Phil Harris' Son

[Yhtapmys]

Everyone here, I'm sure, is familiar enough with Phil to know about his two daughters; actresses played them in his sitcom with Alice Faye and at least one used to show up on occasion on Jack's show.
But I had no idea Phil had a son. I've never seen a mention of him in any of Phil's obits. But here's a piece from the Oakland Tribune of Sept. 5, 1950. It was picked up by the United Press wire the following day and reprinted in abbreviated form.

Phil Harris Jr. found in S.F.
Phil Harris Jr., 15-year-old adopted son of the famous bandleader and former movie actress, Alice Faye, was picked up in the lobby of a San Francisco hotel at 3 a.m. today to end a mysterious, three-day disappearance from St. Mary’s College High School in Albany.
Young Harris told Arthur Upton, senior probation officer in San Francisco, that he ran away “just on an impulse.”
Although he disappeared from school late Monday, news of the disappearance was not made public until the boy was found in the lobby of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco early today by San Francisco police and juvenile officers.
SIGHT-SEEING TOUR
According to Upton, Harris, enrolled his son in the school at Hopkins Court and Albina Avenue Monday and the two then went to see the sights in San Francisco.
They returned to the school late in the afternoon and had dinner. Harris then returned to San Francisco. A short time after he arrived at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, school authorities notified him his son had disappeared.
The father notified Oakland and Berkeley authorities and decided to remain in San Francisco to await news. When his son had not been found yesterday, he surmised that the boy may have decided to go back to Southern California and took a train for his home in Encino.
‘JUST ON IMPULSE’
Upton said he talked with Harris this morning in Los Angeles and was told that arrangements had been made for the boy to return to the Albany school. School officials were to call for him this afternoon.
Upton said young Harris told him he ran away “just on an impulse,” and had gone to movies and slept in hotel lobbies since he disappeared. He had about $5 in change in his pockets when officers found him this morning.

transcribed by Yhtapmys

[TheSportsmenQuartet]

This was posted in March 2003 in the Phil Harris Yahoo group:

Phil Harris, Jr.

Two years ago March 13, my friend Phil Harris, Jr. passed away from a
massive heart attack while on vacation in Ireland. At the time, as
an employee of the FAA, he was working on a joint project with NASA
building a research center near DFW Airport in the Dallas-Fort Worth
area. That building has been completed and has been dedicated to the
memory of Phil Harris, Jr! His wife Joan and his daughters were at
the dedication.

I thought the group might be interested in this especially at this
time. Phil Harris and Alice Faye's legacy lives on in a way that
they never suspected.

[scottp]

In 1950 he could have been under the influence of Remley and/or Julius.