Duffy's Tavern was a popular American radio situation comedy which ran for a decade on several networks (CBS, 1941–1942; NBC-Blue Network, 1942–1944; NBC, 1944–1951), concluding with the December 28, 1951 broadcast.
The program often featured celebrity guest stars but always hooked them around the misadventures, get-rich-quick schemes and romantic missteps of the title establishment's malaprop-prone, metaphor-mixing manager, Archie, portrayed by Ed Gardner, the writer/actor who co-created the series. Gardner had performed the character of Archie, talking about Duffy's Tavern, as early as November 9, 1939, when he appeared on NBC's Good News of 1940.
In the familiar opening, "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling," performed either solo on an old-sounding piano or by a larger orchestra, was interrupted by the ring of a telephone and Gardner's New Yorkese accent as he answered, "Hello, Duffy's Tavern, where the elite meet to eat. Archie the manager speakin'. Duffy ain't here—oh, hello, Duffy."
Duffy's Tavern is a 1945 American comedy film directed by Hal Walker and written by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama. The film stars Ed Gardner, Bing Crosby, Betty Hutton, Paulette Goddard, Alan Ladd, Dorothy Lamour, Eddie Bracken and Brian Donlevy. The film was released on September 28, 1945, by Paramount Pictures.
‘Duffy’s Tavern’ was another of Paramount’s ‘all-star cast’ films, a large scale musical based upon characters created by Ed Gardner for his popular radio show, ‘Duffy's Tavern’. Archie [played by Ed Gardner] (with regulars Eddie [Eddie Green] and Finnegan [Charles Cantor]) was surrounded by a throng of Paramount Pictures stars playing themselves, including Robert Benchley, William Bendix, Eddie Bracken, Bing Crosby, Cass Daley, Brian Donlevy, Paulette Goddard, Betty Hutton, Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake and Dorothy Lamour. The film's plot involves a war-displaced record manufacturer whose staff—those not sent off to war—drown their sorrows at Duffy's on credit, while the company owner tries to find ways around the price controls and war attrition that threaten to put him out of business. Bing Crosby makes two appearances in the film, once to sing with a group, which includes Betty Hutton, Sonny Tufts, Diana Lynn, Billy De Wolfe, Cass Daley and Howard Da Silva, a parody of ‘Swinging on a Star’, and again in a sketch where Robert Benchley tells a bed-time story about Bing to the four Crosby boys. He is also heard, but not seen, singing ‘Learn to Croon’, ‘Please’ and ‘Love in Bloom’ when recordings are presented on an on-screen phonograph. It was the film debut of the four Crosby boys other than Gary Crosby’s walk-on part in ‘Star Spangled Rhythm’.