Duffy's Tavern
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Hal Walker
Bing Crosby
Betty Hutton
Paulette Goddard
Alan Ladd
Dorothy Lamour
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Archie, the manager of Duffy's Tavern in New York--"where the elite meet to eat"--has been sending Mr. Duffy into debt by secretly serving meals to unemployed veterans. Before they joined the service, the men had worked in P. J. O'Malley's National Phonographic Record Company, but when the factory closed because of a wartime shortage of shellac, which must be shipped from India, they lost their jobs. Concerned about the business, Duffy sends his daughter to look at the books, but Archie appeals to her patriotism and interest in men and continues to feed the veterans. Soldier Danny Murphy, meanwhile, returns to town and becomes determined to put the men back to work. Archie, who is convinced of his personal "maggotism" with the ladies, is planning to propose to O'Malley's daughter Peggy. On the night Archie is to propose, however, Peggy meets Danny in the factory, and while they are dancing alone to a Bing Crosby master album, they fall in love. While Archie waits for Peggy at her home, he and O'Malley get drunk together. Peggy, meanwhile, assures Danny that the bank approved a loan to her father to get the factory running again, unaware that her father showed her only part of his bank telegram. The next day, Duffy sends an accountant to go through the tavern's books, and he finds Duffy $1,200 short. Danny locates some shellac, but O'Malley shows him the bank telegram denying him a loan. After Peggy, who works as a switchboard operator at a swank hotel, learns that a group of motion picture celebrities is staying at the hotel, Archie decides to host a block party featuring entertainment by them. Archie and O'Malley sneak into the stars' suites disguised as painters, but, when they finally reach Betty Hutton, posing as her masseurs, they are caught. Peggy, however, arrives in time to convince Betty that they need her help. The benefit is an immense success, but before the final curtain, Duffy tries to have Archie arrested. A record distributor offers O'Malley a $1,200 advance, but the men must then press 1,500 records by the end of the night. They succeed, and Miss Duffy accepts the distributor's check and sees that the charges against Archie are dropped. Archie later tells Duffy that he is retiring because of his personal "maggotism" with Betty Hutton.
Director
Hal Walker
Cast
Bing Crosby
Betty Hutton
Paulette Goddard
Alan Ladd
Dorothy Lamour
Eddie Bracken
Brian Donlevy
Sonny Tufts
Veronica Lake
Arturo De Córdova
Barry Fitzgerald
Cass Daley
Diana Lynn
Victor Moore
Marjorie Reynolds
Barry Sullivan
Ed Gardner
Charles Cantor
Eddie Green
Ann Thomas
Robert Benchley
William Demarest
Howard Da Silva
Billy Dewolfe
Walter Abel
Johnny Coy
Miriam Franklin
Charles Quigley
Olga San Juan
Robert Watson
Gary Crosby
Phillip Crosby
Dennis Crosby
Lin Crosby
William Bendix
James Brown
Joan Caulfield
Gail Russell
Helen Walker
Jean Heather
Maurice Rocco
Eddie Hall
Jack Lambert
Bill Murphy
Raymond Nash
Billy Jones
Frank Wayne
George Turner
Stephen Wayne
Len Hendry
John Indrisano
Fred Steele
Al Murphy
Buck Harrington
Phil Dunham
Frank Faylen
Harry Tyler
Audrey Young
Grace Gillern
Roberta Jonay
Matt Mchugh
George Carleton
Addison Richards
Charles Cane
Charles B. Williams
Lester Dorr
Charles Sullivan
Kernan Cripps
Davison Clark
George Mckay
Tony Hughes
Eddie Kane
Theodore Rand
Jimmie Dundee
Emmett Vogan
Eddie Laughton
Cyril Ring
James Millican
Jerry Maren
Crane Whitley
Betty Farrington
Ray Turner
Charles Mayon
Julie Gibson
Catherine Craig
James Flavin
Bill Edwards
Frances Morris
Albert Ruiz
Valmere Barman
Noel Neill
Beverly Thompson
Audrey Korn
Barney Dean
Crew
Ernest R. Ball
Neal Beckner
Matt Brooks
Johnny Burke
Abram S. Burrows
Herbert Coleman
John Cope
Billy Daniels
Danny Dare
Eddie Davis
Barney Dean
Tony Delellis
Robert Emmett Dolan
Jan Domela
Hans Dreier
Farciot Edouart
William Flannery
Melvin Frank
Melvin Frank
Arthur Franklin
Edith Head
Devereux Jennings
Gordon Jennings
Gordon Jennings
Paul Lerpae
Joseph J. Lilley
Lionel Lindon
Wallace Nogle
Norman Panama
Norman Panama
Ben Raleigh
Irmin Roberts
Eddie Salven
Marty Santell
Arthur Schmidt
Stephen Seymour
James Van Heusen
Bernie Wayne
Wally Westmore
George White
Philip G. Wisdom
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The title card on the viewed print reads "Ed Gardner's Duffy's Tavern," which was also the film's working title. Gardner's onscreen credit reads "and Archie (Himself) Ed Gardner." Duffy's Tavern was one of the most popular radio comedy series of the 1940s. The fictional tavern was a cheap diner on New York City's Third Avenue. Celebrity guests "dropped in" the tavern each week, where they were lampooned by Ed Gardner, playing "Archie," the Brooklyn barkeep, who was renowned for his malapropisms. The show also featured Eddie Green as the waiter; Shirley Booth (who was married to Gardner from 1929 to 1942) as "Miss Duffy," the daughter of the tavern's proprietor, who himself was never heard, but frequently telephoned Archie; and Charlie Cantor as "Clifton Finnegan," a dim-witted customer.
Gardner first appeared as Archie in 1939 on This Is New York. Duffy's Tavern first aired as part of the CBS audition series Forecast on July 29, 1940, and was so successful that it became its own show on CBS on March 1, 1941. The last Duffy's Tavern show was broadcast in the 1950-51 NBC season. The film included a parody with new lyrics of the Oscar-award winning song "Swinging on a Star" from Paramount's 1944 hit film Going My Way (see below). This film marked the first time Bing Crosby appeared in a film with his four sons, Gary, twins Phillip and Dennis and Lin. In one notable bit in the film, a drunken O'Malley and Archie try to find out if the light inside a refrigerator goes off when you close the door by climbing inside the icebox to investigate.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States Fall September 28, 1945
Bob Hope had a guest appearance.
Released in United States Fall September 28, 1945
