John Robert Sommers Armbruster (October 9, 1897 – June 20, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, pianist and songwriter. He also recorded

piano rolls A piano roll is a music storage medium used to operate a player piano, piano player or reproducing piano. Piano rolls, like other music rolls, are continuous rolls of paper with holes punched into them. These perforations represent note control d ...

under the pseudonyms of Henri Bergman, Edwin Gabriel, Robert Romayne, and Robert Summers.The Billings Rollography: Pianists Ginny Billings, Bob Billings - 1990 p36 "Henri Bergman, Edwin Gabriel, Robert Romayne, Robert Summers (Rolls listed under pseudonyms) Robert Armbruster was born in Philadelphia in 1896, and received his ..."

Biography

Armbruster was born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. When he was 8 years old, Armbruster began performing professionally in Philadelphia. After studying with he became a concert pianist, then branched out into conducting and a composing for radio, then television and film. He debuted as a pianist with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of eight. In his teenage years, he started recording

for the Aeolian Company's

Duo-Art Duo-Art was one of the leading reproducing piano technologies of the early 20th century, the others being American Piano Company (Ampico), introduced in 1913 too, and Welte-Mignon in 1905. These technologies flourished at that time because of ...

reproducing pianos and turned out hundreds of classical and salon-type performances for them. He attracted particular notice as orchestra leader of '' The Voice of Firestone'', the songs "Cuddle Up" and "High Barbaree" and his compositions "Western Ballet" and "Variations in Miniature on Chopsticks". During the 1940s, Armbruster was the conductor of the NBC Hollywood Orchestra for many charitable specials. Other radio programs on which he worked included ''Blue Ribbon Time'', ''

Blue Ribbon Town ''Blue Ribbon Town'' is a comedy-variety radio series starring Groucho Marx, sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, and broadcast on CBS from March 27, 1943, to August 5, 1944. The 30-minute series was heard Saturday nights at 10:30 p.m. unt ...

'', ''The Cass Daley Show'', ''

Cavalcade of America ''Cavalcade of America'' is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented musicals, such as an adaptation of ''Show Boat'', and condensed biographies of popular Composer, composers. It was ...

'', ''The Charlie McCarthy Show'', ''Coronet on the Air'', ''Cousin Willie'',, '' The Cuckoo Hour'', ''

A Day in the Life of Dennis Day ''A Day in the Life of Dennis Day'' is an American old-time radio situation comedy. It was broadcast on NBC from October 3, 1946, to June 30, 1951. It is also sometimes referred to as ''The Dennis Day Show'' (not to be confused with the televisi ...

'', '' The Electric Hour'', ''

The Great Gildersleeve ''The Great Gildersleeve'' was a radio situation comedy broadcast in the United States from August 31, 1941 to 1958. Initially written by Leonard Lewis Levinson, it was one of broadcast history's earliest spin-off programs. The series was buil ...

'', ''The Groucho Marx Show'', ''Hawthorne TBA'', '' The Kraft Music Hall'', ''The Nelson Eddy Show'', ''The Old Gold Program'', ''

Red Ryder ''Red Ryder'' is a Western comic strip created by Stephen Slesinger and artist Fred Harman which served as the basis for a wide array of character merchandising. Syndicated by Newspaper Enterprise Association, the strip ran from Sunday, Novem ...

'', ''Sara's Private Caper'', and ''Western Caravan''. In 1948, Armbruster was musical director, conductor and solo pianist for the Kraft Music Hall program starring

Nelson Eddy Nelson Ackerman Eddy (June 29, 1901 – March 6, 1967) was an American actor and baritone singer who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs ...

. A fine pianist, he was featured each week in classical piano solos. The program had an excellent orchestra of about 35. Regular arrangers included Billy May and Nelson Riddle. In the sixties, Armbruster was head of the music department at MGM Studios. He died in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

on June 20, 1994, at age 97.

References

External links

* http://www.naxos.com/orchestrainfo/811.htm * DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 15, entry 36. {{DEFAULTSORT:Armbruster, Robert 1897 births 1994 deaths 20th-century American male musicians American male composers American male conductors (music) Songwriters from Pennsylvania 20th-century American conductors (music) 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American composers American male pianists Classical musicians from Pennsylvania American male songwriters 20th-century American songwriters