Biography
In an era of lighthearted radio variety programs, Bing Crosby and Tommy Dorsey often performed a comedic sketch whose payoff line asked, “I wonder where Dick Todd is tonight?” The gag drew chuckles because Todd stood out as the continent’s premier mimic of Crosby, copying Der Bingle’s style so precisely that he earned the nickname Canadian Crosby; British singer Donald Novis and Canadian vocalist Russ Titus supplied additional models. This good-looking, full-voiced romantic baritone also received the title King of the Jukebox. Between 1938 and 1942 he cut roughly two hundred sides for RCA Victor’s Bluebird label, allowing him to vie with Decca’s flagship artist Crosby and OKeh’s Buddy Clarke. Listeners could purchase any of these 78 rpm discs for the modest sum of thirty-five cents, or seventeen-and-a-half cents per track.
Todd’s life would suit a vintage film, ideally shot in grainy sixteen-millimeter monochrome. Born August 4, 1914 on a farm outside Calgary, Alberta, he was the child of a former military officer who relocated the household to Montreal around 1926. There Todd played trumpet and sang, first at school and later with George Sims’s small ensemble at Belmont Amusement Park. Steady employment followed at The Meridian, a Lake Champlain nightclub. After halfhearted studies in agriculture and engineering, he concentrated on radio performances and advertising spots for Maxey Baking Powder. During tourist season he toured Caribbean cruise ships with his own quintet, which featured trombonist and alto saxophonist Murray McEachern, singing and playing trumpet. These efforts culminated in his first Victor contract, signed in Montreal; in 1936 he recorded pop numbers such as “I’m an Old Cowhand” and “Girl in a Bonnet of Blue.” When Ted Large of the Five Large Brothers absorbed Sims’s band, Todd shifted almost entirely to studio broadcasts accompanied by orchestras led by Lucio Augustini and Alan McIver. The 1937–1938 programs built his audience throughout the northeastern United States.
He next abandoned the trumpet, moved south of the border, and launched a prolific recording and radio career under producers Leonard Joy and Eli Oberstein. His voice reached listeners via The Home Town Show, The Magic Key with Larry Clinton’s Orchestra, Old Gold’s Melody & Madness featuring Robert Benchley and Artie Shaw’s Swing Band, and Brown & Williamson’s Avalon Time Show with comedian Red Skelton. He also cut early duets with Dinah Shore and performed with Leo Reisman’s Orchestra at the Strand Theater. In 1940 Todd joined the Showboat series alongside Nadine Connor and Virginia Verrill, appeared with Paul LaValle on Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street, and sang “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” in a short film with Richard Hayman. For a time he hosted his own program. His principal successes of the period were “Blue Orchids,” “Deep Purple,” “To You, Sweetheart, Aloha,” “All This and Heaven Too,” and “The Gaucho Serenade.” When wartime duties called him back to Canada, he arranged for Perry Como, then with Ted Weems, to take his place at Victor.
Like many entertainers, Todd spent the war years performing for service personnel. Peacetime brought a slow fade from public view that eventually led to complete anonymity and hardship. In 1945 he succeeded Lawrence Tibbett on Your Hit Parade, sharing the stage with Joan Edwards, yet lost the role in January 1946 to Johnny Mercer. Undaunted, he joined the Larry Sunbrook Circus as Master of Ceremonies, delivering nonstop patter and singing from horseback—a talent honed during his Alberta youth. Nightclub engagements continued, and he produced additional records, among them the 1949 release “Daddy’s Little Girl,” which enjoyed modest success. By the 1950s his fame had waned further; he returned to circus labor in 1955, this time as a roustabout, and occasionally recorded singles for Decca. His final known sides, cut in 1968, comprised “Big Wheel Cannonball,” “Pennsylvania Turnpike,” and “I Love You.” Chronic alcoholism and severe arthritis hastened his decline. His last documented work was as a stagehand handling ropes backstage at The Ed Sullivan Show, both at the Coliseum and at Studio 50 in New York. The precise date, place, and circumstances of his death remain unknown.
Todd’s life would suit a vintage film, ideally shot in grainy sixteen-millimeter monochrome. Born August 4, 1914 on a farm outside Calgary, Alberta, he was the child of a former military officer who relocated the household to Montreal around 1926. There Todd played trumpet and sang, first at school and later with George Sims’s small ensemble at Belmont Amusement Park. Steady employment followed at The Meridian, a Lake Champlain nightclub. After halfhearted studies in agriculture and engineering, he concentrated on radio performances and advertising spots for Maxey Baking Powder. During tourist season he toured Caribbean cruise ships with his own quintet, which featured trombonist and alto saxophonist Murray McEachern, singing and playing trumpet. These efforts culminated in his first Victor contract, signed in Montreal; in 1936 he recorded pop numbers such as “I’m an Old Cowhand” and “Girl in a Bonnet of Blue.” When Ted Large of the Five Large Brothers absorbed Sims’s band, Todd shifted almost entirely to studio broadcasts accompanied by orchestras led by Lucio Augustini and Alan McIver. The 1937–1938 programs built his audience throughout the northeastern United States.
He next abandoned the trumpet, moved south of the border, and launched a prolific recording and radio career under producers Leonard Joy and Eli Oberstein. His voice reached listeners via The Home Town Show, The Magic Key with Larry Clinton’s Orchestra, Old Gold’s Melody & Madness featuring Robert Benchley and Artie Shaw’s Swing Band, and Brown & Williamson’s Avalon Time Show with comedian Red Skelton. He also cut early duets with Dinah Shore and performed with Leo Reisman’s Orchestra at the Strand Theater. In 1940 Todd joined the Showboat series alongside Nadine Connor and Virginia Verrill, appeared with Paul LaValle on Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street, and sang “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” in a short film with Richard Hayman. For a time he hosted his own program. His principal successes of the period were “Blue Orchids,” “Deep Purple,” “To You, Sweetheart, Aloha,” “All This and Heaven Too,” and “The Gaucho Serenade.” When wartime duties called him back to Canada, he arranged for Perry Como, then with Ted Weems, to take his place at Victor.
Like many entertainers, Todd spent the war years performing for service personnel. Peacetime brought a slow fade from public view that eventually led to complete anonymity and hardship. In 1945 he succeeded Lawrence Tibbett on Your Hit Parade, sharing the stage with Joan Edwards, yet lost the role in January 1946 to Johnny Mercer. Undaunted, he joined the Larry Sunbrook Circus as Master of Ceremonies, delivering nonstop patter and singing from horseback—a talent honed during his Alberta youth. Nightclub engagements continued, and he produced additional records, among them the 1949 release “Daddy’s Little Girl,” which enjoyed modest success. By the 1950s his fame had waned further; he returned to circus labor in 1955, this time as a roustabout, and occasionally recorded singles for Decca. His final known sides, cut in 1968, comprised “Big Wheel Cannonball,” “Pennsylvania Turnpike,” and “I Love You.” Chronic alcoholism and severe arthritis hastened his decline. His last documented work was as a stagehand handling ropes backstage at The Ed Sullivan Show, both at the Coliseum and at Studio 50 in New York. The precise date, place, and circumstances of his death remain unknown.
Albums