23 February 2021

Phil Harris – Phantom Dancer 23 February 2021

Greg Poppleton's Phantom Dancer swing jazz radio show

Phil Harris is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. Wonga Phil Harris was a drummer, band leader, singer, comedian, actor, Academy Award winner and voice-over artist.

His first name, Wonga, is a Cherokee word meaning fast messenger.

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV hosted by me, Greg Poppleton. Hear past Phantom Dancer online now at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

This show will be online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 23 February at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/.

PHIL

Phil Harris’ parents were circus performers. Phil started playing in his father’s tent band as a drummer at age 9. He began his dance band career as a drummer in San Francisco, first in 1925 with the Henry Halstead Orchestra, which toured Australia in 1927. In the late 20s he formed an orchestra with Carol Lofner which had a three year engagement at the St. Francis Hotel. The Lofner-Harris orchestra recorded for Victor, Columbia, Decca, and Vocalion.

MOVIES

In 1933, he made a short film for RKO called So This Is Harris!. It won the Academy Award for best live action short subject. He followed with a feature-length film, Melody Cruise. He starred in I Love a Bandleader (1945) with Leslie Brooks. He appeared in The Wild Blue Yonder a.k.a. “Thunder Across the Pacific” (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.

He made many TV appearances guesting on the Ed Sullivan Show and Dean Martin Show in the 1960s As a singer, he had a #1 hit in 1950 with the novelty record, “The Thing”. He was an avid golfer and won many amateur golf tournaments. Took over managing the Bing Crosby Golf Tournament after Crosby’s death

On this week’s Phantom Dancer you’ll hear Phil Harris from a radio transcription simulating a broadcst from the Cocoanut Grove of the Ambassador Hotel where his band was resident in 1933-34. In 1936, Harris became musical director of The Jell-O Show Starring Jack Benny singing and leading his band. When Harris showed a knack for giving snappy one-liners, he joined the cast.

In 1946, after serving in the US Navy during WW2, Harris and wife Alice Faye began co-hosting The Fitch Bandwagon, a comedy-variety program that 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. The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show ran until 1954. Harris was concurrently on Jack Benny’s show from 1948 to 1952.

VOICE ACTOR

Harris was a popular voice actor for animated films – he played 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).

23 FEBRUARY PLAY LIST