Tod Robbins
Encyclopedia
Clarence Aaron "Tod" Robbins (1888–1949) was an American author of horror
and mystery fiction
. 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
. Robbins was also the author of the short story "Spurs", which Browning used as the basis for Freaks
(1932), a film which later developed a cult following.
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.
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
and mystery fiction
Mystery fiction
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
. Robbins attended Washington and Lee University
Washington and Lee University
Washington and Lee University is a private liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, United States.The classical school from which Washington and Lee descended was established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, about north of its present location. In 1776 it was renamed Liberty Hall in a burst of...
(Lexington
Lexington, Virginia
Lexington is an independent city within the confines of Rockbridge County in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 7,042 in 2010. Lexington is about 55 minutes east of the West Virginia border and is about 50 miles north of Roanoke, Virginia. It was first settled in 1777.It is home to...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
) and—along with Mark W. Sheafe (1884?–1949) and Thornton Whitney Allen (1890–1944)—wrote the college song "Washington and Lee Swing
Washington and Lee Swing
Washington and Lee Swing is the official fight song of Washington & Lee University. Before it morphed into a swing, Dixieland and bluegrass standard, "The Washington and Lee Swing" was one of the most well known — and widely borrowed — football marches ever written, according to Robert...
." 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
1917 in literature
The year 1917 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* January - Francis Picabia produces the first issue of the Dada periodical 391 in Barcelona....
) was twice adapted for the screen, a silent version directed by Tod Browning
Tod Browning
Tod Browning was an American motion picture actor, director and screenwriter.Browning's career spanned the silent and talkie eras...
in 1925 and a sound version directed by Jack Conway in 1930. Both adaptations starred Lon Chaney
Lon Chaney, Sr.
Lon Chaney , nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema...
. Robbins was also the author of the short story "Spurs", which Browning used as the basis for Freaks
Freaks
Freaks is a 1932 American Pre-Code horror film about sideshow performers, directed and produced by Tod Browning and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with a cast mostly composed of actual carnival performers. The film was based on Tod Robbins' 1923 short story "Spurs"...
(1932), a film which later developed a cult following.
Robbins emigrated to the French Riviera
French Riviera
The Côte d'Azur, pronounced , often known in English as the French Riviera , is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France, also including the sovereign state of Monaco...
from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and refused to leave during the Nazi occupation of France. He spent the war in a concentration camp and died in 1949.
Novels
- 19121912 in literatureThe year 1912 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Virginia Stephen marries Leonard Woolf.*Frieda von Richthofen meets D. H. Lawrence.-New books:*Mary Antin - The Promised Land*L...
The Spirit of the Town: A Novel Presentation in Fiction Form of the Impulse and Desire Which Mould the Lives of Men - 19121912 in literatureThe year 1912 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Virginia Stephen marries Leonard Woolf.*Frieda von Richthofen meets D. H. Lawrence.-New books:*Mary Antin - The Promised Land*L...
Mysterious Martin: A Fiction Narrative Setting Forth the Development of Character Along Unusual Lines - 19171917 in literatureThe year 1917 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* January - Francis Picabia produces the first issue of the Dada periodical 391 in Barcelona....
The Unholy Three - 19291929 in literatureThe year 1929 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Candide by Voltaire is declared obscene by the United States Customs and seized in 1930....
In the Shadows - 19331933 in literatureThe year 1933 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* February 17 - The magazine Newsweek is published for the first time.* James Joyce's Ulysses is allowed into United States.-New books:...
The Master of Murders - 19351935 in literatureThe year 1935 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* June 15 - W. H. Auden enters a marriage of convenience with Erika Mann.* July 30 - Allen Lane founds Penguin Books to publish the first mass market paperbacks in Britain....
The Three Freaks (rpt. The Unholy Three) - 19491949 in literatureThe year 1949 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Arthur C. Clarke becomes Assistant Editor of Science Abstracts.*Bertrand Russell receives the Order of Merit....
Close Their Eyes Tenderly - 19501950 in literatureThe year 1950 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Kazuo Shimada wins the "Mystery Writer Of Japan" award for his book Shakai-bu Kisha .*Jack Kerouac has his first novel published....
To Hell and Home Again (advertised for release, but unpublished)
Short story collections
- 19201920 in literatureThe year 1920 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Agatha Christie publishes her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, introducing the long-running character detective, Hercule Poirot....
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 (19121912 in literatureThe year 1912 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Virginia Stephen marries Leonard Woolf.*Frieda von Richthofen meets D. H. Lawrence.-New books:*Mary Antin - The Promised Land*L...
))
- 19261926 in literatureThe year 1926 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is founded in Middlebury, Vermont....
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"
- "SpursSpurs (short story)"Spurs" is a short story by Tod Robbins. The story was published in February 1923 in Munsey's Magazine and included in Robbins' 1926 anthology Who Wants a Green Bottle? and Other Uneasy Tales...
"
- 20072007 in literatureThe year 2007 in literature involves some significant new books.-Events:*November 19 - First Kindle e-book reader released.*December 11 - Terry Pratchett informs fans on-line that he has been diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer's disease.-Literature:...
Freaks and Fantasies
Includes:- "Crimson Flowers"
- "Silent, White and Beautiful"
- "Who Wants a Green Bottle?"
- "The Bibulous Baby"
- "Wild Wullie, the Waster"
- "The Toys of Fate"
- "An Eccentric"
- "The Whimpus"
- "A Bit of Banshee"
- "The Son of Shaemas O'Shea"
- "A Voice from Beyond"
- "Cock-crow Inn"
- "The Confession"
- "SpursSpurs (short story)"Spurs" is a short story by Tod Robbins. The story was published in February 1923 in Munsey's Magazine and included in Robbins' 1926 anthology Who Wants a Green Bottle? and Other Uneasy Tales...
"
Pulp magazine appearances
- Parisienne, February 1917, 19171917 in literatureThe year 1917 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* January - Francis Picabia produces the first issue of the Dada periodical 391 in Barcelona....
(inc. Married) - All-Story Weekly, July 14, 1917 (inc. The Terrible Three, aka The Unholy Three)
- The Smart SetThe Smart SetThe Smart Set was a literary magazine founded in America in March 1900 by Colonel William d'Alton Mann.-History:Mann had previously published Town Topics, a gossip rag which he used for political and social gain among New York City's infamous elite known as "The Four Hundred." With The Smart Set,...
, April 19181918 in literatureThe year 1918 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The 2nd annual Pulitzer Prizes are awarded.* Author Hall Caine made a KBE.*Robert Graves marries Nancy Nicholson...
(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 19191919 in literatureThe year 1919 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Winifred Holtby and Vera Brittain return to Somerville College, Oxford, to complete their education following war service.*Two paintings by E. E...
(inc. "Fragments") - Munsey's MagazineMunsey's MagazineMunsey's Weekly, later known as Munsey's Magazine was a thirty-six page quarto magazine founded by Frank A. Munsey in 1889. Munsey aimed at "a magazine of the people and for the people, with pictures and art and good cheer and human interest throughout". John Kendrick Bangs was the editor. The...
, January 19211921 in literatureThe year 1921 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Edgar Rice Burroughs – Tarzan the Terrible*James Branch Cabell – Figures of Earth*Hall Caine – The Master of Man*Willa Cather – Alexander's Bridge...
(inc. "The Toys of Fate") - Munsey's MagazineMunsey's MagazineMunsey's Weekly, later known as Munsey's Magazine was a thirty-six page quarto magazine founded by Frank A. Munsey in 1889. Munsey aimed at "a magazine of the people and for the people, with pictures and art and good cheer and human interest throughout". John Kendrick Bangs was the editor. The...
, February 19231923 in literatureThe year 1923 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Fictional detective Lord Peter Wimsey makes his first appearance in print....
(inc. "Spurs") - Everybody's MagazineEverybody's MagazineEverybody's Magazine was an American magazine from 1899 to 1929.The magazine was founded by Philadelphia merchant John Wanamaker in 1899, though he had little role in its actual operations....
, November 19231923 in literatureThe year 1923 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Fictional detective Lord Peter Wimsey makes his first appearance in print....
(inc. "For His Lady Friend") - The Forum, 1925 (inc. "The Child and The Man")
- Famous Fantasic Mysteries, vol. 1 no. 1, September 19391939 in literatureThe year 1939 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*December 25 - A Christmas Carol is read before a radio audience for the first time....
(inc. "The Whimpus") - Famous Fantasic Mysteries, vol. 4 no. 5, September 19421942 in literatureThe year 1942 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*André Gide leaves France to live in Tunis.*Robertson Davies becomes editor of the Peterborough Examiner.*Thomas Mann emigrates to California....
(inc. "Wild Wullie, the Waster") - Super Science and Fantastic Stories, vol. 1 no. 18, June 19451945 in literatureThe year 1945 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*November 1 - The magazine Ebony is published for the first time.*Noel Coward's short play, Still Life, is adapted to become the film, Brief Encounter....
(inc. "The Toys Of Fate") - Fantastic Novels Magazine, vol. 2 no. 4, November 19481948 in literatureThe year 1948 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The Pulitzer Prize for the Novel is renamed the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction....
(inc. "The Terrible Three") - Fantastic Novels Magazine, vol. 2 no. 6, March 19491949 in literatureThe year 1949 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Arthur C. Clarke becomes Assistant Editor of Science Abstracts.*Bertrand Russell receives the Order of Merit....
(inc. "The Toys Of Fate") - Fantastic Novels Magazine, vol. 3 no. 4, November 19491949 in literatureThe year 1949 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Arthur C. Clarke becomes Assistant Editor of Science Abstracts.*Bertrand Russell receives the Order of Merit....
(inc. "The Living Portrait") - Zoetrope: All-StoryZoetrope: All-StoryZoetrope: All-Story is an American literary magazine that was launched in 1997 by Francis Ford Coppola. Blooming from Francis Coppola's "Crazy Idea Department," All-Story is devoted to showcasing the most promising voices in short-fiction...
, Fall 20022002 in literatureThe year 2002 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 16: Authorities in Saudi Arabia arrested and jailed poet Abdul Mohsen Musalam and fired a newspaper editor following the publication of Musalam's poem The Corrupt on Earth that criticized the state's Islamic...
(inc. "Spurs")
Anthology appearances
- 19321932 in literatureThe year 1932 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*E. V. Knox replaces Sir Owen Seaman as editor of Punch magazine.*Samuel Beckett's first novel, Dream of Fair to Middling Women, is rejected by several publishers....
Creeps, ed. Charles BirkinCharles BirkinSir Charles Lloyd Birkin, 5th Baronet was an English author of horror short stories and the editor of the Creeps Library of anthologies...
(inc. "Silent, White and Beauutiful", "Spurs" & "Cockcrow Inn") - 19321932 in literatureThe year 1932 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*E. V. Knox replaces Sir Owen Seaman as editor of Punch magazine.*Samuel Beckett's first novel, Dream of Fair to Middling Women, is rejected by several publishers....
Shudders, ed. Charles BirkinCharles BirkinSir Charles Lloyd Birkin, 5th Baronet was an English author of horror short stories and the editor of the Creeps Library of anthologies...
(inc. "Toys", aka "The Toys of Fate") - 19331933 in literatureThe year 1933 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* February 17 - The magazine Newsweek is published for the first time.* James Joyce's Ulysses is allowed into United States.-New books:...
Shivers, ed. Charles BirkinCharles BirkinSir Charles Lloyd Birkin, 5th Baronet was an English author of horror short stories and the editor of the Creeps Library of anthologies...
(inc. "Wild Wullie, the Waster" & "Who Wants a Green Bottle?") - 19331933 in literatureThe year 1933 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* February 17 - The magazine Newsweek is published for the first time.* James Joyce's Ulysses is allowed into United States.-New books:...
Nightmares, ed. Charles BirkinCharles BirkinSir Charles Lloyd Birkin, 5th Baronet was an English author of horror short stories and the editor of the Creeps Library of anthologies...
(inc. "The Whimpus") - 19351935 in literatureThe year 1935 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* June 15 - W. H. Auden enters a marriage of convenience with Erika Mann.* July 30 - Allen Lane founds Penguin Books to publish the first mass market paperbacks in Britain....
Thrills, ed. Charles BirkinCharles BirkinSir Charles Lloyd Birkin, 5th Baronet was an English author of horror short stories and the editor of the Creeps Library of anthologies...
(inc. "The Confession") - 19701970 in literatureThe year 1970 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Deliverance by American poet James Dickey published...
The Freak Show: Tales of Fantasy and Horror, ed. Peter HainingPeter HainingPeter Alexander Haining was a British journalist, author and anthologist who lived and worked in Suffolk...
(inc. "Spurs") - 19711971 in literatureThe year 1971 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Destiny Waltz by Gerda Charles wins the UK's first Whitbread Novel of the Year Award.-New books:*Hiroshi Aramata - Teito Monogatari...
The Ghouls, ed. Peter HainingPeter HainingPeter Alexander Haining was a British journalist, author and anthologist who lived and worked in Suffolk...
(inc. "Freaks", aka "Spurs") - 19841984 in literatureThe year 1984 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The book Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is widely read....
Hallowe'en Hauntings: Stories about the Most Ghostly Night of the Year, ed. Peter HainingPeter HainingPeter Alexander Haining was a British journalist, author and anthologist who lived and worked in Suffolk...
(inc. "Cockcrow Inn") - 19911991 in literatureThe year 1991 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Douglas Coupland publishes the novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, popularizing the term Generation X as the name of the generation....
Famous Fantastic Mysteries, eds. Stefan R. Dziemanozicz, Robert WeinbergRobert Weinberg (author)Robert Weinberg is an American author. His work spans several genres including non-fiction, science fiction, horror, and comic books.-Biography:...
and Martin N. Greenburg (inc. "The Toys of Fate")käse