14 heartbreaking attempts to reanimate the corpse of Mortimer Snerd

 

‘Mortimer Snerd was the secondary dummy of popular ventriloquist Edgar Bergen. Created in 1938, Mortimer made his debut on Bergen’s radio series, The Chase and Sanborne Hour. The character was an amiable hick, with a slow drawl reminiscent of the Disney character Goofy, and a streak of innocence and unique logic, in contrast to the sharp-witted Charlie McCarthy. The dummy reflected this, with buck-teeth, elongated nose, and more mundane “rube in the city” costuming in contrast to the top hat and tails worn by both Charlie and Edgar. Snerd is credited as the original source of the word “Duh!”. The dummy became popular in his own right, and appeared with Bergen and McCarthy in such films as Charlie McCarthy, Detective; Here We Go Again; Stage Door Canteen; and Fun and Fancy Free (also starring Mickey Mouse and the voice of Dinah Shore). He was also the inspiration for the Looney Tunes character Beaky Buzzard. Bergen died in the late 1970s, one week after announcing his retirement and two weeks after Mortmer Snerd’s final performance on The Andy Williams Show.’ — muppet.wikia

Actor

Charlie’s Haunt 1950
Wooden Dummy 1950
Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd in Sweden 1950
Stage Door Canteen 1943
Wooden Dummy 1942
Here We Go Again 1942
Charlie McCarthy, Detective 1939
You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man 1939
Letter of Introduction 1938
A Neckin’ Party 1937

 

1939

 

Gallery

 

75 years later

ScottCaton
James first ventriloquist performance with Mortimer Snerd.

 

zubaz pants
Today I’m going to be showing you a dummy I got for my birthday.

 

 

Crazy Tech & Puppets
I do control Mortimer Snerd!

Brexten Multi
Try pressing your tongue at the top of the back of your teeth, when you say d, release your tongue. that might make the D sound more likes B

 

VentriloquistMaster
1st episode!! sorry if your question wasn’t answered 🙁

 

jcpulsifer1
Mortimer wakes up for a bowl of fruity pebbles and dies falling down the stairs…

 

howuduin888
howuduin888’s QuickCapture Video – April 24, 2009, 02:15 PM

 

Loofigan
I’m doing some “VENTRILOQUISM” with my good friend Mortimer Snerd.

 

Tommy Talker
funny! crazy! wierd?

 

Mortimer Snerd
Hope you enjoyed this video,I’ve never had a video revolve around just me and Donald so I thought it’d be a good idea to do one now and tell me if you want more like this.

 

ian L
Dude… thank you for inspiring me. I’m old and wanting to do this to support my “creativity”… lol thank you again,
You have no idea how much help you’ve made. See on you TV!

Wafflezila
Wow I just said blood with out moving my lips

umbalaba
Very instructive. Thank you. This also makes me realize how much you need to practice before it appears convincing.

Blank User
YOU REMIND ME OF RAVI FROM VICTORIOUS

Doc Savage
Thanks for taking the time to teach Ventriloquism here. Who said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. 68, and just ordered my Charlie McCarthy. Only question is, what do I do with no teeth. Been practicing just as you taught to substitute letters, with other letters that almost sound the same. I try to do an M, by using an N, and works on some words easier then others.

 

noel bullard
get him a new hat

Eddie Stevens
I have a standerd Mortimer Snerd too(but he’s not broken at all) I take good care of my puppets/dummies(no offence)

 

VentriloquistMaster
first episode of double dummy time!!!!

 

Hidden Screen
disturbing

Otis Le PoOtis
Yup

Void R6
cool but English?

Otis Le PoOtis
We are not going to make a english version

 

Last Tracker
SLAPPY AND MORTIMER SNERD GO TO THE OSTRICH FARM

 

Bonus: Mortimer Snerd, the band

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. ** Ian, Hi, Ian! Thanks. I’m a borderline sack of shit right now myself. I think it’s the world. Wait, … are you saying cigs aren’t nutrients? Uh oh. Maybe today’s post will be a motivator? The world could use a few more ventriloquists, that’s for sure. Race you to inspiration! ** Misanthrope, Movies are your only friend, … until … the … ennnnnnd. That was just for you. I remember the difference between two and three finger chords from my high school guitarist days. When you ace that third finger, you’re going to feel good about yourself. Defeatism has the distinction of being both totally useless and extremely boring. ** David Ehrenstein, Thank you for sharing your opinion on Kren. ** Dominik, Hi! Oh, that’s the book Peter wrote the afterward for, right, I know about that book. Now I have to get it. I’m a Peter fan. Like I said, people sure seem to be all dazzled by the infinity rooms, so you should definitely immerse yourself when you get the chance and find out if their vaunted magic works on you. Ha ha, nice love. By the by, gurochan is back if you’re interested. It’s still pretty empty, but it lives. Love looking at you like this forever and ever, G. ** Jack Skelley, J-j-j-j-jack! Turn and face the strange. Happy the Kren stuff worked a groove in you. Thomas Moore is a sweetheart and one heck of a writer. Cool you guys connected. Ooh, nightmarishly progressing. I love the catchy tune going on in those words. Wednesday is over if you want it. xo. ** Bill, I find the more Structuralist films he made after his Actionist period to be his best. Okay, tentatively interested in that ‘new’ Mariana Enriquez, thanks! ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, B. I think Kren’s involvement in Actionism was kind of a right time/right place with the right circle of friends thing. Happy Thursday! ** Bzzt, Hi, Q. Having a projector would be really nice. I haven’t had one since a billion years ago when you had to have one if you wanted to watch anything that wasn’t on broadcast TV. I used to have this huge box of super8 gay porn movies. What pain in the ass. But now having a projector would be so … romantic? It’s so boring and pointless to say that stuff like that gets easier as you get older, but it’s boringly true, I think, for whatever good that observation does. Your McCormack squib! Everyone, Bzzt aka Quinn Roberts wrote a cool little thing about ‘Castle Faggot’ on The Drift. Scroll down to it. Although the other short things on that page look pretty interesting too, so maybe gulp down the whole page. Anyway, here. Your piece is sharp and really funny, my hat’s off. Mm, I’ve never gotten into John Rechy. I’ve tried, but I think I’m still where you used to be with him. His stuff just doesn’t ring any bells in me. Yeah, John lived just down the street from me in LA for a long time. I used to run into him on the sidewalk and in the supermarket. He’s very, very … how to put it politely …self confident. But, yeah, sure I know that feeling of suddenly, magically getting something I’d previously rejected. A really, strangely exhilarating feeling, no? Great catching up with you too. Stay gold and all of that good stuff. ** T, Hello, T! Things with me are all pretty alright, push comes to shove. What about with you? I’m thrilled that the post and, far more importantly, Kren’s work excites you. Fantastic! Couldn’t hope for more. And I agree completely with your thoughts about his work. Great! Thank you so much for sharing that, man. And I’m very happy to see you. ** Bex Peyton, Hi, Bex. Thank you so much! Okay, yeah, I hear you on the school thing. I’m way there. I quit university after one year because it was making me feel less confident about being a writer if anything. I got really lucky because this one poetry teacher I had basically told me that if I really wanted to be a writer I should quit and that it wasn’t the place for me. And I never regretted it. But if you can get the good things from the studies and keep your own beliefs, and you have, that’s just as good, I think. Suspiciously coherently, ha ha. That’s nice. Obviously, I would love to see that book or your work when the time comes that you feel like it’s something you’re into showing. Have an awesome day and night. ** NIT, Hey, S! I figured out that this is you. You like Kren? That’s cool, and that makes sense. How are you? How’s stuff? Thanks about my novel. Gulp, and all of that. ** Steve Erickson, Nice that the new tool is already coming in far more than handy. I have avoided watching ‘Nomadland’ even though it’s there and raring to be watched on one of my illegal sites precisely because what you say about it has seemed to be inevitable. A shame, but no surprise whatsoever. Thanks for letting us/me know. ** ae, Hi. Cool, very glad you liked the post/work. Ah, the LA Art Book Fair. Every year I’ve really wanted to be there for that, and every year I’ve been thwarted, and I think they’ve stopped doing it now? Drat. I’ll look up The Center For Post-Natural History. I don’t know of it. That sounds great. Okay, the fingers on my left hand are scrunched re: you two until the weekend then. Don’t worry, it feels good. Yes, I like Cindytalk very much. My friend/collaborator Peter Rehberg puts at least some of her records out on his great Editions Mego label. I know some of the Praxis stuff — I have, let’s see, some Adjust and Dan Hekate/The Wirebug and some reissues they did like Bourbonese Qualk. I’ll have to hunt. And you remind me to get the new Datacide. There’s one store here that sells it, but it’s way the fuck across Paris, and I need to get over there. Cool, have an excellent day ahead (or behind?). ** Right. Today I indulge two interests of mine simultaneously — (1) ventriloquism, and (2) nerdy aspirational youths. I hope there’s something in the combo that does something for you too. See you tomorrow.