Tod Robbins

For the magician, see Todd Robbins.

Clarence Aaron "Tod" Robbins (1888–1949), 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.

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.

Robbins authored two short story collections and several novels. His work often contains bizarre and frightening plots, sometimes influenced by writers like Oscar Wilde (Robbins' "The Living Portrait" is a homage to The Picture of Dorian Gray)[1] and Robert W. Chambers.[2] Robbins's Mysterious Martin (1912) is an early novel about a serial killer.[1] His novel 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.[1] Some of Robbins's work was later reprinted in the "Creeps" series of horror anthologies edited by Charles Birkin.[1]

E. F. Bleiler described Robbins' Who Wants A Green Bottle? as "excellent commercial fiction, with good little touches".[3]

Emigration

Robbins emigrated to the French Riviera from New York City and refused to leave during the Nazi occupation of France. He spent the war in a concentration camp and died in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in 1949.[2]

Bibliography

Novels

Robbins's The Unholy Three was reprinted in Fantastic Novels in 1948 (under a slightly modified title)

Short story collections

Poetry collections

Pulp magazine appearances

Anthology appearances

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Brian Stableford, "Robbins, Tod", in David Pringle, ed., St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost & Gothic Writers (London: St. James Press, 1998) ISBN 1558622063
  2. 1 2 "His [Robbins'] fascination for murder and morbid psychology shows the influence of the Decadent movement 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). ISBN 1605430757
  3. ↑ E. F. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction, Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1983.

External links

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