Rubinoff

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~ David Rubinoff ~

The richest child is poor without musical knowledge. ~David Rubinoff

January 5, 1986--After getting his start on the Eddie Cantor Show, David Rubinoff, toured all over the country at theaters such as the Palace. Today he is retired living in suburban Columbus, Ohio, and still playing the violin occassionally.

October, 1958--It is interesting to hear Rubinoff tell of his visits to public schools and colleges throughout the United States.
The maestro had two things in mind when he visited these institutes of learning.

One was to inspire the youth of America in music
and the other was to see for himself just how music is studied in America and to see just what opportunities Americn boys and girls are given to study this art.

He has found that American schools and colleges offer excellent opportunites for the study of music.
Principals of the various schools which the masetro, has visited for the past 25 years on his concert tours, in free morning assemblies are happy with the results he gets from the students.

Do not wait until tomorrow, for the clock might stop ~David Rubinoff
Comment made to Sheila Helser during newspaper interview

At this concert Rubinoff is using one of the most precious instruments in the world. A Stradivarius violin, which is insured for $100,000.
Satisfying a life-long ambition, Rubinoff aquired the "Strad" after searching for several years. He had tested many old and valuable violins, placed at his disposal by music dealers and collectors. but none were just right. The Rubinoff-Stradivarius, as it is known, sent him into raptures.
Made in 1731 by Antonio Stradivari in Cremona, Italy, the instrument in time passed into the hands of the Romanoffs, the reigning family of Russia until the revolution. It disappeared during that time of stress but turned up later in Paris in the possession of a former Russian prince who had taken the valuable instrument with him when he fled the country.
The violin bears the elaboratly engraved and bejeweled coat of arms of the Romanoff family as well as the identification mark of Stradivari and the date. The instroument is of a deep brownish-red lustre, perfecty formed and developed in all its intricate detail in a manner representative of the best work of the master.

RUBINOFF AND HIS VIOLIN
is a phrase frought with magic in the musical affections of a whole nation, a phrase that radiates sheer tonal enchantment. The silken strains that emanate from Rubinoff's two-century old Stradivarius, over which he glides with caressing nuances and his unique symphonic interpretations of popular music bring a welcome warmth and vigor to the concert platform. (The People's Choice) is how the Chicago Herald & Examiner described this electrifying artist.

Rubinoff, the son of poor parents, was born in Russia on September 3, 1897. He had only his natural inclinations and his mother's devotion to set him on the road to fame. He was five when his mother presented him with a special small-sized violin. Such was his aptitude that within two years he was reguarded as a prodigy.

In Poland, the immortal Victor Herbert saw and heard young Rubinoff, who by then had graduated with highest honor from the Royal Conservatory of Music at Warsaw and was so impressed by the boy violinist took him to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and settled him in his home as his protegee. Through Herbert, Rubinoff met John Phillip Sousa and Will Rogers, who inspired him to devote his talent to the youth of our country. It was Rogers who encouraged him to lecture as well as play "If you get in trouble with that accent of yours" said the cowboy humorist, "Just play that fiddle. It hasn't got an accent."

Before long both the Capitol and Paramount Theaters in New York emblazened Rubinoff's name on their marquees. Rudy Vallee, one of the shrewdest talent scouts of all time realized that radio was the medium that would bring Rubinoff's talent the audience that deserved. Soon milliions of people were delighting to Rubinoff and his violin on such famed broadcasts as the Chase and Sanborn Hour, the Rexall, the Pebeco, and the Chevrolet programs. It might be noted incidentlly that among those who responded to Rubinoff's baton on these shows were such latterday giants of popular music as Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, and the late Glenn Miller.

The Chicago Herald & Examiner did not dub Rubinoff The people's Choice without good reason. Having heard him at an open-air concert in Grand Park that drew the largest audience in the annals of American concerts the Herald & Examiner concluded its front page acclaim by observing (He is a dynamic personality that sets audiences on fire!). George Frazier, Life Magazine's brilliant entertainment editor echoed this view when he wrote Rubinoff is undoubtedly one of the handful of authentically great showmen now on earth.

Today, Rubinoff who enjoys the warm kinship of working before live audiences spends the greater part of his time touring the U.S. as a concert artist, appearing in turn in large concert halls or in smaller community auditoriums - or in short whereever good music is appreciated. For some nine months each year he is up early in the morning and traveling hundres of miles in order to be in schools by nine o'clock. In the course of this he plays about a 1000 school assemblies a year and without remuneration.
But the results have been eminently gratifying. James Downey, headmaster of the High School of Commerce in Boston, for example, said I reguard your appearance on our platform today of one of the high spots of all time in 33 years of my administration as headmaster. Rubinoff appears for colleges and civic organizations too and the response is always enthusiastic as witness the comment of Ralph W. Frost, general secretary of the U. of Tennessee, There are other great violinists in the country said Mr. Frost, but none of them has the mass appeal which Rubinoff possesses.

Besides his regularly-sponsored matinee and evening concerts, Rubinoff makes ennumerable appearances before charitable organizations. In such concerts there is, Rubinoff feels, a reward far greater than anything monetary. After he had played at Forest Ridge Convent in Seattle, Rubinoff received a letter from a listener The Master-Touch took us out of ourselves - in reverence for the gift God has given you it said.

Homer Phillips, associate artist and accompanist has had association with Rubinoff for the past twenty-five years Concert artists will remember him from radio, Paramount Theater in New York and connections with MGM and Samuel Goldwyn Studios for whom he played background music and piano solos. Rubinoff commends his as a loyal trouper on the road.
~Program notes from interview October 1, 1958 interview by Sheila Helser.

Rubinoff acquired the "Maurin" Stradivarius, built in 1731, in the late 1920s or 1930s from the Wurlitzer Co., acting as an agent for instrument collector Nathan E. Posner. According to the book How Many Strads? by Ernest Doring, recently republished by Bein & Fushi, Posner bought the violin from a woman in Paris. It was known as the "Maurin," presumably named after a famous late 19th-century French violinist, Jean Pierre Maurin.

David Rubinoff died in Columbus, Ohio in 1986 at the age of 89.

October 1958 PROGRAM
Square dance Fiddlin
*Arkansas Traveler
*Oh, Susanna
*Little brown Jug
*Ragtime Annie
*Coming Around the Mountain
*Oh, Dem Golden Slippers
*Soldier's Joy
*Sliver Lake
*Red Wing
*Little Liza Jane
*Mocking Bird
*Pop! Goes the Weasel
*Buffalo Gals
*Chicken Reel
*Down Home Rag
*Hoe Down
*Turkey in the Straw
*Home Sweet Home
*Good Night Ladies Violin Solos
*Tea for Two - Vincent Youmans
*Dance of the Peasant - Rubinoff
*Clair De Lune - Debussy
*Hora Staccato - Dinicu-Heifetz
*Warsaw Concerto - Addinsell
*Volare
*Jalousie - Gade
The Ballad of Davy Crockett - George Brouns
*Crazy Otto
*Carnegie Hall
*Waltz a la Strauss
*Mambo
*Indian
*Ireland
*Scotland
*Israel
*The bee a la Jack Benny
*R.R.Train
*Boogie Woogie
*Dragnet
*Circus Gallop
*March(John Phillip Sousa)
*Low Down Blues Violin Solos
*I Got Rhythm
*Rhapsody in Blue - Gershwin
*Around the Wotld in 80 Days
*Fiddlin the Fiddle - Rubinoff
*Polonaise Opus 53 - Chopin

Fiddlin' the Fiddle - David Rubinoff

Bob Alexander roberta@netdoor.com his website is www.commprints.com is a longtime Professional Photographer. Rubinoff's appearance in his hometown of Grenada, MS, was sponsored by the Kiwanis Club International or the Lion's Club. He carried his Stradivarius around with him, handcuffed to his left wrist. He was extremely flambouyant and created quite a stir everywhere he went.
Bob is on a quest to find a copy of a photo made long ago. (early sixties). Rubinoff has his right arm elevated with the bow on the strings, and his left hand roughly level, or a little higher. His head is tilted, to his left. He has on a tuxedo and the portrait is dramatic shadows and sparkling highlights in B&W. The portrait a 16X20 was put on an easel in the lobby of his performance and it drew a very large amount of interest. Bob made it that morning and rushed to have it finished by that night. It won awards, then got lost in a fire. Rubinoff had ordered 10,000 copies so Bob hope somone will have one to share with him. You can read more about it at Rubinoff anecdote