A. Robins

Adolf Proper was the son of a Viennese textile manufacturer; he left home as a teenager to go into show business as a street performer, and changed his last name to "Robins", as he said, "Like Rubens, the painter." He traveled through Europe in his younger days as a comedian who used musical instruments in his act before coming to America where he perfected his classic act where he would pull an amazing array of objects from a long black floor length overcoat - various fruits and vegetables, including many bunches of bananas; musical instruments and other objects. He was an inventor and innovator - he made all of his own props - and held a couple of U.S. patents. Although he never completely retired, around the beginning of World War II, with his agent, Karl Taussig, Robins opened the Tip Top Toy Company in White Plains, New York, where he sold handmade toys, theatrical props and costumes.