Скачать или смотреть The Life of Riley (October 4, 1949)

This situation comedy about the life and trials of Chester A. Riley and his family began on radio over the Blue Network in 1944, before moving over to NBC radio where it ran from 1945 to 1951. William Bendix starred as Riley for the series' radio era, plus a theatrical movie in 1949. Bendix would also star as Riley on television, but it took a while to get there...

When Riley first came to television, the character had three false starts with three different actors, none of them Bendix. NBC aired the first live pilot on April 13, 1948, starring Herb Vigran. Another live pilot aired on April 20 with Buddy Gray in the role. Finally, a third version, starring Lon Chaney, Jr. and Rosemary DeCamp, was produced, but never aired (it does, however still exist in public domain).

DeCamp, portraying Riley's wife Peg, would make the move to the first official TV series on NBC, but the role of Chester A. Riley still wasn't portrayed by William Bendix. Due to his film contract with RKO and the Life of Riley film, he wasn't able to star in the TV series.

Jackie Gleason would take on the role of Riley. Despite the series winning an Emmy award, it ended after a single season of 26 episodes due to a dispute between series creator Irving Brecher and sponsor Pabst Brewing Co. (39 episodes were planned in total). It ran from October 4, 1949 to March 28, 1950.

Finally in 1953, William Bendix made his TV debut as Riley in a new, more well-known version. This series ran successfully for six seasons from 1953-58 on NBC for a total of 217 episodes.

Presented here is the first episode from Jackie Gleason's run, titled "Tonsils". For Riley, those things need to come out, but anxiety over the surgery may do him in.