Tenth Letter of the Alphabet: Creator: Robert J. Wildhack

Monday, January 18, 2016

Creator: Robert J. Wildhack

ROBERT JOHN WILDHACK

Born: August 27, 1881, Pekin, Illinois

Above: R.J. Wildhack, 1917, Library of Congress

Manual Training High School
Indianapolis, Indiana
1898 Hand and Mind Yearbook (below)

Manual Training High School
Indianapolis, Indiana
1899 Hand and Mind Yearbook (below)

1900 UNITED STATES FEDERAL CENSUS
1201 Broadway, Indianapolis, Indiana
Household Members:
Name / Age
William Wildhack, 46
Julia Wildhack, 40
Robert J. Wildhack, 18 [Clerk, Indiana Trust Company]
Geo O. Wildhack, 16
Ednia K Berney, 3
Amandia Gydens, 45

The Indianapolis Journal
(Indiana)
June 5, 1900
High School Exhibit
The Art Displayed Viewed by Hundreds of People.
Talent of High Order Indicated by Some of the Work—Will Continue This Week
…The display credited to the Manual Training High School is never without a large quota of visitors. Expressions of admiration of the handsome collection of drawings and pictures were frequently heard. A reproduction of a bas relief of a woman and child, the work of R. J. Wildhack, is prominent in the Training School exhibit. Mr. Wildhack has quite a list of sketches to which his name is appended. In this group more book cover designs are found, also nature sketches in water colors, together with a variety of crayon and charcoal designs.

The Indianapolis Journal
(Indiana)
June 17, 1900
Friday evening a dance was given at the home of Miss Vitae Bruce , on College avenue. Those present were…Mr. Robert Wildhack

1901 Indianapolis, Indiana, City Directory
Robert J. Wildhack, Student
1201 Broadway

1902 Indianapolis, Indiana, City Directory
Robert J. Wildhack, Artist
1201 Broadway

The Indianapolis Journal
(Indiana)
February 1, 1902
Julia Marlowe portrait advertisement in the Sentinel

The Indianapolis Journal
(Indiana)
June 21, 1902
Manual Training Alumni.
Punch was served by the young women of the school, and refreshments were served in one of the rooms. A fortune teller in Room 2 explained the future to inquiring visitors, and the separate classes passed the evening in discussing experiences. A new set of officers was chosen for the ensuing year. Andrew T. Wylie, ’00. was elected president, and Morton Traub, ’97,vice president. The office of secretary was given to Harry Hunt. ’02. and the members of the board of control are Ralph Peck, ’98, and Robert Wildhack, ’99.

The Indianapolis Journal
(Indiana)
July 20, 1902
A Neighborhood House
Impersonations will be given by Mr. Messing and Mr. Robert Wildhack.

1903 Indianapolis, Indiana, City Directory
Robert J. Wildhack, Student
1201 Broadway

1904 Indianapolis, Indiana, City Directory
Robert J. Wildhack, Student
1201 Broadway

The New York Clipper
June 10, 1905
The Playwrights League Club gave the first of a series of original one act plays, “The Heart of a Boy,” by Charles Edwin Vallance, of Elkhart, Ind., at its last meeting. The play, an idyl of childhood, was done Little Bonnie Maud, Joseph Converse and Robert J. Wildhack…

The New York Dramatic Mirror
June 17, 1905
The Heart of a Boy, by Charles Edwin Vallance, of Elkhart, Ind., had its first performance before the members and guests of the Playwrights’ League Club, at the last meeting. Little Bonnie Maud, Joseph Converse, and Robert J. Wildhack were engaged. The play was a one-act drama, a romance of childhood days. It is the first of a series of one-act plays which will be given by the club. The next, on June 12, was Oreatly Improved, a comedy by E. S. Hopkins, Jr., president of the club, and written for Bonenie [sic] Maud and Joseph Converse.

The Salt Lake Tribune
(Salt Lake City, Utah)
September 9, 1907
Robert J. Wildhack, artist advertiser from Now York, a nephew of Kent O. Keyes of the New York. Central lines in this city and L. J. Keyes, city ticket and passenger agent of the Harriman lines here, and son of W. H. Wildhack, auditor of the Lake Erie & Western railway at Indianapolis, Ind., is a Salt Lake visitor. He leaves tomorrow for his home in the East. Mr. Wildhack has spent several weeks in the mountain region in the interest of the newspapers and magazines which he represents. He has taken a large number of pictures during his visit. He expresses himself as happily surprised and delighted at the resources of Salt Lake City and that portion of Utah which he has visited. During his tour of the West, he has spent several weeks in the Nevada districts. He is taken with Utah, however, and declares that the camps which he has visited are the best he has seen.

Agricultural Advertising
December 1907
Fine Printing—Does It Pay? (below)
I was first attracted to Wildhack’s drawing by a series of magazine newsstand posters

The Reader: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine
December 1907
The Baby and the Pirates
Illustrated by Robert J. Wildhack

The Automobile
December 12, 1907
New Trade Publication
United under the same outside wrapper, a couple of elegant booklets have been sent forth from the Electric Vehicle Company’s publicity department, at Hartford, Conn., one dealing with gasoline and the other with electric cars. Both are excellent examples of the typographical art, and are further enhanced in value by a colored frontispiece signed by Wildhack.

The Circular Staircase
1908 Poster

Putnam’s Monthly & the Reader
October 1908
At an exhibition of posters held at the National Arts Club some time ago I was particularly impress with the work of Wildhack. The name was new to me and I made inquiries concerning him. I learned nothing more, however, than that he was quite young and that he had studied in the French school. While Mr. Wildhack’s work shows French influences it is at the same time quite original. No idea of its quality can be given by these reproductions in black and white. His designs are always in color, two tints, seldom more. It is the swish of his brush, the chic and the atmosphere that gives his work its distinction.

The Shoe Retailer
February 20, 1909
Ralston Show Poster (below)
Retailer has received from the advertising department of the Ralston Health Shoemakers, a handsome roster, beautifully printed in colors, from an original drawing by John Wildhack...

Boot and Shoe Recorder
February 24, 1909
A Unique Poster. (above)
Printed on linen and reinforced top and bottom by wood, this poster is, while on the freakish order, nevertheless strong in its attractiveness. It is designed by Wildhack, a well known poster artist...

Life
December 16, 1909 (below)

New York Tribune
May 8, 1909
Art Exhibitions.
Some American Water Colors, Etchings and Illustrations.

1910 New York, New York City Directory
Robert J. Wildhack, Artist
120 East 23d Street, Room 11, Manhattan

American Art Annual
Volume 12
Florence N. Levy, Editor
The American Federation of Arts, 1910
Wildhack, Robert J., 120 East 23d St., New York, N. Y.; and 1201 Broadway, Indianapolis, Ind. (I., Designer.)

New York, New York, Marriage Index
Robert J Wildhack and Flora Kruger
February 8, 1910, Manhattan, New York

Printers’ Ink
May 11, 1910
The Tendency Toward Simplicity in Advertising Art.
By Robert J. Wildhack.
Reproductions of Mr. Wildhack's drawings are used to illustrate his article

The American Magazine
August 1910
Front cover
The Pierce Arrow (back cover below)

The International Studio
September 1910
A Magazine Cover and Advertisement Designed Together

The front and back covers of the American Magazine for August show the working out of an original idea. The rear cover is a continuation of the drawing in front, although each makes a design complete in itself.

The back cover is an advertisement of the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company. The advertiser cooperated with the American Magazine in producing this interesting result. The artist was Robert J. Wildhack. His original drawing was in four pigments—black, gray, red and buff—which, with the white paper, make five colors.

Magazines as well as advertisers are slowly but steadily coming to believe that it is better always to follow the accepted standards of good taste than to go counter to them. The treatment of the outside of a magazine so that the entire cover is one harmonious whole marks a step in this direction and is a distinct advance in cover designing and advertising enterprise.

The Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company has shown progressiveness in inventing such a design, and the American Magazine a willingness to foster originality in allowing its use. The innovation thus begun might very well be more generally used by magazines in the future.

Collier’s
December 17, 1910

1911 New York, New York City Directory
Robert J. Wildhack, Artist
120 East 23d Street, Room 11, Manhattan

The San Francisco Call
(California)
March 28, 1911
Works of Famous Artists Is Shown
There are a number of outside cover designs like Wildhack’s Christmas cover for Life, “I Know There Is No Santa Claus,”...

New York Herald
(New York)
December 24, 1911
News Notes of the Trade and Industry
Hundreds of letters have been received by the Columbia Motor Car Company in appreciation of the latest catalogue of Columbia cars, which marks an advance in business literature and offers a brand new note in commercial illustration. The catalogue was designed by the poster artist, Robert J. Wildhack. The scheme of decorative treatment is German. It shows originality in the manner in which it is adapted to Columbia motor cars.

Automobile Topics
December 30, 1911
...It was designed by Robert J. Wildhack, the poster artist, and the decorative treatment is highly German. Prominence is given to the Columbia models employing the Silent Knight engine...

The Printing Art Sample Book
February 1912, Volume IX, Number 1
Columbia Car Knight Motors (below)

Judge
April 6, 1912
The Wail of Caricaturists

Life
May 23, 1912 (below)

Life
September 12, 1912 (below)

Life
December 19, 1912 (below)

Brooklyn Life
(New York)
December 21, 1912
Auto Owners
42421 Clark—R.J. Wildhack

The Graphic Arts and Crafts Year Book
Volume 6
Republican Publishing Company, 1913
page 73: Robert J. Wildhack did an interesting one showing a plant in the still of night.

…The Columbia Knight car illustration (page 76) is a drawing by Robert J. Wildhack, the poster artist, and is the result of the writer’s effort to obtain a distinctive illustrative scheme. The book was printed in one color only from plates by the Beck Engraving Co. The printing was difficult for the wide range of grays and blacks secured in a single printing.

Posters
A Critical Study of the Development of Poster Design in Continental Europe, England and America
Charles Matlack Price
G.W. Bricka, 1913
Robert J. Wildhack art
page 195: The Pierce Arrow
page 197: Scribner’s Magazine Poster
page 199: Century Magazine Poster
page 201: The Circular Staircase
page 203: Sketches (below)
page 361: Collier’s Weekly Cover

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
May 3, 1913
Burglars at Greenlawn
Wildhack House Ransacked by “Amateur” Thieves

The Daily Long Island Farmer
(Jamaica, New York)
May 5, 1913
Burglars at Greenlawn.
The summer home of Robert J. Wildhack between Greenlawn and Elwood, was burglarized and property valued at $250 stolen. A new velvet rug was carted away. Silverware and clothing were taken.

Brooklyn Life
(New York)
October 18, 1913
New Automobile License Numbers. Brooklyn and Long Island Registrations for 1913.
54198 Clark—R.J. Wildhack, Greenlawn

The American Architect
November 20, 1913
Artistic Advertising
Redeeming the Billboard from the Commonplace

“In the United States we are undoubtedly making great strides in our advertising art. The Leyendecker Brothers, Maxfield Parrish, Gould, Wildhack, Fancher and others, have made excellent posters, but we have yet to develop an American advertising art which shall give in sprightly and humorous vein, and with masterly handling of line and color, something of the genial breeziness of American character.

New York Tribune
November 26, 1913
Artists to Honor J. Alden Wier

Associated Advertising
January 1914
...The Leyendecker brothers, Maxfield Parrish, Penfield, Gould, Wildhack, Fancher and others, have made excellent posters, but...

Variety
January 2, 1914
Robert J. Wildhack is suing Arthur Hopkins for $600 which Wildhack says Hopkins owes him for certain drawings and sketches he was employed to make for the producer. Hopkins denies that he ever engaged Wildhack. Gregg & McGovern are appearing for Wildhack while Hoppins’ side is represented by the O’Brien-Malevinsky-Driscoll firm.

New York Herald
February 16, 1914
Plays for Illustrators.
In the Berkeley Theatre, on Thursday night, two plays by members of the Society of Illustrators will be presented by members of that body for the diversion and edification of other members.

One play is by Mr. Charles B. Falls. Its title is “Perfectly Happy, or the Adventure of the Hunchback King with His Delicately Philandering King and the Three Hunchback Lovers and the Lord Chamberlain.” Despite its name the play is short. The other play, described as a satirical pantomime with motion pictures is the work of Messrs. Robert J. Wildhack and F..G. Drayton. They have called it “Plague of My Art.” Mr. Falls and Miss Kay Laurell, a model, will play his play. The players in the other play will be Messrs. Leajren a’Hiller, Martine Justice, C. Allen Gilbert, Howard Heath, R.M. Brinkerhoff, Charles D. Williams, Jack Bryant, Will Foster, David Robinson, Charles Voight, Robert J. Wildhack and Harry Grant Dart.

The New York Times
February 16, 1914
Artists to Produce Plays
“Perfectly Happy” and “Plague of My Art” to Be Acted on Thursday
The Society of Illustrators will present two plays at the Berkeley Theater next Thursday night. The plays will touch upon the sex question as well as other leading topics of the day. Charles B. Falls, decorative artist and playwright, has written one of them entitled “Perfectly Happy.” It is called a decorative pantomime and will be accompanied by music composed by John T. McGovern.

The other play will be “Plague of My Art.” It is two scenes and a movie picture reel, and written by Robert J. Wildhack and F.E. Dayton. The play shows what art will be 1,000 years from now. It is suggested that art critics and magazine editors bring their own fire escapes.

Charles Dana Gibson is President of the society. Arthur I. Keller, Vice President, and Henry S. Fleming, Secretary and Treasurer. Other members are E.M. Ashe, Edward pen field, E.L. Blumenschoen, F.G. Cooper, J.A. Williams, Boardman Robinson, Harry Townsend, Wallace Morgan, Lejaren a’Hiller, Charles D. Williams, C. Allan Gilbert and Harry Grant Dart.

The New York Dramatic Mirror
February 18, 1914
Artists Give Plays
The Society of Illustrators will present two “super-dramas” in verse as part of their annual frolic on Friday at the Berkeley Theater. The first is entitled Perfectly Happy, or The Adventures of the Hunchback King with His Delicately Philandering Queen and The Three Hunchback Lovers and The Lord Chamberlain. The author, Charles B. Falls, the illustrator, calls it “decorative pantomime.” Plague of My Heart, the second play, is in two scenes and a moving picture reel, and is by Robert J. Wildhack and F.E. Dayton. Charles Dana Gibson presides.

New York Herald
February 20, 1914
Artists and Illustrators Burlesque Art (below)

New York Tribune
February 22, 1914
American Illustrators Make Wild Plunge Into Farce
The Princess Hoyo de Monterey, nee Robert J. Wildhack, Sketched by Mr. Wildhack. (below)

New York Tribune
August 3, 1914
The Conning Tower
Dulcinea in the Studio. (below)

Brooklyn Life
(New York)
November 28, 1914
New Automobile License Numbers. Brooklyn and Long Island Registrations for 1913.
42670 McInt.—R.J. Wildhack, Greenlawn

1915 NEW YORK STATE CENSUS
Greenlawn and Commack Road, Huntington, Long Island
Household Members:
Name / Age
Robert J. Wildhack, 33 [Book Cover Artist]
Flora K. Wildhack, 33
Marjorie J. Wildhack, 2
Meketa Trytek, 19
Fedor Koke, 28

American Art Annual
Volume 12
Florence N. Levy
The American Federation of Arts, 1915
page 504: Wildhack, Robert J., 114 East 13th St.; h. 269 West 12th St., New York, N.Y.; summer, Greenlawn, L I., N. Y.
I., P. — Born Pekin, Ill., Aug. 27, 1881. Pupil of Robert Henri in New York; Member: SI 1910; Salma. C. Specialty, posters.

The Washington Herald
(Washington, D.C.)
March 1, 1915
Sketches of Little Old New York

The Long Islander
(Huntington, New York)
June 18, 1915
Greenlawn
Robert J. Wildhack, after passing the winter in Manhattan, has returned to his summer home here.

The Moving Picture World
July 24, 1915
Metro Art Poster Department
Among those who have already made posters or are making them for Metro may be mentioned C. B. Falls, the well known illustrator, Robert J. Wildhack, probably the best poster artist in this country.

The American Printer
December 5, 1915
What a Poster Contest Brought Forth

Cartoons Magazine
January 1916
Many Call—But Few Get In

Life
January 6, 1916 (below)

The Sun
(New York, New York)
January 30, 1916
Illustrators and Artists Have a “Regular Circus”
Photograph includes Wildhack and his wife

The Daily Telegram
(Clarksburg, West Virginia)
March 7, 1916
Sketches of Little Old New York

New York Tribune
April 9, 1916
How to Make Money: I—Child Labor

New York Tribune
April 16, 1916
How to Make Money: II—Start Right

New York Tribune
April 23, 1916
How to Make Money: III—The Candy Kids

New York Tribune
April 30, 1916
How to Make Money: IV—Digging for Gold

New York Tribune
May 7, 1916
How to Make Money: V—Correspondence Schooling

New York Tribune
May 14, 1916
How to Make Money: VI—Stock Juggling

New York Tribune
May 21, 1916
How to Make Money: VII—Counterfeiting

New York Tribune
May 28, 1916
How to Make Money: VIII—Short-Changing

Cartoons Magazine
June 1916
The New York Sunday Tribune magazine is running a series of four-column cartoons by Robert J. Wildhack, captioned “How to Make Money.” There isn’t any doubt that Bob Wildhack himself knows how to make money for he has just added the third car to his automobile stable.

New York Tribune
June 11, 1916
How to Make Money: IX—Marrying It

New York Tribune
June 18, 1916
How to Make Money: X—Be a Waiter

Iron Tradesman
July 1916
Poster Contest.
group of the world’s greatest poster artists; Louis Faneher, C. B. Falls, Robert J. Wildhack, F. G. Cooper and Franklin Bittner.

New York Tribune
July 16, 1916
How to Make Money: XI—The Public Servant

New York Tribune
July 23, 1916
How to Make Money: XII—Comic Artistry (below)

New York Tribune
August 6, 1916
How to Make Money: XIII—The Law Game

New York Tribune
August 13, 1916
How to Make Money: XIV—Magazine Covers (below)

New York Tribune
August 20, 1916
How to Make Money: XV—Strike Breaking

New York Tribune
October 1, 1916
“Gotham Gleanings”
Bob Wildhack

New York Tribune
October 3, 1916
“The Conning Tower”
Bob Wildhack

Evening Public Ledger
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
November 10, 1916
Bob Wildhack writes to thank us for our puff of his forthcoming Victor record on “The Snore” and “The Sneeze.” ”But,” he says, “it won’t be out until January. There will be snores enough after the Xmas dinner, and why spoil the day with sneezes?”

We suspect him of switching just to get this extra notice.

Life
November 30, 1916 (below)

Catalogue of Copyright Entries, Part 1, Group 2, Pamphets, etc., 1916, New Series, Volume 13, Number 12
Stone (The) Age Cabaret; play in 2 scenes, by R.J. Wildhack. [1], 10 p. fol. Typewritten. [32049 © 1 c. Dec. 7, 1916; D 45598; Robert J. Wildhack, New York.

New York Herald
December 16, 1916
Academy Opens Exhibition; Nude Wins Chief Prize
[National Academy of Design exhibition at the American Fine Arts Society galleries]
…Robert J. Wildhack’s vivid vocal illustrations in his lecture on the isolation and classification of the human snore were the only intimation of somnolence at the annual “Varnishing Day” diner.

New York Tribune
December 31, 1916
“Gotham Gleanings”
Bob Wildhack

American Art Annual
Volume 14
Florence N. Levy
The American Federation of Arts, 1917
page 645: Wildhack, Robert J., 114 East 13th St.; h. Greenlawn, L I., N. Y.
I., P. — Born Pekin, Ill., Aug. 27, 1881. Pupil of Robert Henri in New York; Otto Stark in Indianapolis. Member: SI 1910; Salma. C. Specialty, posters.

Catalog of Victor Records: With Biographic Material, Opera Notes, Artist’s Portraits, and Special Red Seal and Green Sections
1917
Wildhack, Robert J.
Do you snore? Of course not; but if so, is your snore a blonde or brunette? Or if it is neither of these, perhaps it is type 3B, the “conversational, or troubled conscience” variety. This weighty question can only be finally solved by consultation with Mr. Wildhack, who has it “all figured out” here. The same thoroughness of research has also been given to “Sneezes,” so that you may now, says Mr. Wildhack, “learn to recognize a friend by his sneeze.” “Snores” and “Sneezes" are not “talking records” in the ordinary sense, but are illustrated entertainments, veritable humorous sound classics, dealing with some of the funniest sounds in nature, and have no competition in the entire talking machine field. The humor of sounds is obvious enough to delight any child, to satisfy the most sophisticated listener.

WiLDHACK RECORDS
Sneezes and Snores—Robert J. Wildhack 35590 12 1.25
Snores and Sneezes—Robert J. Wildhack 35590 12 1.25
Unnatural History, Part 1 and Part II—Wildhack 18248 10 1.25

New York Tribune
January 28, 1917
“Gotham Gleanings”
Bob Wildhack

New York Tribune
February 25, 1917
“Gotham Gleanings”
Bob Wildhack

New York Tribune
March 25, 1917
Illustrators, Illustrated by Themselves (below)

The Bulletin of the Author’s League of America
April 1917
The members of the Banquet Committee were:
…Robert J. Wildhack

Grand Forks Herald
(North Dakota)
July 14, 1917
The Enemy Alien (below)

Idaho Statesman
(Boise, Idaho)
August 25, 1917
The War at Home.
The Enemy Alien Talks to Robert J. Wildhack of the Vigilantes.

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
(New York)
September 4, 1917
p11 c3: German Methods
The Enemy Alien Talks to Robert J. Wildhack of the Vigilantes. (below)

The Long Islander
(Huntington, New York)
September 21, 1917
Greenlawn
Robert J. Wildhack and family, after enjoying the summer here, have gone to Weatklll, Greene County. N. Y., for a stay.

Some Examples of the Work of American Designers
Dill & Collins Company, 1918
Robert J. Wildhack (below)

The Washington Herald
(Washington, D.C.)
January 21, 1918
New York Day by Day

World War I Draft Card
Robert John Wildhack
Greenlawn, Long Island, New York
Artist [Not Occupied]
Description: Tall, medium build with gray eyes and dark hair
September 4, 1918

The Printing Art
February 1919
Advertisement (below)

New York Tribune
February 3, 1919
Gotham Gleanings
Bob Wildhack

The New York Times
July 6, 1919
Writers and Screen
Robert J. Wildhack has an interesting article in the June issue of The Authors’ League Bulletin, copyrighted by the Authors’ League of America, in which he discusses motion pictures from the point of view of a writer who makes a distinction between the written and the pictured story and does not believe that the same man should be expected to compose both....

New York Tribune
July 7, 1919
Gotham Gleanings
Bob Wildhack

1920 UNITED STATES FEDERAL CENSUS
Hotel, Briggs Avennue
La Crescenta, Los Angeles County, California
Household Members:
Name / Age
Robert J. Wildhack, 38 [Free Lance Artist/Illustrator]
New York Tribune
November 15, 1920
Gotham Gleanings
Bob Wildhack

Printers’ Ink Monthly
December 1920
What is the Guild? advertisement

Printers’ Ink Monthly
May 1921
Guild of Free Lance Artists advertisement

New York Tribune
May 30, 1921
Gotham Gleanings
Bob Wildhack

New York Tribune
July 23, 1921
The Conning Tower
Robert Wildhack sings with Fontaine Fox

Printers’ Ink Monthly
October 1921
Guild of Free Lance Artists advertisement

New York Tribune
October 24, 1921
The Conning Tower
Bob Wildhack

New York Tribune
November 10, 1921
The Conning Tower
The Memoirs of Bob Wildhack.

New York Tribune
November 11, 1921
The Conning Tower
The Memoirs of Bob Wildhack. (below)

Cosmopolitan
February 1922
Stories That Have Made Me Laugh
You remember the story by O. Henry called, I think, “A Municipal Record,” in which an old colored hackman kills one of the most prominent drunkards and wife beaters of a small southern city, and when the decedent’s acquaintances viewed the remains, nobody could speak well of him except one man who went to school with him and said that at that time he was a first rate speller. Bob Wildhack matched this yarn with one about an Irish publican, who had also been the village money lender and rack-renter. At his wake, the neighbors were stumped to say something good about him. The best that anybody could do with the situation was to say, “Well, Mike is gone” and then try hard not to smile. However there was an old lady who was determined to eulogize the deceased. She gazed long and earnestly at the bier, and said at last: “Don’t he make the nice quiet looking corpse!”

The Poster
February 1922
The Literature of the Poster

Yorkville Enquirer
(South Carolina)
February 3, 1922
Yes, Very Quiet (reprint of story in Cosmopolitan)

1930 UNITED STATES FEDERAL CENSUS
4239 La Cresseta Avenue
La Crescenta, Los Angeles County, California
Household Members:
Name / Age
Robert J. Wildhack, 48 [Free Lance Artist]
Flora K. Wildhack, 46
Margery J. Wildhack, 17
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
June 4, 1930
WABC
Illustrated lecture, The American Snore.” Robert Wildhack.

American Art Annual
Volume 29
MacMillan Company, 1932
page 483: Wildhack, Robert J., La Crescenta, Calif. I., W. — Born Pekin, Ill., Aug. 27, 1881. Pupil of Robert Henri in New York; Otto Stark in Indianapolis. Member: SI 1910; Salma. C. Specialty, posters.

Catalogue of Copyright Entries, Part 1, Group 3, Dramatic Compositions, Motion Pictures, 1932, Volume 5, Number 2
Mooka-mooka; Episode 1, a radio sketch with musical interpolations, by Rober Wildhack. Text. (c) 1 c. Feb. 20, 1932; D 14643; Robert J. Wildhack. La Crescenta, Calif. 1027

The Herald Statesman
(Yonkers, New York)
May 16, 1934
Robert Wildhack Joins Cuckoos (below)

The Milwaukee Journal
(Wisconsin)
September 13, 1934
Snores and Sneezes Way to Fame in Theater

The Saratogian
(Saratoga Springs, New York)
October 5, 1934
Sidelights of New York
Successful Snore
The only man who ever snored his way into a featured spot in a big musical revue is Mr. Robert Wildhack. Or “Professor Wildhack” would be better, because he’s a Doctor of Sound and wears a gown and mortar board when he lectures each evening on the different kinds of snores, giving illustrations.

A versatile fellow, the professor. You’ve seen many of his magazine covers and posters, and hie cartoons and gags in the humorous magazines. For seven straight years he wrote and produced the annual show of the Society of Illustrators; even designed the scenery and painted it. For as many years he wrote and acted for shows of the Dutch Treat Club, famous group of artists and writers. But nobody considered him a potential stage star until John Murray Anderson discovered him. Now he’s the biggest one-man, one-act laugh on Broadway.

Charlotte Observer
(North Carolina)
October 26, 1934
New York Day By Day (below)

Aspen Daily Times
(Colorado)
November 1, 1934
New York artists were several weeks realizing the Robert J. Wildhack, whose snore lecture was a high light of the Winter Garden show, was the Bob Wildhack of Washington Square and Gramercy 20 years ago. His comeback is an epic of fortitude and courage. As a promising magazine artist, he suddenly cracked up physically and was shipped to California. There he and his wife fought a game but constantly losing battle financially, although his health improved. He came to New York several months ago looking for a break. Someone suggested to Leo Shubert a made-up act Wildhack used to perform for friends. He was spotted in the revue that opened In Boston. Next night he got his notice. A few days later, as he was convulsing audiences, they asked him to tear up his notice. His struggles are over. Few know his health permits him only a few hours on his feet daily. Most of the time he must lie down. But for 15 minutes of his standing up period he can make people laugh as they have seldom laughed before.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
August 9, 1935
Jack Benny variety show

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
September 19, 1935
Broadway Melody of 1936

Evening Recorder
(Amsterdam, New York)
September 20, 1935
[Broadway Melody of 1936]
…Stage talent from Broadway, the toasts of Continental capitals, radio sensations from coast-to-coast chains and screen luminaries from Hollywood have been merged to form the all-star cast headed by Jack Benny and including Una Merkel, Sid Silvers. June Knight, Robert Taylor, Eleanor Powell, Frances Langford, Nick Long, Jr., Vilma and Buddy Ebsen, Harry Stockwell, Shirley Ross and Robert Wildhack.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
October 10, 1935
Broadway Melody of 1936

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
October 14, 1935
Broadway Melody of 1936

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
November 6, 1935
Rudy Vallee variety show

New York Sun
November 7, 1935
On the Air Tonight (below)

The Day
(New London, Connecticut)
January 10, 1936
New York Day by Day
Bob Wildhack, the artist, who came back from the tomb to make a nation laugh with his comic snoring.

Reading Eagle
(Pennsylvania)
May 28, 1936
New York Day by Day
Bob Wildhack, the artist, has been signed up for 13 more weeks of that snoring stuff by a film outfit.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
July 8, 1936
Broadway Melody of 1936

The Milwaukee Sentinel
(Wisconsin)
August 19, 1936
New York Day by Day
Bob Wildhack, the artist, who became famous imitating snoring, doesn’t

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
November 26, 1936
Broadway Melody of 1936

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
January 11, 1937
1937 ‘Broadway Melody’ to Star Taylor, Powell

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
January 26, 1937
Best Bets for the Evening

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
April 27, 1937
WABC program advertisement

The Herald Statesman
(Yonkers, New York)
April 27, 1937
WABC advertisement (below)

The Kingston Daily Freeman
(New York)
August 16, 1937
Hollywood Sights and Sounds (below)

Seneca County News
(Waterloo, New York)
August 19, 1937
“Broadway Melody of 1938” with Star Studded Cast, Last Word in Film at Schine’s Geneva Theatre, 4 Days; Hollywood pays its respects to Broadway

With a name-cast of Broadway stirs, augmented by Robert Taylor of the screen, Metro Goldwyn-Mayer’s “Broadway Melody of 1938” opens Sunday for four days at Schine’s Geneva Theatre.

Here, unquestionably, is the new order of things in the world of show business. On sound stages themselves larger than the greatest Broadway theatre, the picture has been furnisher with a lavish splendor that could never be approached elsewhere.

The cast has names that would flash individually in the lights of a dozen Broadway houses and delight the producers from Columbus Circle down to Times Square. Here they are assembled in a single show.

Robert Taylor and Eleanor Powell co-star. With them are George Murphy, Binnie Barnes, Buddy Ebsen, Sophie Tucker, Judy Garland, Charles Igor Gorin, Raymond Walburn, Robert Benchley, Willie Howard. Charles Grapewin. Robert Wildhack and a chorus of lovely dancing girls….

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
September 3, 1937
Broadway Melody of 1938

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
March 16, 1938
Rudy Vallee variety show

New York Post
August 30, 1938
Casa Mañana advertisement (below)

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
September 2, 1938
Billy Rose variety show

1940 UNITED STATES FEDERAL CENSUS
283 Altura Street
Glendale, Los Angeles County , California
Household Members:
Name / Age
Robert Wildhack, 58 [Unemployed and no income]
Florence Wildhack, 57
(Census enumerated April 23)

Died: June 19, 1940, Montrose, California

Charleston News and Courier
(South Carolina)
June 21, 1940
Robert Wildhack Dies (below)

The New York Times
June 21, 1940
Robert Wildhack
Hollywood, Calif., June 20—Robert Wildhack, noted on the stage, screen and radio as the man of “Sneezes and Snores,” died last night in Montrose from a pulmonary ailment. His age was 58. Mr. Wildhack, who was born in Indiana, first gained prominence on the stage in 1915 with his comedy monologue on wild game hunting.

He leaves a widow, a daughter, Mrs. Margery Forman of Connecticut; a sister, Mrs. Edna Morgan, and his father, William A. Wildhack of Los Angeles.

Movie and Radio Guide
July 12, 1940
Snore Expert Wildhack Passes
Bob Wildhack, first famed in 1934 when he introduced his seven kinds of snores to the screen in “Once in a Lifetime” and subsequently featured by Rudy Vallee’s Variety Hour and other broadcasts with his novelty snore-clinic act, passed away June 20 in Hollywood after a lingering illness. he has been booked to appear June 14 on “It Happened in Hollywood” but had to cancel; Al Pearce had set him for a guest turn June 21.