John H. Harris (entertainment)

John H. Harris (1898–1969) was an entertainment executive from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was the son of movie theater pioneer John P. Harris, and is best known as the long-time owner and impresario of the Ice Capades. He was also an early owner and promoter of professional ice hockey teams. He was married for ten years to ice skating star Donna Atwood.

John H. Harris, nicknamed "Johnny", was six years old in 1905 when his father and a partner opened their first Nickelodeon theater in Pittsburgh. At a young age, he showed an entrepreneurial bent by operating a lemonade stand and a successful paper route. He is said to have sold more peanuts than any other vendor at Forbes Field. After U.S. Army service in 1918, he received a law degree from Georgetown University in 1922. He worked in the family entertainment business during vacations from school, and entered it full-time upon graduation.

At Harris Amusement Companies, his first job was to manage the Strand Theater in Youngstown, Pennsylvania, and his second was to revive a vaudeville theater in McKeesport. By the time of his father's death in 1926, young Johnny was managing all the company's theaters outside of Pittsburgh. He soon increased the stable from 14 theaters to 25.

In the depression year of 1932, John leased the Duquesne Gardens arena and began offering a variety of entertainments. Like other arenas, these included skating, ice hockey, rodeo, boxing, bicycle racing, and more. The venture was successful, pulling the family company out of debt. In 1936, Harris founded the Pittsburgh Hornets, an American Hockey League team that was to play in Pittsburgh for 26 years. Harris brought in Olympic figure skater Sonja Henie to entertain the audience between periods of hockey games. On March 31, 1936, she created a local sensation when she performed at a playoff game between the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets and the Atlantic City Seagulls. This event strengthened Harris' notion that ice skating could be a good spectator event, and he began to implement his plans for an ice spectacular.

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