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. Peg Riley: You certainly are, Dear. And a narrative is nothing other than a journey. When my father died, I was not prepared to put him in the ground then. Maybe because it's happening to their parents or their siblings and some of their friends now, suddenly I see the cultural conversation changing from "how much?" Chester A. Riley: I'm just as much a show-off as they are, ain't I? 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. He would have figured that out, but I think for him the funeral, the procession, was part of the process. You have to have real talent to be accepted at the Van Plantan Workshop Theatre. Chester A. Riley: Yeah, but that ain't right. The elements are the elements. 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! "Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60-minute radio adaptation of the movie on May 8, 1950 with William Bendix, Rosemary DeCamp, Meg Randall . 461. 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. One of my favorite characters from classic radio is Digby Digger ODell, the friendly undertaker portrayed by John Brown in THE LIFE OF RILEY. Down your throat it goes. Whether in the most abstract sense or in the most particular, this is a safe harbor, a place they can have that conversation. [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. So it's interesting times we live in that way. Everything seems to fall into place. I always knew I'd bring up my daughter to be somebody someday. When families have gone to the crematory, has it made a difference? 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. 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. Let's see! I'll hug her and I'll kiss her. In some ways it is a culture that's based on convenience and cost efficiency. "Life goes on!" Bearing witness one way or another, that's a key ingredient. Copyright 2022 Memphis Magazine. 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. What we have missed, however, in cremation in this culture is all the powerful metaphoric values provided by fire, its elemental worth. Dear t.r. The lead character was changed to Chester A. Riley, the title was changed to The Life of Riley and a show and star were born. At the mobile home park, a local reporter didnt have a very high opinion of the aging stuntman, writing, He has the flushed face and shaking hand of a man who has seen the sun rise over many an empty bottle. Digger showed up at the park wearing only a bathrobe. People will say, "I'd like something simple and inexpensive," and I want to say, "Well, over here we have simplicity; over here we have cheap." Whether a person is consigned to the earth or the fire is, at the end of the day, no difference. web site copyright 1995-2014 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. interview with the film's producers|credits|privacy policy|journalistic guidelines Jim Gillis: Sure! Up until a couple generations ago, humans were the species that dealt with death, the idea of the thing, by dealing with their dead, the thing itself, so that the way we processed mortality was by processing mortals from one place to the other, one station to the next in this little pilgrimage between as they were to how they are to what we hope they'll be. In October 1949, the NBC network began broadcasting a television series inspired by the radio program, also titled The Life of Riley. You had your tonsils out. Chester A. Riley: I don't think you heard me, peg. Though other friends may fail you, I shall be the last to let you down.". I'm the guy that has the hearse, but there's someone else in town who is making a strawberry rhubarb pie to bring to the luncheon afterward, and that's what she's doing on the day. The only place your son will get his picture is in the post office. Except I want to send out those circulars, so bring me some round paper. Riley's annoying co-worker, Gillis, was also voiced by Brown. 461. And it works; it does work. And I have found that, whether I'm walking in the door with a stretcher and one of my own to help carry their dead out, or if I'm going to the hospital to visit a sick relative or friend, or if I show up for a funeral at another place, you know, at a distance, they thank you for that. 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. I think they used to call that "social death"; that actual death happens like that. John Brown returned as the morbid, counseling undertaker Digby (Digger) O'Dell. Thomas Lynch is a writer and a poet. I do not care but that they do it honorably. So yes, the hurt is there, but the hurt does not overwhelm. Peg Riley: Yeah? 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. "The Life of Riley" The Billboard Magazine Dec 6, 1947 Babs: Well, I think he ought to get a fair trial. 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 She must have money. 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. He's resting. When he his first line, it was usually greeted with howls of laughter and applause from the audience. But people will go home, and they will look at pictures of the dead; they'll look at movies of the dead; they'll quote the dead to one another; and they will weep and laugh and carry on. Al was the boyfriend of Irma. Banners asked customers and anyone driving past the Buick showroom on Union Avenue, "HOW LONG CAN HE STAY BURIED ALIVE?" 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. And so they'll know what to do. "It is I, Digger O'Dell, your friendly undertaker. Asked by yeaux. We are more mobile, more portable, more scattered. Chester A. Riley: What do you mean the baby announcements? Portrayed Chester A. Riley's neighbor Gillis on "The Life of Riley" for ABC Radio (1944-1945) and NBC Radio (1945-1951). Quotes.net. From NE Ohio to North Central Mississippi, everyone has their own ideas and preferences for what they will plant this year. Jim Gillis: I know a lot about surgery. You'd better stop talking that way. "The Life of Riley Quotes." It was produced by Tom McKnight for NBC and featured William Bendix. What are you doin' here in the park? The boss' son (Long), who is in love with Babs, suggests that they get married in order to save Riley's job. I've sat with families who said, "Well, we want a closed casket," and I've often asked them, "Well, had they not died yesterday, would you not want to see them today?" Barbara 'Babs' Riley: But Dad, Simon's only 20. Well, it's showing up and just being there is worth an awful lot. Gillis: I tried to help you, Riley, but I'm through. This is standard practice when ordering from Ukraine, according to customers wh. Instead, Jackie Gleason starred, with Rosemary DeCamp replacing Paula Winslowe as wife Peg, Gloria Winters as daughter Barbara (Babs), Lanny Rees as son Chester Jr. (Junior), and Sid Tomack as Jim Gillis, Riley's manipulative best buddy and next-door neighbor. 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. That's why I came over here tonight. 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. It was later reused by Benjamin J. Grimm of the Fantastic Four. She has her picture on the front page. We already ordered the baby announcements. Buried alive? Are social changes the reasons that we are more fearful and reluctant to deal with death in our everyday lives? And I do think that while the dead don't care, the dead matter. He'd made a few films, like Lifeboat, but he was not a name. Chester A. Riley: Christmas, nothing doing! Is he in some of of trouble or something? And it was over, oftentimes, the most mundane of circumstances. Radio historian Gerald Nachman quotes Brecher as stating, "He was a Brooklyn guy and there was something about him. It's a culture that doesn't like to be reminded of mortality. 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 yeah, I enjoyed writing that piece. It was a sudden inspiration brought on by ownership of a tuxedo T-shirt! And yet you write that beautiful essay Tract in your book, The Undertaking, which is in some way a map, is it? And at least so far as my experience is concerned, the living who bear those burdens honorably are better off for it. https://www.quotes.net/movies/the_life_of_riley_107479, https://www.quotes.net/movies/the_life_of_riley_quotes_107479. Everything assumes its natural order. Singles & EPs. When his efforts to impress his boss, Carl Stevenson, apparently fail, Riley becomes incensed and finally works up the courage to confront him. For the second run, Bendix returned as Riley, while Marjorie Reynolds appeared as Peg. I like the connection, the sound of the word "process"; it suggests movement, a pilgrimage. And we suspect there'll be more Riley movies. It's not that you don't want to see your mother or your father or your sister or your brother. After 13 days in his coffin, Memphis police showed up with shovels to unearth Digger. Chester A. Riley: Gee, Gillis, you're brave - making out you're happy when all the time, inside, you've got a broken heart. It's possible to pay with credit card or Western Union, but PayPal isn't an option. This is the edited transcript of interviews conducted with hin during the winter and spring of 2006-2007. I thought, this guy could play it. Chester A. Riley: The baby announcements? Maybe bigger. The program was broadcast live with a studio audience, most of whom were not aware Brown played both characters. I don't know what my part of it is, except it's duty, detail: Show up, do this, do that, be sure the car starts, keep it clean, you know, that type of thing. Not all of the radio cast made the transition to film; Paula Winslowe and Barbara Eiler were replaced with DeCamp and Meg Randall as Riley's . 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." And my father did have a sense of formality and tradition when it came to funerals. And why do the rituals of a funeral matter? 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. 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 And I've seen it work, I've seen it work. I got my picture in the paper! And are you a cremation or a burial man? Chester A. Riley: Hello, Digger. That they do it for themselves I think is very important. He liked the idea that the culture had sort of organized these wheels, in some way liturgically, in some ways socially. Thomas Lynch reads to camera his essay Tract, in which he broaches the topic of his own funeral. And there's somebody else trying to get the choir to sing in tune. They can coexist. 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. Peg Riley: No. Peppers take longer than tomatoes to get going, so start them first. My mother died on the 27th of October and was buried on the 31st of October, so it was the Eve of All Saints. Peg Riley: Well, he's always been so bright. Years later I had audio tapes to which I listened to repeatidly and learned to really admire Digger's council to Reilly via puns related to the profession of undertaking. Dunning, John On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio The Internet Movie Database Whether someone comes into the funeral home insisting on the least expensive or the most expensive, I see in both cases an effort to assign value to cost, and I just think in my own experience it's never had much to do with it. It gives me room to do either, all along this sort of emotional register. It's a kind of theater, I suppose. Burial was the norm in the Western world probably until the mid-60s. This character was extremelly successfull, with many puns based on his profession. After Riley overhears Burt discussing "business" with Norman, he beats up Norman and drags him before the wedding crowd. 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. His frequent exclamation of indignation became one of the most famous catch phrases of the 1940s: "What a revoltin' development this is!" The radio series greatly benefited from the immense popularity of a supporting character, Digby "Digger" O'Dell (John Brown), "the friendly undertaker." * TELEVISION: I just gave him a sedative. 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. I really think my people will know what to do when the time comes, and these are details I won't have to worry about. It's not always the same thing, and for everyone it's different. I said what about a kiss? 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. [6][7], The NBC adaptation, also created by Irving Brecher, was a single-season 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. This character was extremelly successfull, with many puns based on his profession. It is really helpful on the day your mother dies or your father dies or, God help us, a child dies, to have a certain part of the wheel already invented. 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. Jim Gillis: Are you kiddin'? With your own mother and father and their funerals, what were the moments that had meaning for you? Too often Bendix was cast as a mental case who enjoyed smashing skulls, or his roles would take his gentle giant exterior to the extreme and he would be cast as an overgrown child as in "The Babe Ruth Story". Bendix's delivery and the spin he put on his lines made it work. After all, the people whose names are on these markers dont have that luxury. : Commissioned in 1932 by Memphis Chapter 1 of the American War Mothers, this large bronze plaque carried the names of 27 Memphians who had lost their lives in World War I. Digby 'Digger' O'Dell: Why, I was just taking a stroll around the pond. Sign Up now to stay up to date with all of the latest news from TCM. In the 19551956 season, the Riley family moved and were given new neighbors portrayed by Florence Sundstrom and George O'Hanlon.[8]. He had a new book out about God not being great. An unrelated radio show with the name Life of Riley was a summer replacement show heard on CBS from April 12, 1941, to September 6, 1941. And I 'll kiss her a new book out about God not being great,. And for everyone it 's different care but that ai n't I of laughter and from. Sister or your father or your father or your father or your father or your father or brother... 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