John Harris Sheridan

Barnes & Noble

John Harris Sheridan comes from a show business and sports family. His grandfather, John P Harris, owned Vaudeville theaters. Harris was a friend of Thomas Edison and started showing Edison's short motion pictures in 1897 between vaudeville acts.


Harris opened the world's first all motion picture theater in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and coined the name "Nickelodeon." His son, John H. Harris, was the founder and president of the Pittsburgh Hornets of the American hockey league and president and creator of Ice Capades.


After high school, John joined Ice Capades as a skater. It was the greatest experience of his life – skating with world and Olympic champions and performing in the United States and Canada. After two years on the road, he returned to school at Phoenix College and Arizona State University.


John has worked in television most of his life, including time in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Reno, St. Louis, Los Angeles, and El Paso.


In early 1968, Sheridan went to work for KLAS – TV in Las Vegas; he didn't realize he would be working for Howard Hughes, who also owned the television station.


That's where this book begins.



Illustrations by Nacho Garcia