David Rubinoff Autographs, Memorabilia & Collectibles

Violinist David Rubinoff (1897-1986), born in Grodno, Poland in the Russian Empire (now Hrodna, Belarus) began playing the violin at age five and performed with the Russian Army band before entering the Royal Conservatory of Music in Warsaw. For his graduation (at age 11), Rubinoff wrote "The Dance of the Russian Peasant", which he performed before an audience that included Victor Herbert. The composer, cellist and conductor brought Rubinoff and his family to the U.S., where Rubinoff performed at hotels and theatres before breaking into radio. Rubinoff, who headed his own orchestra and played with Eddie Cantor in theatres and on radio, was a featured performer (1930-1937) on the popular radio program, Chase & Sanborn Hour (hosted by Cantor), for which he wrote the overture, "Slavonic Fantasy". Rubinoff, who also was heard on radio shows for Rexall, Pebeco and Chevrolet, was an excellent showman, and he appeared as several films as well as on the stage. His credits include Morning, Noon and Night and Parade of the Wooden Soldiers (both 1933 as a performer and conductor), Thanks a Million (1935), You Can't Have Everything (1937) and Melody Masters: Rubinoff and his Violin (1939), and Rubinoff was also a guest on TV's The Colgate Comedy Hour (1953). Dedicated to promoting a love for music in young people, Rubinoff performed at hundreds of school assemblies, and he also played in hospitals and prisons, entertained troops during WWII, Korea and Vietnam and gave concerts for Presidents Hoover, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson. Rubinoff, who usually billed himself as "Rubinoff and his Violin", played a Stradivarius made in 1731 by Antonio Stradivari in Cremona, Italy.