ARCHIE’S ENGLISH, SORTA

ARCHIE, MANAGER OF DUFFY’S TAVERN, spoke New Yorkese, not to be confused with other dialects of that part of the U.S. John Dunning recounts in The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, “His accent was pure New York—not Brooklyn, as he was always quick to point out. ‘There is as much difference between New Yorkese and Kings (Borough) English as there is between Oxford and Choctaw,’ he wrote in a 1941 bylined Radio Life article.”

Dunning also cites Archie (aka Astoria, Long Island-born Edward Poggenberg aka Ed Gardner) as saying, “Where they went to grade school, that’s what counts in the way you do the lingo.”

Wikipedia notes, “Duffy’s Tavern is an American radio situation comedy that ran for a decade on several networks (CBS, 1941–42; NBC-Blue Network, 1942–44; and NBC, 1944-51). The program often featured celebrity guest stars but always hooked them around the misadventures of Archie, the tavern’s manager, portrayed by Ed Gardner. Archie was prone to involvement in get-rich schemes and romantic missteps, and constantly communicated with malaprops and mixed metaphors.” 

The Art of the Malaprop. In “Malaproping Through the Ages” SimanaitisSays asked “Which came first: the malaprop, a humorous misuse of similar sounding words, or Mrs. Malaprop, a character in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 1775 play The Rivals?”

A timely malaprop is uttered by Mrs. Malaprop in the play: “He is a very pineapple of politeness.” I’ve learned only recently of the exotic nature of this fruit in Sheridan’s era, and, of course, it’s a malaprop natural for the word “pinnacle.” 

Archie’s Malaprops. Dunning notes that when the tavern hosted dancer Vera Zorina (wife of George Balanchine), Archie introduced her as “da terpiscorpse da ballet.”

Another Archie malaprop: Dunning recounted, “About highbrow music critic Deems Taylor, Archie said, ‘He’s got no talent of his own, he just talks about the other guys at the Philharmonica.’ ”

Welcoming actor Charles Colburn to Duffy’s, Archie noted, “Many greats stars have passed through these portholes.…” This episode is one of my favorites.

Eddie Green was the wise-cracking waiter, often providing the show’s only genuine wisdom. Florence Halop portrayed Miss Duffy (in marked contrast, Dunning notes, to her being an opposite of the character in almost every way (“fluent in French, loved classical music…”). 

Superb ensemble work was part of the fun of Duffy’s Tavern. That, and Archie’s mangling of English, as she’s spoke in New Yorkese. ds 

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2023