Life Of Riley, Big Hearted, Blue Collar Oaf

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A counter part to the Smart-Aleck Kid, a staple character in Family Sit-coms, is the Big-Hearted Blue Collar Oaf. Both are interesting characters to build a show around. The SAK is typified by the long time comic page regular, Dennis the Menace, and immortalized on Radio by such favorites as Henry Aldrich, My Son Jeep, and Leroy from The Great Gildersleeve. The modern incarnation of the SAK is Bart Simpson.

Fox TV's The Simpsons is unique in that it features the adventures and misadventures of both a SAK and a BHBCO. Fox made a minor splash on Sunday nights beginning in the late 1980s with a pair of BHBCOs, Both Homer Simpson and Al Bundy from Married With Children.

Married pays backhanded homage the original BHBCO, Chester A. Riley from Radio's Life Of Riley. While Married With Children often pushed the boundaries of bad taste, Life of Riley was wholesome family fun. Riley was originally intended as a radio vehicle for Groucho Marx (the Riley radio series was coproduced by Gummo Marx), but the original sponsor had trouble accepting Groucho in what would have been standard sit-com father's role. After seeing usual film "Heavy" William Bendix portraying a rugged, blue-collar taxi company owner, the producers knew their project had another chance.

Bendix played Riley as a bumbling but lovable oaf who was mad with affection for his family, but blissfully unaware of his own shortcomings. Riley is a New York transplant working as a riveter in a California airplane factory (which gave the show a war-time tie-in). He is constantly scheming to find a better life for his family, but of course his schemes usually back fire. Peg Riley (Peg Bundy's namesake?) seems to recognizes her husband's faults, and has long years of experience dealing with them, but loves him for his big heart and sincere goals. The Riley kids, Babs and Junior, fulfill their sitcom roles by being smarter than their old man, but manage to show him the respect that would forever elude Al Bundy and Homer.

Bendix took his portrayal of Riley to the big screen. When the sit-com was ready to move from radio to television, Bendix was prevented from starring because of his contract with RKO. Instead the role was given to then new comer, Jackie Gleason. Whether Gleason's nightclub humor didn't work as Riley, or audiences simply wouldn't accept any other Riley than Bendix, the first version of the TV show didn't take off. Interestingly, several of the mannerisms of Gleason's TV breakout role, another BHBCO, Ralph Kramden in The Honeymooners, seem to be based on Bendix's Riley character.

Bendix was able to assume the role on TV beginning in 1953, and the show lasted six seasons.

The role of the Father figure in most sit-coms tends to be that of the fool. Especially in radio, Dad tends to be more successful, a Sweater Wearing Dad, if you will. Although they are often confused by a wife and kids who manage to somehow always be smarter than they are, they usually don't achieve the oafish quality of the BHBCO. An exception is The Great Gildersleeve, but while Gildy is a bit of an oaf, he is closer to the Sweater Wearing socio-economic set than blue collar. Which helps to prove that idiocy can run across all classes.  Additional recordings can be heard from old radio cat.