Leo Robin
b. April 6, 1895, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. d. Dec. 29, 1984, Woodland Hills, CA, USA. (Heart Failure)
Overview:
Remembered today as a prolific lyricist of popular songs from the mid-1920's into the '50s. His principal collaborator was composer Ralph Rainger, and the team wrote for a great many Hollywood films. Leo Robin's work for the Hollywood studios began in 1929, when he contributed songs for the Chevalier film "Innocents of Paris" and his film work ended in 1975 when he contributed songs to the film "Sheila Levine is Dead and Living In New York". In between he worked on such films as (to name just a few - he worked on over 75 pictures) 1929 Halfway to Heaven (song: Louise); 1940 The Vagabond King; 1932 One Hour With You; 1935 Love In Bloom; 1936 Rose of the Rancho; 1937 Swing High Swing Low; 1938 The Big Broadcast and also Artists and Models Abroad; 1942 Footlight Serenade; 1944 Four Jills In A Jeep (His songs were uncredited); 1953 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes; 1955 Hit The Deck. Leo also worked on the 1952 Bob Hope Television Series.

Leo studied Law at Univ. of Pittsburg. Then worked as a publicity agent, a newspaper reporter and even as a social worker. His big break came when he was signed to do the music for the Broadway show 'By The Way'. In 1927, he wrote the song "Hallelujah" for the Broadway musical 'Hit The Deck'. Hollywood called with a contract for Paramount Pictures. He wrote music for Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald; Bing Crosby and Shirley Temple. Typically he worked on a dozen different films a year for Paramount.

He worked for Paramount til 1929. The following five years were spent under contract to Twentieth Century-Fox Films wiritng for Rita Hayworth;  Betty Grable;  and Alice Faye., shown with famed musical star Al Jolson. The Grable and Hayworth pictures were favorite World War II Pin-up photographs.

Among Leo Robin's best lyrics are:
      1927 "Hallelujah!"
      1929 "Louise", music Ralph Rainger.
      1929 "I Have To Have You", music Rainger.
      1930 "Beyond the Blue Horizon"
      1930 "All I Want Is Just One (Girl)", music Richard Whiting.
      1931 "Prisoner of Love"
      1931 "My Ideal", music by Richard Whiting and Newell Chase.
      1934 "June in January"
      1934 "Love Is Just Around The Corner", music Louis Gensler.
      1935 "My Heart And I", music by Frederick Hollender.
      1936 "A Rhyme For Love", music Ralph Rainger.
      1936 "I Don't Want To Make History, I Just Want To Make Love", music Ralph Rainger.
      1937 "Thanks for the Memory"

In 1945, Robins started free-lancing for UA; Warner Bros; 20th Century-Fox; Universal; Paramount and MGM. In 1955, Leo finally retired from Motion Picture activity. Robin is a member of the Songwriters' Hall of Fame.

  Everett Robbins
Currently no information available.
A Black lyricist. One of his lyrics became a blues standard of the 1920's.
1922 "'Taint Nobody's Business If I Do", -Porter Grainger music. An evocative vocal hit for singer Billie Holiday.

  J. Russell Robinson
b. July 8, 1892 Indianapolis, IN, USA. d. Sept. 30, 1963 Palm Desert, CA, USA.
Currently no information available.
It is known that Robinson, suffered constant pain in his right arm as a result of childhood polio. From 1913 on, Robinson worked in motion picture theaters and in vaudeville, performing with his wife Marguerite Kendall, who, it should be noted, co-authored many of his Ragtime hits. Marguerite Kendall died in 1921. Robinson continued composing, and in 1936, re-joined the brief, unsuccessful ODJB revival.

He is well recalled for his playing piano with the 'Original Dixieland Jazz Band' during their London, Eng., visit in 1919. However, before joining the ODJB, he had made dozens of player piano rolls and was widely esteemed as a "hot" pianist. A wonderful Black composer, Spencer Williams once described Robinson as "the white man with colored fingers." Robinson remained musically very active throughout the 1920's and 1930's. Still, he is probably best recalled as a composer, - a true "Tin Pan Alley" man.

Among the songs he composed were:
      "That Eccentric Rag". This tune became a Jazz staple, In 1923, it was republished as "Eccentric". By 1981, it had been recorded over 30 times.

 "Singin" the Blues" (immortalized when Bix Beiderbecke, Eddie Lang and Frankie Trumbauer recorded it in 1927).

 "Margie", co-composed with Con Conrad and Benny Davis.
 "Beale Street Mamma", co-composed with Roy Turk.
 "I Got An Aunt In Bridgeport", co-composed with Edgar De Lange.
 "Swing Mister Charlie" , co-composed with Harry Brooks, and Irving Taylor.
 "Portrait of Jenny", co-composed with Gordon Burdge.
 "Meet Me at No Special Place" , co-composed with Arthur Terker and Harry C. Pyle. Also recorded by Nat "King" Cole in the late 1940s.

 "Reefer Man", co-composed with Andy Razaf, -a big Cab Calloway hit release.
 "Normandy", co-composed with Addy Britt, and Jack Little.
 "Mary Jane", co-composed with Andy Razaf.
 "Funny Little You", co-composed with Andy Razaf.
 "Moon of Waikiki" , co-composed with Al Bernard.
 "On A Honolulu Holiday", co-composed with Jack Meskill.
 "High Rhythm and Low Moanin'", co-composed with Sweet Ione.
 "My Heart Is A Violin", co-composed with Emery Deutsch and Irving Taylor.
 "Memories of France", co-composed with Al Dubin.
 "1400 Dream Street", co-composed with Allie Wrubel and Paul Young Herrick.
 "I Got A New Deal In Love", co-composed with William Livingston.
 "Mary Lou", George Wagner (and Abe Lyman) lyrics.
 "Is I In Love", with Mercer Cook Lyric.
And, about a 100 others. One writer (John Edward Hasse, whose 1981 Indiana University dissertation, 'The Creation and Dissemination of Indianapolis Ragtime 1897-1930'), has written that Robinson "....cut more piano player rolls, and sound recordings, and achieved more fame as a pianist, had the largest number of national hits among his popular songs, and spanned the greatest number of years with his compositional output."

  Willard Robison
b. Sept. 18, 1894, Shellbina, MO, USA. d. June 24, 1968 Peekskill, NY, USA.
NOTE: For a more thorough discussion on Willard Robison, please see the Robison Entry, on our American BigBands Database.
Overview
Hoagy Carmichael was often called 'The Lazy Man's Songwriter', however I am not too sure but that the title really belongs to Willard Robison. Most of Willard's songs were about quiet times around the home, or home town. Willard authored one book entitled 'Willard Robison's "Six Studies in Syncopation for Piano'".

Among his songs are:
      "A Cottage for Sale" ( Larry Conley and Robison)
      "Don't Smoke in Bed"
      "Guess I'll Go Back Home This Summer
      "Old Folks"
      "Peaceful Valley" (Paul Whiteman's theme song).
      "Round My Old Deserted Farm"
      "'Tain't So, Honey, 'Tain't So"
      "Wake Up Chillun, Wake Up" written with Joe Trent.

    Heinz Roemheld
né: Heinz Eric Roemheld
b: May 1, 1901, Milwaukee, WI, USA. d: Feb. 11, 1985, Huntington Beach, CA, USA. (pneumonia)
aka: H. Roemfeld; H. Roemheld; Rox Rommell
Currently No Information Available.
Another fascinating career - spent mostly in the Hollywood Studios (Paramount Pictures). Heinz contributed music to --at least-- 612 films, and yet his name appeared on the credits for only perhaps 10% of them. Upon his demise, he was survived by his two daughters: Mary Lou and Elise Anne.

  Anna Priscilla Risher
b: 1873, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, d: 1945, USA
composer, pianist, organist, violinist, cellist, vocalist.
Risher and her younger sister, Nell (1876-1938), were talented musicians. Both ladies matriculated from Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania College for Women, and Anna continued with two years of post-graduate studies at Boston's New England Conservatory of Music. Among Anna Risher's instructors were such men as Carl Stasny, Leo Schultz, A.M. Foerster, and G.W. Chadwick.

With the completion of her formal schooling, Anna taught music (Charles Wakefield Cadmon was one of her pupils), and was able to find work as organist and choir director in such Pittsburgh area churches as the East Liberty Presbyterian Church and Bethany Lutheran Church. She became a close friend of another lady composer, Carrie Jacobs Bond, still well remembered today for her composition "The End of a Perfect Day".

In 1918, her family moved to Los Angeles, CA, and Anna was able to find a position at the Cumnock School for Girls as Director of Music, remaining there for four years. Circa 1929, wishing to devote all her time to composing, she left the Cumnock school and settled in the small village of Laguna Beach, where, in addition to her music compositions, she also took up painting and became an active member of the Laguna Beach Artists Society. (The village was basically an 'Artist's Colony' at the time, with a population of about 400.) She became the organist at the Saint James Episcopal Church, and also formed and conducted the Laguna Beach Little Symphony Orchestra.

In the early 1920s, Anna began to compose pieces for Etude, then the principal American music magazine. She would become one of that magazine's most popular contributors, with her works appearing quite regularly over about a 20 year span. (A 1933 issue published her brief biography, from which much of this information was extracted. In that issue, the magazine commented: "From her own pen, Miss Risher has made many valuable contributions to American music and is an indefatigable worker in promoting the work of all American composers.")

In California, she formed her first group, the 'Anna Risher String Quartet', and in 1933, she organized 50 female musicians into the Hollywood Womans Symphony Orchestra. Anna was also voted to the post of Program Chairman of the Society for the Advancement of American Music.

Over a long and productive career, Risher composed and published well over 300 songs, as well as a concerto for piano and orchestra. She also wrote choral works, and works for violin and piano, not to mention authoring a number of pedagogical piano technic books.

  Carson Robison
b. Aug. 4, 1890, Oswego, KS, USA. d. March 24, 1957, Pleasant Valley, New York, USA. Age: 66.
Tagline: "The Kansas Jaybird"
Here's a photo of Carson, (as he appears on the ASW album cover), and here's a good photo of Carson, in an early Gibson Guitar Publicity photo. (He should not be confused with another wonderful composer with the same last name, - Willard Robison.
Carson was born into a musical family. His father, Albert Lender Robison, was a champion fiddle player and his mother was fine pianist and singer. At just age 14, Carson left home and was musically proficient enough to begin playing with various dance bands. He also composed his first song, "Anthem". When dance band or radio work was in short supply, he found work at various times as a cowpuncher farmer, oilfield worker, and railroad dispatcher (Katy Railroad).

In 1922, he was singing and whistling on his very own first radio show on station KDAF (Kansas City, MO) He had already developed a unique style of whistling two tones in harmony at the same time.

In 1924, he traveled to New York City where he backed Wendell Hall on his RCA VIctor recordings. In addition to his playing, RCA liked his "two-tone" whistling, and offered him a contract, and started to use him on a regular basis. On April 30, he made his VIctor recordings, "Whistling the Blues Away", and Songbirds in Georgia".

Between 1924 and 1928, Robison, singing tenor harmony and playing guitar, was recording with Vernon Dalhart, for Victor. Among their recording were "My Blue Ridge Mountain Home", "The Wreck Of The Number 9", "Little Green Valley", "Golden Slippers", and many others.

From 1928 to 1931, Robison recorded with Frank Luther (b. Francis Luther Crow, August 4, 1905, Kansas, USA) as 'Bud And Joe Billings'. Among their releases were "Barnacle Bill The Sailor", "The Wanderer's Warning", and "Will The Angels Play Their Harps For Me?", both of which became popular in Britain during 1929.

In 1932, he formed his own band, - 'Carson Robison And The Buckeroos' and took the group on a worldwide tour including Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. He became the very first "Country and Western" band to tour England and Scotland (and performed for King George and Queen Elizabeth). Carson made return trips in 1936 and 1939. They toured other countries as well. Following a commercial series on Radio Luxembourg, they became 'Carson Robison And The Pioneers' - and later in the USA, 'Carson Robison And The Oxydol Pioneers'.)

During World War II, Robison's contribution to the War effort was composing topical songs that ridiculed Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito. Among the tunes he wrote were "Hirohitos Letter to Hitler", "Hitlers Last Letter to Hirohito", "Mussolini's Letter to Hitler", "Hitlers Reply to Mussolini", "We're Gonna Have To Slap That Dirty Little Jap (And Uncle Sam's The Man That Can Do It)", and such.

Over his lifetime, Carson composed well over 200 songs, of which at least 150 were published and many of them were highly sucessful, a few of which are:
   'Carry Me Back to the Lone Prairie"
   "Bumps a Daisy"
   "Cowboy's Prayer"
   "The Devil Calls a Meeting"
   "Hand me Down My Walking Cane"
   "One hundred Years from Now"
   "Wreck of the Nmber Nine"
   "Turkey In the Straw" (rated the most popular song of 1942)
It should be noted that Carson wrote both music and words to virtually all of his songs. Among his songbooks are 'The New Carson Robison Song Album', and Carson Robison's CR Ranch Song Folio.

Sometime in the mid-late 1940s, he formed a group called "The Pleasant Valley Boys" (He was now living in Pleasant Valley, NY -near Poughkeepsie, NY). In 1947, he signed a long-term exclusive recording contract with M-G-M, recording square dance music for MGM, and then in the '50s he went with the times and recorded "Rockin' And Rollin' With Granmaw".

In 1947, Carson with his group, 'Carson Robison and His Pleasant Valley Boys', recorded "Life Gets Tee-Jus, Don't It", which was very successful for Robison as well as for others including 'Doc' Watson, Arthur Godfrey, 'Tex' Williams, Cal Tinney, and Peter Lind Hayes During the late 1940s and early 1950s, he often appeared on 'The Grand Ole Opry' show.

In private correspondence, Mr. J. Adams has recalled that:
      "He was sort of a cowboy singer but co-wrote "Barnicle Bill the Sailor" with Frank Luther.
      He became a far-right person who had a mild hit with "I'm No Communist". Another of his big
      hits, "Life Gets Teejus", came near the end of his career.

He died in New York on 24 March 1957, and was later posthumously nominated to the 'Country Music Hall of Fame'. Carson was survived by his wife, Catherene Barrett Robison, three sons: Donald, Robert and Kenneth and a daughter, Mrs. Daniel Murphy (Patricia).