Babs Riley: All right, but Professor Van Plantan says I have a natural gift for acting. He's resting. Do you hear that, Peg? I've always been touched by the fact that there seems to be as much laughter as weeping at the big life events. And are you a cremation or a burial man? You have to have real talent to be accepted at the Van Plantan Workshop Theatre. We make appointments for cremations because we have to go and watch the placement of the body in the retort and the beginning of the process, the identification process that's part of that, and we retrieve the ashes. He would have figured that out, but I think for him the funeral, the procession, was part of the process. He has been buried in a concrete vault for 36 days, sealed in glass 33 days, and spent 26 days underwater., But somewhere along the way, he decided to concentrate on burying himself in the worlds smallest apartment, as the various promotions called it. Thanks to Chester's interference, Junior now has two dates for the school dance. With William Bendix the protagonist, as Riley and among others John Brown, who portrayed the friendly undertaker "Digger" O'Dell. Digby 'Digger' O'Dell : It is I, Digby O'Dell, the friendly undertaker. It is that everything changes and nothing changes. But don't go there searching for a tombstone marked Digger O'Dell. Web. For that matter, a popular plant nursery just outside of town on Highway 64 is called Digger ODells, but thats yet another Digger (real name: Dennis). "; from "what are we going to buy?" His real name, it seems, was Herbert O'Dell Smith. I enjoy listening to the frogs croak. Ferguson: That's the type of citizen we're sworn to protect. Brown also played "Gillis" on the radio. I really don't care. Learn how and when to remove this template message, "The Blade's Log of Radio and Television Programs (9:00 p.m.)", Zoot Radio, free old time radio show downloads of, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Life_of_Riley&oldid=1135022718, This page was last edited on 22 January 2023, at 03:47. Chester A. Riley: Yes. What is your sense of what's driven and shaped that conversation, and what, if anything, has been missing from that public view of it all? Digby 'Digger' O'Dell: No, only Latin and Greek. Mail: Vance Lauderdale, Memphis magazine,
Chester A. Riley: You know, it's funny.
A daughter is no longer the daughter only or the son no longer the son only. He had a very good sense of that. [1] (Marx would get his own series Blue Ribbon Town instead.) Chester A. Riley: None of that radical talk out of you just 'cause you go to high school! When Burt finally tells Babs about his financial predicament and suggests that they marry quickly so that Riley can keep his job and he can save his life, Babs reluctantly agrees. 460 Tennessee Street #200, Memphis, TN 38103. Punchy: Hey, why don't you get up, pal? According to the obituary, Digger was born in Georgia in 1915. If I'm an Italian Catholic or an Orthodox Jew or a Baptist African American, I don't have to wonder what's going to happen, because I know that my community of co-religionists, of ethnic fellows, my neighborhood, whatever, they've organized a plan so that I don't have to spend the first several hours or days or weeks trying to figure out what to do next because it's already been told by tradition, by custom, by culture, by form. I enjoy listening to the frogs croak. Riley's penchant for turning mere trouble into near-disaster through his well-intentioned bumbling was often aided or instigated by his arch best friend/next-door neighbor, Gillis. I want reports! Even though we can plan it and pay for it and all that, we can't really get that wheel to turn for us until it turns itself. She just cant help being money hungry.. That is a wheel we can only invent at the time it happens. [citation needed], Bendix and Rosemary DeCamp reprised the roles in an hour-long radio adaptation of the feature film that was presented on Lux Radio Theater on May 8, 1950. Chester A. Riley is back, with long-suffering wife Peg, trouble-prone kids Junior and Babs, moochy pal Gillis, and Digger O'Dell, The Friendly Undertaker in sixteen hilarious half-hour episodes. By using this site, you agree to our updated. The question is not meant to mock; the question is to say: "What is it you don't want to see? Chester A. Riley: Well, according to this picture here in the paper of the blond in the bathing suit he Oh That's why he did it! Jackie Gleason starred as Riley during the show's first year, while DeCamp and Lanny Rees reprised their film roles for the series. On the day of Babs's wedding, which is to take place at the Stevenson mansion, Riley becomes annoyed and hurt when Gillis, his best friend and co-worker, snubs him because he is sure that Riley "sold" his daughter to get the promotion. The oblivion is the oblivion wherever it is. Unreliable advice on how to handle these situations came from Riley's pal Digger O'Dell, the friendly undertaker, who would sneak in a string of dark-humored jokes before he had to be "shoveling off". He is best-known in Memphis for agreeing to be "buried alive" as a promotion that took place in September 1959 for Bluff City Buick. So what you've seen is what I've seen: that people who deal with their dead deal with death better. I think it suggests that we're going to get from one place to the other, whatever it is that we have to do to process this new reality, to get the dead to the edge of their changed role and get the living to the edge of this new changed life that they're going to lead without this person in their lives anymore. So we learn to live with it. Cast & Crew Read More Irving Brecher Director William Bendix Chester A. Riley James Gleason Gillis Rosemary Decamp Peg Riley Bill Goodwin Sidney Monahan Beulah Bondi Miss [Martha] Bogle Film Details Genre Comedy Release Date Mar 1949 Premiere Information Director Irving Brecher Writers Irving Brecher Groucho Marx (story) Stars William Bendix Rosemary DeCamp James Gleason See production, box office & company info Add to Watchlist 10 User reviews Photos 10 Top cast Edit "The Life of Riley" The Billboard Magazine Dec 6, 1947
Barbara 'Babs' Riley: It's just not fair! Barbara 'Babs' Riley: But Dad, Simon's only 20. While we would all agree that death is never funny, this show had an usual character in it by the name of Digby "Digger". I see my sons now working through this, and their generation. So yeah, I enjoyed writing that piece. The crematory we use is impeccably run by ethical people, people we inspect, unannounced, a couple times every year. The American Meat Institute (194445), Procter & Gamble (Teel dentifrice and Prell shampoo) (194549), and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer (194951) took turns as the radio program's sponsor. This character was extremelly successfull, with many puns based on his profession. There must be some reason for it! Many customers have had positive experiences ordering from them, and their customer service has been praised for keeping buyers updated on order status. Barbara 'Babs' Riley: Oh Simon, he knows! He made the news by being buried alive. Everything seems to fall into place. It then went into syndicated reruns. The only place your son will get his picture is in the post office. Last updated Jun 12 2013. We're celebrating love, huh? We already ordered the baby announcements. Will you care after your death if they take care of you in death as you did your dad? . I cant say what finally happened to Digger. Let's see! During a burial in California, a sudden earthquake caved in the sides of his "apartment" and he had to be rescued. So it's easy enough. And that's very seductive, because, I mean, it's human-to-human contact. The dead matter to the living. Chester A. Riley: Gee, Gillis, you're brave - making out you're happy when all the time, inside, you've got a broken heart. Simon Vanderhopper: Well, you can't call it off! Well, we wear black for funerals -- people have to know who the directors are, who to ask -- and white shirts and gray ties. And does the rise in cremation in America parallel changes in demographics? I'll be the dead guy, and the dead say nothing. And why do the rituals of a funeral matter? Peg Riley: Maybe he's sick or something. Give me a sense of the changes in attitudes toward death in America. Portrayed Chester A. Riley's neighbor Gillis on "The Life of Riley" for ABC Radio (1944-1945) and NBC Radio (1945-1951). Some do. Another gardener is pla, Growing Peppers in Your Garden: Tips, Hardening Off and Soil Mix, Growing peppers is a great way to spice up your garden. Burial was the norm in the Western world probably until the mid-60s. Irving Brecher, who would direct the film adaptation of Life of Riley, had seen William Bendix in a film called The McGuerins of Brooklyn (1942) and knew he'd found his man. Anyway, I presume the Digger ODell weve been discussing here was eventually buried one final time, and I hope his gravestone wherever it is pays tribute to one of this countrys unique stuntmen. I think mine will know what to do, too, not because I've said, "Do this or that," but because they have seen life as I have seen it, and they sort of know me and I know them. Even a criminal gets time off for good behavior. [Riley is talking on the phone with the hospital's maternity ward]. Gillis often gave Riley bad information that got him into trouble, whereas Digger gave him good information that "helped him out of a hole," as he might have put it. Why there ain't a day that goes by that I read the obituary columns! Maybe bigger. Unknown. Sterling Holloway recurred as neighbor Waldo Binney, another radio character. It's not that you don't want to see them dressed up or laid out or with glasses on, or too much makeup or their hair done in a clumsy way. I just gave him a sedative. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts My, you're looking fine today; very natural" and leave stage with ""Cheerio, I'd better be shoveling off", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_of_Riley. During cocktails, a bill collector from the electric company shows up, and after Riley sends him on his way, he disconnects the Rileys' electricity. Brecher told Brown, "I want a very sepulchral voice, quavering, morbid," and he got it right away.[2]. She means other kinds of trouble. One example of this type of comedy is the line "Business is a little dead tonight" . So I like the word "funeral" for what we're doing here, because it doesn't require me to feel this way or that. I think the national rate now is right around 38 percent. 461. I know it won't matter, it will be others, but do you see yourself as the fire or the earth, or --? Why would he leave his wife? STANDS4 LLC, 2023. 1
And there's somebody else digging the hole in the ground. All these things are part of the ongoing conversation that we here have. And a narrative is nothing other than a journey. It gives us a way to get some little mastery over these uncontrollable things by giving it a narrative thread. Chester A. Riley: The baby announcements? So this pilgrimage, this journey that we go on, replicates in many ways other journeys that we see in life, from infancy to toddlerhood, from toddlerhood to teenagers to adulthood, the journeys we take in life in our heart, in the life of our mind, the life of our spirit. Dwarf Mr Snow, Fred's Tie Dye, Saucy Mary, Sweet Scarlet, Kangaroo Paw Green, Idaho Gem and Banana Toes are just a few of the varieties one gardener is growing in a 4x8 bed of "bulletproof" tomatoes. He first started doing various stunts in 1932, a time when people were trying to make crazy money with dancing marathons, flagpole sitting, and other endurance feats. Life of Riley won the first Emmy Award (for "Best Film Made For and Shown on Television") with Groucho Marx receiving a credit for the story. The Life of Riley (1949) co-starred Rosemary DeCamp, James Gleason, Beluah Bondi, Richard Long and John Brown as "Digger O'Dell" the friendly undertaker, a role that he also played on the radio program. Today he is just living the life of RileyThis is the story of Chester A. Rileywho is just livingin Los Angeles California." Chester A. Riley is back, with long-suffering wife Peg, trouble-prone kids Junior and Babs, moochy pal Gillis, and Digger O'Dell, The Friendly Undertaker, in sixteen hilarious half-hour episodes. There's been a sort of national conversation about funerals over the years. It's ridiculous, it's mundane, it's stupid, but at the end of the day what we are trying to do is assemble all our metaphoric weapons to do battle with this hurt, this still thing. It is a sadness and a shame that cremation, the fire in this context, is seen as an industrial process instead of an elemental one, in the way that earth is elemental. Sometimes it's as simple as going up the street, down the block, into the church, out of that building, over to the bridge, over the river, over to the graveyard. With William Bendix the protagonist, as Riley and among others John Brown, who portrayed the friendly undertaker "Digger" O'Dell. Details Select delivery location Used: Like New | Details Sold by ral Add to Cart New & Used (2) from FREE Shipping Have one to sell? So Ive got only one inch to run around in.. Paula Winslowe played "Peg" for most of the series' run. Bearing witness one way or another, that's a key ingredient. WGBH educational foundation, How we've become estranged from death and the dead, The meaning and power of rituals and customs, The often-mocked tradition of an open casket, How the baby boomers will change the conversation about funerals. By what name was The Life of Riley (1949) officially released in Canada in English? She must have money. No one escaped Crowther's vitriol: Bendix was "an oaf," Lanny Rees, as son, Junior, looked "slightly frightening," Randall as Babs was "just another shapely blonde," and John Brown as Digger was "extremely disappointing in the flesh." Cullen, Frank, Hackman, Florence and McNeilly, Donald Vaudeville Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America Vol. 2023 Turner Classic Movies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. What we have missed, however, in cremation in this culture is all the powerful metaphoric values provided by fire, its elemental worth. Don't you worry about him; we'll pull him through. But he said, "When a death occurs, people feel so helpless, it's good to have some of these things already invented." And they open your mouth. MUSIC: LOU KOSLOFF'S "LIFE OF RILEY THEME" . The latter portion of the fifth season, broadcast between April and June 1957, was filmed and originally broadcast in color, although only black-and-white film prints of those episodes were syndicated. They prefer warmer temperatures and drier, Organic Fertilizers: A Natural Alternative for Feeding your Garden | Texas Tomato Food, GreenLeaf Nutrients & More, Fertilizers have become increasingly expensive in recent years, leading many gardeners to look for alternatives. So I'm interested in it. The elements are the elements. I think it's always been the case that funerals in general, and funeral directors in particular, provide an easy target for cartooning, because there is so much about what we do that can be held up for ridicule. Chester A. Riley: [on the phone] What is it, a boy or a girl? Jim Gillis: So by her leavin', I'm getting away without goin' out of the house. Brecher Productions, Inc.; Universal-International Pictures Co., Inc. "Digger" O'Dell, "the friendly undertaker", William Bendix came to the attention of the public in the 1944 Alfred Hitchcock film, Lifeboat , playing a dim-witted sailor who doesn't survive the ordeal. In October 1949, the NBC network began broadcasting a television series inspired by the radio program, also titled The Life of Riley. series from October 4, 1949, to March 28, 1950. Chester A. Riley: I'm just as much a show-off as they are, ain't I? Sometime in the mid-60s, probably having a lot to do with Jessica Mitford's book [The American Way of Death] and a lot to do with other social factors, there was sort of the triumphalist American sense that we didn't have to deal with any discomforts. So yeah, it is the good news and the bad news. Bareiss, Warren "The Life of Riley" Encyclopedia of Television
Digger O'Dell @diggerodell7655 56 subscribers Subscribe Home Videos Shorts Playlists Community Channels About Videos Play all 16:13 Searching for the lost Asylum (SHD, FX removed to fix some. [1], Irving Brecher pitched the radio series for friend Groucho Marx under the title The Flotsam Family, but the sponsor balked at what would have been essentially a straight head-of-household role for Marx. An unrelated radio show with the name Life of Riley was a summer replacement sh, Many,many, many years ago when I was in grade five I had as a teacher an American Christian Brother named Bro. When he his first line, it was usually greeted with howls of laughter and applause from the audience. And Mrs. Verrino's eulogy, her narrative of what she and her husband and their child were going through, was a way of sort of mastering this journey. I'm certain the same thing holds for people who put their dead in the sea or the fire or a tomb -- that we need time to disengage. Web. Dr. Beamish: Not now, I'm afraid. "You have to have helpers 24 hours a day.". I think we're all complicit in the banishment of the dead to the peripheries. So what I find is that before people bring their expertise as an embalmer or as a manager or as an executive or as a director, before any expertise, you ante up your humanity, you know? When his efforts to impress his boss, Carl Stevenson, apparently fail, Riley becomes incensed and finally works up the courage to confront him. Chester A. Riley: So was I. The second TV series ran for six seasons, from January 2, 1953, to May 23, 1958. The stock market is open. Before going, Riley instructs his precocious son Junior to exchange his piggy bank coins into bills and meet him at the restaurant, assuming that Junior's savings combined with his five dollars will be enough to pay for the meal. Barbara 'Babs' Riley: There's still Christmas. O'Dell was a character hastily written into the long-running radio (and, later, television) show, "The Life of Riley," which had its debut on radio in 1944, while Americans were dying by the thousands in Europe and the Far East. Chester A. Riley: "Babs Riley Featured in Annual School Follies". And there's somebody else doing this, that. And that is the cruel part, and that is the good news and the bad news all at once -- that things are happening even so. Vance Lauderdale is the history columnist for Memphis magazine and Inside Memphis Business. Don't forget the gallon I gave to the Red Cross. Most say, "No, go ahead and take care of that." Vance Lauderdale is the history columnist for Memphis magazine and Inside Memphis Business. Quotes.net. For the second run, Bendix returned as Riley, while Marjorie Reynolds appeared as Peg. In 1949, Universal Studios released a Life of Riley motion picture, and later that same year NBC produced a TV version with Jackie Gleason playing Riley (Bendix was unable to play the role . The expression "life of Riley" or "living the life of Riley (Reilly)" emerged in the early 1920s, and was probably derived from turn-of-the-century Irish songs, such as "The Best in the House Is None Too Good for Reilly." So yeah, I do find that people who have dealt with their dying -- whether it was taking them to their chemotherapy or sitting those weeks through hospice care, or checking in those weeks through hospice care, because we can't always be physically present -- those people who were thoroughly engaged with this are thoroughly engaged with the rest of it.