Joe Harris (illustrator)

Joe Harris was born on January 5, 1928, in Jersey City, New Jersey, to Gladys (née Golden) and Charlie Harris.[1][2] He enlisted and served in both the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps.[1] He graduated from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York.[1]

Harris joined the staff of the New York City-based ad agency Dancer Fitzgerald Sample as a copywriter shortly after graduating from Pratt.[1] In 1954, one of Dancer Fitzgerald Sample's clients, General Mills, introduced Trix cereal as a sugar-coated version of its popular brand, Kix.[3] The company experimented with a puppet rabbit for Trix commercials as early as 1955.[1] However, Harris, then an illustrator and copywriter for Dancer Fitzgerald Sample, created the cereal's now iconic animated mascot, the Trix rabbit, who debuted in television commercials in 1959.[1] Harris also conceived the Trix commercial's tagline, "Silly rabbit! Trix are for kids", utilized as the foil whenever children stop the rabbit from stealing Trix cereal.[1][2] Harris' tagline, and his famous Trix rabbit, are still used in General Mills' Trix campaign fifty years after its first commercial.[1]

Chet Stover, who managed the General Mills' Trix account for Dancer Fitzgerald Sample, fully credited Harris with creating the Trix rabbit in an internal memo to the company, writing, "In a business where the only thing we have to sell are ideas, it is of first importance the credit is given where credit belongs — and Joe gets all the credit for this one."[1]

In 1959, Harris joined with several Dancer Fitzgerald Sample colleagues, including Stover and W. Watts Biggers, to co-found Total Television, which produced Saturday morning cartoons.[1] Harris personally created several of Total Television's iconic cartoon characters, most famously Underdog, the dog superhero and star of the 1960s animated series, Underdog.[1] Harris' also designed other notable creations, including King Leonardo, Klondike Kat and Tennessee Tuxedo.[1] Additionally, Harris drew the storyboards for Total Television's animated shows, while Stover and Biggers, a Dancer Fitzgerald Sample account manager, wrote penned the scripts for the episodes.[1]

Harris returned to the advertising industry after Total Television folded in 1969.[2] He also penned and illustrated several children's books, including "The Belly Book."[2]

Harris died at his home in Stamford, Connecticut, on March 26, 2017, at the age of 89.[1] His first wife, Janet Opel, died in 1981, while his second wife, Vanessa Campbell, died in 2002.[1] He was survived by three daughters, Merrie Harris, Joelle Malec, and Sophie Harris; three grandchildren, and his stepbrother, David.[2]