THE LIFE OF RILEY

The Life of Riley was an American radio situation comedy series of the 1940s that was adapted into a 1949 feature film, as well as two different television series, and a comic book. The radio program initially aired on the Blue Network (later known as ABC) from January 16, 1944, to July 8, 1945, then moved to NBC, where it was broadcast from September 8, 1945, to June 29, 1951. It starred William Bendix as Chester A. Riley. He also starred in the 1949 film version of The Life of Riley directed by Irving Brecher. In 1948, three test television programs were produced for NBC. Two aired: April 13 episode starred Herb Vigran as Riley, and the April 20 episode had Buddy Gray in the title role. The third episode had Lon Chaney Jr. as Riley. The NBC television adaptation, also created by Irving Brecher, was a single-season series from October 4, 1949, to March 28, 1950. Originally, William Bendix was to have appeared on both radio and TV, but Bendix's RKO Radio Pictures movie contract prevented him from appearing on the TV version. Jackie Gleason starred, but it came to an end after 26 episodes because Irving Brecher and sponsor Pabst Brewing Company reached an impasse on extending the series for a full 39-week season. The second TV series ran for six seasons, from January 2, 1953, to May 23, 1958. It featured William Bendix as Riley. A total of 217 episodes were filmed. The latter portion of the fifth season, broadcast between April and June 1957, were filmed and originally broadcast in color. A comic book adaptation of the show was produced by Dell Comics in 1958 as part of their Four Color series of one-shots.

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