Duffy's Tavern - Title Changes

Title Changes

Early in the show's life, however, its name, Duffy's Tavern, was changed—first to Duffy's and, for four episodes, Duffy's Variety. A staffer for Bristol-Myers -- whose Ipana toothpaste was the show's early sponsor—persuaded the company's publicity director to demand the name change because the original title promoted "the hobby of drinking" too much for certain sensibilities. Bristol-Myers eventually admitted the staffer had little to go on other than a handful of protesting letters, and—to the delight of fans who never stopped using the original name, anyway—the original title was restored permanently. The name change was often subverted by the Armed Forces Radio Network. When the AFRN rebroadcast those episodes for U.S. servicemen during World War II, the announcer referred to Duffy's Tavern.