I think we're all complicit in the banishment of the dead to the peripheries. 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. I'll treat her just like she wasn't my wife. 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! And so I think of widowed people who must go through that when they're folding a sweater or cleaning out a drawer or looking for the power drill that their husband used to use to fix this drawer or that one -- these little mundane reminders that life is changed utterly and yet utterly the same. Except I want to send out those circulars, so bring me some round paper. To Babs's delight, Jeff, who has just moved in next door with his aunt, is a dedicated pre-med student. Does it make it easier? Junior Riley: Why don't you wet a piece of confetti and drown your brain? The till still rings. A comic book adaptation of the show was produced by Dell Comics in 1958 as part of their Four Color series of one-shots. And somebody else is pressing somebody's clothes. Old newspaper photos show a crew digging a coffin-sized hole in the parking lot of the dealership, and then Digger, dressed rather casually in black slacks and a white shirt, clambered down into the hole. If you don't pay attention Peg Riley: Well, I'm trying to tell ya, he just moons around the house! And sure enough, he came to Memphis in September 1961 to do this stunt for Bluff City Buick, located back then at 739 Union. Actor Ted de Corsia's name appears as both "de Corsia" and "deCorsia" in the onscreen credits. Junior will be glad to pitch in. But I find that if you just show up, if you just walk in the door, people think you're a hero. So it's easy enough. Sponsors of the TV show included Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer (194950), Gulf Oil (195358) and Lever Brothers (195758). 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. That's not what you don't want to see, because we can fix that all." 2023. 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. Simon Vanderhopper: Well, you can't call it off! The expression "life of Riley" or "living the life of Riley (Reilly)" emerged in the early 1920s, and was probably derived from turn-of-the-century Irish songs, such as "The Best in the House Is None Too Good for Reilly." They'll survive it. After Riley overhears Burt discussing "business" with Norman, he beats up Norman and drags him before the wedding crowd. 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. 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. Digger O-Dell And The Friendly Undertakers. series from October 4, 1949, to March 28, 1950. Crowther, Bosley "'The Life of Riley,' With Bendix in the Title Role, Makes Its Appearance at Criterion" The New York Times April 18, 1949. He made the news by being buried alive. While we would all agree that death is never funny, this show had an usual character in it by the name of Digby "Digger". So yeah, I enjoyed writing that piece. I enjoy listening to the frogs croak. 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. Where is the meaning? We are now without a mother or without a father. I just gave him a sedative. In many ways we represent the place where whatever conversation people want to have about death and dying and grief and bereavement. His real name, it seems, was Herbert O'Dell Smith. The question is not meant to mock; the question is to say: "What is it you don't want to see? Peg Riley: You certainly are, Dear. And there's somebody else doing this, that. Procter and Gamble's new Radiant Creme Shampoo in the handy tube! Patricia Hall was listed as a cast member in a Hollywood Reporter news item, but her appearance in the final film has not been confirmed. By using this site, you agree to our updated. Did you hear me? Do they get through it better? What age were you when you really seriously thought you might become a funeral director, and how much of your dad's influence was a part of that decision? 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." And are you a cremation or a burial man? And I find that latter conversation much more compelling and much more difficult, because it's not as easy as dollars and cents. Peg Riley: Maybe he's sick or something. Though other friends may fail you, I shall be the last to let you down." By Lorraine LoBianco. A daughter is no longer the daughter only or the son no longer the son only. "The Life of Riley Quotes." We are more mobile, more portable, more scattered. Peppers take longer than tomatoes to get going, so start them first. 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. I'm not the type of friends who buts in. He's where he's buried for good. Today he is just living the life of RileyThis is the story of Chester A. Rileywho is just livingin Los Angeles California." 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 There's this wonderful essay that was written -- I have it framed in the hallway there; the woman's name, I think, is Sullivan who wrote it. And when we talk about "the procession," what is the meaning of that? When families have gone to the crematory, has it made a difference? Chester A. Riley: Christmas, nothing doing! 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. So I like the word "funeral" for what we're doing here, because it doesn't require me to feel this way or that. It then went into syndicated reruns. I've seen at the end of the day people walking upright away from graves, people walking upright away from fires, as if they were going to survive it. So we learn to live with it. Chester A. Riley: Nah what would a rich man want with money? [citation needed], In 1948, NBC broadcast "two live television test programs based on the radio series. John Brown, Radio and TV Actor, Dies; Played Digger O'Dell in 'Life of Riley' Give this article May 18, 1957 The New York Times Archives See the article in its original context from May 18, 1957,. Chester A. Riley: I know what you did! Babs: Well, I think he ought to get a fair trial. Her testimony is like all testimony -- it is a combination of gratitude and grief, and that the gratitude does not trump the grief, nor does the grief undo the gratitude. For the final season, filming reverted to black-and-white. With your own mother and father and their funerals, what were the moments that had meaning for you? Starting with the right soil and conditions can make all the difference when it comes to germination and transplanting of pepper seedlings. And does the rise in cremation in America parallel changes in demographics? Thanks for any help. [citation needed], In all of the show's incarnations, the comedic plotlines centered around Riley himself, a gullible and occasionally clumsy (but big-hearted) man, and the doings and undoings of his family. One option is organic fertilizer made from chicken manure, which can be found at Menard's for a reasonable price of $10.99 per 25-pound bag. I prefer the dead languages. Brecher then saw William Bendix as taxicab company owner Tim McGuerin in Hal Roach's The McGuerins from Brooklyn (1942). It's a kind of theater, I suppose. As usual, he doesn't know what to do, until Digby O'Dell, the Friendly Unde. Details Select delivery location Used: Like New | Details Sold by ral Add to Cart New & Used (2) from FREE Shipping Have one to sell? He would announce himself with, "'Tis I, Digger O'Dell, your friendly undertaker. In doing this, in accompanying the dead, getting them where they need to go, we get where we need to be. He would have figured that out, but I think for him the funeral, the procession, was part of the process. Help came from Digger O'Dell, the "friendly undertaker," who offered gruesome theories laced with repetitive puns, brilliantly delivered by John Brown. She just cant help being money hungry.. There are several videos on line. Digby 'Digger' O'Dell: It is I, Digby O'Dell, the friendly undertaker. Chester A. Riley: I got troubles, Digger. Sign Up now to stay up to date with all of the latest news from TCM. That's why I came over here tonight. 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. 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. 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. For many people I know, when families are cremated, they feel as if they've in some sense kind of disappeared. Peg Riley: You know what they say - ignorance is bliss. When my father died, I was not prepared to put him in the ground then. 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