

Then the 1993 Northridge Quake hit.  The plexiglass case Charlie was displayed in shattered, but it prevented Charlie from being mangled. In fact it survived perfectly safe.  We moved to our current digs a few months after that.  I put off having a new case made, so it was packed away with some other valuables.  

While going through my prop storage this week end I rediscovered Charlie.  I still haven't had a case made for him and the place where I would display him in this house is now occupied by a Tony Award and an Ovation Award Trophy. I am thinking, instead of sitting in a box in my prop closet Charlie needs a new home.  I also don't want the responsibility any more.  This doll is 70 years old, and I am told rare in the fact that it still has the original top hat, monocle and coat buttons.  Evidently those are the things that get lost quickly over the decades. 

When I bought him Charlie's mouth was closed. His mouth opened the first week of October 1978.  The reason I can be that specific is because Edgar Bergen died on Sept. 30, 1978.  I thought it was an amazing coincidence that the rubber band on the dolls mouth gave way the very week Mr. Bergen died. The 30th anniversary of his death was only a couple of weeks ago.

Perhaps that is what led me to find the Charlie Doll again.

I still think it is a beautiful piece of work.  As you can see from the picture.  It goes back to the idea of what the value of Art is.  The one thing I know is that Art should be seen and not hidden in a closet.  I have never been an avid collector of vent memorabilia, and I know this would be a prized collection to the right person.  So I am putting the word out to some of my collector friends and I hope we can find the right home. 

As you were,

Jay