Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 51:21 — 23.5MB)
Here’s another Retro Vault episode. Shows from our first seaspon of podcasting.
Bonus Tracks.
- Keith introduces the episode, and gives a little background on Phil Harris appearing on his own show, and Jack Benny’s show at the same time.
- Mel Blanc with Joeseph Kearns, Mary Jane Croft, and Jim Baccus. 470603 A Summer Cottage, first half.
- Story Lady 32 Magic Suitcase, and 35 Format Change.
- Phil Harris 1947 That’s What (I Like About the South.
Now for my original show bnotes.
A Valentines Day special with Phil Harris and Alice Fay. A mysterious person has been sending flowers to Alice. She thinks Phil is doing it, but Remly and Phil set out to discover who the real secret admirer is.
Phil Harris, of course has been the band leader for Jack Benny since the beginning of the 1936 season. Before that time he was a well known band leader and had his own music show broadcast from the Coconut Grove. He played drums and guitar for a couple other bands in California after leaving Nashville Tennessee. He was actually born in Indiana as Wonga Philip Harris. Yes, Wonga.
When he was young, his parents moved the family to Nashville. Phil learned music and in his teens played the background music at the local silent movie house. As his skills increased, he moved out to California to pursue his music career. I’ll need to check my resources to be sure, but around 1931 he was married to a young movie starlet. His on stage personality lent itself to his image as a ladies man and something of a drinker. He had the dark, curly hair and looks that drove women wild.
Again, I’ll need to consult my resources, but in the mid-1930’s he and his wife adopted a child. Only a year later the child died. Around this same time is when Jack Benny brought him onboard to his show. Around 1939 or 40, his marriage broke up but by 1941 he had met and married Alice Fay. Despite his public persona, he was a devoted family man and remained married to Alice until his deathover fifty years later. He had 2 daughters, born in 1942 and 1944 who were named Alice and Phillus. Hey, I wonder how he came to pick those names. (wink, wink)
On his radio show, 2 child actresses played the parts of his real life kids. Remley, Elliot Lewis, was a character that began on the Jack Benny program. Elliot Lewis was the do everything man in radio. He acted, he directed, he produced, you name it, he did it. He later worked in television as well.
The young 12 year old Julius the delivery boy was Walter Tetley, but he was actually much older. Care to guess? Walter Tetley was also Leroy on the Gildersleeve program that got it’s start in 1940 and was 12 years old then. The earliest show I have heard Mr. Tetley on was a Fred Allen show from 1935, and guess what, he was 12 years old then as well. Holy cow! What is this guy a vampire or something? No. he had a medical condition that kept him from aging in a normal way. He wasn’t very photogenic, so never had the kind of movie career that other radio stars did. He did manage to break into television as Mr. Peabody, the genius dog’s pet boy Sherman in the Bullwinkle and Rocky cartoon series. Despite his ability that seemed to defy aging, he passed away at a fairly early age in the late 1960’s or early 1970’s. And no. he had nothing to do with the Tetley Tea company.
best regards and thanks for listening.
Keith H.
