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Duffy's Tavern

Situation Comedy

Broadcast History:

• July 29, 1940, CBS. 30m.   First appeared on the audition series Forecast.

• March 1, 1941-June 30, 1942, CBS. 30m, Saturdays at 8:30, Schick Razors, March-June 1941; Thursdays at 8:30, Schick, 1941-42; Tuesdays at 9, Sanka, March-June 1942.

• Oct. 6, 1942-June 27, 1944, Blue Network. 30m, Tuesdays at 8:30. Bristol Myers and Ipana.

• Sept. 15, 1944-Jan. 18, 1952, NBC. 30m, Fridays at 8:30, Bristol Myers, 1944-46;  Wednesdays at 9, Bristol Myers, 1946-49;  Thursdays at 9:30, Blatz Beer, 1949-50;  Fridays at 9:30, multiple sponsorship, 1950-52.

Cast:  Ed Gardner as Archie, the manager of Duffy's Tavern, "eyesore of the East Side" where "the elite meet to eat."  Shirley Booth as Miss Duffy, daughter of the never-present proprietor; Florence Halop as Miss Duffy, 1943-44 and again 1948-49; Sandra Gould as Miss Duffy:  1944-48;  others to play Miss Duffy were Helen Lynd, Doris Singleton, Sara Berner, Connie Maniling, Florence Robinson, Helen Eley, Margie Liszt, Gloria Erlanger, Pauline Drake, and Hazel Shermet, Charlie Cantor as Clifton Finnegan, a dimwit who frequented the tavern.  Eddie Green as Eddie the wisecracking waiter.  Alan Reed as Clancy the cop, who dropped in from time to time.  F. Chase Taylor as Colonel Stoopnagle.  Dickie Van Patten as Finnegan's kid brother Wilfred.
Announcers:  John Reed King, Jimmy Wallington, Marvin Miller, Perry Ward, Rod O'Connor, etc.
Music:  John Kirby, ca. 194l; orchestra by Peter Van Steeden;   later, groups led by Joe Venuti, Reet Veet Reeves, Matty Malneck.
Vocalists:  Johnny Johnston, Benay Venuta, Tito Guizar, Helen Ward, Bob Graham.
Directors:  Rupert Lucas, Jack Roche, Tony Sanford, Mitchell Benson.
Writers:  gags and lines by Abe Burrows, Larry Marks, Larry Gelbart, Ed Reynolds, Norman Paul, Lew Meltzer; Dick Martin, Vincent Bogert, Manny Sachs, Alan Kent, Bill Manhoff, Raymond Ellis, Bob Schiller, Larry Rhine, etc.  final scripts by Ed Gardner.
Sound Effects:  Virgil Reimer (NBC).
Theme:  When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, blending in on piano to a ringing telephone (inevitably Duffy calling).

Duffy's Tavern was a state of mind.  Allegedly located in downtown Manhattan on Third Avenue at 23rd Street, Duffy's catered to the Irish working class.  Its bill o' fare included corned beef, cabbage, and pickled pigs' feet.  The food was bad but the service was lousy.   The proprietor, Duffy, never put in an appearance, but his disagreeable nature was constantly evident in his frequent telephone calls to Archie, his manager.

A listener heard only Archie's side of the talk, but it was enough.  Archie described the guests who were expected to drop in, then weathered Duffy's displeasure for the remainder of the show. Duffy disdained everything, it seemed, but Irish tenors.

At Duffy's, said Archie, they caught the "after-Bingo crowd."  But the most famous people in show business were apt to turn up in a given haif-hour, to be insulted by Archie and his gang.   The gang included Duffy's daughter, "a gabby, gum-chewing, featherbrained Brooklyn miss who exposes her blissful ignorance every time she opens her mouth" (Radio.Life);  Clifton Finnegan, a customer so dumb he couldn't say "duhhh" without thinking it over;  a beatwalking cop named Clancy; and a streetwise Negro waiter, Eddie, whose cunning dialogue contained some of the show's funniest lines.