Clarence Aaron Robbins (25 June 1888 – May 10, 1949), billed as C. A. Robbins and better known as Tod Robbins, was an

American author American literature is literature written or produced in the United States of America and in the colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition thus is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature, but also inc ...

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction **Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction ** Korean horror, Korean horror fiction *Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing on ...

and

mystery fiction Mystery is a fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a re ...

, particularly novels and short story collections.

Biography

Robbins was born in Brooklyn, June 25, 1888. He attended

Washington and Lee University , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexing ...

( Lexington,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

) and—along with

Mark W. Sheafe Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...

(1884?–1949) and

Thornton Whitney Allen Thornton or ''variant'', may refer to: People *Thornton (surname), people with the surname ''Thornton'' *Justice Thornton (disambiguation), judges named "Thornton" *Thornton Wilder, American playwright Places Australia *Thornton, New South Wale ...

(1890–1944)—wrote the college song "

Washington and Lee Swing "Washington and Lee Swing" is the official fight song of Washington and Lee University. It was written in 1910 by Mark W. Sheafe, Clarence A. (Tod) Robbins, and Thornton W. Allen. It is widely used as the primary school song by other universities ...

". 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. Robbins authored two short story collections and several novels. His work often contains bizarre and frightening plots, sometimes influenced by writers like

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

(Robbins' "The Living Portrait" is a homage to ''

The Picture of Dorian Gray ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is a philosophical fiction, philosophical novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American periodical ''Lippincott's Monthly Magazine''.''Th ...

'')

Brian Stableford Brian Michael Stableford (born 25 July 1948) is a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who has published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped ...

, "Robbins, Tod", in

David Pringle David Pringle (born 1 March 1950) is a Scottish science fiction editor and critic. Pringle served as the editor of '' Foundation'', an academic journal, from 1980 to 1986, during which time he became one of the prime movers of the collective wh ...

, ed., ''St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost & Gothic Writers'' (London: St. James Press, 1998) and Robert W. Chambers."His obbins'fascination for murder and morbid psychology shows the influence of the

Decadent movement The Decadent movement (Fr. ''décadence'', “decay”) was a late-19th-century artistic and literary movement, centered in Western Europe, that followed an aesthetic ideology of excess and artificiality. The Decadent movement first flourished ...

and writers of horror fiction like Robert W. Chambers...." Chris Mikul, introduction to ''Freaks and Fantasies'' by Tod Robbins (Vancleave, MS: Ramble House, 2007), (p. 12). Robbins's ''Mysterious Martin'' (1912) is an early novel about a

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

. His novel, ''The Unholy Three'' (1917), was twice adapted for the screen, a silent version directed by

Tod Browning Tod Browning (born Charles Albert Browning Jr.; July 12, 1880 – October 6, 1962) was an American film director, film actor, screenwriter, vaudeville performer, and carnival sideshow and circus entertainer. He directed a number of films of vari ...

in 1925 and a sound version directed by Jack Conway in 1930; both adaptations starred

Lon Chaney Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American actor. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and affli ...

. 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. Some of Robbins's work was later reprinted in the "Creeps" series of horror anthologies edited by

Charles Birkin Sir Charles Lloyd Birkin, 5th Baronet (24 September 1907 – 1985) was an English writer of horror short stories and the editor of the ''Creeps Library'' of anthologies. Typically working under the pseudonym Charles Lloyd, Birkin's tales tended ...

. His novel ''Fighting Mad'' reportedly won the $3,000 contest held in 1922 by ''Physical Culture'' magazine, serializing the novel beginning with the January 1922 issue.

E. F. Bleiler Everett Franklin Bleiler (April 30, 1920 – June 13, 2010) was an American editor, bibliographer, and scholar of science fiction, detective fiction, and fantasy literature. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he co-edited the first "year's best" s ...

described Robbins' ''Who Wants a Green Bottle?'' as "excellent commercial fiction, with good little touches".E. F. Bleiler, ''The Guide to Supernatural Fiction'', Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1983.

Emigration

Robbins emigrated to the

French Riviera The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation "Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend from ...

from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

and refused to leave during the

Nazi occupation of France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...

. He spent the war in a

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simp ...

and died in

Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat (; oc, Sant Joan de Cap Ferrat; Italian: ''San Giovanni Capo Ferrato'') is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2017, it had a population of 1,5 ...

in 1949.

Marriages

* Naomi Kathleen "Mollie" Adams (January 16, 1934 - May 10, 1949; his death) * Janet Lancey (1929 - 1933; divorced) * Lillian Ames Chatman (December 3, 1914 - 1922; divorced) * Edith Norman Hyde (July 15, 1909 - June 4, 1914; divorced); 2 children * Ethel Brown (? - May 1928; divorced)

Bibliography

Novels

*''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'' (1912) *''The Unholy Three'' (1917; rpt. as ''The Three Freaks'' in 1935) *''In the Shadow'' (1929) *''The Master of Murders'' (1933) *''Close Their Eyes Tenderly'' (1949) *''To Hell and Home Again'' (advertised for release in 1950 but unpublished)

Short story collections

*''Silent, White and Beautiful and Other Stories'' (1920)
Includes: **"Silent, White and Beautiful" **"Who Wants a Green Bottle?" **"Wild Wullie, the Waster" **"For Art's Sake" (revised version of ''Mysterious Martin'') *''Who Wants a Green Bottle? and Other Uneasy Tales'' (1926)
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" *''Freaks and Fantasies'' (2007)
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" **"Spurs"

Poetry collections

*''The Scales of Justice and Other Poems'' (1915)

Pulp magazine appearances

*'' Parisienne'', February 1917 ("Married") *''

All-Story Weekly ''Argosy'', later titled ''The Argosy'', ''Argosy All-Story Weekly'' and ''The New Golden Argosy'', was an American pulp magazine from 1882 through 1978, published by Frank Munsey until its sale to Popular Publications in 1942. It is the first ...

'', July 14, 1917 ("The Terrible Three", i.e., ''The Unholy Three'') *''

The Smart Set ''The Smart Set'' was an American literary magazine, founded by Colonel William d'Alton Mann and published from March 1900 to June 1930. Its headquarters was in New York City. During its Jazz Age heyday under the editorship of H. L. Mencken and ...

'', April 1918 ("Silent, White and Beautiful") *''All-Story Weekly'', April 5, 1919 ("The Living Portrait") *''

The Thrill Book ''The Thrill Book'' was a U.S. pulp magazine published by Street & Smith in 1919. It was intended to carry "different" stories: this meant stories that were unusual or unclassifiable, which in practice often meant the stories were Fantasy genre ...

'', September 1919 ("Fragments") *''All-Story Weekly'', October 25, 1919 ("The Whimpus") *''

Munsey's Magazine ''Munsey's Weekly'', later known as ''Munsey's Magazine'', was a 36-page quarto American magazine founded by Frank A. Munsey in 1889 and edited by John Kendrick Bangs. Frank Munsey aimed to publish "a magazine of the people and for the people, wit ...

'', January 1921 ("The Toys of Fate") *''Munsey's Magazine'', February 1923 ("Spurs") *''

Everybody's Magazine ''Everybody's Magazine'' was an American magazine published from 1899 to 1929. The magazine was headquartered in New York City. History and profile The magazine was founded by Philadelphia merchant John Wanamaker in 1899, though he had little role ...

'', November 1923 ("For His Lady Friend") *'' The Forum'', 1925 ("The Child and the Man") *''

Famous Fantastic Mysteries ''Famous Fantastic Mysteries'' was an American science fiction and fantasy pulp magazine published from 1939 to 1953. The editor was Mary Gnaedinger. It was launched by the Munsey Company as a way to reprint the many science fiction and fantasy ...

'', September 1939 ("The Whimpus") *''Famous Fantastic Mysteries'', September 1942 ("Wild Wullie, the Waster") *''

Super Science and Fantastic Stories Super may refer to: Computing * SUPER (computer program), or Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer, a video converter / player * Super (computer science), a keyword in object-oriented programming languages * Super key (keyboard but ...

'', June 1945 ("The Toys of Fate") *''

Fantastic Novels Magazine The fantastic (french: le fantastique) is a subgenre of literary works characterized by the ambiguous presentation of seemingly supernatural forces. Bulgarian-French structuralist literary critic Tzvetan Todorov originated the concept, charact ...

'', November 1948 ("The Terrible Three") *''Fantastic Novels Magazine'', March 1949 ("The Toys of Fate") *''Fantastic Novels Magazine'', November 1949 ("The Living Portrait") *'' Zoetrope: All-Story'', Fall 2002 ("Spurs")

Anthology appearances

*''Creeps'' (1932), ed.

("Silent, White and Beautiful", "Spurs" and "Cockcrow Inn") *''Shudders'' (1932), ed. Charles Birkin ("Toys") *''Shivers'' (1933), ed. Charles Birkin ("Wild Wullie, the Waster" and "Who Wants a Green Bottle?") *''Nightmares'' (1933), ed. Charles Birkin ("The Whimpus") *''Thrills'' (1935), ed. Charles Birkin ("The Confession") *''The Freak Show: Tales of Fantasy and Horror'' (1970), ed. Peter Haining ("Spurs") *''The Ghouls'' (1971), ed. Peter Haining ("Freaks", i.e., "Spurs") *''Hallowe'en Hauntings: Stories About the Most Ghostly Night of the Year'' (1984), ed. Peter Haining ("Cockcrow Inn") *''Famous Fantastic Mysteries'' (1991), ed.

Stefan R. Dziemanozicz Stefan may refer to: * Stefan (given name) * Stefan (surname) * Ștefan, a Romanian given name and a surname * Štefan, a Slavic given name and surname * Stefan (footballer) (born 1988), Brazilian footballer * Stefan Heym, pseudonym of Germa ...

, Robert Weinberg and

Martin N. Greenburg Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands A ...

("The Toys of Fate") *''The People of the Pit'' (2010), ed. Gene Christie ("The Living Portrait") *''The Best American Noir of the Century'' (2010), ed. James Ellroy, Otto Penzler ("Spurs")

References

External links

Tod Robbins at the Supernatural Fiction DatabaseTod Robbins
at Fantastic Fiction *
Ebook version of "Spurs" (in PDF format)
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Robbins, Tod 1888 births 1949 deaths 20th-century American novelists American horror writers American male novelists American short story writers Washington and Lee University alumni Novelists from Virginia American male short story writers American emigrants to France American weird fiction writers 20th-century American male writers