Tuesday

[susandennis]

I started my new inhaler this morning and so far, excellent. I can deal with pricey if it works. I'm hopeful. My swim this morning - including the hike up the stairs (point of pride, I refuse to take the elevator up from the parking garage to the gym) - was all totally free from even thinking about breathing which is a big COPD win.

This morning I'm making a trip to Goodwill to drop off a bag o' dolls. I think I may swing by the market for a couple of things and get some gas while I'm out.

I started watching Love on Netflix earlier this week and now I'm hooked. I'm still in season 1 and season 2 was just released. Nice. Fun to find.

Today will be the usual after I get home from my errands. Sewing, knitting, baseball, TV and puttering. The Life of Riley...

Ha! Ok. The Life of Riley was a TV show that was popular when I was a kid. I just Googled it to find out the exact dates and discovered that it has totally jumped the shark into it's very own thing.



Ya live long enough, ya see it all...

Comments

[susandennis]

oh cool! well, now you know!

[celluloid-jam.livejournal.com]

Love is so cute!

[susandennis]

It really is. I keep thinking that it's nothing and I should stop but I keep not stopping :)

[brigitte lichtenberger-fenz (from livejournal.com)]

Hmm.... Tuesday. I'm confused.

[susandennis]

Holy crap! It's Wednesday! After I got your comment, to prove you wrong, I checked the calendar. Ooops Where did Tuesday go?

[brigitte lichtenberger-fenz (from livejournal.com)]

There's a hole somewhere.

[susandennis]

:)

[christopher575.livejournal.com]

There's a song from the '90s called that which I really like. And I'm glad you brought it up, because I was just thinking about compiling a blog post that it would fit perfectly into.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl2_hJ0DXDw

[hopefulspirit.livejournal.com]

I'm glad the inhaler is working! I can't believe how much medications cost.

I must live a sheltered life, I don't think I've heard of Life of Riley before, in either context. lol

[maju01.livejournal.com]

I've heard the expression "life of Riley" but I never knew it came from a TV show.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

My impression is that the show was named after the expression -- somewhat ironically, as the protagonist's life wasn't all that great.

And, indeed, this web page (http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/the-life-of-riley.html) bears me out, at least on the point of the expression being much older than the show.

[susandennis]

Oh wow! Now I've misled a whole new generation ... I always thought that show was just making the most ironic point ever. Live and learn!

[howeird]

Yup.

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

I was just coming on to say the same thing, it's from the 1880s
'An easy life, as in Peter had enough money to take off the rest of the year and live the life of Riley. This phrase originated in a popular song of the 1880s, “Is That Mr. Reilly?” by Pat Rooney, which described what its hero would do if he suddenly came into a fortune.'

[sweetmeow]

I used to love that sitcom, though I don't remember any story lines. Would love to see reruns. I knew that saying came from that show, but didn't realize that it had made the dictionary! Wow! I would beg to differ about it meaning a "luxurious" existence. I don't remember Riley being wealthy -- he was just simply carefree! If I remember the show correctly, he was one of those "What Me Worry" kind of guys!

EDIT! I stand corrected. I read the rest of your comments!!!!

[susandennis]

I know, right?! I'm shocked about this revelation. Wonder if William Bendix knew??

"What a revoltin' development this is!"

[rejectomorph]

The Life of Riley actually originated as a radio show in 1944 and ran until 1951. I'm old enough to recall hearing it on the radio during its last years. William Bendix had the starring role, and also did the 1949 movie version.

There was a television version for one season in 1949-1950, but it starred Jackie Gleason as Riley because Bendix's RKO movie contract prohibited him from appearing on television.

The TV series with Bendix back in the title role wasn't launched until early 1953. I only saw the last couple of seasons of that show first run, because we didn't get a television set until 1957. It was soon in syndicated reruns, though, and I think I saw quite a few of the earlier episodes then.

A lot of the popular TV shows of the early 1950s were transplants from radio, including Our Miss Brooks, The Great Gildersleeve, Gunsmoke, Father Knows Best, The Lone Ranger, Dragnet, Ozzie and Harriet, Perry Mason, and The Jack Benny Show. Quite a few others, as well, including a passel of afternoon soap operas.

I'm glad I was born soon enough to hear at least the last days of radio comedy, variety, and drama. I guess that's why Woody Allen's Radio Days is one of my favorite movies. It captures the era quite well.

I recall older people using the phrase the life of Riley when I was a kid. Though it originated in the 19th century, it was in fairly common use into the mid-20th century. It seems to have died out now. I haven't heard it used in years.

Re: "What a revoltin' development this is!"

[susandennis]

Oh I totally forgot about the revoltin' development!

I missed the radio days. I was TV from the get go.

Re: "What a revoltin' development this is!"

[rejectomorph]

Some of my most vivid early memories involve listening to the radio. I remember hearing it even when I was still in my high chair. It also was the source of one of my first experiences with real mortality (people died nightly on the mystery and thriller shows, but I knew they were just fictional characters and not really dead.)

Fanny Brice had a weekly half hour called The Baby Snooks Show. The character Baby Snooks, who Brice had originated back in vaudeville days, was a rather snarky and obnoxious little girl, and she delighted me completely. One night in 1951, the show didn't come on. Instead, there was an announcement that Fanny Brice had died, and her show was being replaced by a program of music for the remainder of the season.

I was shocked and dismayed, because even though, at six years old, I knew that Fanny Brice was an adult actress playing a young character, I still identified with Baby Snooks as a little kid like me. It took me quite a while to get over the fact that Baby Snooks was dead. In fact I'm not sure I'm completely over it even now. I still feel sad when I think of her.

[badrobot68.livejournal.com]

I always wondered where that expression came from. But my cat knows.

[susandennis]

:)