Harris was the son of William Harris Sr., a founder of the Theatrical Syndicate in the 1890s and Rachel Harris (née) Freefield. The Jews of the Titanic: A Reflection of the Jewish World on the Epic Disaster, by Eli Moskowitz p.176 c.2018 eBook:978-1-938015-97-7 He had a younger brother, William Harris Jr. Harris was born in St. Louis in 1866 and was a young boy when the family moved to Boston. He began his career selling song books in the theater lobby as a young man in St. Louis. When the family moved to Boston, young Harris began selling song books in the lobby of the Howard Athenaeum. He married Irene (Renee) Wallach, a legal secretary from Washington, D.C., with an interest in the theater on October 22, 1899. {subscription required)
