[78-L] Who is William Robyn?

[L78rpm at aol.com]

Robyn (1894-1995) was a member of radio's "Roxy's Gang" and during the  
1920s appeared at the Capitol Theatre with the group, which included Gladys 
Rice  and Douglas Stanbury.  (They remained friends until the end of their  
lives.)  He was born in Latvia, never quite lost his accent, and that  hindered 
his career.  He was a nice looking but short man and that probably  
interfered with his ability to establish any type of career in which stage  
presence would be relevant.   Henry Waterson (of Waterson, Berlin, and  Snyder) 
founded Cameo and Robyn's relationship with that label endured  because 
Waterson liked him.   
 
The Revelers had trouble keeping tenors; and when James Melton left they  
invited Robyn to join the group.  He declined.  Eventually he  became a 
cantor and I believe had synagogue affiliations for many years after he  stopped 
recording and appearing on radio.  
 
Tim Brooks wrote a long article about him and it was published in the ARSC  
Journal.
 
Paul Charosh 
 
 
In a message dated 5/15/10 1:46:25 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
stevenc at interlinks.net writes:

Yes,  Virginia, there really IS/WAS a William Robyn! Many years ago, when he
was  extremely old, he made a "guest appearance" at a CAPS   (Canadian...)
meeting. It would be hatd to say who was more  astonished...Mr. Robyn,
upon discovering there were folks who had heard of  him many decades
later...or we CAPS members upon discovering there was a  human being
responsible for countless Cameo (et al) 78's credited under  that name...?!