Herbert Baker

Herbert Baker (1920-1983) was a comedy writer and lyricist and the son of Ziegfeld Follies star Belle Baker. He wrote for many TV variety shows and specials, including co-writing John Denver & the Muppets: A Christmas Together, as well as contributing to The Flip Wilson Show and the special Keep U.S. Beautiful.

Baker wrote for radio, including The Henry Morgan Show, The Danny Kaye Show, and Hollywood Is Calling. For TV, he again wrote material for Danny Kaye and for the respective series of Dinah Shore, Perry Como, and Frank Sinatra. He adapted Anything Goes for The Colgate Comedy Hour in the fifties, worked on the Barney Miller episode "Fish," and wrote or co-wrote three Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis vehicles, a Matt Helm detective film (with Martin), two Elvis Presley movies, Francis Joins the WACS (starring the talking mule), and the 1980 version of The Jazz Singer.

As a songwriter, Baker wrote lyrics for the 1944 operetta Helen Goes to Troy and for Jerry Lewis's 1957 Palace performance.