Months after my father died, I can remember this wave of feelings that would come over me, catching me at the most unpredictable times, this wallop of him being dead, him being gone. Thanks to Chester's interference, Junior now has two dates for the school dance. There's been a sort of national conversation about funerals over the years. Digger: Every good undertaker has his ear to the ground - we pick up a lot of dirt that way. 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: No. 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. Not a day went by that I wasn't kept in after school. And particularly when you see the transaction which involves this rather impressive life-or-death event with the rather mundane mercantility of it all. Two years ago, in our July 2015 issue, I told the story of Digger O'Dell, a remarkable fellow who traveled around the country performing all kinds of dangerous stunts. If you havent visited this area of the park, you should. Last updated Jun 12 2013. We are less grounded than our grandparents were. We'd be wise, as a culture, to examine some of these things. His frequent exclamation of indignation"What a revoltin' development this is! Why there ain't a day that goes by that I read the obituary columns! Alan Lipscott and Reuben Ship wrote many of the radio series' early episodes, and Don Bernard was the show's initial director. I know it won't matter, it will be others, but do you see yourself as the fire or the earth, or --? 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. Crowther concluded, "[W]e suppose there are millions who will like this sort of truck. Chester A. Riley: Nah what would a rich man want with money? She has her picture on the front page. One day, after paying out all but five of his fifty-dollar-a-week paycheck, Riley has to sneak into his house to avoid his landlady, Miss Martha Bogle, to whom he owes money. Comedy Romance A factory worker's family is thrown into an uproar when his teenage daughter starts to date his boss' son. Sign Up now to stay up to date with all of the latest news from TCM. Peg Riley: Theatre, huh? I was watching [author and cultural commentator] Christopher Hitchens the other day. What does your funeral home represent for this town? 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. Everything assumes its natural order. Dunning, John On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio The Internet Movie Database What a revolting development this is! Simon Vanderhopper: Mr. Riley, you're not angry? The supporting cast featured Paula Winslowe as Riley's wife, Peg, and as Riley's mother-in law; Brown as O'Dell and as Riley's co-worker Jim Gillis; Francis "Dink" Trout as Waldo Binney; Tommy Cook, Bobby Ellis and Scotty Beckett as Junior at various times during the show's run; Barbara Eiler as Riley's daughter, Babs; Shirley Mitchell as Honeybee Gillis; Hans Conried as Uncle Baxter; and Alan Reed as multiple characters, including Riley's boss (Mr. Stevenson) and Peg's father. Ferguson: That's the type of citizen we're sworn to protect. 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. But he said, "When a death occurs, people feel so helpless, it's good to have some of these things already invented." You'd better stop talking that way. The show was canceled after its first season, but was revived in 1953, then ran on the NBC network until August 1958. When he heard the sad news about his wife, said a newspaper, Diggers own heart broke like a clod of dirt. I know his nickname was Digger, but thats just mean. P-R-E-L-L! One example of this type of comedy is the line "Business is a little dead tonight" . Another time, firefighters rescued him after he apparently suffered a heart attack underground. His real name, it seems, was Herbert O'Dell Smith. Jackie Gleason starred as Riley during the show's first year, while DeCamp and Lanny Rees reprised their film roles for the series. Chester A. Riley: I don't think you heard me, peg. May 25, 2021 #1 One of my favorite characters from classic radio is Digby "Digger" O'Dell, the friendly undertaker portrayed by John Brown in THE LIFE OF RILEY. But I don't know of anybody who has come in here entirely angry at the prospect of God who has done well with this type of thing, with deaths in the family. But we are much more willing to go stand next to the hole in the ground than we are willing to stand next to the fire. Dear Vance:My parents remember a Memphian named Digger ODell who had himself buried alive here sometime in the 1960s as a promotional stunt. So it's easy enough. Oh, yeah. And is that the purposefulness in the ebb and flow of a wake and a funeral? He never acted this way before. Peg Riley: No. But then I can read the work of Barbara Brown Taylor or St. Paul or C.S. 461. Money is involved. Let's see! Chester A. Riley: Yeah! Quotes.net. [6][7], The NBC adaptation, also created by Irving Brecher, was a single-season Well, read it closely, and what I've written is that as long as they deal with it, I don't care what they do. 2023. 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. And so they'll know what to do. 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 Chester A. Riley: Yes. "You have to have helpers 24 hours a day.". And are you a cremation or a burial man? I'm calling it off now! How different is confronting death without faith? It gives me room to do either, all along this sort of emotional register. In some ways it is a culture that's based on convenience and cost efficiency. [9], William Bendix and Sterling Holloway, 1957. Still, as every grieving person knows, we have to reinvent the wheel in which we are now orphaned. So yes, the hurt is there, but the hurt does not overwhelm. 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. During cocktails, a bill collector from the electric company shows up, and after Riley sends him on his way, he disconnects the Rileys' electricity. 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?" Everything seems to fall into place. 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? Bareiss, Warren "The Life of Riley" Encyclopedia of Television Bendix, Rosemary DeCamp, Richard Long, Meg Randall and John Brown reprised their screen roles for an May 8, 1950 Lux Radio Theatre broadcast. Peg Riley: Oh? 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. producer's chat|readings & links|site map|dvd & transcript|press reaction But I have graves at Oak Grove; I have graves in West Clare [County, Ireland]. Gene Krupa performed his famous drum solo ("Sing, Sing, Sing") on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1960. It was just doing the next right thing. Babs Riley: All right, but Professor Van Plantan says I have a natural gift for acting. John Brown returned as the morbid, counseling undertaker Digby (Digger) O'Dell. Radio historian Gerald Nachman quotes Brecher as stating, "He was a Brooklyn guy and there was something about him. I just gave him a sedative. 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". Peg Riley: Chester Riley! It gives us a way to get some little mastery over these uncontrollable things by giving it a narrative thread. The Life of Riley was the initial release of Brecher Productions, Inc. William Bendix first played "Riley" in the popular NBC radio series on which this film was based, and John Brown played "'Digger' O'Dell" in the series. Chester A. Riley: You know, Peg, I don't know what kind of wife she's gonna mae, but 40 years from now, somebody's gonna have a terrific mother-in-law. Chester A. Riley: [on the phone] What is it, a boy or a girl? Some do. 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. Paula Winslowe played "Peg" for most of the series' run. 16 in its first season, with four of its six seasons in the top 30, and ran for a total of 217 episodes. I have often noticed the difference between the first day that a family will spend here and the next day. Peg Riley: My father let me decide who I wanted to go around with. But even people who do not believe or claim no religiosity or no particular faith, they are not without some text, some book they regard as, if not holy, it is the handle they're trying to hold onto to get through this. The Life of Riley was an American radio situation comedy series of the 1940s that was adapted into a 1949 feature film, a 1950s television series, and a 1958 comic book. 2023 Turner Classic Movies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. He's a boy who Chester A. Riley: He's a boy! The trouble is, in our culture we try to have one or the other -- either/or -- and it's both and then some in real experience. What we don't want to see is our mother or our father dead, and that is the part we need to see. Digger: Every good undertaker has his ear to the ground - we pick up a lot of dirt that way. Digger O'Dell, the friendly undertaker ANNCR: It's new! 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." It was produced by Tom McKnight for NBC and featured William Bendix. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. And yet someone's weeping because of the changed life that we're seeing before us. So we weep and we laugh, we laugh and we sing, and we try to work our way around this changed reality in much the same way a death in the family articulates this changed reality. The year before he died, Digger told reporters that he had probably spent six years of his life underground, earning as much as $600 a week for his efforts. Because of its overwhelming radio popularity, Riley graduated as easily to a 1949 feature film, as it did to 1950s television. Dear Vance:What happened to the Memory Grove plaque an old war memorial that stood in Overton Park, in a stand of trees close to Poplar Avenue? Rejected everywhere, Riley reluctantly asks Monahan for the money, but Monahan also refuses him. Digby 'Digger' O'Dell : Why, I was just taking a stroll around the pond. I really don't care. 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 . Babs: Well, I think he ought to get a fair trial. The till doesn't ring as precisely, and what works and where the values are require more discernment. A factory worker's family is thrown into an uproar when his teenage daughter starts to date his boss' son. And then one year it disappeared, and I fretted that someone had stolen it for scrap metal. 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