Jackie Gleason

[Woolworth27]

This was Jackie Gleasons first tv show before his du mont network days on calvre of stars.

[treky]

that's right; he replaced William Bendix, who starred in the radio show. Bendix couldn't do the TV show because of his film comittements.

[pilotguy]

I've seen episodes from both TV versions of THE LIFE OF RILEY....the early (and rather primitive) episodes starring Jackie Gleason and the later series with William Bendix. Surprisingly, the Gleason TV episodes are closer to the RADIO version of "RILEY" (which starred William Bendix) than Bendix's TV version!

Gleason's "Riley" TV episodes had the snappy style of writing and characters (Digger O' Dell, the friendly undertaker, etc.) that Bendix's radio show had. However, by the time Bendix played Riley on TV, the stories, dialogue and characters had taken on a rather bland "Ozzie and Harriet" tone.

I love Bendix and his portrayal of Riley....but the earlier TV version with Gleason had a better supporting cast and scripts.

[treky]

I've never seen the TV show, but I've heard the radio show (back in the 80s, when a lot of radio stations-including a local station in my area- used to play the old radio shows. In fact, I have a few shows on tape) and it's really FUNNY!!:lol: :lol: :lol:

[tv star collector]

I watched the William Bendix version regularly back in the fifties. And I have
recordings of two episodes of the radio version. I never saw the Jackie Gleason
version. But I preferred Tom D'Andrea in the role of Jim Gillis to John Brown's
radio version of the character. Trivia note: Tom D'Andrea was one of the
inspirations for Daws Butler's Super Snooper voice in the Snooper & Blabber
cartoon segments of QUICK DRAW McGRAW (the other inspiration being Ed
Gardner of radio's DUFFY'S TAVERN). Daws combined the two voices to create
one of animation's most sly and subtle characters.

[vedastone]

I had seen several Gleason Rileys in recent years, but had not seen the Bendix show in thirty years or more. I recently acquired a few Bendix episodes and have to say I was a bit disappointed with them compared to the Gleason version. I agree with Pilotguy that the Gleason Rileys had more pazazz. Bendix and Tom D'Andrea were both excellent comedic actors, but the plots of these shows were duller.

[Lamont]

noone compared to Gleason

even back then, he was still "The Great One"

i love ANYTHING he did, even turkeys like The Toy Or Smokey and the Bandit part 3 :wave:

[tv star collector]

No one could touch Jackie Gleason's portrayal of Ralph Kramden. Sorry, though,
I have to say William Bendix was the definitive Chester A. Riley. He originated
the role (on radio) and I can't conceive of anyone else doing justice to the part.

[TJL]

No one could touch Jackie Gleason's portrayal of Ralph Kramden. Sorry, though,
I have to say William Bendix was the definitive Chester A. Riley. He originated
the role (on radio) and I can't conceive of anyone else doing justice to the part.

Still, considering how much Jackie Gleason is associated with just playing Ralph Kramden, it is interesting to see him in a different role.

[tv star collector]

Yes, that's true. Jackie was a very talented actor of many dimensions. He had
many great comic characters in his repertoire: Reginald Van Gleason III, the
Poor Soul, Charlie the Loudmouth, etc. He was also terrific in some of his
dramatic roles, esp. the deaf mute in the drama "Gigot." He was so much more than Ralph Kramden. When given the right material, Gleason was an excellent
actor.

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...was because William Bendix was under contract to RKO-Radio Pictures, and they wouldn't allow him to appear on a weekly TV show in 1949. Irving Brecher, creator/producer/head writer of the "THE LIFE OF RILEY", had filmed a movie version (which actually doubled as a "TV pilot") of the radio show starring Bendix and Rosemary DeCamp which was released by Universal-International in early 1949. The success of that movie guaranteed a TV version---but without Bendix. Fortunately, Brecher had seen Jackie Gleason on Ed Sullivan's "TOAST OF THE TOWN" around that time, and was impressed enough to offer Jackie the role of "Chester A Riley"..despite disapproval from Brecher's own agent at William Morris! Even the Pabst Brewing Company, which was going to sponsor both Bendix's radio show AND the TV version starring Gleason in the fall of 1949 on NBC, didn't think Jackie was such a "hot" choice as 'Riley'. Because Irving Brecher owned the show, he went ahead and filmed the TV series with Gleason, Rosemary DeCamp and Lanny Rees (who played "Junior" in the movie, too). Brecher once told me the ratings for the TV version were equal (or higher) to its primary competition on Tuesday nights at 9:30pm(et)- CBS' video version of "SUSPENSE". What killed the TV show was Pabst (and its ad agency, Warwick & Legler). Seems they had the opportunity to sponsor CBS' Wednesday night fights in 1950, but what to do about "RILEY"? Well, they had an option to sponsor 13 more episodes after the 26 Brecher had agreed to film (it cost him an extra $2,000 an episode to film the show instead of staging it "live"...out of his own pocket!). But in January 1950, Pabst infomed Irving Brecher they would only sponsor SIX more TV episodes [after March 28th], instead of 13. Brecher insisted they honor their full commitment to sponsor those projected 13"RILEY" shows...then he would have 39 filmed episodes which he could sell to local stations later on. Pabst insisted on JUST SIX MORE. Brecher suspended production of the TV series, and cancelled the deal. Later, he realized that "six more weeks" would have taken the show into May 1950...when Pabst began sponsoring their "BLUE RIBBON BOUTS" on Wednesday nights over CBS-TV. Brecher continued to produce the radio edition with William Bendix until June 1951, when the series was cancelled.


More to come.........

[rosebudz]

In the New York Times last week (I think it was Thurs), sportswriter Murray Chass used "Wotta revoltin' development" in a column about baseball. But he attributed it to Jimmy Durante. The next day the NY TIMES page 2 "FOR THE RECORD" corrected it:
"It was Chester A. Riley's catchphrase in "The Life of Riley" “a sitcom in the 50's,” not Jimmy Durante's."

So I wrote both Chass and the Times to say it was also a radio show in the forties and a movie in 1949.

No updates so far forthcoming from the Times "FOR THE RECORD..."