The Life of Riley began as a NBC Blue Network radio show in January 1944. It continued on the airwaves until June 1951. Starring William Bendix as Chester A. Riley, a Brooklyn born riveter working at a southern California aircraft manufacturing plant. Both a movie and television series of The Life of Riley went into production around the same time and Bendix, primarily a film actor, went with the film version (because in 1949 TV was nothing). The movie was released in April 1949 and the TV series made its debut that October and ran through March 1950 with 26 episodes making it one of the first television sitcoms and my guess is it's the oldest that still exists. With Bendix unavailable for the TV series, the role of Chester Riley went to Jackie Gleason (who went on to be a very successful television pioneer in the 50's with his Jackie Gleason Show and it's sketch The Honeymooners). Rosemary DeCamp got the role of Peg, his wife (on radio it was played by Paula Winslowe). Rosemary later found further television fame in the Bob Cummings Show and That Girl. The Life of Riley returned to TV in January 1953 with Bendix as Riley and this time with Marjorie Reynolds as Peg. The show ran for 6 seasons, 217 episodes, and ended in May 1958 and then became a popular syndicated show for several years. It was one of the most successful sitcoms of the 1950's.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_of_Riley
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