William Robyn
William Robyn | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | William Robinow |
| Also known as | Wolf Scarpioff, Thornley Crane, Wee Willie Robyn |
| Born | November 28, 1894 Pasiene, Latvia |
| Died | April 12, 1996 (aged 101) Englewood, New Jersey |
| Genres | Opera, Broadway |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, Cantor |
| Instrument | Voice |
| Years active | 1917-1939 |
| Labels | Emerson, Victor, Okeh |
William Robyn (November 28, 1894-April 12, 1996) was the stage name of William Robinow, an American tenor singer from Latvia who toured the vaudeville circuit and made hundreds of recordings under dozens of names.[1][2]
Early life
Robyn was born William Rubin in the rural village of Pasiene in eastern Latvia in late 1894 to Israel and Gitel Rubin. He was a gifted singer and frequently sang at religious services. After his bar mitzvah he was sent to work in Ludza. He went to the United States around 1913 to escape conscription into the Russian Army, traveling through Poland and Germany and then boarded a steamer to New York. He arrived at Ellis Island unable to speak a word of English. He settled in Hazelton, Pennsylvania and lived with his uncle Jacob Traub. He worked as a peddler while also singing at the local synagogue.[1]
Robyn soon left for New York with letters of introduction to music professors at New York University as well as vocal coach Jerome Hayes who was associated with Cornell University. Robyn was taught to sing in French, German, English, and Italian. He met Louis Silvers and Jean Havez who overheard him singing in his apartment above the tailors where they were trying on suits. They found him a pianist, Leon Varvara, and gave him a new name. They were put on the vaudeville circuit billed as "The Famous Russian Boy Tenor, Wolf Scarpioff, and Master Boy Pianist, Leon Varvara." After receiving a favorable review in Variety, the duo performed in New York City, Troy, Schenectady, Rochester and Detroit.[1]
Musical career
Robyn toured for most of 1917 and 1918. In 1919 he began singing solo. His first recordings were for Emerson where he recorded under the names "William Robinson" and "Edward Hamilton." He recorded a few Russian records for Columbia under the name William Scarpioff. He recorded "Tulip Time" for Brunswick under the name "Thornley Crane" which was cited in Talking Machine World as one of Brunswick’s better sellers. When he recorded for Okeh that was the first time he used the stage name Robyn.
Robyn was hired by the Capitol Theater in 1920, performing in many of their operatic productions. He briefly left to perform in theaters in Chicago but came back to the Capitol where he performed for most of the 1920s. He got a contract with the Victor Talking Machine Company and his first release, “I’m in Heaven When I’m in My Mother’s Arms"/"Down the Trail to Home, Sweet Home" was in October 1920. He recorded "Molly-O" for Victor in January 1922 which was a tie-in with a movie which sent him briefly to Hollywood.
When commercial radio broadcasting began in New York, Robyn sang on live broadcasts with with The Capitol Theatre Family, later called Roxy’s Gang after Capitol stage manager S.L. "Roxy" Rothafel, in a networked Sunday night radio show. This group performed for President Coolidge at the White House in 1925.
Robyn left Victor in 1923 after they refused to pay him more money and largely consigned him to their foreign-language series.[3] He began working for Henry Waterson and his Cameo label, recording many songs by Irving Berlin such as "All Alone," "Always" and "Blue Skies." When Cameo went bankrupt in 1927 Robyn continued to work for Pathé Records under names such as John Spear, Wyllie Robyn, Wee Willie Robyn or Jack Ender. Over the course of his career, Robyn’s recordings appeared on more than 50 labels under more than 50 different names. In the 1930s he shifted to radio and stage work, performing musicals in Latvian, Russian, Yiddish and English.
Cantor work and later life
Robyn decided to leave show business entirely and dedicate himself to becoming a cantor first working at the Nathan Straus Jewish Center in the Bronx in 1939. He later moved to Temple B’nai Sholom on Long Island and in 1946, to the Temple Israel Center in White Plain where he remained for almost 20 years, retiring in 1965. In the late 1940s Robyn became a founding member of the Cantors Association of America. He continued to make recordings, some under the name Cantor William Rubin. He retired from Temple Israel in 1965.[3]
In 1975 Robyn attended the Edison artists’ reunion at West Orange, New Jersey where he sang "The Sunshine of Your Smile." He met Milford Fargo who was a professor of music at the Eastman School. Fargo arranged a short tour of Canada for Robyn in the fall of 1984. Fargo gave a talk about Robyn’s life at the 1985 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Conference in San Francisco.[3]
Death and Legacy
Robyn died in 1996 at the age of 101.[4] Two of Robyn's recordings are available in the National Jukebox at The Library of Congress.[5]
References
- ^ a b c Brooks, Tim (Spring 1992). "Willie Robyn: A Recording Artist in the 1920s (part 1)" (PDF). ARSC Journal. 23 (1): 35–59. ISSN 0004-5438. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
- ^ "William Robyn Discography". Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa barbara Library. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
- ^ a b c Brooks, Tim (Fall 1992). "Willie Robyn: A Recording Artist in the 1920s (part 2)" (PDF). ARSC Journal. 23 (2): 178–227. ISSN 0004-5438. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
- ^ "Obituaries: William Robyn". New Amberola Graphic (94): 22. October 1995. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
- ^ "National Jukebox, Robinow, W. [i.e., William Robyn]". The Library of Congress. 1900-01-01. Retrieved 2023-10-29.
External Links
- Willie Robyn (aka William Robyn) Collection 1926-1931 at the Internet Archive
