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David Rubinoff
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David Rubinoff (September 3, 1897 - October 6, 1986) was a well-known violinist who performed on radio shows in the 1930s and 1940s, showcasing his $100,000 Stradivarius violin. Along with performing in schools, theaters, and clubs, he gave multiple concerts at the White House in the 1940s. At times, his billing appeared as Rubinoff and his Violin.
Born in Russia, Rubinoff was the son of impoverished parents. All that was needed to put him on the path to stardom was his innate tendencies and his mother's love. When he was five years old, his mother gave him a unique little violin. His talent was so great that, in just two years, he was considered a prodigy.
When Victor Herbert[1] visited and heard young Rubinoff in Poland, he was so moved by the youngster violinist that he transported him to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he lived as his pupil. By that time, he had graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Warsaw with the highest honors.
Rubinoff married his first wife Dorothy Linnelle-Linorle in 1916, they had a daughter Ruby Rubinoff who later became Ruby Klaman. Rubinoff began his career on the Eddie Cantor Show and went on to travel the nation, performing at venues like the Palace.
He made his radio debut on The Chase and Sanborn Hour with his ensemble, which he later dubbed Rubinoff and his ensemble. From 1935 to 1936, he had his own show on NBC thanks to his radio popularity.
Rubinoff later divorced Dorothy and married Ruth Blanche Sheffer, the two later divorced. He also worked for some of the music on the Betty Boop radio show. He worked with nightclub entertainer Bonnie Poe. He also employed Poe's younger sister Evelyn Poe to work for him.[2]
He provided the instrumental music for the Fleischer Studios' 1933 Betty Boop cartoons Morning, Noon and Night and Parade of the Wooden Soldiers.
In 1934,[3] baby-talk nightclub singer and former hatcheck girl and hostess Pauline Taylor[4] sued Rubinoff for breach-of-promise. Her campaign against Rubinoff started to gain little traction around 1935 to 1936, up until she found a famous magazine publishing company that paid her to distribute her story.
Taylor claimed that Rubinoff had wooed her by inviting her to view an etching collection at his flat, then turned down her proposal of marriage when she said she was expecting.
Taylor initially wanted Rubinoff to pay her $100,000 and eventually $500,000.
At the same time Rubinoff was sued by his ex-wife Blanche Sheffer for $169,000. Blanche remarried and became Blanche Moreland. Blanche was later jailed and charged in Chicago for careless driving. Taylor's case against Rubinoff was dismissed.
In 1937, Taylor and her husband were jailed and indicted for bigamy and perjury,[5] Taylor replied by warning girls not to get into balm suits. It turns out that, contrary to her allegations that Rubinoff was a bigamist, she was married and had engaged in bigamy with her spouse, Michael LaRocca. Also Taylor's first marriage at the age of 11 was still binding, therefore she could not contract another.
LaRocca was wed to Kathleen LaRocca, his first wife, and the two did not legally part ways. At the time Taylor married LaRocca, therefore because she went through a ceremony with him, she was liable to prosecution. Kathleen Murray LaRocca said that she was Michael's "real wife" and the mother of their three children.
Rubinoff's earlier suit with Miss Taylor sealed her fate and led to the arrests of she and her husband. Miss Taylor was indicted as a bigamist.
He wed Mertice Lou Dean Ashby in 1942, he met her while she serving as an usher at a concert which he played in Wichita Falls, Texasand, the two of them raised a number of kids. After teaching his red-headed son to play the violin, he presented him to the crowd.
Rubinoff later retired, residing in a Columbus, Ohio, suburb, and still occasionally played the violin. In 1972, he married Darlene Azar Smith in Ohio.
Quotes
- David Rubinoff: "I think Pauline Taylor's a character assassin." (1937)
Death
- On March 1, 1986, David, at 89 years old, went to be with the Lord in Ohio.
Trivia
- He was born in Grodno, Russian Empire.
- Eddie Cantor said in a 1934 interview that Rubinoff was "so dumb" and was unable to read. Cantor said that Rubinoff got a letter from his sweetheart one day and asked him to read it for him. Rubinoff put his fingers in Cantor's ears because he didn't want him to hear what she had written.
- Numerous young ladies who worked in nightclubs, such as Bonnie Poe, Evelyn Poe, and Pauline Taylor and others, were among the women that Rubinoff had affairs with. He was married several times and was survived by seven grandchildren.
- Pauline Taylor caused Rubinoff misery when she went to sell her story. However her lawsuit and claims against him being a "bigamist" eventually led to her arrest for "bigamy" several years later. Though Rubinoff was "unfaithful" to a majority of his ex-wives, he legally divorced them.