Howard Harris
Encyclopedia
Howard Harris was a comedy writer whose credits included Copacabana (1947) starring Groucho Marx
and Carmen Miranda
(http://www.marx-brothers.org/watching/movie_detail.htm?movie_id=19&title=Copacabana&rel=1947), The Jackie Gleason Show
, You Bet Your Life
with Groucho Marx
, Gilligan's Island
, Petticoat Junction
, and other popular television shows.
Howard Harris attended Fordham University School of Law
for two years which, according to his family, he hated. The summer before his third and final year he got a job writing humorous anecdotes about celebrities for a trade publication. After that experience he dropped out of law school and started writing comedy for radio for Joe Penner
and Fred Allen
, among others, according to one account from his family.
Before the Second World War, Harris moved to Hollywood where he was considered one of the hottest comedy writers around. In 1943 he was a screenwriter for Higher and Higher starring Frank Sinatra
(see http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/higher_and_higher/cast_crew.php).
In 1947 he was a co-writer for Alfred E. Green's Copacabana. Also in 1947 Harris wrote the story for a comedy called Linda Be Good, according to the Internet Movie Database (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039569/). IMDb also reports that Harris was a writer for The Noose Hangs High (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040652/fullcredits#writers), which starred Abbott and Costello
.
Harris migrated to television and back to New York where he became a comedy writer in 1952 for The Jackie Gleason Show
in which he helped to write a segment which featured Gleason as a loud-mouthed, Brooklyn bus driver known as Ralph Kramden. That segment later became the seed for the comedy series, The Honeymooners
.
While in New York City in 1953, Harris appeared as a guest on What's My Line?
, hosted by John Charles Daly
and produced by Mark Goodson
and Bill Todman
. The celebrity panel failed to identify Harris as "Jackie Gleason's Gag Writer". That episode is available for viewing at The Museum of Television & Radio (http://www.mtr.org/) in New York City.
Harris returned to Hollywood where he wrote a pilot episode for a half-hour show called Bozo the Clown, starring William Bendix
(that episode also can be viewed at The Museum of Television & Radio http://www.mtr.org/). In the early 1950s, Harris joined Groucho Marx again as a writer for the archetypal comedy game show, You Bet Your Life
, produced by John Guedel. Harris, who joined the show in its second or third year, continued to write gags for Groucho for more than five years.
Later in the mid-1960s Harris wrote for Gilligan's Island
and Petticoat Junction
. During his later years Harris continued to write gags but had trouble selling his work as younger comedy writers got television work, leaving older writers like Harris behind.
Harris and his first wife, Jeanne Giddings, had two children. After Jeanne died in 1970, Harris married the then Marion Linden in 1972. They lived in Los Angeles until Harris' death on March 22, 1986, aged 74.
Harris was survived by two sisters, including Radie Harris
, a longtime gossip columnist for The Hollywood Reporter
(http://hollywoodreporter.com/thr/index.jsp).
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...
and Carmen Miranda
Carmen Miranda
Carmen Miranda, GCIH was a Portuguese-born Brazilian samba singer, Broadway actress and Hollywood film star popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was, by some accounts, the highest-earning woman in the United States and noted for her signature fruit hat outfit she wore in the 1943 movie The Gang's...
(http://www.marx-brothers.org/watching/movie_detail.htm?movie_id=19&title=Copacabana&rel=1947), The Jackie Gleason Show
The Jackie Gleason Show
The Jackie Gleason Show is the name of a series of popular American network television shows that starred Jackie Gleason, which ran from 1952 to 1970.-Cavalcade of Stars:...
, You Bet Your Life
You Bet Your Life
You Bet Your Life is an American quiz show that aired on both radio and television. The original and best-known version was hosted by Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers, with announcer and assistant George Fenneman. The show debuted on ABC Radio in October 1947, then moved to CBS Radio in September...
with Groucho Marx
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...
, Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...
, Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction is an American situation comedy produced by Filmways which originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1970. The series is one of three interrelated shows about rural characters created by Paul Henning; the others are The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres.The setting for the series...
, and other popular television shows.
Howard Harris attended Fordham University School of Law
Fordham University School of Law
Fordham University School of Law is a part of Fordham University in the United States. The School is located in the Borough of Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city.-Overview:According to the U.S. News & World Report, 1,516 J.D. students attend...
for two years which, according to his family, he hated. The summer before his third and final year he got a job writing humorous anecdotes about celebrities for a trade publication. After that experience he dropped out of law school and started writing comedy for radio for Joe Penner
Joe Penner
Joe Penner was an American 1930s-era vaudeville, radio and film comedian. He was an ethnic Hungarian born as József Pintér in Nagybecskerek, Austria-Hungary...
and Fred Allen
Fred Allen
Fred Allen was an American comedian whose absurdist, topically pointed radio show made him one of the most popular and forward-looking humorists in the so-called classic era of American radio.His best-remembered gag was his long-running mock feud with friend and fellow comedian Jack Benny, but it...
, among others, according to one account from his family.
Before the Second World War, Harris moved to Hollywood where he was considered one of the hottest comedy writers around. In 1943 he was a screenwriter for Higher and Higher starring Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
(see http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/higher_and_higher/cast_crew.php).
In 1947 he was a co-writer for Alfred E. Green's Copacabana. Also in 1947 Harris wrote the story for a comedy called Linda Be Good, according to the Internet Movie Database (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039569/). IMDb also reports that Harris was a writer for The Noose Hangs High (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040652/fullcredits#writers), which starred Abbott and Costello
Abbott and Costello
William "Bud" Abbott and Lou Costello performed together as Abbott and Costello, an American comedy duo whose work on stage, radio, film and television made them the most popular comedy team during the 1940s and 1950s...
.
Harris migrated to television and back to New York where he became a comedy writer in 1952 for The Jackie Gleason Show
The Jackie Gleason Show
The Jackie Gleason Show is the name of a series of popular American network television shows that starred Jackie Gleason, which ran from 1952 to 1970.-Cavalcade of Stars:...
in which he helped to write a segment which featured Gleason as a loud-mouthed, Brooklyn bus driver known as Ralph Kramden. That segment later became the seed for the comedy series, The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners is an American situation comedy television show, based on a recurring 1951–'55 sketch of the same name. It originally aired on the DuMont network's Cavalcade of Stars and subsequently on the CBS network's The Jackie Gleason Show hosted by Jackie Gleason, and filmed before a live...
.
While in New York City in 1953, Harris appeared as a guest on What's My Line?
What's My Line?
What's My Line? is a panel game show which originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, with several international versions and subsequent U.S. revivals. The game tasked celebrity panelists with questioning contestants in order to determine their occupations....
, hosted by John Charles Daly
John Charles Daly
John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly (generally known as John Charles Daly or simply John Daly (February 20, 1914 – February 24, 1991) was an American journalist, game show host and radio personality, probably best known for hosting...
and produced by Mark Goodson
Mark Goodson
Mark Goodson was an American television producer who specialized in game shows.-Life and early career:...
and Bill Todman
Bill Todman
William S. "Bill" Todman was an American television producer born in New York City. He produced many of television's longest running shows with business partner Mark Goodson.-Early life:...
. The celebrity panel failed to identify Harris as "Jackie Gleason's Gag Writer". That episode is available for viewing at The Museum of Television & Radio (http://www.mtr.org/) in New York City.
Harris returned to Hollywood where he wrote a pilot episode for a half-hour show called Bozo the Clown, starring William Bendix
William Bendix
William Bendix was an American film, radio, and television actor, best remembered in movies for the title role in the movie The Babe Ruth Story and for portraying clumsily earnest aircraft plant worker Chester A. Riley in radio and television's The Life of Riley...
(that episode also can be viewed at The Museum of Television & Radio http://www.mtr.org/). In the early 1950s, Harris joined Groucho Marx again as a writer for the archetypal comedy game show, You Bet Your Life
You Bet Your Life
You Bet Your Life is an American quiz show that aired on both radio and television. The original and best-known version was hosted by Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers, with announcer and assistant George Fenneman. The show debuted on ABC Radio in October 1947, then moved to CBS Radio in September...
, produced by John Guedel. Harris, who joined the show in its second or third year, continued to write gags for Groucho for more than five years.
Later in the mid-1960s Harris wrote for Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...
and Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction is an American situation comedy produced by Filmways which originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1970. The series is one of three interrelated shows about rural characters created by Paul Henning; the others are The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres.The setting for the series...
. During his later years Harris continued to write gags but had trouble selling his work as younger comedy writers got television work, leaving older writers like Harris behind.
Harris and his first wife, Jeanne Giddings, had two children. After Jeanne died in 1970, Harris married the then Marion Linden in 1972. They lived in Los Angeles until Harris' death on March 22, 1986, aged 74.
Harris was survived by two sisters, including Radie Harris
Radie Harris
Radie Harris was an American journalist and newspaper columnist noted for her close relationships with Broadway denizens and stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood, as well as for her breezy chronicles on the world of entertainment.She was best known for her work for the Hollywood Reporter from...
, a longtime gossip columnist for The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
(http://hollywoodreporter.com/thr/index.jsp).