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 is the ridiculous and the sublime. 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. In many ways they're all replicated by this journey that we take between the living and the dead when someone dies, this procession. By Lorraine LoBianco. I never felt better. Cullen, Frank, Hackman, Florence and McNeilly, Donald Vaudeville Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America Vol. It's a kind of theater, I suppose. We are less grounded than our grandparents were. 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 wife, Peg, and daughter, Babs respectively. I enjoy listening to the frogs croak. Chester A. Riley: I got troubles, Digger. And they open your mouth. Maybe bigger. 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. [1] (Marx would get his own series Blue Ribbon Town instead.) 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. 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. But by the time a couple days later he went in the ground, it was exactly the right thing to do. 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. 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 yet someone's weeping because of the changed life that we're seeing before us. Chester A. Riley: Yes. On any given day, it's up for grabs. Bendix, Rosemary DeCamp, Richard Long, Meg Randall and John Brown reprised their screen roles for an May 8, 1950 Lux Radio Theatre broadcast. Jiffy peat pellets are a popular choice for starting tomatoes, but they can also be used for peppers. Just as all appears lost, Riley learns from Burt that he has been promoted to a high-paying executive position. It was just doing the next right thing. And that's very seductive, because, I mean, it's human-to-human contact. I'm not the type of friends who buts in. I've always been touched by the fact that there seems to be as much laughter as weeping at the big life events. Everything assumes its natural order. Whether a person is consigned to the earth or the fire is, at the end of the day, no difference. Whether we consign our dead to scavenger birds, as they do in Tibet, or to the sea, as they do when the sea is around them, or the tree, as our Native Americans did, it doesn't make any difference. Brecher then saw William Bendix as taxicab company owner Tim McGuerin in Hal Roach's The McGuerins from Brooklyn (1942). After 13 days in his coffin, Memphis police showed up with shovels to unearth Digger. Chester A. Riley: I'm just as much a show-off as they are, ain't I? This is standard practice when ordering from Ukraine, according to customers wh. t.r., memphis. Well, it's showing up and just being there is worth an awful lot. I think they used to call that "social death"; that actual death happens like that. The question is not meant to mock; the question is to say: "What is it you don't want to see? 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. "The Life of Riley Quotes." Slap, slap, slap Rip, Rip, Rip it's over! 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. Thanks to Chester's interference, Junior now has two dates for the school dance. This is the way I like to remember William Bendix - playing a family man doing the best he can in a world that tends to be a bit too much for him, with children that tend to be a bit too much for him too. Thanks for any help. Al was the boyfriend of Irma. Banners asked customers and anyone driving past the Buick showroom on Union Avenue, "HOW LONG CAN HE STAY BURIED ALIVE?" 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. I just read this card, and I just spoke to the Justice of the Peace! Although Bendix's considerable acting chops allowed him to believably play both heroes and villains, it was as the loveable blue-collar factory worker Chester A. Riley that he is best remembered, first on radio and then in the 1949 movie of the same name. Nevertheless, this Life of Riley series with Bendix was a ratings hit, ranking at No. Chester A. Riley: Why should an old man married for years run away with a pretty blond? I cant say what finally happened to Digger. MUSIC: THEME FILLS A PAUSE, THEN FADES OUT ANNCR: Jim Gillis: Yeah, well, he oughta shampoo more often - with kerosene! And I'm, along with the next guy, as interested in those cartoons as everyone else is. We'd just say, "Well, let's not think about that anymore." Thomas Lynch is a writer and a poet. The last mention I can find of his exploits came from a 1979 newspaper published in the little town of Phenix City, Alabama, which reported that Digger was performing his 158th burial in the parking lot of Macks Mobile Homes there. Another time, firefighters rescued him after he apparently suffered a heart attack underground. That they do it for themselves I think is very important. 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. But it's not just my job. Id like to think that the cemetery installed a periscope so visitors could see him, or at least a tube where they could drop coins and see if they could ring the bell but I doubt it. The crematory we use is impeccably run by ethical people, people we inspect, unannounced, a couple times every year. 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. Paula Winslowe played "Peg" for most of the series' run. It's not that you don't want to see them dressed up or laid out or with glasses on, or too much makeup or their hair done in a clumsy way. Rosemary DeCamp (as "Peg Riley"), Lanny Rees (as "Junior Riley") and John Brown (as "Digger O'Dell, the Friendly Undertaker") all reprised their movie roles in the original The Life of Riley (1948) TV series. 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. Copyright 2022 Memphis Magazine. 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. Radio historian Gerald Nachman quotes Brecher as stating, "He was a Brooklyn guy and there was something about him. According to the obituary, Digger was born in Georgia in 1915. I was thrilled to find IA, where I can find some of those classics. None of us knew what reference was being made here.In grade five very few people here NL (Canada) were familiar with American radio.When the "Life Of Reilly" came to TV my appreciation of "Digger" was finally launched. [Riley believes Junior stole five dollars]. 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. Gene Krupa performed his famous drum solo ("Sing, Sing, Sing") on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1960. And at least so far as my experience is concerned, the living who bear those burdens honorably are better off for it. Babs Riley: But Mother, this is the opportunity of my entire life! 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. Jim Gillis: They put you to sleep. Anyway, I presume the Digger ODell weve been discussing here was eventually buried one final time, and I hope his gravestone wherever it is pays tribute to one of this countrys unique stuntmen. The American Meat Institute (194445), Procter & Gamble (Teel dentifrice and Prell shampoo) (194549), and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer (194951) took turns as the radio program's sponsor. Chester A. Riley: I'll tell you what harm there is! How different is confronting death without faith? 2023. Chester A. Riley: Christmas, nothing doing! 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?" Give me a sense of the changes in attitudes toward death in America. Jim Gillis: Are you kiddin'? In some ways it is a culture that's based on convenience and cost efficiency. So it's interesting times we live in that way. Chester A. Riley: Well, that'll be it, Miss Millie. He had a very good sense of that. It has always been a family-owned and -operated firm, founded by Thomas Lynch's father, Edward Joseph Lynch. Does it make it easier? I really don't care. And they take a very sharp instrument. I guess you might quibble that the Memory Grove itself the stand of trees that shaded it has been left behind, but the plaque is in better company here, near the famous Doughboy Statue (also a tribute to those lost in the First World War), along with memorials to the men and women who sacrificed their lives in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and Operation Desert Storm. You can read in history books about the way a funeral procession was laid out -- which civic group, which ecclesiastical group, which fraternal group, which family group -- how everybody was lined up, so that as people walked in, there was this rise and fall of relationship and grief, and people know this, that good, orderly direction that was assumed by this process, this ritual. What is your sense of what's driven and shaped that conversation, and what, if anything, has been missing from that public view of it all? Later, while dropping off the rent to Miss Bogle, Babs receives her first kiss from Jeff. Irving Brecher's onscreen credit reads: "Written and directed by Irving Brecher." The Brother immediately. "[6] The April 13 episode starred Herb Vigran as Riley, and the April 20 episode had Buddy Gray in the title role. Im five-foot-eleven. Digger: Every good undertaker has his ear to the ground - we pick up a lot of dirt that way. Searching for Herbert ODell Smith took me nowhere, and youd be surprised how many people in America are named Digger ODell. Why, theres Edwin Digger Odell of Abilene, Texas; Allen Digger ODell of Malvern, Iowa; Charles Wayne Digger ODell of Lebanon, Tennessee; Loren Digger ODell of Brookfield, Missouri you get the picture. For many gardeners, it starts with tomatoes. Bendix was able to return to the role on NBC from 1953 to 1958, where the program was consistently in the top 25. Chester A. Riley: Hello, Digger. Don't you worry about him; we'll pull him through. Digger: Every good undertaker has his ear to the ground - we pick up a lot of dirt that way. Ferguson: That's the type of citizen we're sworn to protect. He made the news by being buried alive. 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. Does it affect the nature of the grief if someone was present for the dying of the loved one? O'Dell was a character hastily written into the long-running radio (and, later, television) show, "The Life of Riley," which had its debut on radio in 1944, while Americans were dying by the thousands in Europe and the Far East. 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. For the second run, Bendix returned as Riley, while Marjorie Reynolds appeared as Peg. Barbara 'Babs' Riley: But Dad, Simon's only 20. After Riley overhears Burt discussing "business" with Norman, he beats up Norman and drags him before the wedding crowd. web site copyright 1995-2014 Once Riley declares to Stevenson that he does not want the promotion, Babs realizes she is free and runs into Jeff's waiting arms. 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. Barbara 'Babs' Riley: There's still Christmas. US. 16 in its first season, with four of its six seasons in the top 30, and ran for a total of 217 episodes. 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. He was Herbert ODell Smith, and he conducted this buried alive stunt, along with countless other feats of endurance, across the South. Well, if you ask any group of ordinary citizens, "How many here have attended a cremation?" I admire entrepreneurs and performers as much as the next guy, but it was surely a miserable way to make a living. The second TV series ran for six seasons, from January 2, 1953, to May 23, 1958. After the boorish Monahan orders the most expensive items on the fancy French menu, however, Riley barely has enough to cover the check. 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. Hal: I'm a father! And what about the formalities, the particular traditions and customs that are a part of the funeral? 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. Still, as every grieving person knows, we have to reinvent the wheel in which we are now orphaned. Digger O-Dell And The Friendly Undertakers. Everything seems to fall into place. 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 lead character was changed to Chester A. Riley, the title was changed to The Life of Riley and a show and star were born. His frequent exclamation of indignation became one of the most famous catch phrases of the 1940s: "What a revoltin' development this is!" The radio series greatly benefited from the immense popularity of a supporting character, Digby "Digger" O'Dell (John Brown), "the friendly undertaker." * TELEVISION: The company offers Elephant Gigantes seeds, as well as free seeds that come with recommended shelf life information included. I went back to my father's house, and I remember thinking, "But life goes on." What is missing is the corpse: the thing itself, not the idea of the thing. The open casket, it is something that's often mocked. And we come away from these memorial events, these celebrations of life, with the increasing sense that something is missing. And I do think that while the dead don't care, the dead matter. "It is I, Digger O'Dell, your friendly undertaker. When families come in and have their loved one cremated, do you talk to them about going with you to the crematorium? He's resting. Asked by yeaux. 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]. What is it, a boy or a girl? I cant even blame my wife too much. [9], William Bendix and Sterling Holloway, 1957. I want reports! I don't know what my part of it is, except it's duty, detail: Show up, do this, do that, be sure the car starts, keep it clean, you know, that type of thing. Though he's built like Boulder Dam He's tender as a lamb. And yeah, everything plays its part in that. Jim Gillis: She'll be back in a couple or three days. The only place your son will get his picture is in the post office. I always knew I'd bring up my daughter to be somebody someday. So people come in to talk about arranging their parents' funerals or their own. Chester A. Riley: None of that radical talk out of you just 'cause you go to high school! There must be some reason for it! 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