Duffy's Tavern Old Time Radio Program

½ hour comedy show

"Duffy's Tavern, where the elite meet to eat. Archie the Manager speakin'. Duffy ain't here. Oh. Hello, Duffy." This was how listeners were greeted by Archie the Barman at the beginning of each episode of Duffy’s Tavern, one of the best situation comedies on the air from 1941 to 1951.

Duffy’s Tavern was the brainchild of writer/actor Ed Gardner. Prior to 1941, Gardner put together a career as a writer/director on a variety of radio shows, including Believe it or Not, The Rudy Vallee Show, Burns & Allen, Good News of 1939, and Texaco Star Theatre. The character of Archie, "a typical New York mug" was born when Gardner, unable to find an actor who could deliver just the right kind of Brooklynese for one of his projects, finally took the microphone himself out of frustration. Gardner eventually created the radio series around the character of Archie.

The tavern itself was an endearingly squalid New York dive, with nothing to recommend it but a cast of hilariously idiosyncratic characters and the schemes and missteps of Archie—the master of the malaprop--and his cohorts. Recurring characters included Miss Duffy, the predatory daughter of the tavern owner, voiced by Gardner’s then wife, Shirley Booth. Booth left the show in 1943; she was initially replaced by Florence Halop, then by a series of actresses. Other recurring characters included the perpetually-dim Clifton Finnegan, voiced by Charlie Cantor, Eddie the Waiter, voiced by Eddie Green, and Clancy the Cop, played by Alan Reed. Duffy, the owner, never appeared.

The depth of talent involved with the show extended to the writing staff, which included co-creator Abe Burrows, Larry Gelbart, later a writer on M*A*S*H, and Dick Martin, of Rowan and Martin fame.

The impressive lineup of guest stars who visited Duffy’s Tavern included Fred Allen, Mel Allen, Nigel Bruce, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Boris Karloff, Alan Ladd , Veronica Lake, Peter Lorre, Tony Martin, Marie McDonald, Gene Tierney, Arthur Treacher, and Shelley Winters.