thumb|right|262px|Wesley Morgan and [[William Bendix, 1956]]

The Life of Riley is an American radio situation comedy series of the 1940s that was adapted into a 1949 feature film, as well as two different television series, and a comic book.

Radio series

right|thumb|262px|[[Jackie Gleason and Rosemary DeCamp in the original 1949 television series]]

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.

The reworked script cast Bendix in the title role of blundering Chester A. Riley, a wing riveter at the fictional Cunningham Aircraft plant in California. His frequent exclamation of indignation—"What a revoltin' development this is!"—became one of the most famous catchphrases of the 1940s. It was later reused by Benjamin J. Grimm of the Fantastic Four. The radio series also benefited from the immense popularity of a supporting character, Digby "Digger" O'Dell (John Brown), "the friendly undertaker." Brecher told Brown, "I want a very sepulchral voice, quavering, morbid," and he got it right away.

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 CBS program starred Lionel Stander as J. Riley Farnsworth and had no real connection with the more famous series that followed a few years later.

The Life of Riley: Film

William Bendix also starred in the 1949 film version of The Life of Riley directed by Irving Brecher. It earned $1.6 million in the U.S. and Canada, but prevented him from starring in the TV series that began in the same year.

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| starring = Jackie Gleason (1949–1950)<br>William Bendix (1953–1958)

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| runtime = 30 minutes The April 13 episode starred Herb Vigran as Riley, and the April 20 episode had Buddy Gray in the title role.

A third episode was also produced the same year with Lon Chaney Jr. as Riley and DeCamp as Peg, but not aired. It is available on various public domain DVD releases.

Television series

The NBC television adaptation, also created by Irving Brecher, was a single-season

series from October 4, 1949, to March 28, 1950.

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. 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.

Bendix and Rosemary DeCamp reprised the roles in an hour-long radio adaptation of the feature film that was presented on Lux Radio Theatre on May 8, 1950.

<gallery widths="150px" heights="150px" perrow="4">

File:William Bendix Marjorie Reynolds The Life of Riley 1956.JPG|Chester and Peg Riley

File:Tom D'Andrea William Bendix The Life of Riley 1957.JPG|Riley and Gillis

File:Life of riley 1957.JPG|William Bendix and Sterling Holloway, 1957

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Comic book

A comic book adaptation of the show was produced by Dell Comics in 1958 as part of their Four Color series of one-shots.

References

  • Museum of Broadcast Communications: The Life of Riley
  • (1949 TV series starring Jackie Gleason)
  • (1953 TV series starring William Bendix)
  • (1949 feature film starring William Bendix)
  • Zoot Radio, free old time radio show downloads of Life of Riley
  • Several radio and television episodes of The Life of Riley are available for free download at the Internet Archive