Up until a couple generations ago, humans were the species that dealt with death, the idea of the thing, by dealing with their dead, the thing itself, so that the way we processed mortality was by processing mortals from one place to the other, one station to the next in this little pilgrimage between as they were to how they are to what we hope they'll be. Dear t.r. 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! 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. Babs Riley: But Mother, this is the opportunity of my entire life! 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. We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly. Just as all appears lost, Riley learns from Burt that he has been promoted to a high-paying executive position. So what you've seen is what I've seen: that people who deal with their dead deal with death better. 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. 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. Radio historian Gerald Nachman quotes Brecher as stating, "He was a Brooklyn guy and there was something about him. Chester A. Riley: I'm just as much a show-off as they are, ain't I? Chester A. Riley: I'll tell you what harm there is! He also portrayed "the friendly undertaker" Digby "Digger" O'Dell on the same show. For some people it's not the open casket and the three-day wake and the roses and the limousines and the Panis Angelicus. 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. 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. That's not what you don't want to see, because we can fix that all." Its 32 inches across, 32 inches high, and six feet long. UP AND UNDER ANNCR: Prell brings you "The Life of Riley"! STANDS4 LLC, 2023. Digby 'Digger' O'Dell: Why, I was just taking a stroll around the pond. But I don't know of anybody who has come in here entirely angry at the prospect of God who has done well with this type of thing, with deaths in the family. 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. Barbara 'Babs' Riley: But Dad, Simon's only 20. Don't you worry about him; we'll pull him through. Are social changes the reasons that we are more fearful and reluctant to deal with death in our everyday lives? 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. It seems Digger ODell was a friendly undertaker character in The Life of Riley , a radio soap opera that aired back in the 1930s, but that still doesnt explain the curious popularity of the name, if you ask me. Acti-Sol Hen Manure is one popular product that has been used with success by experienced, This website uses cookies for functionality, analytics and advertising purposes as described in our. he must have stuck eith me, because I will go as Digger to a neighborhood "post Halloween" block party this afternoon. That they do it for themselves I think is very important. 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. Chester A. Riley: "Babs Riley Featured in Annual School Follies". His frequent exclamation of indignation"What a revoltin' development this is! He played "Al" on the radio series "My Friend Irma". Many customers have had positive experiences ordering from them, and their customer service has been praised for keeping buyers updated on order status. 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. "The Life of Riley Quotes." Paula Winslowe played "Peg" for most of the series' run. On any given day, it's up for grabs. In many ways we represent the place where whatever conversation people want to have about death and dying and grief and bereavement. 16 in its first season, with four of its six seasons in the top 30, and ran for a total of 217 episodes. 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. And the components of a funeral sometimes change. Jiffy peat pellets are a popular choice for starting tomatoes, but they can also be used for peppers. To Riley's amazement, Stevenson reveals that he had already planned to promote him to foreman, beginning in January. The supporting cast featured Paula Winslowe as Riley's wife, Peg, and as Riley's mother-in law; Brown as O'Dell and as Riley's co-worker Jim Gillis; Francis "Dink" Trout as Waldo Binney; Tommy Cook, Bobby Ellis and Scotty Beckett as Junior at various times during the show's run; Barbara Eiler as Riley's daughter, Babs; Shirley Mitchell as Honeybee Gillis; Hans Conried as Uncle Baxter; and Alan Reed as multiple characters, including Riley's boss (Mr. Stevenson) and Peg's father. I think we're all complicit in the banishment of the dead to the peripheries. 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. Chester A. Riley: Gee, Gillis, you're brave - making out you're happy when all the time, inside, you've got a broken heart. Chester A. Riley: The baby announcements? 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. In doing this, in accompanying the dead, getting them where they need to go, we get where we need to be. Web. It's a kind of theater, I suppose. And yeah, everything plays its part in that. 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. 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." It was a sudden inspiration brought on by ownership of a tuxedo T-shirt! You had your tonsils out. Jim Gillis: They put you to sleep. It's possible to pay with credit card or Western Union, but PayPal isn't an option. Jim Gillis: Of course it's right. He never came back here, as promised, but he continued to perform these stunts until he died in 1999, at the age of 83. Chester A. Riley: "Babs Riley Featured in Annual School Follies". And when we talk about "the procession," what is the meaning of that? Chester A. Riley: I know what you did! Digby 'Digger' O'Dell: It is I, Digby O'Dell, the friendly undertaker.Chester A. Riley: Hello, Digger. Whether in the most abstract sense or in the most particular, this is a safe harbor, a place they can have that conversation. He's a boy who Chester A. Riley: He's a boy! Asked by yeaux. And this movement, emotionally, is mirrored by a physical movement. And I've seen it work, I've seen it work. He calculated that he had been "buried alive" 94 times, and some of these almost ended his life. Everything seems to fall into place. The boss' son (Long), who is in love with Babs, suggests that they get married in order to save Riley's job. Both [are part of] this effort to say something about something unspeakable -- great love, great loss, great hope, great fear, great doubt, the fist we shake in God's face, asking him, "What did you have in mind here?". Peg Riley: Oh? In 1907, a penniless farmer named Ruben Shipp discovered gold while plowing his field. Land of miracles, where dreams come true! When my father died, I was not prepared to put him in the ground then. producer's chat|readings & links|site map|dvd & transcript|press reaction Chester A. Riley: Babs, do you realize when I was 20, your mother was supporting me and a baby? The open casket, it is something that's often mocked. Quotes.net. 1 He liked the idea that the culture had sort of organized these wheels, in some way liturgically, in some ways socially. 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,. Dear Vance:My parents remember a Memphian named Digger ODell who had himself buried alive here sometime in the 1960s as a promotional stunt. It seems "Digger O'Dell" was a "friendly undertaker" character in The Life of Riley , a radio soap opera that aired back in the 1930s, but that still doesn't explain the curious popularity of the name, if you ask me. "Life goes on!" Alan Lipscott and Reuben Ship wrote many of the radio series' early episodes, and Don Bernard was the show's initial director. He would announce himself with, "'Tis I, Digger O'Dell, your friendly undertaker. I think cremation very much is like us. 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. But I have graves at Oak Grove; I have graves in West Clare [County, Ireland]. "The Life of Riley" The Billboard Magazine Dec 6, 1947 What are you doin' here in the park? Help came from Digger O'Dell, the "friendly undertaker," who offered gruesome theories laced with repetitive puns, brilliantly delivered by John Brown. Junior will be glad to pitch in. Here in Milford we're around 40 percent, and there are places where it's 60 percent and places where it's 16 percent. : Commissioned in 1932 by Memphis Chapter 1 of the American War Mothers, this large bronze plaque carried the names of 27 Memphians who had lost their lives in World War I. I was thrilled to find IA, where I can find some of those classics. And I do think that while the dead don't care, the dead matter. Bendix's delivery and the spin he put on his lines made it work. Starting with the right soil and conditions can make all the difference when it comes to germination and transplanting of pepper seedlings. That's why I came over here tonight. https://www.quotes.net/movies/the_life_of_riley_107479, https://www.quotes.net/movies/the_life_of_riley_quotes_107479. We are more mobile, more portable, more scattered. Jim Gillis: She'll be back in a couple or three days. As far as I can tell, he performed it in Memphis only twice, but one of those events made the news because the police were summoned to dig up Digger. 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. And it works; it does work. So it's interesting times we live in that way. 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. 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. It was later reused by Benjamin J. Grimm of the Fantastic Four. 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. The trouble is, in our culture we try to have one or the other -- either/or -- and it's both and then some in real experience. Jim Gillis: Yeah, well, he oughta shampoo more often - with kerosene! 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. You'd better stop talking that way. His dramatic life story is so well-known that schoolchildren are taught to recite it for extra credit. We can't prearrange that. Though other friends may fail you, I shall be the last to let you down.". So people come in to talk about arranging their parents' funerals or their own. Copyright 2022 Memphis Magazine. I'll be the dead guy, and the dead say nothing. main photograph corbis, all rights reserved I planned the whole thing. Actor Ted de Corsia's name appears as both "de Corsia" and "deCorsia" in the onscreen credits. I got my picture in the paper! But don't go there searching for a tombstone marked Digger O'Dell. 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