"The Life of Riley" The Billboard Magazine Dec 6, 1947
For the second run, Bendix returned as Riley, while Marjorie Reynolds appeared as Peg. And is that the purposefulness in the ebb and flow of a wake and a funeral? Procter and Gamble's new Radiant Creme Shampoo in the handy tube! Not sure where the voice actor was inspired from, but Mancubus sounds exactly like Digger O'Dell, the friendly undertaker from the old Life of Rile Press J to jump to the feed. Web. Junior Riley: Why don't you wet a piece of confetti and drown your brain? Does it make it easier? Where is the meaning? As usual, he doesn't know what to do, until Digby O'Dell, the Friendly Unde. 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. Chester A. Riley: No. Whether we consign our dead to scavenger birds, as they do in Tibet, or to the sea, as they do when the sea is around them, or the tree, as our Native Americans did, it doesn't make any difference. Well, I'll kiss you twice tonight. Digger O'Dell, the friendly undertaker ANNCR: It's new! producer's chat|readings & links|site map|dvd & transcript|press reaction 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. Portrayed Chester A. Riley's neighbor Gillis on "The Life of Riley" for ABC Radio (1944-1945) and NBC Radio (1945-1951). If you're playing human to human, you'll do fine. It's amazing! 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. And that's unfortunate. A factory worker's family is thrown into an uproar when his teenage daughter starts to date his boss' son. You have to have real talent to be accepted at the Van Plantan Workshop Theatre. I do find this recent push for every funeral to be a celebration of life as, in a way, a kind of a cruel joke on people who are in acute grief. And particularly when you see the transaction which involves this rather impressive life-or-death event with the rather mundane mercantility of it all. Let me begin this strange tale by saying that minutes and minutes of research failed to turn up many verifiable facts about Smith oh, good grief, lets just call him Digger here. series from October 4, 1949, to March 28, 1950. I figure once a year, every married man should get away from his wife for a few days. One of my favorite old time radio characters (other than Jack Benny) was Digger O'Dell "The Friendly Undertaker". The company offers Elephant Gigantes seeds, as well as free seeds that come with recommended shelf life information included. Vance Lauderdale is the history columnist for Memphis magazine and Inside Memphis Business. The Life of Riley, 1944 to 1951. For 28 years, the CHFB has been the essential site for classic horror news, research and enthusiasm. To Riley's amazement, Stevenson reveals that he had already planned to promote him to foreman, beginning in January. They can coexist. And are you a cremation or a burial man? After Riley overhears Burt discussing "business" with Norman, he beats up Norman and drags him before the wedding crowd. That they do it for themselves I think is very important. It's the people who, in many ways, try to put on the smiley face, that brittle grin you see so often that says, "We're going to be happy." It's an easy target; it always is -- you know, the Digger O'Dell [the "friendly undertaker" character in the 1950s television series Life of Riley]. Chester A. Riley: Hello, Digger. 460 Tennessee Street #200, Memphis, TN 38103. He made the news by being buried alive. So Ive got only one inch to run around in.. Jim Gillis: I know a lot about surgery. Peg Riley: Maybe he's sick or something. I remember it hitting me there in the house: She actually died; we actually buried her today; she's actually not coming back here; she's actually gone. He's a boy who Chester A. Riley: He's a boy! I mean, if it was just a matter of forgetting, we would do that. Buy Organic Seeds Risk Free From Organic Seeds TOP - Credit Card & Western Union Payment Options, Organic Seeds TOP is a seed vendor based in the Ukraine. Humiliated, Riley vows to Peg that he will become more successful, and after six weeks of working overtime, he volunteers to host the company's Labor Day beach picnic. Chester A. Riley: Yeah! Chester A. Riley: Gee, Gillis, you're brave - making out you're happy when all the time, inside, you've got a broken heart. 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. I planned the whole thing. Copyright 2022 Memphis Magazine. I like the connection, the sound of the word "process"; it suggests movement, a pilgrimage. He would announce himself with, "'Tis I, Digger O'Dell, your friendly undertaker. 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. Chester A. Riley: I know what you did! So I like the word "funeral" for what we're doing here, because it doesn't require me to feel this way or that. Starting with the right soil and conditions can make all the difference when it comes to germination and transplanting of pepper seedlings. Dr. Beamish: Not now, I'm afraid. When families come in and have their loved one cremated, do you talk to them about going with you to the crematorium? 16 in its first season, with four of its six seasons in the top 30, and ran for a total of 217 episodes. 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. William Bendix is heard as Riley, along with co-stars Paula Winslowe, John Brown, Tommy Cook, and Barbara Eiler - plus series creator Irving Brecher . The Life of Riley starring William Bendix as lovable, blundering, Chester A. Riley, was a radio situation comedy broadcast during and after wartime 40s. For some people it's not the open casket and the three-day wake and the roses and the limousines and the Panis Angelicus. So people come in to talk about arranging their parents' funerals or their own. 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. But I find that if you just show up, if you just walk in the door, people think you're a hero. 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. Quotes.net. Chester A. Riley: The baby announcements? 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. 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. It's that time of year again when gardeners all over the world are planning what to grow in their gardens. Give me a sense of the changes in attitudes toward death in America. [6][7], The NBC adaptation, also created by Irving Brecher, was a single-season I cant even blame my wife too much. And I do think that while the dead don't care, the dead matter. The show was canceled after its first season, but was revived in 1953, then ran on the NBC network until August 1958. 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. 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. Riley's annoying co-worker, Gillis, was also voiced by Brown. If you havent visited this area of the park, you should. Paula Winslowe played "Peg" for most of the series' run. But I have graves at Oak Grove; I have graves in West Clare [County, Ireland]. I enjoy listening to the frogs croak. In terms of the practical details, what are some of the things you learned from your dad? home|introduction|watch online|stories & special video|to be an undertaker|join the discussion 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). I guess he likes this blond's cooking. His dramatic life story is so well-known that schoolchildren are taught to recite it for extra credit. Chester A. Riley: Do you need any help with the dishes? Oh, yeah. Chester A. Riley: Nah what would a rich man want with money? There are several videos on line. . Chester A. Riley: I'll go home right now. Well, it's showing up and just being there is worth an awful lot. 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. Well, if it's such a gift, why did it cost you 25 dollars? Chester A. Riley: Hello, Digger. Last updated Jun 12 2013. He'll never amount to anything. For years, it was propped against a rugged concrete base, in a cluster of crepe myrtles on the southern edge of the park, close to the intersection of Poplar and Cooper. I cant say what finally happened to Digger. And they won't forget, and that's the thing. She just cant help being money hungry.. I think we're all complicit in the banishment of the dead to the peripheries. And so they'll know what to do. Everything seems to fall into place. I have children at home; my wife had taken them home from the luncheon. 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? 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. 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. He played "Al" on the radio series "My Friend Irma". Jim Gillis: She'll be back in a couple or three days. Though other friends may fail you, I shall be the last to let you down." Hal: I'm a father! And what about the formalities, the particular traditions and customs that are a part of the funeral? Bendix's delivery and the spin he put on his lines made it work. Thomas Lynch is a writer and a poet. 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. So yes, the hurt is there, but the hurt does not overwhelm. he must have stuck eith me, because I will go as Digger to a neighborhood "post Halloween" block party this afternoon.
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