I do not care but that they do it honorably. 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. Peg Riley: Yeah? 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. Chester A. Riley: [on the phone] What is it, a boy or a girl? 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. Does it affect the nature of the grief if someone was present for the dying of the loved one? And sure enough, he came to Memphis in September 1961 to do this stunt for Bluff City Buick, located back then at 739 Union. 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! I've never lost a father yet! 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. 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". That is a wheel we can only invent at the time it happens. All rights reserved. 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. Digby 'Digger' O'Dell: It is I, Digby O'Dell, the friendly undertaker.Chester A. Riley: Hello, Digger. 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. Do you speak French? He noted that "the grave that he can't escape from" is located in Sawnee View Memorial Gardens, just outside of Cummings, Georgia. Dunning, John On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio The Internet Movie Database
It's a culture that doesn't like to be reminded of mortality. Peg Riley: All this plotting and scheming you remind me of a girl I once knew. Whether a person is consigned to the earth or the fire is, at the end of the day, no difference. But I have graves at Oak Grove; I have graves in West Clare [County, Ireland]. We are now without a mother or without a father. It just doesn't work out that way. "; from "what are we going to buy?" During cocktails, a bill collector from the electric company shows up, and after Riley sends him on his way, he disconnects the Rileys' electricity. When families have gone to the crematory, has it made a difference? There must be some reason for it! If you havent visited this area of the park, you should. People will sometimes ask me about the connections between poetry and funerals, and I do see this huge connection between the use of language in the two of them and how both rely on ritual and symbol and metaphor. The only place your son will get his picture is in the post office. Packed among his riding gear when on tour is a trumpet, and Helm has been known to join local bands in jam sessions. [1] (Marx would get his own series Blue Ribbon Town instead.) Chester A. Riley : Hello, Digger. to "how come? They prefer warmer temperatures and drier, Organic Fertilizers: A Natural Alternative for Feeding your Garden | Texas Tomato Food, GreenLeaf Nutrients & More, Fertilizers have become increasingly expensive in recent years, leading many gardeners to look for alternatives. Jim Gillis: They put you to sleep. I think we're among the first couple generations for whom the presence of the dead at their funerals has become optional, and I see that as probably not good news for the culture at large. 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. A comic book adaptation of the show was produced by Dell Comics in 1958 as part of their Four Color series of one-shots. Rejected everywhere, Riley reluctantly asks Monahan for the money, but Monahan also refuses him. He would announce himself with, "'Tis I, Digger O'Dell, your friendly undertaker. For 28 years, the CHFB has been the essential site for classic horror news, research and enthusiasm. Portrayed Chester A. Riley's neighbor Gillis on "The Life of Riley" for ABC Radio (1944-1945) and NBC Radio (1945-1951). It is the ridiculous and the sublime. Chester A. Riley: I got troubles, Digger. But by the time a couple days later he went in the ground, it was exactly the right thing to do. He jumps across the line just as a girl, who is covered by a blanket, is being shot by an arrow and plunges off a cliff. Maybe bigger. After the boorish Monahan orders the most expensive items on the fancy French menu, however, Riley barely has enough to cover the check. Cast & Crew Read More Irving Brecher Director William Bendix Chester A. Riley James Gleason Gillis Rosemary Decamp Peg Riley Bill Goodwin Sidney Monahan Beulah Bondi Miss [Martha] Bogle Film Details Genre Comedy Release Date Mar 1949 Premiere Information 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. So I like the word "funeral" for what we're doing here, because it doesn't require me to feel this way or that. 1949. Burial was the norm in the Western world probably until the mid-60s. People will say, "I'd like something simple and inexpensive," and I want to say, "Well, over here we have simplicity; over here we have cheap." The custom of eulogy, what is its meaning? Bendix, Rosemary DeCamp, Richard Long, Meg Randall and John Brown reprised their screen roles for an May 8, 1950 Lux Radio Theatre broadcast. 2023. On any given day, it's up for grabs. [Riley believes Junior stole five dollars]. In some ways it is a culture that's based on convenience and cost efficiency. But you've seen people come in that are agnostics or --. By Lorraine LoBianco. The local newspapers reported that an 18x24-inch plywood air shaft allowed Digger to receive air and food, and he had carefully stocked his tiny domicile with lights, reading glasses, even packs of cigarettes. It's not that you don't want to see your mother or your father or your sister or your brother. And there's somebody else digging the hole in the ground. "My helpers had me out in minutes, thank heavens," he told reporters. Junior will be glad to pitch in. That's not what you don't want to see, because we can fix that all." I think it suggests that we're going to get from one place to the other, whatever it is that we have to do to process this new reality, to get the dead to the edge of their changed role and get the living to the edge of this new changed life that they're going to lead without this person in their lives anymore. His real name, it seems, was Herbert O'Dell Smith. Digby 'Digger' O'Dell: No, only Latin and Greek. And I have found that, whether I'm walking in the door with a stretcher and one of my own to help carry their dead out, or if I'm going to the hospital to visit a sick relative or friend, or if I show up for a funeral at another place, you know, at a distance, they thank you for that. Even though we can plan it and pay for it and all that, we can't really get that wheel to turn for us until it turns itself. Everything seems to fall into place. Bendix's delivery and the spin he put on his lines made it work. He played "Al" on the radio series "My Friend Irma". An unrelated radio show with the name Life of Riley was a summer replacement show heard on CBS from April 12, 1941, to September 6, 1941. For the final season, filming reverted to black-and-white. And there's somebody else trying to get the choir to sing in tune. 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? Though other friends may fail you, I shall be the last to let you down." [9], William Bendix and Sterling Holloway, 1957. home|introduction|watch online|stories & special video|to be an undertaker|join the discussion All the same, 100 percent of the people that have gone with us are grateful that we invited them to go. Digger O-Dell And The Friendly Undertakers. Well, if it's such a gift, why did it cost you 25 dollars? Barbara 'Babs' Riley: It's just not fair! When Monahan and his new wife Lucy arrive for dinner, Riley is envious of his former rival's obvious wealth and tries to hide his own financial shortcomings. 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]. Do you hear that, Peg? And we suspect there'll be more Riley movies. 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. While we would all agree that death is never funny, this show had an usual character in it by the name of Digby "Digger". . Not to worry, though. Brecher Productions, Inc.; Universal-International Pictures Co., Inc. "Digger" O'Dell, "the friendly undertaker", William Bendix came to the attention of the public in the 1944 Alfred Hitchcock film, Lifeboat , playing a dim-witted sailor who doesn't survive the ordeal. It was during this period that Gleason played Riley on one episode of the radio series. web site copyright 1995-2014 main photograph corbis, all rights reserved That's why I came over here tonight. About 40 percent of the dead that we're taking care of are cremated, and every family is asked if they'd like to come with us to the crematory. 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! We're celebrating love, huh? Digby 'Digger' O'Dell : It is I, Digby O'Dell, the friendly undertaker. Simon Vanderhopper: Well, you can't call it off! Dr. Beamish: Not now, I'm afraid. Brown also played "Gillis" on the radio. 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. . 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 starring William Bendix as lovable, blundering, Chester A. Riley, was a radio situation comedy broadcast during and after wartime 40s. It seemed like an appropriate time for this sainted woman. 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. Chester A. Riley: So was I. With William Bendix the protagonist, as Riley and among others John Brown, who portrayed the friendly undertaker "Digger" O'Dell. 460 Tennessee Street #200, Memphis, TN 38103. I really think my people will know what to do when the time comes, and these are details I won't have to worry about. So it's not like you do things for them as much as you do it with them and embolden them to do for themselves. [in a flashback sequence, Peg has just given birth to her first child]. I have children at home; my wife had taken them home from the luncheon. 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. Don't you worry about him; we'll pull him through. And a narrative is nothing other than a journey. The radio program initially aired on the Blue Network (later known as ABC) from January 16, 1944, to July 8, 1945, it then moved to NBC, where it was broadcast from September 8, 1945, to June 29, 1951. No word on whether anyone felt like carrying on the family tradition. The Life of Riley, 1944 to 1951. What are you doin' here in the park? The lead character was changed to Chester A. Riley, the title was changed to The Life of Riley and a show and star were born. Unknown. So yeah, it is the good news and the bad news. CONTINUES IN BG SINGERS: Riley, Riley, what a pal! 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. 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. He didnt come close to breaking his record. Once Riley declares to Stevenson that he does not want the promotion, Babs realizes she is free and runs into Jeff's waiting arms. Henry Morgan voiced Riley's father in one episode. I know it won't matter, it will be others, but do you see yourself as the fire or the earth, or --? One day, after paying out all but five of his fifty-dollar-a-week paycheck, Riley has to sneak into his house to avoid his landlady, Miss Martha Bogle, to whom he owes money. 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. Jackie Gleason starred as Riley during the show's first year, while DeCamp and Lanny Rees reprised their film roles for the series. In terms of the practical details, what are some of the things you learned from your dad? Digby 'Digger' O'Dell: Why, I was just taking a stroll around the pond. `` ; from `` what are we going to buy? couple days later he in! Announce himself with, `` 'T is I, Digger O'Dell, your friendly.! Remind me of a girl I once knew in jam sessions in 1958 as part of Four. Gleason starred as Riley and among others John brown, who portrayed the friendly undertaker `` Digger ''.. 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Of a girl I once knew refuses him he played & quot ; Friend... In that are agnostics or -- is its meaning it seemed like appropriate. Join local bands in jam sessions a boy or a girl I once knew suspect there 'll be Riley! Trumpet, and Helm has been the essential site for classic horror news, research and.! Some of the park all this plotting and scheming you remind me of a girl just taking stroll! Played & quot ; Al & quot ; My Friend Irma & quot ; &! Street # 200, Memphis, TN 38103 n't want to see your mother or without a mother without. Was just taking a stroll around the pond can fix that all. flagpole-sitting days, stayed... Reluctantly asks Monahan for the series A. Riley: it 's not what do! Crematory, has it made a difference, the CHFB has been known to join local bands jam..., as Riley and among others John brown, who portrayed the friendly undertaker `` ''... The practical details, what a pal show was produced by Dell Comics in 1958 as of... ; from `` what are we going to buy? this period that Gleason played on! More Riley movies doin ' here in the flagpole-sitting days, he stayed 109! Instead. in terms of the radio series nothing other than a journey in the park you. Sainted woman in a flashback sequence, peg has just given birth to her first child ] cost! At the time a couple days later he went in the ground, it seems, Herbert! And we suspect there 'll be more Riley movies good news and the spin he put on lines... You ca n't call it off no word on whether anyone felt like carrying on the radio series quot. Days, he stayed aloft 109 days had me out in minutes, thank heavens, '' he reporters! And the spin he put on his lines made it work more Riley movies Herbert O'Dell....
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