But at some point it becomes more than a job, and I can see this happening to the young people who have come here to work as high school students on work-study programs. Will that matter? Buried alive? producer's chat|readings & links|site map|dvd & transcript|press reaction 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. I just read this card, and I just spoke to the Justice of the Peace! So I took The Flotsam Family script, revised it, made it a Brooklyn Family, took out the flippancies and made it more meat-and-potatoes, and thought of a new title, The Life of Riley. 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. Peg Riley: No. The dirt on Herbert ODell Smith. To Riley's amazement, Stevenson reveals that he had already planned to promote him to foreman, beginning in January. Jim Gillis: So by her leavin', I'm getting away without goin' out of the house. I see no difference in the machinery it takes to dig a hole [and] the machinery it takes to build a fire. Chester A. Riley: Yeah! It's amazing! Who were the other musicians in that performance? But I remember coming home after the mass and the burial and the luncheon, getting back to her house -- it was about 3:00-ish in the afternoon -- and thinking, "The trick-or-treaters are coming." I was watching [author and cultural commentator] Christopher Hitchens the other day. They need to talk to someone. Bareiss, Warren "The Life of Riley" Encyclopedia of Television And that's unfortunate. So I like the word "funeral" for what we're doing here, because it doesn't require me to feel this way or that. When my father died, I was not prepared to put him in the ground then. Thanks to Chester's interference, Junior now has two dates for the school dance. [1], William Bendix also starred in the 1949 film version of The Life of Riley directed by Irving Brecher. It is the ridiculous and the sublime. To view this content, please use one of the following compatible browsers: A factory worker tries to cope when his daughter dates the boss's son. Peg Riley: Oh? William Bendix is heard as Riley, along with co-stars Paula Winslowe, John Brown, Tommy Cook, and Barbara Eiler - plus series creator Irving Brecher . Web. Jim Gillis: I know a lot about surgery. When you grow up in funeral service, you always have a job. He didnt come close to breaking his record. Babs Riley: Guess what? Well, both my parents were buried like Irish Catholics were buried, so there was this sort of tribal and religious language that had been developed over centuries for how we do this. I mean, if it was just a matter of forgetting, we would do that. That they do it for themselves I think is very important. All rights reserved. But the strange case of Digby "Digger" O'Dell offers an elegant counterpoint. I see it all as part of the one journey, all as part of the one pilgrimage. It was produced by Tom McKnight for NBC and featured William Bendix. The radio series greatly benefited from the immense popularity of a supporting character, Digby "Digger" O'Dell (John Brown), "the friendly undertaker." The Life of Riley starring William Bendix as lovable, blundering, Chester A. Riley, was a radio situation comedy broadcast during and after wartime 40s. Chester A. Riley: What do you think I'm paying you ten cents a week for, to spy on Babs! The finger food was good, the talk was uplifting, the music was life-affirming; someone, usually the reverend clergy, could be counted on to declare closure, usually just before the Merlot ran out, and everyone was there but the one who had died. 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. 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. Made for Universal Pictures and directed by Brecher, who also wrote and produced the simple plot of The Life of Riley , revolves around Babs (Randall) learning that Riley is about to get laid off. Chester A. Riley, a riveter at Stevenson Aircraft in Los Angeles, works hard but is always behind in his bills. Not wanting to uproot his family, Riley determines to come up with the $1,500 down payment and goes from bank to bank searching for a loan. 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. Everything seems to fall into place. 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. And most good customs allow for some wiggle room, you know. It seems Digger ODell was a friendly undertaker character in The Life of Riley , a radio soap opera that aired back in the 1930s, but that still doesnt explain the curious popularity of the name, if you ask me. And oftentimes I'm impressed by how people will wrap their existential concerns about a dying parent in the prearrangement conference. 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. 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: [on the phone] What is it, a boy or a girl? What a revolting development this is! 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. The program was broadcast live with a studio audience, most of whom were not aware Brown played both characters. Also, in 1958, it hi But don't go there searching for a tombstone marked Digger O'Dell. Digby 'Digger' O'Dell: Why, I was just taking a stroll around the pond. 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). It's possible to pay with credit card or Western Union, but PayPal isn't an option. Do they get through it better? [citation needed], The series was co-developed by the nonperforming Marx Brother turned agent Gummo. I cant find any record that Digger ever returned to Bluff City Buick, or to the Bluff City for that matter, to finish the job. Back in Atlanta, a judge allowed him to conduct his stunt for an Atlanta shopping center, but he had to turn the money he would be paid only $2,250 over to his family. Dr. Beamish: Not now, I'm afraid. The dead matter to the living. A comic book adaptation of the show was produced by Dell Comics in 1958 as part of their Four Color series of one-shots. Riley could easily be described as the Archie Bunker of the 1940s. Chester A. Riley: "Babs Riley Featured in Annual School Follies". Why would he leave his wife? She has her picture on the front page. Chester A. Riley: I'll tell you what harm there is! I think we're all complicit in the banishment of the dead to the peripheries. Where is the meaning? It's not always the same thing, and for everyone it's different. Asked by yeaux. Thomas Lynch reads to camera his essay Tract, in which he broaches the topic of his own funeral. Gene Krupa performed his famous drum solo ("Sing, Sing, Sing") on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1960. Vance Lauderdale is the history columnist for Memphis magazine and Inside Memphis Business. Chester A. Riley: What do you mean the baby announcements? What does your funeral home represent for this town? Are social changes the reasons that we are more fearful and reluctant to deal with death in our everyday lives? SOURCES: The Life of Riley, 1944 to 1951. Simon Vanderhopper: Yes sir, I don't let the grass grow under my feet! A daughter is no longer the daughter only or the son no longer the son only. Rosemary DeCamp (as "Peg Riley"), Lanny Rees (as "Junior Riley") and John Brown (as "Digger O'Dell, the Friendly Undertaker") all reprised their movie roles in the original The Life of Riley (1948) TV series. His dramatic life story is so well-known that schoolchildren are taught to recite it for extra credit. I mean, that is the terrible, terrible part. Riley's catch phrase in the series and the film was "what a revolting development this turned out to be." The Milford location is one of six Lynch funeral homes in the state. Chester A. Riley: Yes. Peg Riley: All this plotting and scheming you remind me of a girl I once knew. We do have a charge for our caskets. Everything is going on, and here we are. I think he was keenly aware of the fact that a good funeral is not about what we buy or what we spend; that a good funeral is very much about what we do when someone dies. After all, the people whose names are on these markers dont have that luxury. Jim Gillis: They put you to sleep. I've always been touched by the fact that there seems to be as much laughter as weeping at the big life events. 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. The Life of Riley is 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. Not to worry, though. Comedy Romance A factory worker's family is thrown into an uproar when his teenage daughter starts to date his boss' son. 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. Singles & EPs. 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. But more and more, when we say to them, "You may, and maybe you ought " or, "Maybe someone in your family should be designated, just to go in as your proxy, to say, 'Everything was done as it should be done,'" they do it. But when some widowed person comes out and takes you by the shoulders and said, "Thank you, I couldn't have done this without you," and all you did was be there, or answer the call, or show up, there's this deep sense of having been of use to people at a time of need. William Bendix is heard as Riley, along with co-stars Paula Winslowe, John Brown, Tommy Cook, and Barbara Eilerplus series creator Irving Brecher . 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. 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. Get Ready for a New Season of Gardening -Choose from Tomatoes, Peaches, Corn, Zinnias & More! https://www.quotes.net/movies/the_life_of_riley_107479, https://www.quotes.net/movies/the_life_of_riley_quotes_107479. 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