If what I’m hearing are the familiar strains of “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling”—then we’ve apparently stumbled into old-time radio’s most famous watering hole, Duffy’s Tavern:ARCHIE: Eddie, uh…get me ...
Happy Birthday, Ed Gardner!(Post)It was on a short-lived radio series entitled This is New York that comedian Ed Gardner found his creative muse…playing a pugnacious New Yorker who answered to “Archie.” Gardner was the show’s pr ...
Leave Us Not Forget This Anniversary(Post)On this date in 1941, radio audiences made their first visit to a dingy, dank East Side watering hole affectionately known as Duffy’s Tavern. The half-hour sitcom, created by and starring Ed Gardn ...
Happy Birthday, Charlie Cantor!(Post)The actor best known for making his weekly entrance on Duffy’s Tavern with a cheery “Duhhh…hello, Arch!” was born on this date in Worchester, MA in 1898. Charles “Charlie” Cantor was radio’s most ...
“Laugh a while/Let a song/Be your style…”(Post)Though he had firmly established his persona as a flashy, hard-drinking playboy with an eye for exquisite female pulchritude on The Jack Benny Program, bandleader Phil Harris would find himself “d ...
Happy Birthday, Florence Halop!(Post)A September 1935 edition of Radio Mirror spotlights child stars on the radio in one of its articles, mentioning such talents as Walter Tetley and Billy Halop. Billy wasn’t the only member of the Ha ...
Happy Birthday, Shirley Booth!(Post)There’s an oft-repeated observation that purportedly came from Oscar-winning actress Hattie McDaniel on the controversial topic of her satisfaction with playing subservient domestic roles througho ...
Celeste Holm (1917-2012)(Post)A surviving excerpt of radio’s The Fitch Bandwagon from April 23, 1944 features Broadway sensation Celeste Holm singing (complete with Brooklyn accent) the song written by Duffy’s Tavern’s Ed Gar ...
Happy Birthday, Chester Morris!(Post)Chester Morris starred in several Boston Blackie movies during the 1940s (Alias Boston Blackie, Boston Blackie and the Law, etc.). In a number of these films, Morris allowed his character Horatio ...
Happy Birthday, Peter Lorre!(Post)On this date in 1904, a son was born to Alajos Löwenstein and Elvira Freischberger in an Austria-Hungarian village that is now located in present-day Slovakia. His name was László Löwenstein…but we ...
Happy Birthday, Rudy Vallee!(Post)We’re all familiar with the timeless movie classic Casablanca (1943), and its unforgettable theme song As Time Goes By, crooned by Dooley Wilson (who portrayed the piano-playing “Sam” in the film) ...
Happy Birthday, Alan Reed!(Post)Whether you know him as Teddy Bergman (his birth name) or Alan Reed—an identity he adopted to separate his comedic roles from the dramatic ones (as well as downplay his Jewish heritage)—you certai ...