Back | Up | Next

Conversations in Management

Edgar Bergen

Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?

Edgar Bergen may have joked about hard work, but it didn’t stop him from working very hard. By eleven, he’d taught himself ventriloquism and developed a reputation as a good-natured prankster. He was still in high school when he approached local carpenter Theodore Mack to carve a white pine head in the likeness of a “rascally” newsboy in the neighborhood. He was so pleased with the result that he added an Irish suffix to the carpenter’s name and Charlie McCarthy was born. After high school, Bergen attended Northwestern University but left in order to pursue a career on the vaudeville and nightclub circuit. (Northwestern later awarded Charlie an honorary Master of Innuendo and snappy Comeback degree.) It was his club act that caught the attention of gossip columnist and professional hostess Elsa Maxwell, who hired him to perform at one of her famed parties. Noel Coward was at the party and was so impressed that he managed to get Bergen booked on one of radio’s hottest shows—Rudy Vallee’s The Royal Gelatin Hour. Five months later, in May 1937, The Chase and Sanborn Hour, starring Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarty debuted. Overnight it became the most popular show on radio and would run for the next 18 years. It’s ironic, of course, that a ventriloquism act was so popular on radio. Bergen, however, was a master of characterization and artfully brought Charlie and his other creations—Mortimer Snerd and Effie Klinker—to life. For millions of listeners, Charlie McCarthy wasn’t a ventriloquist’s dummy, but a real, live boy. In addition to radio, Bergen had a prodigious career in the movies. He appeared in 26 films—from 1938’s The Goldwyn Follies to 1972’s The Muppet Movie—and was awarded the Academy’s only wooden Oscar. He was also a TV pioneer and would appear in dozens of television shows and specials over the years. Bergen, unquestionably, took a chance on hard work and it paid off.

Today, a lot of Americans are taking a chance on hard work as well. Despite a 1967 prediction that by the year 2000 folks would be working only four days a week and getting 13 weeks of paid vacation, workers are putting in more hours than ever. In fact, our average number of working hours has risen 12%—to 1815 hours—just since 1973. That’s 350 hours more than the Europeans who are also taking four weeks of vacation every year. That’s twice the American average. This has led to an interesting dilemma. The more people work, the less time they have to do things for themselves. As a result, they have to pay others to do those things for them. Unfortunately, they have to work harder to buy those services—and so it goes.

The net result is that a lot of folks who put in long hours aren’t getting the kind of rewards for their efforts that Edgar Bergen enjoyed. Instead, they’re just getting by. Even those who profit from their extra work often find themselves taking about as much enjoyment from it as Charlie McCarthy did. If that wasn’t bad enough, even kids are working harder. Organized play has strangled playfulness and youth sports have developed a distinctly semi-pro quality. Strange as it seems, most folks don’t appear to be any better off or any happier. It’s true; hard work won’t kill you, but it should be worthwhile. If you aren’t getting incredible results from your incredible efforts, it might be time to reassess what you’re doing. Not everything has to be hard. Sometimes things should be easy. Work hard to get the results that have to be hard earned and recognize that there are times when moderation is a better choice. So don’t be a dummy—take a chance on a balanced life.

—Ebert