Golden Age of Radio

The Milwaukee Journal –Feb 7, 1943 Who is Dis Guy Archie, Anyway? Ed Gardner of ‘ Duffy ’s’ Went From WPA to Radio Heights; You’d Enjoy Meeting Him By Paul McMahon Of The Journal’s N. Y. Bureau ED GARDNER is Archie. And Archie is Gardner. They have been one and the same since Gardner played piano at the age of 14 in a saloon in his home town of Astoria, N. Y. It wasn’t until late years that Gardner got around to creating the Archie role for the entertainment of radio fans who now hear the naive, wise guy counterman in “ Duffy ’s” over the Blue network at 7:30 Tuesday nights. “ Dere’s always been somethin ’ of Archie in me,” Gardner confessed one day. “ Ya know de old sayin ’, ‘As de twing is bent.’” The character of Archie first came to life in 1939 in a program entitled “This Is New York,” to which Gardner had been assigned as director and producer. Gardner went through misery trying to find someone to fit his conception of Archie. In despair one

Say Hello To- GEORGE PUTNAM—the announcer for Portia Faces Life , on CBS this afternoon. George was born in Deposit, N. Y., but soon went westward with his family, stopping in San Diego, Calif. George studied to be a history teacher, but jilted that profession in favor of a WPA drama group. Later he Toured the coast with a Shakespearian troupe headed by Tyrone Power’s mother. Then came six months of highly unsuccessful searching for gold before he got a job as announcer on a San Diego station. Three years ago he joined the CBS staff in New York. last June he married Ruth Carhart, the popular radio songstress.