The
Life of Riley, an early U.S. television sitcom filmed in Hollywood,
was broadcast on NBC from 1949-50 and from 1953-58. Although the
program had a loyal audience from its years on network radio (1943-1951),
its first season on television, in which Jackie Gleason was cast
in the title role, failed to generate high ratings. William Bendix
portrayed Riley in the second version and the series was much more
successful, among the top twenty-five most watched programs from
1953-55. Syndicated in 1977, the series was telecast on many cable
systems.
The
Life of Riley was one of several blue-collar, ethnic sitcoms
popular in the 1950s. Chester A. Riley was the breadwinner of an
Irish-American nuclear family living in suburban Los Angeles. Although
most of the program took place within the Riley household, his job
as an airplane riveter sometimes figured prominently in weekly episodes.
Riley's fixed place in the socio-economic structure also allowed
for occasional barbs directed at the frustrations of factory employment
and at the pretensions of the upper classes. After The Life of
Riley was canceled, blue-collar protagonists like Riley would
not reappear until premiered in the 1970s. A pilot for
The Life of Riley starred Herb Vigran and was broadcast on
NBC in 1948. Six month later, the series appeared on NBC with Riley
played by Gleason; however, Riley's malapropisms and oafish behavior
were poorly suited to Gleason's wisecracking nightclub style. Bendix,
who had played Riley on radio and in a movie version, was originally
unable to play the part on television due to film obligations. When
he did assume the role, however, he became synonymous with the character.
Bendix
played Riley in a manner that resembled many of his supporting roles
in Hollywood films of the 1940s--as a heavy-handed, obstinate, yet
ultimately sensitive lummox. Each week, Riley first became flustered,
then overwhelmed by seemingly minor problems concerning his job,
his family, or his neighbors. These small matters--once Riley became
involved--escalated to the verge of disaster. Riley's catch phrase--"What
a revoltin' development this is!"--expressed his frustration and
became part of the national idiom. His patient wife, Peg (originally
played by Rosemary DeCamp, then by Marjorie Reynolds), managed to
keep the family in order despite her husband's calamitous blunders.
Other
central characters included Riley's studious and attractive daughter,
"Babs" (Gloria Winters, Lugene Sanders), and his younger, respectful
son, "Junior" (Lanny Rees, Wesley Morgan). Riley also had several
neighbors, friends, and co-workers. The most significant of these
was Jim Gillis (Sid Tomack, Tom D'Andrea), Riley's smart-aleck neighbor
whose schemes often instigated trouble.
The
narrative structure of the series was much like that of any half-hour
sitcom: Each week, stasis within the Riley household would be disrupted
by a misunderstanding on Riley's part or by Riley's bungled efforts
to improve his or his family's status. Catastrophe was ultimately
averted by a simple solution, usually the clarification of a fact
by Peg or another character besides Riley. Order was thus restored
by the end of the episode.
The
postwar suburban lifestyle conditioned much of the program's content.
Mirroring trends established during the postwar economic boom, the
Riley family lived comfortably, though not lavishly, aided--and
sometimes baffled--by many of the latest household consumer gadgets.
Gender roles typical of the era were also represented with Chester
earning the family's single paycheck while Peg maintained the household.
Similarly, Babs' problems typically concerned dating, while Junior's
were related to school. Most of the problems in the Riley household
occurred when the private and public realms merged, usually when
Riley interfered with Peg's responsibilities.
Like
many sitcoms of the 1950s, The Life of Riley reinforced the
promise of suburban gratifications open to hard working, white Americans.
Even so, Riley's incompetence set him apart from his television
counterparts. More so than Ozzie of Ozzie and Harriet, Riley's
ineptitude called into question the role of the American father
and therefore of the entire family structure, thus preceding some
1960s sitcoms such as Green Acres and Bewitched which
carried that theme even further.
-Warren
Bareiss
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The Life of Riley
CAST
(1949-1950)
Chester
A. Riley..................................... Jackie Gleason
Peg Riley........................................ Rosemary
DeCamp Junior........................................................
Lanny Rees Babs......................................................
Gloria Winters Jim Gillis....................................................
Sid Tomack Digby "Digger" O'Dell...................................
John Brown
PRODUCER
Irving Brecher
PROGRAMMING
HISTORY 26 Episodes
DuMont
October 1949-March 1950 Tuesday
9:30-10:00
CAST
(1953-1958)
Chester
A. Riley..................................... William Bendix
Peg Riley........................................... Marjorie
Reynolds Junior...................................................
Wesley Morgan Babs Riley Marshall..............................
Lugene Sanders Jim Gillis (1953-1955, 1956-1958)..............
Tom D'Andrea Honeybee Gillis (1953-l955, 1956-1958).....
Gloria Blondell Egbert Gillis (1953-1955)......................
Gregory Marshall Cunningham ......................................Douglas
Dumbrille Dangle.................................................
Robert Sweeney Riley's Boss ............................................Emory
Parnell Waldo Binney.....................................
Sterling Holloway Otto Schmidlap..........................................
Henry Kulky Calvin Dudley (1955-1956).....................George
O'Hanlon Belle Dudley (1955-1956)................. Florence
Sundstrom Dan Marshall (1957-1958)...........................
Martin Milner
PRODUCER
Tom McKnight
PROGRAMMING
HISTORY 212 Episodes
NBC
January 1953-September 1956 Friday
8:30-9:00 October 1956-December 1956 Friday
8:00-8:30 January 1957-August 1958 Friday
8:30-9:00
FURTHER
READING
Brooks, T., and E. Marsh. The Complete Directory To Prime Time
Network TV Shows; 1946-Present. New York: Ballantine Books,
1988.
Hamamoto,
D. Y. Nervous Laughter: Television Situation Comedy and Liberal
Democratic Ideology. New York: Praeger, 1989.
Lipsitz,
G. "The Meaning of Memory: Family, Class, and Ethnicity in Early
Network Television Programs." In, Time Passages. Minneapolis,
Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 1990.
Terrace,
V. Fifty Years of Television; A Guide to Series and Pilots, 1937-1988.
New York: Cornwall, 1991.
__________.
Television; 1970-1980. San Diego: Barnes, 1981.
See
also Comedy,
Domestic Settings; Family
on Television; Gleason,
Jackie
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