Manhattan-born and -reared, Abe Burrows moved to Hollywood in 1939 and found work writing for radio. His credits include The Texaco Star Theater, some of the John Barrymore skits on the Rudy Vallee Sealtest show, and This is New York, for Ed Gardner. He helped create Archie, the sloppy manager of Gardner's Duffy's Tavern, and when Duffy became a regular series in April 1941, Burrows was hired as its head writer. He worked on a serial of his own, Holiday and Company (CBS, Feb.-April 1946) and later wrote the Joan Davis program. While he was with Davis, his career as a peformer began.