DUFFY’S TAVERN Volume 1

Starring Ed “Archie” Gardner (12 half hour episodes / 6 hours via digital download)

“Duffy's Tavern” was a radio situation comedy series first heard in 1940. The tavern itself was a flea-infested dive located on Third Avenue and 23rd Street in New York City, where the "elite meet to eat.” The co-creator and writer (Ed Gardner) played Archie, the manager of “Duffy's Tavern". His use and abuse of the English language was beyond anything heard on “The Damon Runyon Theatre" and quickly became a favorite with New Yorkers everywhere. Gardner was a theatrical veteran, whose wife (well-known stage and screen actress, Shirley Booth) appeared as Duffy's man-hungry daughter Miss Duffy. When Booth left the series in 1943, the role was voiced by Florence Halop, Sandra Gould, Hazel Shermet and others. Duffy himself was never heard on the show, he was an absentee owner who left the daily operations to Archie. Regulars on the show included: Clifton Finnegan, the classic village idiot (played by Charlie Cantor), Eddie the waiter (played by Eddie Green) and Clancy the cop (played by Alan Reed). Archie was always trying to get rich quick and his harmless schemes often involved weekly guest stars like: Boris Karloff, Shelley Winters, Dinah Shore, Lucille Ball, Alan Ladd, Mickey Rooney, Vincent Price and Marlene Dietrich to name a few. Some of radio’s sharpest comedy was penned for “Duffy’s Tavern” by top Broadway and TV veterans, including: Abe Burrows, Larry Marks, Larry Gelbart, and Dick Martin, but Ed Gardner was final script editor. “Duffy’s Tavern” was broadcast live in New York until 1949, when Gardner moved the show offshore to Puerto Rico for tax advantages. The show’s popularity spawned a 1945 film and a 1954 TV series.

2/22/44 Guest: Phil Baker of “Take It Or Leave It” Quiz Show

4/11/44 Guest: Carol Landis

6/8/45 Guest: Jinx Falkenberg

11/9/45 Eddie the Waiter May Quit

2/9/49 Archie Thinks He Has 3 Days to Live

2/16/49 Archie’s Old School Mate Visits

3/9/49 Archie Writes a TV Play

3/16/49 Archie Opens a Bank Account with $10

3/23/49 Archie is a Coward

9/7/50 Archie Buys an Army Surplus Helicopter

1/5/51 Guest: Vincent Price

2/9/51 Guest: Shelly Winters