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Phil Harris

Phil Harris (born Wonga Philip Harris) was an American singer, songwriter, jazz musician, actor and comedian. Though successful as an orchestra leader, Harris is remembered today for his recordings as a vocalist, his voice work in animation and as a pioneer in radio situation comedy, first with Jack Benny, and then in a series in which he co-starred with his second wife, singer-actress Alice Faye, for eight years.

Bandleader

Harris was born in Linton, Indiana, but actually grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, and identified himself as a Southerner (his hallmark song was "That's What I Like About the South"). His upbringing accounted for both his trace of a Southern accent and, in later years, the self-deprecating Southern jokes of his radio character. The son of two circus performers, Harris' first work as a drummer came when his father, as tent bandleader, hired him to play with the circus band. Harris began his music career as a drummer in San Francisco, forming an orchestra with Carol Lofner in the latter 1920s and starting a long engagement at the St. Francis Hotel. The partnership ended by 1932, and Harris led and sang with his own band, now based in Los Angeles. Phil Harris also played drums in Henry Halstead Big Band Orchestra in the mid 1920s.

From December, 1936, through March, 1937, he recorded 16 sides for Vocalion. Most were hot swing tunes that used a very interesting gimmick; they faded up and faded out with a piano solo (these were probably arranged by pianist Skippy Anderson). This was a novel approach and quite unusual for the time.

On September 2, 1927, he married actress Marcia Ralston in Sydney, Australia; they had met when he played a concert date. The couple adopted a son, Phil Harris, Jr. (b. 1935), but they divorced in September, 1940.

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 it up with a feature-length film called "Melody Cruise". Both films were created by the same team that next produced "Flying Down to Rio", which started the successful careers of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Additionally, he appeared in The High and the Mighty with John Wayne in 1954.

Radio

In 1936, Harris became musical director of "The Jell-O Show "Starring Jack Benny (later renamed The Jack Benny Program), singing and leading his band and - when his knack for snappy one-liners became apparent - joining the Benny ensemble playing Phil Harris, scripted as a hipster-talking, hard-drinking, brash Southerner whose good nature overcame his ego. His trademark was his jive-talk nicknaming of the others in the Benny orbit. Benny was "Jackson," for example; Harris's usual entry was a cheerful "Hiya, Jackson!". He usually referred to Mary Livingstone as "Livvy" or "Libby". His signature song, belying his actual Hoosier birthplace, was "That's What I Like About the South." His comic persona — that of musical idiot — masked the fact that the Harris Band evolved into a smooth, up-tempo big band with outstanding arrangements.

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