Dick Two Ton Baker born 2 May 1916

Richard Evans "Two Ton" Baker (May 2, 1916 – May 4, 1975) was an American singer and entertainer who was a prominent Chicago radio and television personality for three decades; the 1940s to the 1960s. He gained some national exposure in the United States through his recordings for Mercury Records and his Mutual Broadcasting System radio show. 

He was born in Chicago on May 2, 1916. By the time he was four, "little Dick" (needless to say, the "Two Ton" nickname came later) was accompanying his mother, a semiprofessional singer, at church, Knights of Columbus and other fraternal doings, playing jazz and popular music of the day. A year in a harmony class in high school was the extent of his musical training.By the time he got to high school, he was playing piano in various bands and even cutting school to go on road trips with groups such as the Royal Ambassadors, a 14-piece stage band. 

At the age of 20 he met and married Ruth Fisher, a fellow Chicagoan, and stayed married to her the rest of his life (they're shown at right, c. 1958). Baker was still on the road a lot, and Ruth traveled with him, but perhaps, once married, he figured it was time to stay in one place. In June or July of 1938 he took his first radio job, doing a two-hour show called "Sunday Morning Party" on WJJD in Chicago and simulcast over WIND in Gary, Indiana, owned by the same people. Evidently, he was more disc jockey than performer in his early radio career. 

It was during these early days in radio that a fellow worker named Irving Wagner suggested the nickname Two Ton "to add a little zip," and Two Ton it was henceforth. Somewhere along the line he added the sobriquet “The Music Maker,” which is how he introduced himself on his radio shows. Also, most of the Mercury 78s he made with a rhythm section are billed as “Two Ton Baker and His Music Makers.” 

Two Ton also played in various restaurants and nightclubs in the area. He was playing at the 1111 Club when he started the WJJD/WIND job. He left there in 1943, working at clubs again before taking another broadcast job in 1944 that would shape most of the rest of his career. WGN was a major station in Chicago, owned by the town's biggest newspaper, the Tribune. 

                                   

His first known recording, made in November 1945, was a logical pairing of Chicago’s top novelty performers. The Hoosier Hot Shots were big national stars, both through their record sales and their long residency on the National Barn Dance program, a precursor of the Grand Ol’ Opry that could be heard over much of the country on the powerful WLS in Chicago. Besides his many children’s songs, Two Ton concentrated on novelty songs, some of which he seems to have been the sole possessor of; others he covered after they had hit it big for national stars. He recorded from Mercury from 1946 to 1951, then the Moppet and Heartbeat labels . 

While Mercury records and the Mutual network were national institutions, most people who remember Two Ton Baker these days grew up in Chicago and watched his various television shows as children. With his ebullient, infectious personality, Two Ton was a natural for the tube. Among the shows in WGN’s lineup on its first full day of broadcasting, was “Wonder House,” which featured Two Ton and the marionettes of Art Nelson, son of famed Chicago puppeteer Nicholas Nelson. Baker’s biggest kidvid show was “The Happy Pirates,” which ran on WBKB-TV/Channel 4 from 1952 to 1956. Baker’s other television activities are not at all well documented. 

In 1969 or so he hosted “Corral 26" on Chicago’s Channel 26 UHF station, introducing Republic western movies and selling Bosco, the show’s sponsor. Ironically, milk was his downfall, weightwise. In a 1972 newspaper interview, he said, “Milk and bread always caused my weight problem. I’d come home from a show and down several glasses of milk and a buttered loaf of bread.” 

But Two Ton always loved playing in restaurants and night clubs, and when the radio and television gigs slackened, that’s what he did for the rest of his life. One of his longest stays was at the Ivanhoe from 1965 to 1970, and his last public gig was five nights a week at one of Chicago’s most famous night clubs, Mangam’s Chateau. 

Dick Two Ton Baker, the beloved Music Maker of Chicago, collapsed and died at his home in Hazel Crest on May 4, 1975, just two days after his 59th birthday. He had requested that he be cremated, and his ashes are buried at Oakland Memory Lanes Cemetery in Dolton, Illinois. (Info edited from twotonbaker.com)