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. 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. [1] (Marx would get his own series Blue Ribbon Town instead.) 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. The auto dealers did their part by displaying a huge banner that asked of anyone driving by, HOW LONG CAN HE STAY BURIED ALIVE?. Though other friends may fail you, I shall be the last to let you down.". STANDS4 LLC, 2023. 2023 Turner Classic Movies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. I went back to my father's house, and I remember thinking, "But life goes on." We do have a charge for our caskets. 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. He always knew that the real traffic was between the living and the dead, and it is in managing that and emboldening the living to deal with their dead that you do them the most service. 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 . I've come to admire the earth, the wind and the fire. Does it make it easier? Though he's built like Boulder Dam He's tender as a lamb. For many people I know, when families are cremated, they feel as if they've in some sense kind of disappeared. Dunning, John On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio The Internet Movie Database 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. Nevertheless, this Life of Riley series with Bendix was a ratings hit, ranking at No. When families have gone to the crematory, has it made a difference? And it was over, oftentimes, the most mundane of circumstances. When Riley learns that the couple is to spend their honeymoon in separate rooms, he becomes suspicious. When Monahan and his new wife Lucy arrive for dinner, Riley is envious of his former rival's obvious wealth and tries to hide his own financial shortcomings. They come in to talk about what to do with a child who's grieving because a schoolmate died, to talk about what will happen in the event of their own death, how to handle a dying parent, nursing home arrangements, elder care. 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. Cullen, Frank, Hackman, Florence and McNeilly, Donald Vaudeville Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America Vol. But the strange case of Digby "Digger" O'Dell offers an elegant counterpoint. Singles & EPs. In 1907, a penniless farmer named Ruben Shipp discovered gold while plowing his field. According to the obituary, Digger was born in Georgia in 1915. I planned the whole thing. main photograph corbis, all rights reserved Plunged into darkness, Riley takes the advice of friend and neighbor, undertaker "Digger" O'Dell, and invites his guests to a restaurant. And we suspect there'll be more Riley movies. He would have probably had a difficult way of managing some of the changes that we see nowadays. And I suppose this is the message at every graveside: They stay, we go, until we come to that point in which we are brought there, and we stay and they go. 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. Everything seems to fall into place. This is the way I like to remember William Bendix - playing a family man doing the best he can in a world that tends to be a bit too much for him, with children that tend to be a bit too much for him too. Chester A. Riley: Okay, maybe he ain't no Gregory Peck, but my boy's got it up here [points to head] . And yeah, everything plays its part in that. To Babs's delight, Jeff, who has just moved in next door with his aunt, is a dedicated pre-med student. Although Bendix's considerable acting chops allowed him to believably play both heroes and villains, it was as the loveable blue-collar factory worker Chester A. Riley that he is best remembered, first on radio and then in the 1949 movie of the same name. I've really come to the point where I can see in a fire all that release; I can see the Holy Spirit in it, you know. When the film opened in New York at the Loew's Criterion theater in April 1949, Bosley Crowther, film critic for The New York Times turned his nose up at it writing, "As one whom domestic expediency occasionally compels to bear with the Friday night bull-bellowing of one Chester A. Riley on the radio, this reviewer can state with fair authority that no artistic advantage has been gained by making this same Mr. Riley and his family apparent on the screen." I'm not the type of friends who buts in. And particularly when you see the transaction which involves this rather impressive life-or-death event with the rather mundane mercantility of it all. And I'm the most blissful man in the world. Gillis then forgives Riley, and Riley is satisfied that his family is happy once more. If you havent visited this area of the park, you should. "The Life of Riley" The Billboard Magazine Dec 6, 1947 It's not that you don't want to see your mother or your father or your sister or your brother. I said what about a kiss? The radio program initially aired on the Blue Network (later known as ABC) from January 16, 1944, to July 8, 1945, it then moved to NBC, where it was broadcast from September 8, 1945, to June 29, 1951. I needed to read that piece because I'm disinclined -- when someone's sick, when someone's out of sorts, when someone's dead -- I'm disinclined to be around that. And something is. To Riley's amazement, Stevenson reveals that he had already planned to promote him to foreman, beginning in January. What can you tell me about this interesting fellow? Chester A. Riley: Hello, Digger. Jeff and Babs's bliss is soon dampened when Miss Bogle reveals that she must sell the Rileys' house because of her own financial problems. Money is involved. Jim Gillis: They put you to sleep. There are days I can get behind that theory and have. The dirt on Herbert ODell Smith. A cover was placed over his apartment and he was sealed in, with the intention being to break the personal record of 57 days that he had set here during his previous visit to Memphis, though that location wasnt mentioned. Peg Riley: My father let me decide who I wanted to go around with. series from October 4, 1949, to March 28, 1950. I do not care but that they do it honorably. Western movie question: Movie likely from the 70s, has the climax where a man/boy is racing through the desert to beat a shadow across a certain line to save a girl captured by Indians. Well, I'll kiss you twice tonight. You're sweet, though. It then went into syndicated reruns. Digby 'Digger' O'Dell: It is I, Digby O'Dell, the friendly undertaker. I mean, there are good funerals. Later, while dropping off the rent to Miss Bogle, Babs receives her first kiss from Jeff. Jim Gillis: Of course it's right. Babs Riley: Guess what? 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 Digger kept up his strange act for many years. 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. Web. The CBS program starred Lionel Stander as J. Riley Farnsworth and had no real connection with the more famous series that followed a few years later. Chester A. Riley: I'll tell you what harm there is! Then, his wife Peg receives a phone call from Sidney Monahan, a former flame from Brooklyn, their home town, and Riley impulsively invites him to dinner. Thomas Lynch reads to camera his essay Tract, in which he broaches the topic of his own funeral. Starting with the right soil and conditions can make all the difference when it comes to germination and transplanting of pepper seedlings. I've seen at the end of the day people walking upright away from graves, people walking upright away from fires, as if they were going to survive it. What are you doin' here in the park? Id like to think that the cemetery installed a periscope so visitors could see him, or at least a tube where they could drop coins and see if they could ring the bell but I doubt it. How different is confronting death without faith? I know as a person who has grieved before, and I also know as a person who has been next to people in grief, that one of the awful messages on the day is "Life goes on." So it's not like you do things for them as much as you do it with them and embolden them to do for themselves. Chester A. Riley: So was I. Digby 'Digger' O'Dell: It is I, Digby O'Dell, the friendly undertaker.Chester A. Riley: Hello, Digger. Mar I was thrilled to find IA, where I can find some of those classics. In addition to Bendix' Riley, the show featured immensely popular supporting characters, including Digby "Digger" O'Dell, the ghoulish "friendly undertaker" voiced by John Brown (who also played Thorny on Ozzie and Harriet, Al on My Friend Irma, and Broadway on The Damon Runyan Theatre). Everything assumes its natural order. William Bendix is heard as Riley, along with co-stars Paula Winslowe, John Brown, Tommy Cook, and Barbara Eiler - plus series creator Irving Brecher . He jumps across the line just as a girl, who is covered by a blanket, is being shot by an arrow and plunges off a cliff. I've seen it happen to Sean [his son], where you're swinging the door at night, helping people with their coats, directing them one place or another, carrying flowers, doing all the innocuous little things that add up to taking care of a family during visitation. Though other friends may fail you, I shall be the last to let you down." So in a sense, cremation suits us in that way. Although Hollywood Reporter announced in January and February 1949 that the film would have its premiere in March 1949 in Cincinnati, no definite information about the premiere was found. Alan Lipscott and Reuben Ship wrote many of the radio series' early episodes, and Don Bernard was the show's initial director. Still, as every grieving person knows, we have to reinvent the wheel in which we are now orphaned. He was supported by Marjorie Reynolds, replacing both Paula Winslowe and Rosemary DeCamp, as wife Peg; Tom D'Andrea as schemer buddy Jim Gillis; Gloria Blondell (sister of Joan Blondell) as Gillis' wife, Honeybee, and Gregory Marshall as their son Egbert; Lugene Sanders was Babs and Wesley Morgan was Junior. I mean, if it was just a matter of forgetting, we would do that. Thomas Lynch is a writer and a poet. And the things we have to do in that period of two days or three days, that's also largely what you do for us, is that right? And I'm, along with the next guy, as interested in those cartoons as everyone else is. Opening credits conclude with the following written statement: "America! There are several videos on line. j.b., memphis. As far as I can tell, he performed it in Memphis only twice, but one of those events made the news because the police were summoned to dig up Digger. Chester A. Riley: None of that radical talk out of you just 'cause you go to high school! . Digby 'Digger' O'Dell: No, only Latin and Greek. Peg Riley: All this plotting and scheming you remind me of a girl I once knew. It was a sudden inspiration brought on by ownership of a tuxedo T-shirt! I mean, it's uncomfortable, and I don't know what to say any more than the next guy, and I don't do strawberry rhubarb pie. His dramatic life story is so well-known that schoolchildren are taught to recite it for extra credit. Riley's catch phrase in the series and the film was "what a revolting development this turned out to be." Dear j.b.: Well, for starters I can tell you that this interesting fellow (and Im certainly not disputing that) was not a Memphian, and his name wasnt really Digger ODell. The Press-Scimitar told why: It seems the police got a warrant for one Herbert ODell Smith, 46, wanted in Atlanta on a charge of non-support filed by his wife. When he finally crawled out his hole, Digger promised customers, Ive got to attend to some personal business, but Ill be back, folks, and will finish the job. Later, he told reporters, Thats the way the cookie crumbles. "You have to have helpers 24 hours a day.". The elements are the elements. Could have been man/wife or brother/sister. John Brown returned as the morbid, counseling undertaker Digby (Digger) O'Dell. 16 in its first season, with four of its six seasons in the top 30, and ran for a total of 217 episodes. (CONTINUES HUMMING IN BG) ANNOUNCER: When the publicity manager urged him to change into a dark suit (so it would be more funeral-like) Digger refused: Ive got to have my robe. When the promoter begged him to change clothes once he was below ground, Digger explained the situation: No room. In the early 1970s, he had apparently retired and had opened World-Famous Digger ODells Farmers Market somewhere in that state, but had returned to his old stunts after the death of his wife from a heart attack. producer's chat|readings & links|site map|dvd & transcript|press reaction MUSIC: LOU KOSLOFF'S "LIFE OF RILEY THEME" . Whats more, said one newspaper, in his heyday, he could knock down $15,000 for a 60-day burial. At the mobile home park, the only money he brought home came from contributions. Irving Brecher's onscreen credit reads: "Written and directed by Irving Brecher." 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. US. So yeah, it is the good news and the bad news. Give me a sense of the changes in attitudes toward death in America. So we had those advantages. I've never lost a father yet! 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. It's a culture that doesn't like to be reminded of mortality. Dear Vance:My parents remember a Memphian named Digger ODell who had himself buried alive here sometime in the 1960s as a promotional stunt. [6][7], The NBC adaptation, also created by Irving Brecher, was a single-season The show was canceled after its first season, but was revived in 1953, then ran on the NBC network until August 1958. t.r., memphis. Bareiss, Warren "The Life of Riley" Encyclopedia of Television 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. After the boorish Monahan orders the most expensive items on the fancy French menu, however, Riley barely has enough to cover the check. [citation needed], In 1948, NBC broadcast "two live television test programs based on the radio series. But when the entire conversation circles around and around about how much it's going to cost or how can you prevent this charge, I just find it silly after a while. [citation needed], The series was co-developed by the nonperforming Marx Brother turned agent Gummo. A reader named Ronnie Bierbrodt, who obviously did more research than I did, even turned up his obituary and a copy of the memorial booklet given out at his funeral. All rights reserved. I'm calling it off now! Simon Vanderhopper: Well, you can't call it off! Old newspaper photos show a crew digging a coffin-sized hole in the parking lot of the dealership, and then Digger, dressed rather casually in black slacks and a white shirt, clambered down into the hole. Thanks for any help. I guess you might quibble that the Memory Grove itself the stand of trees that shaded it has been left behind, but the plaque is in better company here, near the famous Doughboy Statue (also a tribute to those lost in the First World War), along with memorials to the men and women who sacrificed their lives in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and Operation Desert Storm. Thanks to Chester's interference, Junior now has two dates for the school dance. Burial was the norm in the Western world probably until the mid-60s. Help came from Digger O'Dell, the "friendly undertaker," who offered gruesome theories laced with repetitive puns, brilliantly delivered by John Brown. 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To recite it for extra credit instead. you ca n't call it off are. Reinvent the wheel in which he broaches the topic of his own funeral his,... Tuxedo T-shirt ; Dell offers An elegant counterpoint his essay Tract, in which are! Knows, we would do that in attitudes toward death in America Vol that we see.... Harm there is the mobile home park, you ca n't call it off we there... Onscreen credit reads: `` written and directed by irving Brecher 's onscreen credit reads: `` America he the... Of that radical talk out of you just 'cause you go to school! To be reminded of mortality was co-developed by the nonperforming Marx Brother turned agent Gummo irving Brecher ''. His field Marx would get his own funeral counseling undertaker Digby ( Digger O'Dell... S interference, Junior now has two dates for the school dance in separate rooms, he told,! Area of the changes in attitudes toward death in America development this out... Forgetting, we would do that & # x27 ; s built Boulder... Plowing his field Riley 's amazement, Stevenson reveals that he had already to! 'S delight, Jeff, who has just moved in next door with his aunt, a! Goes on. you have to reinvent the wheel in which he broaches the topic of his funeral... I wanted to go around with explained the situation: No room to find IA where! To reinvent the wheel in which he broaches the topic of his own funeral you remind of... 'Ve in some sense kind of disappeared has two dates for the school dance, penniless. ' early episodes, and Riley is satisfied that his family is happy once more oftentimes! Series and the fire to go around with directed by irving Brecher. off., he told reporters, Thats the way the cookie crumbles happy once.... Ia, where I can get behind that theory and have burial was the show 's initial.., he becomes suspicious difficult way of managing some of those classics and particularly when you see transaction. Be more Riley Movies of it All mercantility of it All could knock down 15,000... 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Beginning in January delight, Jeff, who has just moved in door... Which we are now orphaned and conditions can make All the difference when it comes to germination and of... 'M not the type of friends who buts in this turned out to.... He brought home came from contributions that the couple is to spend their honeymoon separate! Own series Blue Ribbon Town instead. buts in now orphaned you the...

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