Zeno Klinker Jokes

Q We inherited an inventory of handwritten and typed jokes and scripts from Lucille Klinker, wife of Zeno Klinker, the head writer for Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. We would like to donate this material to someone interested in the collection or to a museum. Please let me know any information you can provide.

A Zeno Klinker (1900-1985) wrote jokes for two of Edgar Bergen’s movies in the 1940s and for his radio program in the 1950s. He also wrote jokes for other radio shows. He and his sister designed a series of humorous greeting cards in the 1930s. He wrote the text and his sister did the illustrations. Charlie McCarthy, Edgar Bergen’s dummy, is in the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. (americanhistory.si.edu). The American Radio Archives at the Thousand Oaks Library Foundation in Thousand Oaks, California (thousandoakslibraryfoundation.org), has a collection of radio scripts, sound recordings, and other materials. Contact these museums to see if either is interested in your collection.