Sunday, December 16, 2018

25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas - Day 14: Christmas Bonus with Life of Riley (1948)

Moving from one of my all time favorites to one of my...well...less favorite series.  I am not evil enough to share Lum and Abner - so don't ask.  Some of the comedies do not translate well to modern audiences and tastes.  But some of the situational comedies are just fine.  But forever reason, I have not been able to get excited about William Bendix's big radio role as the lead in Life of Riley.  As a baseball fan and quasi-historian, I am joined by many in really disliking his performance as Babe Ruth in the 1948 movie The Babe Ruth Story.   Turns out Bendix was a batboy for the Yankees back in the early 20s - but this movie swung and missed at nearly every aspect.  But today, I am going to get over myself and feature one of the Christmas episodes on this series.  If you have Sirius/XM, you can listen to Greg Bell's Old time radio channel (#148).  He does a great job of showcasing great holiday themed episodes, especially as we get close to Christmas.

Scenes from the Air: Delta Airlines Flight 6380 (Detroit to Charleston) - Tuesday November 4, 2014
Boeing Aircraft Plant (and the Dreamlifters) 
at Charleston (South Carolina) International Airport - Tuesday November 4, 2014
The Life of Riley was a long running radio program on the NBC Blue and NBC Network from 1944 to 1951.  The show followed the life of one Chester A. Riley and eventually made it to television with Jackie Gleason and the man who made it famous on radio, William Bendix.  Chester A. Riley works at a fictional aircraft plant in California. Riley is joined by a great cast of charcters.  Hi long suffering wife Peg is played by Paula Winslowe.  His kids, Babs and Junior, are played by Sharon Douglas and Tommy Cook, Bobby Ellis and Scotty Beckett (at various times during the run).  The two characters that are better known include Alan Reed (who plays a variety of roles including Riley's boss, Mr. Stevenson) and John Brown who played Digby "Digger" O'Dell - "the friendly undertaker."  "Digger" O'Dell is the one part of this show that I have enjoyed over the years.  So in the spirit of the holidays, I will try to give this series another look.

For the episode on December 24th, 1948, we open with Chester going over the budget and the available money a few days before Christmas.  They turn out to be a modest amount ahead after their bills are paid.  But when he realizes that they are still short for Christmas, he has to come up with a plan B for getting money for gifts.  Should they borrow money for Christmas presents?  As every idea gets squashed - he forgot that his unit would each get a Christmas bonus.  Problems are solved.  But when he gets to work, he is told that Stevenson is not giving out a bonus this year.  The department then nominates and elects Riley to speak to Stevenson and try to get the bonus.  So off he goes to demand - well request....maybe beg....or plead for a bonus.  Needless to say, it did not work out the way that Riley and his crew were hoping.

Turns out there is no bonus - but something to put in your pocket.  So when he was walking around trying to make sense of what happened, he found a strangely dressed Santa Claus and he decided to give him one of his last dollars.  Turns out this Santa is his very own "Digger" O'Dell.  Thanks to friends other than Digger, Riley digs himself out of this problem.  The episode was written by Dick Powell (the great actor of Richard Diamond fame) Ruben Ship & Alan Lipscott and directed by Mitch Lindeman.  Music from Lou Kosloff and his Orchestra with Ken Niles as the announcer.

I hope you got a year end bonus this year.  Enjoy.

Christmas Bonus (December 24, 1948)

25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2018) & Other Links
Another 25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2017) 
25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2016) 

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2015) & Other Links

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2014)
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