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Web Exclusives:
Under the Ivy January 26, 2005: A star is born The legendary takeoff of Stan Rubin ’55’s musical career It’s the way legends are born: A freshman clarinet player is riding a ferry home from the Princeton-Navy football game. Along the way he dares to jam with the on-board entertainment, Rivers’ Chambers band, and wows both the professionals and the thousands of alumni in the audience. Three years later, Stan Rubin ’55 and the Tigertown Five were headlining at Carnegie Hall. “That any appreciable number of people should turn out at midnight to hear a bunch of kids from Princeton toot and strum in the august music hall may seem preposterous,” read an unsigned cover article, “Music is Cool and for Listening,” in PAW on Dec, 3, 1954. “But those who have heard the Tigertown Five at Reunions know that, for a jazz enthusiast, the trip was worth it.” Rubin, said PAW, “is not only a fine clarinetist, but a hard-riding organizer and promoter” – a truth that would be borne out over the next 50 years of the Stan Rubin Orchestra’s success. (And he is still making music: A regular at Princeton Reunions, Rubin is scheduled to play “all three nights” at his class’ 50th reunion this year, says class secretary John Paul.) According to PAW, the original undergraduate band “followed the usual pattern.” Some might question how “usual” the journey was, however. “After attracting some notice on campus, it achieved its first big success at Penn’s Skimmer Day [a Penn tradition, since abolished, in which hats would be worn in celebration of a crew team's victory] in the spring of ’52. … The next stop was an appearance on Paul Whiteman’s radio and television shows. In between engagements at eastern colleges, there was an invitation to play at Jimmy Ryan’s Dixieland bistro in New York and a spring vacation devoted to entertaining the guests at Bermuda’s Elbow Beach Surf Club. That summer the Five earned passage to Europe, playing on one of the student ships of the Holland-American Line. “Landing on the Continent without funds or the promise of a single engagement, the Five played for their supper through France and Italy, stopped traffic on the streets of Paris and the Riviera. On the strength of such impromptu auditions, they picked up one-night stands and appearances in such lush playgrounds as Maxim’s and Tabaris. For Elsa Maxwell they entertained a Riviera party which included King Farouk, Hedy Lamarr, Count Bernadotte, Merle Oberon and the Marquis of Milford-Haven.” Upon their return, they played, among other gigs, for Perry Como’s television show. That “usual” debut was followed by a lifetime of heady achievement by Stan Rubin and the various incarnations of his orchestra. His Web page, at stanrubin.com, tells of his really big break, which came when he was a senior: “While preparing for final exams Rubin was persuaded to play at a party for Manny Sacks, then-president of Victor records, and vice president of NBC color television. Present was Grace Kelly, recent winner of an Academy Award for Country Girl. ‘We alternated sets with Prez Prado’ [Rubin said]. ‘So I had a half hour on, a half hour off. I decided I was going to dance with her.’ “To his surprise and delight she knew of him, and they hit it off during their brief whirl about the floor. A few months later when he read of her imminent wedding to Prince Ranier and a rumor circulated that Louis Armstrong was to play for the guests, Stan wrote to ask if she would also consider his band.” Armstrong wasn’t hired after all. But Kelly said to Rubin, “I’d love to have you. The Prince knows of you from when you played on the Riviera in the summer of ’53.’’ The publicity from that gig launched Rubin’s career. The Web site shows pictures of him with an array of luminaries: Lionel Hampton, Julie Andrews, Elizabeth Taylor, Sammy Davis Jr., Dionne Warwick, Ray Charles. His success would bear out what Louis Armstrong – the guy
who didn’t get Princess Grace’s wedding gig
– had to say about the young Stan Rubin and his band, according
to PAW: “Man, you cats really have what it takes. I never
heard young kids blow like that.” Jane Martin ’89 is PAW's former editor-in-chief. You can reach her at paw@princeton.edu
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