The Phil Harris - Alice Faye Show
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- Publication date
- 2016-07-30
- Topics
- OTRR, Old Time Radio Researchers Group, OTR, Old Time Radio, OTRR Set, OTRR Certified Set, The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, The, Phil Harris & Alice Faye Show, Phil Harris, Harris, Phil, Alice Faye, Faye, Alice, Elliott Lewis, Lewis, Elliott, Frankie Remley, Remley, Frankie, Walter Tetley, Tetley, Walter, Julius Abbruzio, Abbruzio, Julius, Gale Gordon, Gordon, Gale, Jack Benny, Benny, Jack, Comedy, Radio Comedy, 1940s, 1950s, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, OTRR Updated Release, OTRR - 2016-07
THE PHIL HARRIS - ALICE FAYE SHOW
Phil Harris was on the The Jack Benny Program since 1934, playing the jive-talking hipster bandleader of questionable repute. His band members were helpful in the sarcastic, fast-talking department, too. So when Phil Harris (in real life) married the glamorous and talented movie star Alice Faye, it seemed more like a match made in Hollywood than in Heaven. They knew each other from the old days of the Rudy Vallee Show, and were both radio veterans when they decided, in the Benny tradition, to work together professionally, using their own show-biz personas on Fitch Bandwagon. Hey, Ozzie and Harriett had done well with it!
This show isn't like Ozzie and Harriett. Beside fame and glamour, Phil and Alice had two big things in their life, their lovely daughters. Jeanine Roose played Alice Jr. and Anne Whitfield was little Phyllis. Both took after Phil in the wisecrack department. The big headache in their lives - Phil's Band! It was a congregation with enough wise guys to make sit up and start take notes.
As both Phil and Alice were known singers, there were two musical numbers in each show, and they were always for real, except some of Phil's, which were for laughs. But Phil's band gave much more than music to the show. Frankie Remley was the band's left handed guitar player, with a sardonic sense of humor out of left field. The character was first done on The Jack Benny Program, and, of course, now on a show about the band itself, Frankie was even more obnoxious. Famed radio actor Elliott Lewis played him with relish. In fact, later in the run they actually started calling the character Elliott! (Elliott Lewis changes his name on the show from Frankie Remly to Elliott because Harris stopped leading Jack Benny's band -- so he wasn't connected to Remly any more.)
A couple of actors well known on other shows were Gale Gordon and Walter Tetley. Gale Gordon (Principal Conklin on Our Miss Brooks) was Mr. Scott, the long-suffering Rexall representative, doing stealth commercials for Rexall, again like The Jack Benny Program and Fibber McGee and Molly had done. Walter Tetley (Leroy on The Great Gildersleeve) played the delivery boy Julius Abbruzio. Nice guy? No. Other characters included Alice's deadbeat brother Willie, ably played by Robert North, and announcer Bill Forman. The show was produced and directed by Paul Phillips.
It's a hip show, as sharp and free-wheeling as Benny, but with a bite and abrasiveness that seems, looking back now, to foreshadow most modern television sit-coms.
John Dunning, in "On the Air, The Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio", writes "It remains, on tape, one of radio's brightest lights: the passage of time has done nothing to blunt its delightful impact. The characters were bums, but the listeners knew it and didn't care. When Harris crowed, 'Oh, you dawg!' a listener knew he was probably looking at himself in a mirror. The timing displayed by the star leaves a modern listener with nothing but admiration ..."
Text courtesy of otrcat.com.
OTRR Release Information:
Series Name: The Phil Harris - Alice Faye Show
Release Status: OTRR Certified Accurarte
Release Date: June 24, 2016
Release Version: Version 2
Number of CDs: 10
From the Old Time Radio Researchers Group. See "Notes" Section below for more information on the OTRR.
Notes
OLD TIME RADIO RESEARCHERS GROUP
This is a production of the Old Time Radio Researchers (OTRR) Group located at Old Time Radio Researchers Website (www.otrr.org), Old Time Radio Researchers Facebook Group, and Old Time Radio Researchers Group.
It contains the most complete and accurate version of this series in the best sound possible at the time of creation. An updated version will be issued if more episodes or better sounding ones become available.
If you are interested in preserving Old Time Radio (OTR), you may wish to join the Old Time Radio Researchers Group at Facebook and Groups.io.
Relax, listen, and enjoy!
OTRR Definitions:
OTRR Maintained Set -- This set contains all known episodes in the best available audio condition with the most accurate dates and titles known to be in general circulation and based on current research at the time of release. Replaces OTRR Certified Accurate and OTRR Certified Complete.
OTRR Non-Maintained Set -- A collection of shows that has not gone through the OTRR Maintenance process.
Pre-2019 OTRR Definitions:
OTRR Certified Accurate -- A series that was "Certified Accurate" indicated that all the episodes were properly identified and labeled based on current information but that the series did not contain all known extant episodes.
OTRR Certified Complete -- A series that was "Certified Complete" achieved the highest level of certification available under the OTRR Certified Standards. This certification level implied that all the files in the series were "Certified Accurate" and also indicated that the series was as complete as possible and included all circulating episodes.
OTRR Non-Certified -- A collection of shows that has not gone through the OTRR Certification process.
Also, beginning in 2019, the version numbers of our OTRR releases changed format -- instead of v1.0 or v2.1, we are now using a version number that reflects the year and month the set was released. The format used is a two-digit year followed by a two-digit month. For example, "v1906" indicates a set that was released in June 2019, or "v1910" indicates a set released in October 2019.
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Reviews
Reviewer:
Laikadog
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
February 13, 2019
Subject: Cool dude.
Subject: Cool dude.
One of the best shows of the late 1940's-early 50's. Check out the great laconic performance of Elliott Lewis as frankie. Also I too like Julius am in love with Alice. Well worth listening to.
Reviewer:
radiorick62
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
January 22, 2017
Subject: A Collection worth having
Subject: A Collection worth having
In searching for episodes of The Phil Harris Alice Fay Show this is the most complete collection I have come across.
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