Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen liked to wear a turban, presaging Johnny Carson’s Carnac the Magnificent. His daughter Candice later played Margaret Bourke-White in Gandhi.

The popularity of a ventriloquist on radio, when one could see neither the dummies nor his skill, surprised and puzzled many critics, then and now…. his appeal was primarily the personality he applied to his characters…

Bergen and McCarthy are sometimes credited with “saving the world” because, on the night of October 30, 1938 when Orson Welles performed his War of the Worlds radio play that panicked many listeners, most of the American public had instead tuned in to Bergen and McCarthy on another station… [Link]