#ed gardner

Eighty years ago today - on July 29, 1940, Duffy’s Tavern debuted on an episode of Forecast on CBS Radio. Forecast was a forum for auditions for potential new shows on the network; another CBS hit that grew out of a Forecast appearance was “radio’s outstanding theater of thrills,” Suspense. Audience reaction to Ed Gardner and his memorable character of Archie the manager led to a regular series that launched in March 1941 and remained on the air for a decade.

Ed Gardner was born June 29, 1901. The actor, writer, and director is best known as the creator and star of Duffy’s Tavern. Gardner starred as Archie, the manager of the titular tavern (Duffy, as it was explained every week, was never found in his own place), and he found fame as the wisecracking bartender with a loose grasp of proper grammar. Duffy’s Tavern aired on radio from 1941 to 1952.

Ed Gardner was a former J. Walter Thompson advertising executive who went from packaging radio comedies in the 1930s to starring in a sitcom of his own. 

Duffy’s Tavern starred Gardner from 1941 until 1951. His writers claim the gruff and profane Gardner manned the all-night writing sessions with Abe Burrows fueled by benzedrine.

Comedy writer Ben Starr: Ed Gardner was a fucking animal. A fucking animal, this guy. At lunchtime the writers and I would go to a little restaurant. Every once in a while Gardner would be there. He’d go behind the counter himself. He’d pour himself a bowl of soup and then he'd get a scoop of ice cream and put the ice cream in the soup. I said, ‘Ed? You put ice cream in your soup? What's that all about?’ He said to me, ‘What's the difference? They all go down in the same place.’

Comedy writer Irving Brecher: He was a rough-voiced man. Gardner called a meeting to come up with storylines. After a couple of hours they’d gotten nowhere. Nothing. Really frustrated, Gardner finally said, ‘Well, we might as well knock off. We seem to be lacking inspiration. I guess what we need is some blowjobs.’ 

Comedy writer Parke Levy: I used to say to him, ‘Listen, you dumb bastard, you’ve been taking Benzedrine and then you’ve been taking downers. You’re taking uppers and downers – you’ve got a civil war going on in your head.’ Abe [Burrows] used to sit there with the Benzedrine in his nose. Ed and Abe had it in their nose all the time. I smoked cigarettes then, but I just wouldn’t take the Benzedrine.

Comedy writer Bob Schiller: He would hire people and fire them, at will ... I was fired four times from Duffy’s Tavern, which was the norm ... He was a strange, erratic man. And he had a cruel streak … I’m sure over one hundred writers wrote for Duffy’s Tavern. Comedy writer Bob Schiller: He was constantly bragging about his sexual organ. He and Milton Berle. They used to measure them. I think probably the egos [were larger]. Although the sexual organs were bandied about.  Comedy writer Parke Levy: My chore was to go into the men’s room and take him off the john. He’d get diarrhea five minutes before he was to go on the air. That is a fact.