The Life of Riley, Collection 1

By: Black Eye Entertainment

Narrated by: full cast

Created by Irving Brecher, The Life of Riley starred William Bendix as Brooklyn-born Chester A. Riley, a family man who worked as an airplane riveter at the fictional Cunningham Aircraft plant in California. The stories were usually set at home, with Riley cheerfully disrupting life with his malapropisms and ill-timed intervention into minor problems. His stock answer to every turn of fate “what a revoltin' development this is!” became a popular catchphrase. Paula Winslowe was Riley's wife, Peg; John Brown doubled as undertaker "Digger" O'Dell and as Riley's co-worker, Jim Gillis; Tommy Cook, Bobby Ellis and Scotty Beckett each played the role of Riley’s son, Junior; and Sharon Douglas played Riley’s daughter, Babs. Alan Reed (the voice of Fred Flintstone) played multiple characters, including Riley's boss, Mr. Stevenson and Peg's father. Whereas Gillis gave Riley bad advice that got him into trouble, Digger gave him good advice that "helped him out of a hole." The Life of Riley aired on radio from 1944 until 1951 making a successful transition to television in 1949. Due to a contract dispute, Bendix couldn’t initially play Riley on television so the role went to Jackie Gleason. In 1953, William Bendix was free to star as Riley on the small screen and continued with it until 1958.

10/5/46 “Good Neighbor Week”
12/28/46 “New Year’s Eve”
3/29/47 “The New Chair”
4/5/47 “Accused of Being a Child Beater”
4/12/47 “Is Peg Cheating?”
4/19/47 “Riley Thinks Junior Is a Coward”
5/3/47 “Launching Babs into Society”
5/10/47 “Mother’s Day Show”
6/7/47 “Courting Peg at Camp”
6/14/47 “Soap Box Derby”
6/28/47 “Vacation Without the Wives”
7/5/47 “Riley Thinks Peg Is Leaving Him”

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