Duffy's Tavern - Poker Game (11-02-43)

<B>Duffy's Tavern</B>, 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). But Archie always was — bantering with Duffy's man-crazy daughter, Miss Duffy (played by several actresses, beginning with Gardner's real-life first wife, Shirley Booth); with Eddie, the waiter/janitor (Eddie Green); and, especially, with Clifton Finnegan (Charlie Cantor), a likeable soul with several screws loose and a knack for falling for every other salesman's scam. <P> <B>THIS EPISODE:</B> <P> November 2, 1943. Program #25. Blue network origination, AFRS rebroadcast. Guest Charles Coburn is enticed into a <B><I>poker game</I></B> down at the tavern. Charles Coburn, Ed Gardner, Florence Halop, Peter Van Steeden and His Orchestra. 1/2 hour.<P><!-- FreeTellaFriend - BEGIN --> <a href="http://www.freetellafriend.com/tell/?u=4625" onclick="window.open('http://www.freetellafriend.com/tell/?u=4625&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title)+'&url='+encodeURIComponent(document.location.href), 'freetellafriend', 'scrollbars=1,menubar=0,width=617,height=530,resizable=1,toolbar=0,location=0,status=0,screenX=210,screenY=100,left=210,top=100'); return false;" title="Tell a Friend" target="_blank"><img alt="Tell a Friend" src="http://serv1.