On this day in 1938, the veritable Charlie McCarthy was awarded the first ever degree to a ventriloquist’s dummy. The “Master of Innuendo & Snappy Comeback” was awarded on air at Northwestern University, the alma mater of Edgar Bergen, McCarthy’s human partner.
Bergen was born and raised in Decatur, Michigan at least according to some sources. Others say he was born in Chicago.
Sources :
Michigan Historical Review Facebook Page, August 28, 2014.