Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Phil Harris
Wonga Philip "Phil" Harris (June 24, 1904 – August 11, 1995) was an American actor, comedian, bandleader, and musician. He was an orchestra leader and a pioneer in radio situation comedy, first with The Jack Benny Program, then in The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show in which he co-starred with his wife, singer-actress Alice Faye, for eight years. Harris is also noted for his voice acting in animated films. As a voice actor, he voiced Baloo in The Jungle Book (1967), Thomas O'Malley in The Aristocats (1970), Little John in Robin Hood (1973), and Patou in Rock-a-Doodle (1991). As a singer, he recorded a number one novelty hit record, "The Thing" (1950).
Harris was born in Linton, Indiana, on June 24, 1904 and grew up in Nashville. He identified as a Southerner. His hallmark song was "That's What I Like About the South". He had a trace of a Southern accent and in later years made self-deprecating jokes over the air about his heritage. His parents were circus performers. His father, a tent bandleader, gave him his first job as a drummer with the circus band.
Harris' unusual first name "Wonga," is said to derive from a Cherokee word meaning "messenger of fleet" or, perhaps more accurately translated, "fast messenger". He began his music career as a drummer in San Francisco, in the mid-1920s playing drums in the Henry Halstead Big Band Orchestra. He formed an orchestra with Carol Lofner in the latter 1920s beginning a long engagement at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. In the 1930s, Lofner and Harris recorded swing music for Victor Records, Columbia Records, Decca Records, and Vocalion Records. The partnership ended by 1932, and Harris led a band in Los Angeles for which he was the singer and bandleader.
In 1933, he made a short film for RKO called So This Is Harris!, which won an Academy Award for best live action short subject. He followed with a feature-length film, Melody Cruise. Both films were created by the same team that produced Flying Down to Rio, which started the careers of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. He also starred in I Love a Bandleader (1945) with Leslie Brooks. He played a house painter who gets amnesia and then leads a band. He recorded Woodman, Spare That Tree (by George Pope Morris and Henry Russell) in 1947. His nickname was "Old Curly".
In 1950, Harris recorded a hit novelty song, the million-seller, "The Thing", which hit number one on the U.S. chart. Additionally, he appeared in The Wild Blue Yonder (1951), alongside Forrest Tucker and Walter Brennan. He made a cameo appearance in the Warner Bros. musical, Starlift, with Janice Rule and Dick Wesson, and was featured in The High and the Mighty with John Wayne in 1954. Harris made two feature films with Jack Benny for Paramount Pictures, Man About Town (1939) and Buck Benny Rides Again (1940). Both films also featured Eddie "Rochester" Anderson.
In 1936, Harris became musical director of The Jell-O Program Starring Jack Benny singing and leading his band, with Mahlon Merrick writing much of the show's music. When Harris exhibited a knack for saying snappy one-liners, he joined the cast, portraying himself as a hip, hard-drinking Southerner whose good nature superseded his ego. He gave the others nicknames, such as "Jackson" for Jack Benny. Addressing a man as "Jackson" or sometimes "Mr. Jackson" became popular slang in the early 1940s. His signature song was "That's What I Like About the South". Many of his vocal recordings were comic novelty "talking blues", similar to the songs of Bert Williams, which are sometimes considered a precursor to rap.[citation needed]
In 1942, Harris and his band joined the U.S. Merchant Marine and served for 16 weeks. In 1946, he and his wife Alice Faye began co-hosting The Fitch Bandwagon, a comedy-variety program which followed the Jack Benny show on Sunday nights. On The Fitch Bandwagon and its later incarnation as The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, Harris played a vain, stumbling husband, while Faye played his sarcastic but loving wife. Gerald Nachman has written that Harris was a soft-spoken, modest man off the air. In On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio John Dunning wrote that Harris's character made the show popular. The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show appeared until 1954. Harris continued to appear on Jack Benny's show from 1948 to 1952.
Harris was recording songs as early as 1931. He sang with a deep baritone voice. Songs by Harris include the early 1950s novelty song, "The Thing". The song describes the hapless finder of a box with a mysterious secret and his efforts to rid himself of it.
Hub AI
Phil Harris AI simulator
(@Phil Harris_simulator)
Phil Harris
Wonga Philip "Phil" Harris (June 24, 1904 – August 11, 1995) was an American actor, comedian, bandleader, and musician. He was an orchestra leader and a pioneer in radio situation comedy, first with The Jack Benny Program, then in The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show in which he co-starred with his wife, singer-actress Alice Faye, for eight years. Harris is also noted for his voice acting in animated films. As a voice actor, he voiced Baloo in The Jungle Book (1967), Thomas O'Malley in The Aristocats (1970), Little John in Robin Hood (1973), and Patou in Rock-a-Doodle (1991). As a singer, he recorded a number one novelty hit record, "The Thing" (1950).
Harris was born in Linton, Indiana, on June 24, 1904 and grew up in Nashville. He identified as a Southerner. His hallmark song was "That's What I Like About the South". He had a trace of a Southern accent and in later years made self-deprecating jokes over the air about his heritage. His parents were circus performers. His father, a tent bandleader, gave him his first job as a drummer with the circus band.
Harris' unusual first name "Wonga," is said to derive from a Cherokee word meaning "messenger of fleet" or, perhaps more accurately translated, "fast messenger". He began his music career as a drummer in San Francisco, in the mid-1920s playing drums in the Henry Halstead Big Band Orchestra. He formed an orchestra with Carol Lofner in the latter 1920s beginning a long engagement at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. In the 1930s, Lofner and Harris recorded swing music for Victor Records, Columbia Records, Decca Records, and Vocalion Records. The partnership ended by 1932, and Harris led a band in Los Angeles for which he was the singer and bandleader.
In 1933, he made a short film for RKO called So This Is Harris!, which won an Academy Award for best live action short subject. He followed with a feature-length film, Melody Cruise. Both films were created by the same team that produced Flying Down to Rio, which started the careers of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. He also starred in I Love a Bandleader (1945) with Leslie Brooks. He played a house painter who gets amnesia and then leads a band. He recorded Woodman, Spare That Tree (by George Pope Morris and Henry Russell) in 1947. His nickname was "Old Curly".
In 1950, Harris recorded a hit novelty song, the million-seller, "The Thing", which hit number one on the U.S. chart. Additionally, he appeared in The Wild Blue Yonder (1951), alongside Forrest Tucker and Walter Brennan. He made a cameo appearance in the Warner Bros. musical, Starlift, with Janice Rule and Dick Wesson, and was featured in The High and the Mighty with John Wayne in 1954. Harris made two feature films with Jack Benny for Paramount Pictures, Man About Town (1939) and Buck Benny Rides Again (1940). Both films also featured Eddie "Rochester" Anderson.
In 1936, Harris became musical director of The Jell-O Program Starring Jack Benny singing and leading his band, with Mahlon Merrick writing much of the show's music. When Harris exhibited a knack for saying snappy one-liners, he joined the cast, portraying himself as a hip, hard-drinking Southerner whose good nature superseded his ego. He gave the others nicknames, such as "Jackson" for Jack Benny. Addressing a man as "Jackson" or sometimes "Mr. Jackson" became popular slang in the early 1940s. His signature song was "That's What I Like About the South". Many of his vocal recordings were comic novelty "talking blues", similar to the songs of Bert Williams, which are sometimes considered a precursor to rap.[citation needed]
In 1942, Harris and his band joined the U.S. Merchant Marine and served for 16 weeks. In 1946, he and his wife Alice Faye began co-hosting The Fitch Bandwagon, a comedy-variety program which followed the Jack Benny show on Sunday nights. On The Fitch Bandwagon and its later incarnation as The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, Harris played a vain, stumbling husband, while Faye played his sarcastic but loving wife. Gerald Nachman has written that Harris was a soft-spoken, modest man off the air. In On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio John Dunning wrote that Harris's character made the show popular. The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show appeared until 1954. Harris continued to appear on Jack Benny's show from 1948 to 1952.
Harris was recording songs as early as 1931. He sang with a deep baritone voice. Songs by Harris include the early 1950s novelty song, "The Thing". The song describes the hapless finder of a box with a mysterious secret and his efforts to rid himself of it.