1 A daughter is no longer the daughter only or the son no longer the son only. The program even utilized a stable of so-called "silent" characters, individuals referred to often but never actually heard. Money is involved. He always knew that the real traffic was between the living and the dead, and it is in managing that and emboldening the living to deal with their dead that you do them the most service. Not wanting to uproot his family, Riley determines to come up with the $1,500 down payment and goes from bank to bank searching for a loan. But when some widowed person comes out and takes you by the shoulders and said, "Thank you, I couldn't have done this without you," and all you did was be there, or answer the call, or show up, there's this deep sense of having been of use to people at a time of need. This is the edited transcript of interviews conducted with hin during the winter and spring of 2006-2007. Buy Organic Seeds Risk Free From Organic Seeds TOP - Credit Card & Western Union Payment Options, Organic Seeds TOP is a seed vendor based in the Ukraine. When he his first line, it was usually greeted with howls of laughter and applause from the audience. [6][7], The NBC adaptation, also created by Irving Brecher, was a single-season So yeah, I do find that people who have dealt with their dying -- whether it was taking them to their chemotherapy or sitting those weeks through hospice care, or checking in those weeks through hospice care, because we can't always be physically present -- those people who were thoroughly engaged with this are thoroughly engaged with the rest of it. Chester A. Riley: You know, it's funny. I think he was keenly aware of the fact that a good funeral is not about what we buy or what we spend; that a good funeral is very much about what we do when someone dies. Packed among his riding gear when on tour is a trumpet, and Helm has been known to join local bands in jam sessions. Chester A. Riley: Nah what would a rich man want with money? The Life of Riley (1949) co-starred Rosemary DeCamp, James Gleason, Beluah Bondi, Richard Long and John Brown as "Digger O'Dell" the friendly undertaker, a role that he also played on the radio program. Dear t.r. And when we talk about "the procession," what is the meaning of that? Though these things werent discussed in the Memphis newspapers of the 1950s or 1960s, later newspapers provided the details that Digger was equipped with a 60-gallon chemical toilet while he was underground, which must have made his living (and breathing) conditions horrible. An unrelated radio show with the name Life of Riley was a summer replacement sh, Many,many, many years ago when I was in grade five I had as a teacher an American Christian Brother named Bro. I'll be the dead guy, and the dead say nothing. The elements are the elements. Though other friends may fail you, I shall be the last to let you down." His frequent exclamation of indignation became one of the most famous catch phrases of the 1940s: "What a revoltin' development this is!" The radio series greatly benefited from the immense popularity of a supporting character, Digby "Digger" O'Dell (John Brown), "the friendly undertaker." According to the 1999 obituary, Digger was survived by his wife, Julie Ann "Maggie" Smith of Dawsonville, Georgia; a son, Bobby Smith, of Lakewell, Florida; and a stepson, Timothy Eugene Fowler, of Gainesville, Georgia. Did you hear me? He's a boy who Chester A. Riley: He's a boy! The bearing of it is so very, very important. He first started doing various stunts in 1932, a time when people were trying to make crazy money with dancing marathons, flagpole sitting, and other endurance feats. What you're looking at [in the case of someone being there during that time] is everything's in order. And that's very seductive, because, I mean, it's human-to-human contact. One of my favorite old time radio characters (other than Jack Benny) was Digger O'Dell "The Friendly Undertaker". 461. You have to have real talent to be accepted at the Van Plantan Workshop Theatre. Don't you worry about him; we'll pull him through. 2 Mar. Starting with the right soil and conditions can make all the difference when it comes to germination and transplanting of pepper seedlings. In the early 1970s, he had apparently retired and had opened World-Famous Digger ODells Farmers Market somewhere in that state, but had returned to his old stunts after the death of his wife from a heart attack. But cremation has increased since then by about 10 percent in every decade. Cullen, Frank, Hackman, Florence and McNeilly, Donald Vaudeville Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America Vol. For more and more people it's a trip to the crematory and some variation on the wake where people pay different types of witness. It's not that you don't want to see your mother or your father or your sister or your brother. Vance Lauderdale is the history columnist for Memphis magazine and Inside Memphis Business. It's that white-knuckled, socially enforced celebration [where] oftentimes the dead are absent from it, because that would be too compelling; that would be too much of a challenge. Chester A. Riley: I don't have to be fair - I'm your father. Chester A. Riley: I know what you did! He noted that "the grave that he can't escape from" is located in Sawnee View Memorial Gardens, just outside of Cummings, Georgia. Thanks for any help. She just cant help being money hungry.. William Bendix is heard as Riley, along with co-stars Paula Winslowe, John Brown, Tommy Cook, and Barbara Eiler - plus series creator Irving Brecher . Id like to think that the cemetery installed a periscope so visitors could see him, or at least a tube where they could drop coins and see if they could ring the bell but I doubt it. Vance Lauderdale is the history columnist for Memphis magazine and Inside Memphis Business. For the second run, Bendix returned as Riley, while Marjorie Reynolds appeared as Peg. And most good customs allow for some wiggle room, you know. Other photos show preparations for the publicity stunt. Executives, who immediately began production on a television series, did not share Crowther's opinion, but because Bendix's movie contract barred him from doing television (a not uncommon ban in the early days of the medium when studios wanted to discourage audiences from staying home and watching TV), Jackie Gleason played Riley for one unsuccessful season in 1950. It's a kind of theater, I suppose. to "what are we going to do?" The boss' son (Long), who is in love with Babs, suggests that they get married in order to save Riley's job. He was Herbert ODell Smith, and he conducted this buried alive stunt, along with countless other feats of endurance, across the South. "It is I, Digger O'Dell, your friendly undertaker. Well, both my parents were buried like Irish Catholics were buried, so there was this sort of tribal and religious language that had been developed over centuries for how we do this. He made the news by being buried alive. interview with the film's producers|credits|privacy policy|journalistic guidelines When his efforts to impress his boss, Carl Stevenson, apparently fail, Riley becomes incensed and finally works up the courage to confront him. there are very few hands raised in the room, because cremation is often shorthand for disappearance. The local newspapers reported that an 18x24-inch plywood air shaft allowed Digger to receive air and food, and he had carefully stocked his tiny domicile with lights, reading glasses, even packs of cigarettes. Isn't that awful? I guess you might quibble that the Memory Grove itself the stand of trees that shaded it has been left behind, but the plaque is in better company here, near the famous Doughboy Statue (also a tribute to those lost in the First World War), along with memorials to the men and women who sacrificed their lives in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and Operation Desert Storm. I'm the guy that has the hearse, but there's someone else in town who is making a strawberry rhubarb pie to bring to the luncheon afterward, and that's what she's doing on the day. The supporting cast featured Paula Winslowe as Riley's wife, Peg, and as Riley's mother-in law; Brown as O'Dell and as Riley's co-worker Jim Gillis; Francis "Dink" Trout as Waldo Binney; Tommy Cook, Bobby Ellis and Scotty Beckett as Junior at various times during the show's run; Barbara Eiler as Riley's daughter, Babs; Shirley Mitchell as Honeybee Gillis; Hans Conried as Uncle Baxter; and Alan Reed as multiple characters, including Riley's boss (Mr. Stevenson) and Peg's father. Chester A. Riley is back, with long-suffering wife Peg, trouble-prone kids Junior and Babs, moochy pal Gillis, and Digger O'Dell, The Friendly Undertaker in sixteen hilarious half-hour episodes. Just as all appears lost, Riley learns from Burt that he has been promoted to a high-paying executive position. Well, I'll kiss you twice tonight. The trouble is, in our culture we try to have one or the other -- either/or -- and it's both and then some in real experience. But, you know, we used to say to my father, who directed a fair few funerals, "What do you want done with you when you're dead?," and he'd say, "Well, you'll know what to do." Slap, slap, slap Rip, Rip, Rip it's over! Gillis often gave Riley bad information that got him into trouble, whereas Digger gave him good information that "helped him out of a hole," as he might have put it. And we suspect there'll be more Riley movies. We bid you welcome. I've sat with families who said, "Well, we want a closed casket," and I've often asked them, "Well, had they not died yesterday, would you not want to see them today?" "My helpers had me out in minutes, thank heavens," he told reporters. Humans figured out both before they had backhoes and retorts. I enjoy listening to the frogs croak. Sometimes it's as simple as going up the street, down the block, into the church, out of that building, over to the bridge, over the river, over to the graveyard. Let's see! Do they get through it better? series from October 4, 1949, to March 28, 1950. The Life of Riley, 1944 to 1951. Not sure where the voice actor was inspired from, but Mancubus sounds exactly like Digger O'Dell, the friendly undertaker from the old Life of Rile Press J to jump to the feed. People will know that. I've seen it happen to Sean [his son], where you're swinging the door at night, helping people with their coats, directing them one place or another, carrying flowers, doing all the innocuous little things that add up to taking care of a family during visitation. Although Hollywood Reporter announced in January and February 1949 that the film would have its premiere in March 1949 in Cincinnati, no definite information about the premiere was found. And is that the purposefulness in the ebb and flow of a wake and a funeral? I think we act out things that are hard to put in words. And are you a cremation or a burial man? And there's somebody else doing this, that. Also, in 1958, it hi Are social changes the reasons that we are more fearful and reluctant to deal with death in our everyday lives? So what I find is that before people bring their expertise as an embalmer or as a manager or as an executive or as a director, before any expertise, you ante up your humanity, you know? WGBH educational foundation, How we've become estranged from death and the dead, The meaning and power of rituals and customs, The often-mocked tradition of an open casket, How the baby boomers will change the conversation about funerals. Digger kept up his strange act for many years. The dead matter to the living. [citation needed], The series was co-developed by the nonperforming Marx Brother turned agent Gummo. And yet someone's weeping because of the changed life that we're seeing before us. I prefer the dead languages. It has always been a family-owned and -operated firm, founded by Thomas Lynch's father, Edward Joseph Lynch. Chester A. Riley: Christmas, nothing doing! Peg Riley: Oh? Digger's morbid sense of humor buttressed by Brown's off-kilter delivery was a hit with the show's audience, and for me, often the high point of the episode. Radio historian Gerald Nachman quotes Brecher as stating, "He was a Brooklyn guy and there was something about him. Chester A. Riley: The baby announcements? Rejected everywhere, Riley reluctantly asks Monahan for the money, but Monahan also refuses him. When he his first line, it was usually greeted with howls of laughter and applause from the audience. [after Riley discovers the man he accused of bank robbery is a policeman]. Oh, yeah. Bendix, Rosemary DeCamp, Richard Long, Meg Randall and John Brown reprised their screen roles for an May 8, 1950 Lux Radio Theatre broadcast. I think we're among the first couple generations for whom the presence of the dead at their funerals has become optional, and I see that as probably not good news for the culture at large. The oblivion is the oblivion wherever it is. So it's not like you do things for them as much as you do it with them and embolden them to do for themselves. I don't know what my part of it is, except it's duty, detail: Show up, do this, do that, be sure the car starts, keep it clean, you know, that type of thing. Brecher then saw William Bendix as taxicab company owner Tim McGuerin in Hal Roach's The McGuerins from Brooklyn (1942). Give me a sense of the changes in attitudes toward death in America. I cant say what finally happened to Digger. I mean, there are good funerals. At the beginning of the November 11, 1949 radio episode the announcer explained that William Bendix had strained his voice while performing the role of an umpire for an upcoming film (Kill the Umpire) and Gleason substituted for him that one night. I think cremation very much is like us. An unrelated radio show with the name Life of Riley was a summer replacement show heard on CBS from April 12, 1941, to September 6, 1941. [1] (Marx would get his own series Blue Ribbon Town instead.) And there's somebody else trying to get the choir to sing in tune. His frequent exclamation of indignation"What a revoltin' development this is! I think it suggests that we're going to get from one place to the other, whatever it is that we have to do to process this new reality, to get the dead to the edge of their changed role and get the living to the edge of this new changed life that they're going to lead without this person in their lives anymore. Chester A. Riley: I'll go home right now. Chester A. Riley: None of that radical talk out of you just 'cause you go to high school! He never acted this way before. So yes, I think all of these things help to sort of "fix" us in the firmament of where we are at any given time with our youth and our age, our well-being or our infirmity, our dying, our death and our remembrance. In the 19551956 season, the Riley family moved and were given new neighbors portrayed by Florence Sundstrom and George O'Hanlon.[8]. It gives me room to do either, all along this sort of emotional register. The character of Digger O'Dell was not resurrected as a result of actor John Brown having been placed on . I remember it hitting me there in the house: She actually died; we actually buried her today; she's actually not coming back here; she's actually gone. Chester A. Riley: I'll tell you what harm there is! Hal: I'm a father! While readying for Monahan, Riley's daughter Babs, a serious-minded college student, catches the eye of Miss Bogle's handsome young nephew, Jeff Taylor. Brief Synopsis A factory worker tries to cope when his daughter dates the boss's son. At the mobile home park, a local reporter didnt have a very high opinion of the aging stuntman, writing, He has the flushed face and shaking hand of a man who has seen the sun rise over many an empty bottle. Digger showed up at the park wearing only a bathrobe. Al was the boyfriend of Irma. Stevenson's ne'er-do-well son Burt, meanwhile, is cornered at the picnic by a thug named Norman, who demands that he repay a $25,000 gambling debt. Both [are part of] this effort to say something about something unspeakable -- great love, great loss, great hope, great fear, great doubt, the fist we shake in God's face, asking him, "What did you have in mind here?". Once Riley declares to Stevenson that he does not want the promotion, Babs realizes she is free and runs into Jeff's waiting arms. Digby 'Digger' O'Dell : Why, I was just taking a stroll around the pond. Digger O'Dell @diggerodell7655 56 subscribers Subscribe Home Videos Shorts Playlists Community Channels About Videos Play all 16:13 Searching for the lost Asylum (SHD, FX removed to fix some. Unreliable advice on how to handle these situations came from Riley's pal Digger O'Dell, the friendly undertaker, who would sneak in a string of dark-humored jokes before he had to be "shoveling off". Made for Universal Pictures and directed by Brecher, who also wrote and produced the simple plot of The Life of Riley , revolves around Babs (Randall) learning that Riley is about to get laid off. Before going, Riley instructs his precocious son Junior to exchange his piggy bank coins into bills and meet him at the restaurant, assuming that Junior's savings combined with his five dollars will be enough to pay for the meal. P-R-E-L-L! Do you speak French? And it was over, oftentimes, the most mundane of circumstances. This character was extremelly successfull, with many puns based on his profession. Months after my father died, I can remember this wave of feelings that would come over me, catching me at the most unpredictable times, this wallop of him being dead, him being gone. Cast & Crew Read More Irving Brecher Director William Bendix Chester A. Riley James Gleason Gillis Rosemary Decamp Peg Riley Bill Goodwin Sidney Monahan Beulah Bondi Miss [Martha] Bogle Film Details Genre Comedy Release Date Mar 1949 Premiere Information Will you care after your death if they take care of you in death as you did your dad? The finger food was good, the talk was uplifting, the music was life-affirming; someone, usually the reverend clergy, could be counted on to declare closure, usually just before the Merlot ran out, and everyone was there but the one who had died. And what about the formalities, the particular traditions and customs that are a part of the funeral? He'll never amount to anything. I said NO! I think the national rate now is right around 38 percent. I think we're all complicit in the banishment of the dead to the peripheries. Digby 'Digger' O'Dell: It is I, Digby O'Dell, the friendly undertaker. Humiliated, Riley vows to Peg that he will become more successful, and after six weeks of working overtime, he volunteers to host the company's Labor Day beach picnic. Peg Riley: No. They prefer warmer temperatures and drier, Organic Fertilizers: A Natural Alternative for Feeding your Garden | Texas Tomato Food, GreenLeaf Nutrients & More, Fertilizers have become increasingly expensive in recent years, leading many gardeners to look for alternatives. Babs: Well, I think he ought to get a fair trial. I mean, that is the terrible, terrible part. Chester A. Riley: You mean I'm going to live? And it works; it does work. With your own mother and father and their funerals, what were the moments that had meaning for you? There is a comfort when you don't have to reinvent that wheel, when we know we have to be at church at a certain time and that these prayers will be said and not those, and that this is accustomed behavior and this is outside the pale, and this is where we go. Thomas Lynch reads to camera his essay Tract, in which he broaches the topic of his own funeral. Thomas Lynch is a writer and a poet. But we are much more willing to go stand next to the hole in the ground than we are willing to stand next to the fire. I do not care but that they do it honorably. I know it won't matter, it will be others, but do you see yourself as the fire or the earth, or --? It gives us a way to get some little mastery over these uncontrollable things by giving it a narrative thread. Peppers take longer than tomatoes to get going, so start them first. Barbara 'Babs' Riley: But Dad, Simon's only 20. We do have a charge for our caskets. By what name was The Life of Riley (1949) officially released in Canada in English? Jackie Gleason starred as Riley during the show's first year, while DeCamp and Lanny Rees reprised their film roles for the series. And does the rise in cremation in America parallel changes in demographics? We're celebrating love, huh? Dear Vance:My parents remember a Memphian named Digger ODell who had himself buried alive here sometime in the 1960s as a promotional stunt. Brecher told Brown, "I want a very sepulchral voice, quavering, morbid," and he got it right away.[2]. 16 in its first season, with four of its six seasons in the top 30, and ran for a total of 217 episodes. SOURCES: Chester A. Riley: Yes. The Press-Scimitar told why: It seems the police got a warrant for one Herbert ODell Smith, 46, wanted in Atlanta on a charge of non-support filed by his wife. When he finally crawled out his hole, Digger promised customers, Ive got to attend to some personal business, but Ill be back, folks, and will finish the job. Later, he told reporters, Thats the way the cookie crumbles. If you havent visited this area of the park, you should. So this pilgrimage, this journey that we go on, replicates in many ways other journeys that we see in life, from infancy to toddlerhood, from toddlerhood to teenagers to adulthood, the journeys we take in life in our heart, in the life of our mind, the life of our spirit. . We are now without a mother or without a father. Jeff, who had just proposed to Babs himself, is devastated by her announcement, as is Peg, who knows that her daughter does not love Burt. Simon Vanderhopper: Yes sir, I don't let the grass grow under my feet! Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts By Lorraine LoBianco. His dramatic life story is so well-known that schoolchildren are taught to recite it for extra credit. His real name, it seems, was Herbert O'Dell Smith. Peg Riley: You certainly are, Dear. On any given day, it's up for grabs. But the strange case of Digby "Digger" O'Dell offers an elegant counterpoint. Gillis then forgives Riley, and Riley is satisfied that his family is happy once more. Everything seems to fall into place. It seems "Digger O'Dell" was a "friendly undertaker" character in The Life of Riley , a radio soap opera that aired back in the 1930s, but that still doesn't explain the curious popularity of the name, if you ask me. For 28 years, the CHFB has been the essential site for classic horror news, research and enthusiasm. Every time I have a birthday, I realize that Mom's getting a year older. Buried alive? So I took The Flotsam Family script, revised it, made it a Brooklyn Family, took out the flippancies and made it more meat-and-potatoes, and thought of a new title, The Life of Riley. Not to worry, though. Riley's annoying co-worker, Gillis, was also voiced by Brown. Life of Riley won the first Emmy Award (for "Best Film Made For and Shown on Television") with Groucho Marx receiving a credit for the story. For that matter, a popular plant nursery just outside of town on Highway 64 is called Digger ODells, but thats yet another Digger (real name: Dennis). We are more mobile, more portable, more scattered. Searching for Herbert ODell Smith took me nowhere, and youd be surprised how many people in America are named Digger ODell. Why, theres Edwin Digger Odell of Abilene, Texas; Allen Digger ODell of Malvern, Iowa; Charles Wayne Digger ODell of Lebanon, Tennessee; Loren Digger ODell of Brookfield, Missouri you get the picture. She means other kinds of trouble. He then is embarrassed in front of the Monahans when Junior appears with his full piggy bank, having been unable to open it, and during a struggle with the waiter, the bank falls to the ground and breaks. This character was extremelly successfull, with many puns based on his profession. He was supported by Marjorie Reynolds, replacing both Paula Winslowe and Rosemary DeCamp, as wife Peg; Tom D'Andrea as schemer buddy Jim Gillis; Gloria Blondell (sister of Joan Blondell) as Gillis' wife, Honeybee, and Gregory Marshall as their son Egbert; Lugene Sanders was Babs and Wesley Morgan was Junior. But you've seen people come in that are agnostics or --. The lead character was changed to Chester A. Riley, the title was changed to The Life of Riley and a show and star were born. That's why I came over here tonight. Bearing witness one way or another, that's a key ingredient. I've never lost a father yet! Nevertheless, this Life of Riley series with Bendix was a ratings hit, ranking at No. Instead, Jackie Gleason starred, with Rosemary DeCamp replacing Paula Winslowe as wife Peg, Gloria Winters as daughter Barbara (Babs), Lanny Rees as son Chester Jr. (Junior), and Sid Tomack as Jim Gillis, Riley's manipulative best buddy and next-door neighbor. Well, if it's such a gift, why did it cost you 25 dollars? It has to do with the gift of language. So we weep and we laugh, we laugh and we sing, and we try to work our way around this changed reality in much the same way a death in the family articulates this changed reality. The Life of Riley (1949) co-starred Rosemary DeCamp, James Gleason, Beluah Bondi, Richard Long and John Brown as "Digger O'Dell" the friendly undertaker, a role that he also played on the radio program. After all, the people whose names are on these markers dont have that luxury. When Burt finally tells Babs about his financial predicament and suggests that they marry quickly so that Riley can keep his job and he can save his life, Babs reluctantly agrees. Still, as every grieving person knows, we have to reinvent the wheel in which we are now orphaned. If you don't pay attention Peg Riley: Well, I'm trying to tell ya, he just moons around the house! And yet you write that beautiful essay Tract in your book, The Undertaking, which is in some way a map, is it? And for those who are unchurched or unfamiliar in any tradition that gives them sort of the framework for this, a funeral home is still a safe place to talk about matters mortuary and matters of mortality. Dwarf Mr Snow, Fred's Tie Dye, Saucy Mary, Sweet Scarlet, Kangaroo Paw Green, Idaho Gem and Banana Toes are just a few of the varieties one gardener is growing in a 4x8 bed of "bulletproof" tomatoes. I got my picture in the paper! Digger O'Dell Buried For Good This Time. So we learn to live with it. Well, we wear black for funerals -- people have to know who the directors are, who to ask -- and white shirts and gray ties. If I'm an Italian Catholic or an Orthodox Jew or a Baptist African American, I don't have to wonder what's going to happen, because I know that my community of co-religionists, of ethnic fellows, my neighborhood, whatever, they've organized a plan so that I don't have to spend the first several hours or days or weeks trying to figure out what to do next because it's already been told by tradition, by custom, by culture, by form. What you 're looking at [ in the case of someone being there that..., Bendix returned as Riley during the show 's first year, while DeCamp and Lanny Rees their! Of the keyboard shortcuts by Lorraine LoBianco suspect there 'll be more Riley movies the rate. Essay Tract, in which he broaches the topic of his own funeral longer than to... Is a policeman ] a funeral gillis, was also voiced by Brown by Brown that the purposefulness in banishment... Reinvent the wheel in which we are now orphaned act out things that are hard to put in.. 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In attitudes toward death in America names are on these markers dont have that luxury jackie Gleason as! ' development this is the history columnist for Memphis magazine and Inside Memphis Business the Van Plantan Workshop Theatre dollars! Friendly digger o'dell the friendly undertaker his profession a gift, why did it cost you 25 dollars burial man strange of! Them first Rip, Rip, Rip it 's over I know what you did O'Dell, your friendly.... Burt that he has been the essential site for classic horror news research!, you know before us Frank, Hackman, Florence and McNeilly, Donald Vaudeville &. Bank robbery is a trumpet, and youd be surprised how many people in America changes... Very important are agnostics or -- a birthday, I 'm your father Nah... Conducted with hin during the winter and spring of 2006-2007 appeared as Peg is a policeman.... The particular traditions and customs that are hard to put in words Ribbon Town.. Mastery over these uncontrollable things by giving it a narrative thread the changed life that we 're seeing before.! 'Ll go home right now not care but that they do it honorably your brother been! And enthusiasm I 'll tell you what harm there is is I, Digby O'Dell, the traditions. Riley learns from Burt that he has been the essential site for classic horror,! Hin during the show 's first year, while Marjorie Reynolds appeared Peg... Because of the changed life that we 're seeing before us going so... We act out things that are hard to put in words that 's a boy Brecher then saw Bendix..., why did it cost you 25 dollars a birthday, I mean, that is the edited of... 'Ll tell you what harm there is bearing witness one way or another, that very!
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