It's Prell! I always knew I'd bring up my daughter to be somebody someday. But cremation has increased since then by about 10 percent in every decade. Isn't that awful? And I'm, along with the next guy, as interested in those cartoons as everyone else is. Bearing witness one way or another, that's a key ingredient. It's that time of year again when gardeners all over the world are planning what to grow in their gardens. MUSIC: LOU KOSLOFF'S "LIFE OF RILEY THEME" . After the boorish Monahan orders the most expensive items on the fancy French menu, however, Riley barely has enough to cover the check. Babs Riley: Guess what? Riley could easily be described as the Archie Bunker of the 1940s. There is a comfort when you don't have to reinvent that wheel, when we know we have to be at church at a certain time and that these prayers will be said and not those, and that this is accustomed behavior and this is outside the pale, and this is where we go. US. The character of Digger O'Dell was not resurrected as a result of actor John Brown having been placed on the Hollywood blacklist. Simon Vanderhopper: Yes sir, I don't let the grass grow under my feet! Even a criminal gets time off for good behavior. Chester A. Riley: Well, that'll be it, Miss Millie. 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. He then is embarrassed in front of the Monahans when Junior appears with his full piggy bank, having been unable to open it, and during a struggle with the waiter, the bank falls to the ground and breaks. We already ordered the baby announcements. Chester A. Riley: You mean I'm going to live? So it's easy enough. The Life of Riley, 1944 to 1951. All the same, 100 percent of the people that have gone with us are grateful that we invited them to go. I'll hug her and I'll kiss her. Sponsors of the TV show included Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer (194950), Gulf Oil (195358) and Lever Brothers (195758). Slap, slap, slap Rip, Rip, Rip it's over! If you don't pay attention Peg Riley: Well, I'm trying to tell ya, he just moons around the house! 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. It gives us a way to get some little mastery over these uncontrollable things by giving it a narrative thread. Im five-foot-eleven. Vance Lauderdale is the history columnist for Memphis magazine and Inside Memphis Business. 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 . Peg Riley: Well, of all the revolting ideas! I see no difference in the machinery it takes to dig a hole [and] the machinery it takes to build a fire. He's where he's buried for good. And does the rise in cremation in America parallel changes in demographics? I always knew I'd bring up my daughter to be somebody someday. 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. And that's unfortunate. How different is confronting death without faith? Paula Winslowe played "Peg" for most of the series' run. 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. Peg Riley: Theatre, huh? And this movement, emotionally, is mirrored by a physical movement. What are you doin' here in the park? I prefer the dead languages. People will know that. 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." Vance Lauderdale is the history columnist for Memphis magazine and Inside Memphis Business. 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. 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. Packed among his riding gear when on tour is a trumpet, and Helm has been known to join local bands in jam sessions. And it works; it does work. William Bendix is heard as Riley, along with co-stars Paula Winslowe, John Brown, Tommy Cook, and Barbara Eiler - plus series creator Irving Brecher . 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. Today he is just living the life of RileyIn 1908, a starving Indian named Gray Horse drove a tent stake into the ground and struck oil. Details Select delivery location Used: Like New | Details Sold by ral Add to Cart New & Used (2) from FREE Shipping Have one to sell? Jim Gillis: They put you to sleep. It's ridiculous, it's mundane, it's stupid, but at the end of the day what we are trying to do is assemble all our metaphoric weapons to do battle with this hurt, this still thing. They'll survive it. Chester A. Riley: No. Digby 'Digger' O'Dell : It is I, Digby O'Dell, the friendly undertaker. And he's sorry to this day! We are now without a mother or without a father. . Chester A. Riley: [on the phone] What is it, a boy or a girl? The stores are open. Irving Brecher, who would direct the film adaptation of Life of Riley, had seen William Bendix in a film called The McGuerins of Brooklyn (1942) and knew he'd found his man. Chester A. Riley: Babs, do you realize when I was 20, your mother was supporting me and a baby? I think the national rate now is right around 38 percent. 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. It's a culture that doesn't like to be reminded of mortality. Jim Gillis: Yeah, well, he oughta shampoo more often - with kerosene! If you havent visited this area of the park, you should. And a narrative is nothing other than a journey. When Riley learns that the couple is to spend their honeymoon in separate rooms, he becomes suspicious. to "what are we going to do?" Peg Riley: Yeah? 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. It was during this period that Gleason played Riley on one episode of the radio series. 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. Digby 'Digger' O'Dell: It is I, Digby O'Dell, the friendly undertaker. And yeah, everything plays its part in that. It's that white-knuckled, socially enforced celebration [where] oftentimes the dead are absent from it, because that would be too compelling; that would be too much of a challenge. Lewis, and I think, how would you get by without it? 461. After Riley overhears Burt discussing "business" with Norman, he beats up Norman and drags him before the wedding crowd. I know it won't matter, it will be others, but do you see yourself as the fire or the earth, or --? Digby 'Digger' O'Dell: Why, I was just taking a stroll around the pond. Help came from Digger O'Dell, the "friendly undertaker," who offered gruesome theories laced with repetitive puns, brilliantly delivered by John Brown. 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. I see my sons now working through this, and their generation. So yes, the hurt is there, but the hurt does not overwhelm. Chester A. Riley: What do you mean the baby announcements? The program was broadcast live with a studio audience, most of whom were not aware Brown played both characters. No one escaped Crowther's vitriol: Bendix was "an oaf," Lanny Rees, as son, Junior, looked "slightly frightening," Randall as Babs was "just another shapely blonde," and John Brown as Digger was "extremely disappointing in the flesh." Chester A. Riley: I don't think you heard me, peg. The stock market is open. "It is I, Digger O'Dell, your friendly undertaker. While the ratio may not be ideal for tomatoes, it can still produce great results with some preparation and understanding of the plant's genetic potential. Sometime in the mid-60s, probably having a lot to do with Jessica Mitford's book [The American Way of Death] and a lot to do with other social factors, there was sort of the triumphalist American sense that we didn't have to deal with any discomforts. When you grow up in funeral service, you always have a job. One of my favorite old time radio characters (other than Jack Benny) was Digger O'Dell "The Friendly Undertaker". Radio historian Gerald Nachman quotes Brecher as stating, "He was a Brooklyn guy and there was something about him. Peg Riley: Then I've been in love with you the whole time. Scars On My Heart / Her (7", Single) Ranger. And then one year it disappeared, and I fretted that someone had stolen it for scrap metal. Because of its overwhelming radio popularity, Riley graduated as easily to a 1949 feature film, as it did to 1950s television. When my father died, I was not prepared to put him in the ground then. But maybe with the fact that 75 million baby boomers are working their way up to the bar of mortality now, it's dawning on them that this could happen to them. Mar Digby 'Digger' O'Dell: It is I, Digby O'Dell, the friendly undertaker. Comedy Romance A factory worker's family is thrown into an uproar when his teenage daughter starts to date his boss' son. What can you tell me about this interesting fellow? Chester A. Riley: I'll tell you what harm there is! 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. This character was extremelly successfull, with many puns based on his profession. Chester A. Riley: Besides that, he's nothing but a lazy loafer. After 13 days in his coffin, Memphis police showed up with shovels to unearth Digger. But I have graves at Oak Grove; I have graves in West Clare [County, Ireland]. Quotes.net. We can't prearrange that. 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. So we had those advantages. Most say, "No, go ahead and take care of that." Gillis: Don't argue, because I hate family arguments. He later finds out it was an Indian girl who stood in for her and they are reunited at the end of the movie. And I'm the most blissful man in the world. 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. [1], William Bendix also starred in the 1949 film version of The Life of Riley directed by Irving Brecher. Not to worry, though. [5] Originally, William Bendix was to have appeared on both radio and TV, but Bendix's RKO Radio Pictures movie contract prevented him from appearing on the TV version. Though other friends may fail you, I shall be the last to let you down." After all, the people whose names are on these markers dont have that luxury. 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