Archie (Ed Gardner), the manager of Duffy's Tavern in New York--"where the elite meet to eat"--has been sending Mr. Duffy into debt by secretly serving meals to unemployed veterans.

Before they joined the service, the men had worked in P. J. O'Malley's National Phonographic Record Company, but when the factory closed because of a wartime shortage of shellac, which must be shipped from India, they lost their jobs. Concerned about the business, Duffy sends his daughter to look at the books, but Archie appeals to her patriotism and interest in men and continues to feed the veterans. Soldier Danny Murphy (Barry Sullivan), meanwhile, returns to town and becomes determined to put the men back to work.

Archie, who is convinced of his personal "maggotism" with the ladies, is planning to propose to O'Malley's daughter Peggy (Marjorie Reynolds). On the night Archie is to propose, however, Peggy meets Danny in the factory, and while they are dancing alone to a Bing Crosby master album, they fall in love. While Archie waits for Peggy at her home, he and O'Malley get drunk together. Peggy, meanwhile, assures Danny that the bank approved a loan to her father to get the factory running again, unaware that her father showed her only part of his bank telegram. The next day, Duffy sends an accountant to go through the tavern's books, and he finds Duffy $1,200 short. Danny locates some shellac, but O'Malley shows him the bank telegram denying him a loan.

After Peggy, who works as a switchboard operator at a swank hotel, learns that a group of motion picture celebrities is staying at the hotel, Archie decides to host a block party featuring entertainment by them. Archie and O'Malley sneak into the stars' suites disguised as painters, but, when they finally reach Betty Hutton, posing as her masseurs, they are caught. Peggy, however, arrives in time to convince Betty that they need her help. The benefit is an immense success, but before the final curtain, Duffy tries to have Archie arrested. A record distributor offers O'Malley a $1,200 advance, but the men must then press 1,500 records by the end of the night. They succeed, and Miss Duffy (Shirley Booth) accepts the distributor's check and sees that the charges against Archie are dropped. Archie later tells Duffy that he is retiring because of his personal "maggotism" with Betty Hutton.

This film is based on "Duffy's Tavern", which was one of the most popular radio comedy series of the 1940s.

In the radio program, the fictional tavern was a cheap diner on New York City's Third Avenue. Celebrity guests "dropped in" the tavern each week, where they were lampooned by Ed Gardner, playing "Archie," the Brooklyn barkeep, who was renowned for his malapropisms. The show also featured Eddie Green as the waiter; Shirley Booth (who was married to Gardner from 1929 to 1942) as "Miss Duffy," the daughter of the tavern's proprietor, who himself was never heard, but frequently telephoned Archie; and Charlie Cantor as "Clifton Finnegan," a dim-witted customer.

The film included a parody with new lyrics of the Oscar-award winning song "Swinging on a Star" from Paramount's 1944 hit film "Going My Way".

This film marked the first time Bing Crosby appeared in a film with his four sons, Gary, twins Phillip and Dennis and Lin.

In one notable bit in the film, a drunken O'Malley and Archie try to find out if the light inside a refrigerator goes off when you close the door by climbing inside the icebox to investigate.

The costumes in this film were all re-used from existing stock. The only new costumes were the ones worn by Betty and Dorothy Lamour (designed by Edith Head) and Paulette Goddard (designed by Mary Kay Dodson).


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