Tod Robbins
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Clarence Aaron Robbins (25 June 1888 - May 10 1949), billed as C.A Robbins and better known as Tod Robbins, was an American author of horror and mystery fiction, particularly novels and short story collections.
He is best-known for the short story "Spurs", which Tod Browning used as the basis for his 1932 cult film Freaks.
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Biography
Robbins attended Washington and Lee University (Lexington, Virginia) and -- along with Mark W. Sheafe (1884?-1949) and Thornton Whitney Allen (1890–1944) -- wrote the college song "Washington and Lee Swing." Sheafe wrote the tune in 1905, Allen set the music down on paper in 1909 and Robbins provided the words. The completed version was published in 1910.
He authored two short story collections and several novels. His book The Unholy Three (1917) was twice adapted for the screen, a silent version directed by Tod Browning in 1925 and a sound version directed by Jack Conway in 1930. Both adaptations starred Lon Chaney, Sr. Robbins was also the author of the short story "Spurs", which Browning used as the basis for his 1932 cult film Freaks.
Robbins emigrated to the French Riviera from New York and refused to leave during the Nazi occupation of France. He spent the war in a concentration camp and died in 1949.
Bibliography
Novels
- 1912 The Spirit of the Town: A Novel Presentation in Fiction Form of the Impulse and Desire Which Mould the Lives of Men
- 1912 Mysterious Martin: A Fiction Narrative Setting Forth the Development of Character Along Unusual Lines
- 1917 The Unholy Three
- 1929 In the Shadow
- 1933 The Master of Murder
- 1935 The Three Freaks (rpt. The Unholy Three)
- 1949 Close Their Eyes Tenderly
- 1950 To Hell and Home Again (advertised for release, but unpublished)
Short story collections
- 1920 Silent, White and Beautiful and Other Stories
Includes:- "Silent, White and Beautiful"
- "Who Wants a Green Bottle?"
- "Wild Wullie, the Waster"
- "For Art's Sake" (revised version of Mysterious Martin (1912))
- 1926 Who Wants a Green Bottle? and Other Uneasy Tales
Includes:- "Silent, White and Beautiful"
- "Who Wants a Green Bottle?"
- "Wild Wullie, the Waster"
- "Toys" (aka "The Toys of Fate")
- "A Bit of Banshee"
- "The Son of Shaemas O'Shea"
- "Cockcrow Inn"
- "Spurs"
Poetry collections
- 1915 The Scales of Justice and Other Poems
Pulp magazine appearances
- Parisienne, February 1917, 1917 (inc. Married)
- All-Story Weekly, July 14, 1917 (inc. The Terrible Three, aka The Unholy Three)
- The Smart Set, April 1918 (inc. "Silent, White and Beautiful")
- All-Story Weekly, April 5, 1919 (inc. "The Living Portrait")
- All-Story Weekly, October 25, 1919 (inc. "The Whimpus")
- The Thrill Book, vol. 2 no. 5, September 1919 (inc. "Fragments")
- Munsey's Magazine, January 1921 (inc. "The Toys of Fate")
- Munsey's Magazine, February 1923 (inc. "Spurs")
- Everybody's Magazine, November 1923 (inc. "For His Lady Friend")
- The Forum, 1925 (inc. "The Child and The Man")
- Famous Fantasic Mysteries, vol. 1 no. 1, September 1939 (inc. "The Whimpus")
- Famous Fantasic Mysteries, vol. 4 no. 5, September 1942 (inc. "Wild Wullie, the Waster")
- Super Science and Fantastic Stories, vol. 1 no. 18, June 1945 (inc. "The Toys Of Fate")
- Fantastic Novels Magazine, vol. 2 no. 4, November 1948 (inc. "The Terrible Three")
- Fantastic Novels Magazine, vol. 2 no. 6, March 1949 (inc. "The Toys Of Fate")
- Fantastic Novels Magazine, vol. 3 no. 4, November 1949 (inc. "The Living Portrait")
- Zoetrope: All-Story, Fall 2002 (inc. "Spurs")
Anthology appearances
- 1932 Creeps, ed. Charles Birkin (inc. "Silent, White and Beauutiful", "Spurs" & "Cockcrow Inn")
- 1932 Shudders, ed. Charles Birkin (inc. "Toys", aka "The Toys of Fate")
- 1933 Shivers, ed. Charles Birkin (inc. "Wild Wullie, the Waster" & "Who Wants a Green Bottle?")
- 1933 Nightmares, ed. Charles Birkin (inc. "The Whimpus")
- 1935 Thrills, ed. Charles Birkin (inc. "The Confession")
- 1970 The Freak Show: Tales of Fantasy and Horror, ed. Peter Haining (inc. "Spurs")
- 1971 The Ghouls, ed. Peter Haining (inc. "Freaks", aka "Spurs")
- 1984 Hallowe'en Hauntings: Stories about the Most Ghostly Night of the Year, ed. Peter Haining (inc. "Cockcrow Inn")
- 1991 Famous Fantastic Mysteries, eds. Stefan R. Dziemanozicz, Robert Weinberg and Martin N. Greenburg (inc. "The Toys of Fate")
External links
