Duffy's Tavern - "Christmas Show With Monty Woolley aka: Christmas Carol" (12-21-43)

 

 

INTRO: Bob Plays Kenny Williams "Old Fashion Christmas" (1973)
 

Early in the show's life, however, its name was changed — first to Duffy's and, for four episodes, Duffy's Variety. A staffer for Bristol-Myers -- whose Ipana toothpaste was the show's early sponsor—persuaded the company's publicity director to demand the name change because the original title promoted "the hobby of drinking" too much for certain sensibilities. Bristol-Myers eventually admitted the staffer had little to go on other than a handful of protesting letters, and to the delight of fans who never stopped using the original name, anyway — the original title was restored permanently. The name change was often subverted by the Armed Forces Radio Network. Radio's Duffy's Tavern didn't translate well to film or television. Burrows and Matt Brooks collaborated on the screenplay for the 1945 film, Ed Gardner's Duffy's Tavern, in which Archie (with regulars Eddie and Finnegan) 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.

THIS EPISODE:

December 21, 1943. Blue network origination, AFRS rebroadcast. Archie tries to talk "Guest Monty Woolley" into playing the role of Santa Claus. The script was used on on the "Duffy's Tavern" program of December 22, 1950. Ed Gardner, Eddie Green, Monty Woolley, Bert Reeves and His Orchestra, Charlie Cantor, Bob Graham (vocal), Dick Van Patten (as Finnegan's kid brother), John Roche (producer, director), Jack Bailey (announcer), Sandra Gould (as "Miss Duffy"). 29:47. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.