January 2
LIFE OF RILEY DAY
NBC-TV presented the first program in the series of The Life of Riley, starring William Bendix, on this day in 1953.
The program had aired for one season in 1949 with Jackie Gleason in the starring role of Chester A. Riley. Before that it had a long run on radio where William Bendix also starred in the Riley role (before Bendix, the original Riley on the radio was played by Lionel Stander).
We remember Chester A. Riley as a big, lovable, galoot who had trouble getting things to go right. He worked at an aircraft factory but we usually saw him at home creating all kinds of problems and near disasters for himself and those around him: his wife Peg (Marjorie Reynolds), son Junior (Wesley Morgan), daughter Babs (Lugene Sanders) and good friend Jim Gillis (Tom D'Andrea).
Riley’s philosophy when things went wrong was, “What a revoltin’ development dis is!” When things went right (usually straightened out by Peg), however, Riley was very satisfied with life and ‘the life of Riley’ became synonymous in the 1950s with ‘the good life’.
Those Were the Days, the Today in History service from 440 International
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