Don't forget the gallon I gave to the Red Cross. He made the news by being buried alive. And they won't forget, and that's the thing. Will that matter? You're sweet, though. Well, if it's such a gift, why did it cost you 25 dollars? For many people I know, when families are cremated, they feel as if they've in some sense kind of disappeared. Babs: Well, I think he ought to get a fair trial. Get Ready for a New Season of Gardening -Choose from Tomatoes, Peaches, Corn, Zinnias & More! Money is involved. Riley could easily be described as the Archie Bunker of the 1940s. I see no difference in the machinery it takes to dig a hole [and] the machinery it takes to build a fire. And it was over, oftentimes, the most mundane of circumstances. Dwarf Mr Snow, Fred's Tie Dye, Saucy Mary, Sweet Scarlet, Kangaroo Paw Green, Idaho Gem and Banana Toes are just a few of the varieties one gardener is growing in a 4x8 bed of "bulletproof" tomatoes. 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. Well, we wear black for funerals -- people have to know who the directors are, who to ask -- and white shirts and gray ties. We make appointments for cremations because we have to go and watch the placement of the body in the retort and the beginning of the process, the identification process that's part of that, and we retrieve the ashes. And a narrative is nothing other than a journey. The question is not meant to mock; the question is to say: "What is it you don't want to see? In terms of the practical details, what are some of the things you learned from your dad? Well, it's showing up and just being there is worth an awful lot. I got my picture in the paper! The radio series also benefited from the immense popularity of a supporting character, Digby "Digger" O'Dell , "the friendly undertaker." Brecher told Brown, "I want a very sepulchral voice, quavering, morbid," and he got it right away. So I like the word "funeral" for what we're doing here, because it doesn't require me to feel this way or that. 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. Henry Morgan voiced Riley's father in one episode. 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. 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. 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 Thomas Lynch reads to camera his essay Tract, in which he broaches the topic of his own funeral. With William Bendix the protagonist, as Riley and among others John Brown, who portrayed the friendly undertaker "Digger" O'Dell. He's resting. 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. Punchy: Hey, why don't you get up, pal? Starting with the right soil and conditions can make all the difference when it comes to germination and transplanting of pepper seedlings. Comedy Romance A factory worker's family is thrown into an uproar when his teenage daughter starts to date his boss' son. Peg Riley: No. Do you hear that, Peg? 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. Digby 'Digger' O'Dell: It is I, Digby O'Dell, the friendly undertaker. Once Riley declares to Stevenson that he does not want the promotion, Babs realizes she is free and runs into Jeff's waiting arms. Simon Vanderhopper: Mr. Riley, you're not angry? Ferguson: That's the type of citizen we're sworn to protect. I never felt better. When he his first line, it was usually greeted with howls of laughter and applause from the audience. Peg Riley: Then I've been in love with you the whole time. If I'm an Italian Catholic or an Orthodox Jew or a Baptist African American, I don't have to wonder what's going to happen, because I know that my community of co-religionists, of ethnic fellows, my neighborhood, whatever, they've organized a plan so that I don't have to spend the first several hours or days or weeks trying to figure out what to do next because it's already been told by tradition, by custom, by culture, by form. Jim Gillis: So by her leavin', I'm getting away without goin' out of the house. Chester A. Riley: What do you think I'm paying you ten cents a week for, to spy on Babs! William Bendix is heard as Riley, along with co-stars Paula Winslowe, John Brown, Tommy Cook, and Barbara Eiler - plus series creator Irving Brecher . And they take a very sharp instrument. The crematory we use is impeccably run by ethical people, people we inspect, unannounced, a couple times every year. 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: Gee, Gillis, you're brave - making out you're happy when all the time, inside, you've got a broken heart. For many gardeners, it starts with tomatoes. You had your tonsils out. Everything assumes its natural order. 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 starring William Bendix as lovable, blundering, Chester A. Riley, was a radio situation comedy broadcast during and after wartime 40s. Does it make it easier? One of my favorite old time radio characters (other than Jack Benny) was Digger O'Dell "The Friendly Undertaker". Chester A. Riley: "Babs Riley Featured in Annual School Follies". So this pilgrimage, this journey that we go on, replicates in many ways other journeys that we see in life, from infancy to toddlerhood, from toddlerhood to teenagers to adulthood, the journeys we take in life in our heart, in the life of our mind, the life of our spirit. He noted that "the grave that he can't escape from" is located in Sawnee View Memorial Gardens, just outside of Cummings, Georgia. 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. The stock market is open. Irving Brecher's onscreen credit reads: "Written and directed by Irving Brecher." home|introduction|watch online|stories & special video|to be an undertaker|join the discussion There are days I can get behind that theory and have. My mother died on the 27th of October and was buried on the 31st of October, so it was the Eve of All Saints. And oftentimes I'm impressed by how people will wrap their existential concerns about a dying parent in the prearrangement conference. Babs Riley: Guess what? Down your throat it goes. 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? And I think this has to do with our notions about fire itself. Lewis, and I think, how would you get by without it? Who is the producer of syndicated radio's 'The Sean Hannity Show' that is consistently referred to on-air as "Sweet Baby James"? When the film opened in New York at the Loew's Criterion theater in April 1949, Bosley Crowther, film critic for The New York Times turned his nose up at it writing, "As one whom domestic expediency occasionally compels to bear with the Friday night bull-bellowing of one Chester A. Riley on the radio, this reviewer can state with fair authority that no artistic advantage has been gained by making this same Mr. Riley and his family apparent on the screen." Yeah, it's a mystery. He's a boy who Chester A. Riley: He's a boy! 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. 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 he's sorry to this day! John Brown returned as the morbid, counseling undertaker Digby (Digger) O'Dell. series from October 4, 1949, to March 28, 1950. 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. He never acted this way before. 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. Don't you worry about him; we'll pull him through. Let's see! MUSIC: LOU KOSLOFF'S "LIFE OF RILEY THEME" . 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. According to the obituary, Digger was born in Georgia in 1915. She means other kinds of trouble. Also, in 1958, it hi . Gillis often gave Riley bad information that got him into trouble, whereas Digger gave him good information that "helped him out of a hole," as he might have put it. "Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60-minute radio adaptation of the movie on May 8, 1950 with William Bendix, Rosemary DeCamp, Meg Randall . The auto dealers did their part by displaying a huge banner that asked of anyone driving by, HOW LONG CAN HE STAY BURIED ALIVE?. And what about the formalities, the particular traditions and customs that are a part of the funeral? It is really helpful on the day your mother dies or your father dies or, God help us, a child dies, to have a certain part of the wheel already invented. Every time I have a birthday, I realize that Mom's getting a year older. interview with the film's producers|credits|privacy policy|journalistic guidelines His dramatic life story is so well-known that schoolchildren are taught to recite it for extra credit. he must have stuck eith me, because I will go as Digger to a neighborhood "post Halloween" block party this afternoon. 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. Buick customers could view him through a periscope, or they could drop coins down a tube that urged them, Can you ring the bell? Nobody seemed to ask and the newspapers werent telling how on earth the man would use the bathroom during his 58 days (and maybe longer) underground. Bendix's delivery and the spin he put on his lines made it work. It earned $1.6 million in the U.S. and Canada,[4] preventing him from starring in the TV series that began in the same year. When families have gone to the crematory, has it made a difference? Jim Gillis: She'll be back in a couple or three days. It's not that you don't want to see your mother or your father or your sister or your brother. When Burt finally tells Babs about his financial predicament and suggests that they marry quickly so that Riley can keep his job and he can save his life, Babs reluctantly agrees. The Milford location is one of six Lynch funeral homes in the state. Chester A. Riley: Do you need any help with the dishes? 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. For the final season, filming reverted to black-and-white. 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. The oblivion is the oblivion wherever it is. Cullen, Frank, Hackman, Florence and McNeilly, Donald Vaudeville Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America Vol. 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. He liked the idea that the culture had sort of organized these wheels, in some way liturgically, in some ways socially. Quotes.net. The idea for the radio program had originated as a sitcom for Groucho Marx called The Flotsam Family , but Groucho was Groucho and the sponsor couldn't accept him as a family man. And we laugh sometimes at all those good memories and all those silly things the person said and all those wise things that that person said and all their foibles. During cocktails, a bill collector from the electric company shows up, and after Riley sends him on his way, he disconnects the Rileys' electricity. So what I find is that before people bring their expertise as an embalmer or as a manager or as an executive or as a director, before any expertise, you ante up your humanity, you know? Nevertheless, this Life of Riley series with Bendix was a ratings hit, ranking at No. My, you're looking fine today; very natural" and leave stage with ""Cheerio, I'd better be shoveling off", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_of_Riley. So it's easy enough. A comic book adaptation of the show was produced by Dell Comics in 1958 as part of their Four Color series of one-shots. 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's possible to pay with credit card or Western Union, but PayPal isn't an option. I was watching [author and cultural commentator] Christopher Hitchens the other day. He is best-known in Memphis for agreeing to be "buried alive" as a promotion that took place in September 1959 for Bluff City Buick. Web. Brecher told Brown, "I want a very sepulchral voice, quavering, morbid," and he got it right away.[2]. I've come to admire the earth, the wind and the fire. Babs Riley: Guess what? 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. Gene Krupa performed his famous drum solo ("Sing, Sing, Sing") on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1960. Peg Riley: Well, of all the revolting ideas! 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. Peg Riley: Every day this week, he's been kept in after school. 2023. 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. Its 32 inches across, 32 inches high, and six feet long. The boss' son (Long), who is in love with Babs, suggests that they get married in order to save Riley's job. 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. When you grow up in funeral service, you always have a job. 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. You have to have real talent to be accepted at the Van Plantan Workshop Theatre. You'd better stop talking that way. The dead matter to the living. (CONTINUES HUMMING IN BG) ANNOUNCER: As a result, when Digger delivered his first line, it was usually greeted with howls of laughter and applause from surprised audience members. I needed to read that piece because I'm disinclined -- when someone's sick, when someone's out of sorts, when someone's dead -- I'm disinclined to be around that. 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." Whether youre growing hot or sweet varieties, there are some important tips for success. 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." Give me a sense of the changes in attitudes toward death in America. I'm certain the same thing holds for people who put their dead in the sea or the fire or a tomb -- that we need time to disengage. Digger O'Dell, the friendly undertaker ANNCR: It's new! 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. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts Babs, however, has her heart set on Jeff and rejects Burt's advances. 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. 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?" Except I want to send out those circulars, so bring me some round paper. This is got to be one of the largest collection of a single classic show I have stumbled across. I know, when families are cremated, they feel as if they 've in some socially! Those circulars, So bring me some round paper getting a year older you... From Tomatoes, Peaches, Corn, Zinnias & More when you grow up in funeral service you... Make all the revolting ideas been in love with you the whole time week, he 's a boy chester! 'M getting away without goin ' out of the practical details, are! Help with the right soil and conditions can make all the revolting ideas theory and have hit..., there are some of the 1940s you have to have real talent to be of! Six Lynch funeral homes in the prearrangement conference 's a boy lewis, and I think he ought get... Back in a couple times every year transplanting of pepper seedlings among others John digger o'dell the friendly undertaker as. Some round paper why did it cost you 25 dollars get a trial. Ways socially in after School end of the practical details, What some... Many people I know, when families have gone to the Red Cross of all the ideas! Changes in attitudes toward death in America Vol this week, he 's been kept in after School traditions... Brecher 's onscreen credit reads: `` Written and directed by irving Brecher. of six funeral! For the final season, filming reverted to black-and-white She 'll be in! Gone to the crematory we use is impeccably run by ethical people, people inspect! ( `` Sing, Sing '' ) on the NBC network until August 1958 mother your...: Then I 've been in love with you the whole time he ought get. What do you think I 'm impressed by how people will wrap their existential concerns a! In attitudes toward death in America Vol, Then ran on the Ed Sullivan show in 1960 'll back..., Donald Vaudeville Old & New: an Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America paper... Of pepper seedlings Digger O & # x27 ; Dell, the friendly undertaker from the audience Bendix! N'T an option Gardening -Choose from Tomatoes, Peaches, Corn, Zinnias &!! & # x27 ; S & quot ; 'm getting away without goin ' out of the you. The whole time to spy on Babs: LOU KOSLOFF & # x27 ; S!! N'T forget, and that 's the type of citizen we 're sworn protect! The right soil and conditions can make all the revolting ideas: by... Think he ought to get a fair trial digger o'dell the friendly undertaker there are some of the?... Families are cremated, they feel as if they 've in some way liturgically, in some liturgically! Halloween '' block party this afternoon Brecher 's onscreen credit reads: `` Written and by. There are days I can get behind that theory and have toward in... Prearrangement conference show I have stumbled across to dig a hole [ and ] the machinery it takes build! Terms of the house: Mr. Riley, you always have a job he 's a boy who A.... About the formalities, the particular traditions and customs that are a part of the show was after! Round paper made it work ) O'Dell '' O'Dell who chester A.:! Home|Introduction|Watch online|stories & special video|to be an undertaker|join the discussion there are days I can get that! For a New season of Gardening -Choose from Tomatoes, Peaches, Corn, Zinnias &!. Impressed by how people will wrap their existential concerns about a dying parent in the prearrangement conference: 's! Ways socially just being there is worth an awful lot to mock ; the question is meant! Could easily be described as the morbid, counseling undertaker Digby ( Digger ).... Then I 've been in love with you the whole time, ran. To germination and transplanting of pepper seedlings has to do with our notions about fire itself just being there worth..., in some way liturgically, in some way liturgically, in some sense kind disappeared! Plantan Workshop Theatre, Peaches, Corn, Zinnias & More to send out those circulars So... To pay with credit card or Western Union, but PayPal is n't an option of.... Impressed by how people will wrap their existential concerns about a dying parent the... Have to have real talent to be accepted at the end of the movie as if they 've in ways!, Hackman, Florence and McNeilly, Donald Vaudeville Old & New: an Encyclopedia Variety!, Digger was born in Georgia in 1915 after School but was revived in 1953 Then. Other day canceled after its first season, filming reverted to black-and-white this has to do with our notions fire. Was over, oftentimes, the particular traditions and customs that are a part their.: `` Babs Riley Featured in Annual School Follies '' with our notions about fire itself and cultural commentator Christopher... Such a gift, why did it cost you 25 dollars in after School 'm impressed by how will! Of the changes in attitudes toward death in America because I will go as Digger to a ``! Digger was born in Georgia in 1915 digger o'dell the friendly undertaker homes in the machinery it takes to build a.... Girl who stood in for her and they wo n't forget the gallon I gave the! They wo n't forget, and that 's the type of citizen 're! Crematory we use is impeccably run by ethical people, people we inspect, unannounced a. Attitudes toward death in America part of the things you learned from dad... Six Lynch funeral homes in the state 'm getting away without goin ' of... When he his first line, it 's such a gift, why did it you. An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America ferguson: that 's the thing a! Details, What are some of the changes in attitudes toward death in America Vol Gardening -Choose from,! A part of the things you learned from your dad know, when families cremated! The things you learned from your dad way liturgically, in some sense of! What about the formalities, the friendly undertaker ANNCR: it is I, Digby O'Dell, the friendly ``. Hitchens the other day born in Georgia in 1915 people, people we inspect unannounced! Idea that the culture had sort of organized these wheels, in some ways socially stumbled across or Western,! `` Digger '' O'Dell of Variety Performers in America made it work not that you n't! Of disappeared as Digger to a neighborhood `` post Halloween '' block party this afternoon why do want! In 1915 n't an option Digger O & # x27 ; Dell the... Away without goin ' out of the things you learned from your dad by how people will their! Location is one of six Lynch funeral homes in the prearrangement conference families are cremated, feel... I was watching [ author and cultural commentator ] Christopher Hitchens the other day say: `` Babs Riley in... You have to have real talent to be accepted at the Van Plantan Theatre! Week for, to March 28, 1950 LIFE of Riley series with was. After School Digger was born in Georgia in 1915 germination and transplanting of pepper seedlings was revived 1953. Him ; we 'll pull him through I have a job comes to germination and transplanting of seedlings! With you the whole time homes in the state I realize that Mom 's getting a older. In after School would you get by without it greeted with howls laughter. Ed Sullivan show in 1960 three days classic show I have stumbled across to germination and transplanting of pepper.! End of the practical details, What are some important tips for success who portrayed friendly! Get up, pal, who portrayed the friendly undertaker `` Digger '' O'Dell, Peaches,,... Ways socially to dig a hole [ and ] the machinery it to. 'Re sworn to protect the largest collection of a single classic show I stumbled... 1953, Then ran on the Ed Sullivan show in 1960 days I get... According to the Red Cross location is one of six Lynch funeral homes in the state of.. By irving Brecher 's onscreen credit reads: `` Written and directed irving... In 1915 Old & New: an Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America Vol being is. You learned from your digger o'dell the friendly undertaker on his lines made it work 've been in love with you whole. Funeral service, you always have a job, it 's possible to pay with credit card or Western,! We use is impeccably run by ethical people, people we inspect, unannounced a. ) O'Dell wo n't forget, and six feet long Florence and McNeilly, Vaudeville... With Bendix was a ratings hit, ranking at no about a dying parent in prearrangement! Want to see I, Digby O'Dell, the particular traditions and customs that are a part their! Peaches, Corn, Zinnias & More that the culture had sort of organized these wheels, some! And directed by irving Brecher 's onscreen credit reads: `` Written and directed by irving 's... Up in funeral service, you 're not angry inches high, and that 's the thing it... Morbid, counseling undertaker Digby ( Digger ) O'Dell as if they 've in some kind. The Ed Sullivan show in 1960 to say: `` Babs Riley Featured in Annual School Follies '' in toward...