I'm not the type of friends who buts in. Whether or not my family is involved with the care of my body, that's their business. main photograph corbis, all rights reserved When he his first line, it was usually greeted with howls of laughter and applause from the audience. Well, we wear black for funerals -- people have to know who the directors are, who to ask -- and white shirts and gray ties. 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,. And I find that latter conversation much more compelling and much more difficult, because it's not as easy as dollars and cents. 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. 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. So for me, I can remember swinging the door all through my teen years, and I think it was 1973 -- I was probably 24 or 25 years old [when I decided]. Irving Brecher's onscreen credit reads: "Written and directed by Irving Brecher." 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! Chester A. Riley: Oh. 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. 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. to "what are we going to do?" This is standard practice when ordering from Ukraine, according to customers wh. Paula Winslowe played "Peg" for most of the series' run. [3], An unrelated radio show with the title Life of Riley was a summer replacement show heard on CBS from April 12, 1941, to September 6, 1941. The Milford location is one of six Lynch funeral homes in the state. The auto dealers did their part by displaying a huge banner that asked of anyone driving by, HOW LONG CAN HE STAY BURIED ALIVE?. Riley's usual reply to the messes he would get in to became a catch phrase that swept the nation: What a revoltin' development this is! 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. 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. 1
And then one year it disappeared, and I fretted that someone had stolen it for scrap metal. 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. He's resting. 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. With William Bendix the protagonist, as Riley and among others John Brown, who portrayed the friendly undertaker "Digger" O'Dell. And they won't forget, and that's the thing. 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. Digby 'Digger' O'Dell: It is I, Digby O'Dell, the friendly undertaker.Chester A. Riley: Hello, Digger. Riley is overjoyed by his unexpected "step up," unaware that Babs asked Burt to offer him the job, and that he did so without his father's knowledge. So yeah, it is the good news and the bad news. Don't forget the gallon I gave to the Red Cross. series from October 4, 1949, to March 28, 1950. Quotes.net. One of my favorite characters from classic radio is Digby Digger ODell, the friendly undertaker portrayed by John Brown in THE LIFE OF RILEY. I've sat with families who said, "Well, we want a closed casket," and I've often asked them, "Well, had they not died yesterday, would you not want to see them today?" So we had those advantages. Digger's morbid sense of humor buttressed by Brown's off-kilter delivery was a hit with the show's audience, and for me, often the high point of the episode. Jackson.Amongst the student body, there was boy with the surname of O'Dell. Gillis: Don't argue, because I hate family arguments. 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 also portrayed "the friendly undertaker" Digby "Digger" O'Dell on the same show. But then I can read the work of Barbara Brown Taylor or St. Paul or C.S. Chester A. Riley: Gee, Gillis, you're brave - making out you're happy when all the time, inside, you've got a broken heart. I think cremation very much is like us. I enjoy listening to the frogs croak. Brecher told Brown, "I want a very sepulchral voice, quavering, morbid," and he got it right away.[2]. And for those who are unchurched or unfamiliar in any tradition that gives them sort of the framework for this, a funeral home is still a safe place to talk about matters mortuary and matters of mortality. Digby 'Digger' O'Dell : It is I, Digby O'Dell, the friendly undertaker. Chester A. Riley: I'm just as much a show-off as they are, ain't I? Digby 'Digger' O'Dell : Why, I was just taking a stroll around the pond. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. But don't go there searching for a tombstone marked Digger O'Dell. [6][7], The NBC adaptation, also created by Irving Brecher, was a single-season Don't you worry about him; we'll pull him through. I'm the guy that has the hearse, but there's someone else in town who is making a strawberry rhubarb pie to bring to the luncheon afterward, and that's what she's doing on the day. Peg Riley: You know what they say - ignorance is bliss. Two years ago, in our July 2015 issue, I told the story of Digger O'Dell, a remarkable fellow who traveled around the country performing all kinds of dangerous stunts. Riley's penchant for turning mere trouble into near-disaster through his well-intentioned bumbling was often aided or instigated by his arch best friend/next-door neighbor, Gillis. I never felt better. She talks about how in her life the difference was not between doing good and evil. . All rights reserved. He made the news by being buried alive. They come in to talk about what to do with a child who's grieving because a schoolmate died, to talk about what will happen in the event of their own death, how to handle a dying parent, nursing home arrangements, elder care. Riley's annoying co-worker, Gillis, was also voiced by Brown. Thanks for any help. 461. Al was the boyfriend of Irma. What are you doin' here in the park? Money is involved. Chester A. Riley: Christmas, nothing doing! Chester A. Riley: Nah what would a rich man want with money? It's a kind of theater, I suppose. We are more mobile, more portable, more scattered. I admire entrepreneurs and performers as much as the next guy, but it was surely a miserable way to make a living. I see it all as part of the one journey, all as part of the one pilgrimage. The program even utilized a stable of so-called "silent" characters, individuals referred to often but never actually heard. Whether youre growing hot or sweet varieties, there are some important tips for success. I've never lost a father yet! By what name was The Life of Riley (1949) officially released in Canada in English? Chester A. Riley: Their gonna slit my throat from ear to ear and rip out my tonsils, and she says there's nothing to it! 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. 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?" I mean, if it was just a matter of forgetting, we would do that. He'll never amount to anything. She just cant help being money hungry.. Digger O'Dell, the friendly undertaker ANNCR: It's new! What is missing is the corpse: the thing itself, not the idea of the thing. And he's sorry to this day! Are social changes the reasons that we are more fearful and reluctant to deal with death in our everyday lives? 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. He would have thought much of it ridiculous and much of it sublime. So we learn to live with it. 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. He later finds out it was an Indian girl who stood in for her and they are reunited at the end of the movie. 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. 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. I thought, this guy could play it. Though these things werent discussed in the Memphis newspapers of the 1950s or 1960s, later newspapers provided the details that Digger was equipped with a 60-gallon chemical toilet while he was underground, which must have made his living (and breathing) conditions horrible. Packed among his riding gear when on tour is a trumpet, and Helm has been known to join local bands in jam sessions. Chester A. Riley: So was I. 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. It's not always the same thing, and for everyone it's different. Henry Morgan voiced Riley's father in one episode. Jim Gillis: Of course it's right. I think mine will know what to do, too, not because I've said, "Do this or that," but because they have seen life as I have seen it, and they sort of know me and I know them. She means other kinds of trouble. Before going, Riley instructs his precocious son Junior to exchange his piggy bank coins into bills and meet him at the restaurant, assuming that Junior's savings combined with his five dollars will be enough to pay for the meal. 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." There are days I can get behind that theory and have. The second TV series ran for six seasons, from January 2, 1953, to May 23, 1958. Nevertheless, this Life of Riley series with Bendix was a ratings hit, ranking at No. The custom of eulogy, what is its meaning? 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? It is the ridiculous and the sublime. Actor Ted de Corsia's name appears as both "de Corsia" and "deCorsia" in the onscreen credits. I see my sons now working through this, and their generation. Chester A. Riley: Oh, you're gonna count my blood? The Press-Scimitar told why: It seems the police got a warrant for one Herbert ODell Smith, 46, wanted in Atlanta on a charge of non-support filed by his wife. When he finally crawled out his hole, Digger promised customers, Ive got to attend to some personal business, but Ill be back, folks, and will finish the job. Later, he told reporters, Thats the way the cookie crumbles. This is a sign to me that they don't care, that heaven is not having to worry about these things, so I'm determined not to worry about them either. Though other friends may fail you, I shall be the last to let you down.". Web. 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. 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. But there's no question that cremation has become normative in a way that it used to be exceptional. Banners asked customers and anyone driving past the Buick showroom on Union Avenue, "HOW LONG CAN HE STAY BURIED ALIVE?" And yet someone's weeping because of the changed life that we're seeing before us. It's a culture that doesn't like to be reminded of mortality. Another gardener is pla, Growing Peppers in Your Garden: Tips, Hardening Off and Soil Mix, Growing peppers is a great way to spice up your garden. And does the rise in cremation in America parallel changes in demographics? I found an old newspaper article that said he was born in 1915 and called him a professional endurance man. Among other things, back in the flagpole-sitting days, he stayed aloft 109 days. "The Life of Riley Quotes." So yes, I think all of these things help to sort of "fix" us in the firmament of where we are at any given time with our youth and our age, our well-being or our infirmity, our dying, our death and our remembrance. With your own mother and father and their funerals, what were the moments that had meaning for you? 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. Its 32 inches across, 32 inches high, and six feet long. Chester A. Riley: "Babs Riley Featured in Annual School Follies". And it works; it does work. "[2], The reworked script cast Bendix as blundering Chester A. Riley, a wing riveter at the fictional Cunningham Aircraft plant in California. Life of Riley won the first Emmy Award (for "Best Film Made For and Shown on Television") with Groucho Marx receiving a credit for the story. Unreliable advice on how to handle these situations came from Riley's pal Digger O'Dell, the friendly undertaker, who would sneak in a string of dark-humored jokes before he had to be "shoveling off". This character was extremelly successfull, with many puns based on his profession. Digger: Every good undertaker has his ear to the ground - we pick up a lot of dirt that way. [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. Comedy Romance A factory worker's family is thrown into an uproar when his teenage daughter starts to date his boss' son. It was a sudden inspiration brought on by ownership of a tuxedo T-shirt! WGBH educational foundation, How we've become estranged from death and the dead, The meaning and power of rituals and customs, The often-mocked tradition of an open casket, How the baby boomers will change the conversation about funerals. All these things are part of the ongoing conversation that we here have. 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. It's something handled by "them" offsite, elsewhere, and I think that's problematical. Vance Lauderdale is the history columnist for Memphis magazine and Inside Memphis Business. to "how come? "You have to have helpers 24 hours a day.". 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.
And particularly when you see the transaction which involves this rather impressive life-or-death event with the rather mundane mercantility of it all. By using this site, you agree to our updated. Here in Milford we're around 40 percent, and there are places where it's 60 percent and places where it's 16 percent. 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. Get Ready for a New Season of Gardening -Choose from Tomatoes, Peaches, Corn, Zinnias & More! 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. Yeah, it's a mystery. Digger: Every good undertaker has his ear to the ground - we pick up a lot of dirt that way. I do not care but that they do it honorably. I've always been touched by the fact that there seems to be as much laughter as weeping at the big life events. All the same, 100 percent of the people that have gone with us are grateful that we invited them to go. Thomas Lynch reads to camera his essay Tract, in which he broaches the topic of his own funeral. I have children at home; my wife had taken them home from the luncheon. So it's easy enough. Peg Riley: Maybe he's sick or something. Vance Lauderdale is the history columnist for Memphis magazine and Inside Memphis Business. I cant say what finally happened to Digger. Well, it's showing up and just being there is worth an awful lot. 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. 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. According to the 1999 obituary, Digger was survived by his wife, Julie Ann "Maggie" Smith of Dawsonville, Georgia; a son, Bobby Smith, of Lakewell, Florida; and a stepson, Timothy Eugene Fowler, of Gainesville, Georgia. Bareiss, Warren "The Life of Riley" Encyclopedia of Television
460 Tennessee Street #200, Memphis, TN 38103. Chester A. Riley: Well, that'll be it, Miss Millie. I know as a person who has grieved before, and I also know as a person who has been next to people in grief, that one of the awful messages on the day is "Life goes on." William Bendix is heard as Riley, along with co-stars Paula Winslowe, John Brown, Tommy Cook, and Barbara Eiler - plus series creator Irving Brecher . Who were the other musicians in that performance? He always knew that the real traffic was between the living and the dead, and it is in managing that and emboldening the living to deal with their dead that you do them the most service. 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. Maybe the referee will give you a draw. What does your funeral home represent for this town? 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. He played "Al" on the radio series "My Friend Irma". Today he is just living the life of RileyThis is the story of Chester A. Rileywho is just livingin Los Angeles California." One example of this type of comedy is the line "Business is a little dead tonight" . Peg Riley: Theatre, huh? He's a boy who Chester A. Riley: He's a boy! When he his first line, it was usually greeted with howls of laughter and applause from the audience. During cocktails, a bill collector from the electric company shows up, and after Riley sends him on his way, he disconnects the Rileys' electricity. there are very few hands raised in the room, because cremation is often shorthand for disappearance. And we suspect there'll be more Riley movies. Chester A. Riley: Do you need any help with the dishes? Jim Gillis: She'll be back in a couple or three days. The stores are open. Every time I have a birthday, I realize that Mom's getting a year older. I just read this card, and I just spoke to the Justice of the Peace! Humans figured out both before they had backhoes and retorts. And something is. Did you hear me? 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. Whats more, said one newspaper, in his heyday, he could knock down $15,000 for a 60-day burial. At the mobile home park, the only money he brought home came from contributions. To Riley's amazement, Stevenson reveals that he had already planned to promote him to foreman, beginning in January. Chester A. Riley: Why should an old man married for years run away with a pretty blond? Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts Does it make it easier? In the 19551956 season, the Riley family moved and were given new neighbors portrayed by Florence Sundstrom and George O'Hanlon.[8]. Transaction which involves this rather impressive life-or-death event with the care of my body, was. May 23, 1958 forget the gallon I gave to the ground - we pick up lot... '' and `` deCorsia '' in the flagpole-sitting days, he could knock down $ 15,000 a... Forgetting, we would do that the second TV series ran for six seasons from. Do it honorably `` you have to have helpers 24 hours a day. `` brought on by of. Digger, but it was just a matter of forgetting, we would that... Or St. Paul or C.S do not care but that they do it honorably in a that... The reasons that we invited them to go TN 38103 you agree to our updated columnist Memphis., Zinnias & more story of chester A. Riley: I 'm just as much as the next guy but., 1953, to March 28, 1950 but it was just a matter forgetting. 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