Duffy's Tavern - "Guests Jimmy Durante & Ann Sothern" (03-30-49)

 

Guests Jimmy Durante & Ann Sothern (Aired March 30, 1949)

Duffy's Tavern, an American radio situation comedy (CBS, 1941-1942; NBC-Blue Network, 1942-1944; NBC, 1944-1952), often featured top-name stage and film guest stars but always hooked those around the misadventures, get-rich-quick-scheming, and romantic missteps of the title establishment's malaprop-prone, metaphor-mixing manager, Archie, played by the writer/actor who co-created the show, Ed Gardner. In the show's familiar opening, "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling," 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, "Duffy's Tavern, where the elite meet to eat. Archie the manager speakin'. Duffy ain't here — oh, hello, Duffy." Duffy, the owner, was never heard (or seen, when a film based on the show was made in 1945 or when a bid to bring the show to television was tried in 1954).

THIS EPISODE:
 
March 30, 1949. NBC network origination, Nostalgia Broadcasting Corporation syndication. Commercials added locally. "Guests Jimmy Durante and Ann Sothern" star in Archie's play, "The Mystery Of The Laughing Piano," or "Who Tickled The Ivories?" Ed Gardner does not appear on the program! Eddie Green, Charlie Cantor, Jimmy Durante, Ann Sothern, Matty Malneck and His Orchestra. 29:47. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.