St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1943-03-26

his first appearance IN almost three
years in the Twin Cities in a
"double-header" of concerts with
the Minneapolis Symphony Orches-
ira at Northrop Memorial Audi
forum on the University of Min
nesota campus, Friday and Satur-
day nights, April 2 and 8.
The first concert is regular SYM
phony night with the second be-
ing arranged in tribute to Robeson's
tremendous popularity in the field
of song. His is one of the greatest
drawing powers that has been ex-
perienced on the American concert
stage in the musical history of this
country.
"Giant of Song" the critic of the
Chicago Herald-American called
Paul Robson. He was speaking of
the incompatible artist who drew
100000 people to Chicago's huge
Grant Park open-air concert last
summer, and kept them alternately
spellbound and cheering while he
sang the well-loved familiar spir-
ituals as only he can sing them.
But Robson is not only "Giant
of Song; he is also giant of a
understanding six feet three inches
and weighing 230 pounds. His
sLlendidly proportional frame has
inspired the sculptor Epstein with
one of his finest works. Robson
has also sat for the sculptors An
tonic Salemme and Paul Manship.
Although Robson has sung be-
fore royalty in England and has
been hailed in the capitals of
Europe, he is a man of simple
tastes. He remains one of his own
people. eff through my singing"
he says, ~ can bring about a closer
sympathy between the people of
other races and my own race-if I
can give voice to their joys and sor-
rows-their never-ending hope, I
shall feel that I have done a good
work"
Robson is a college mana
graduate of Rutgers and Columbia
Universities, with degrees from
both institutions. He is athlete,
scholar, actor, singer, and out
standing in each of these fields.
He was born in Princeton, N. j.,
on April 9, 1898. His father, born
in slavery, was a minister-his
mother, a school teacher. The
family moved some years later to
Somerville, N. j., where Robson
went to school and sang in the
choir of his fathers church. Even
before he entered Rutgers, he had
made a reputation for himself as a
debater. One day, two Rutgers pro-
fessors, acting as judges in a high
school debate in which Robson
took part, were impressed by his
sincerity and his powerful, moving
voice. They asked him later if he
had thought of college, and encour-
aged him to enter Rutgers.
Robson did so with the idea of
following in his fathers footsteps
and becoming preacher. But his
prowess at football was such as to
make him All-End man for two
seasons. After winning his degree
in Rutgers he played for two sea-
sons in professional football. Then
he decided to take a postgraduate
degree in law at Columbia.
Always an enthusiast for anna
teur dramatics, he was appearing
one evening in a YMCA produc-
ton in Harlem, at which Robert
Edmund Jones and Kenneth Mac
Gowen were present. They spot
ted" him, recommended him to
Eugene O'Neill. When O'Neill's
Emperor Jones" was revived a few
years later, Robson was chosen
for the title role.
No one was more surprised than
Robson himself when a wildly
enthusiastic audience brought him
again and again to the footlights.
From then on, Robeson's career
has been connected with the foot
lights. He has been acclaimed in
ternationally, both as actor and
singer; for in both fields it is the
magnificence of his vocal powers
that give color both to speech and
song. .....