Edwards was featured a couple of times in Theatre Magazine in the ‘teens.  We see him here in the August 1919 issue, rehearsing for “Greenwich Village Nights” — which soon changed its name to “Greenwich Village Follies,” thereby enraging Flo Ziegfeld. The August 1917 issue carried an article called “The Renaissance of Greenwich Village,” by […]

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This postcard, by Jesse Tarbox Beals, was sold in the Village to fans of “The Village Troubadour.”  I suppose that’s the “rustic shirting” Woollcott mentioned in the review I cited earlier.  And it serves as a suitable illustration for another description of Edwards at work — although, in this excerpt, we find him not playing […]

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We had a look earlier at Bodenheim’s fictional portrayal of Edwards.  There’s a more flattering assessment in this putative memoir from 1954, published soon after Bodenheim’s murder.  Since the book was actually written by Samuel Roth and David George Kin, from Bodenheim’s unfinished notes, it’s hard to say who’s responsible for what follows. At any […]

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Another of Edwards’ signature songs was a brief ditty called “One O’Clock.”  According to Ralph Bartholomew’s Souvenir Book of Greenwich Village (1920), it became somewhat of a tradition: And here is Edwards’ embellished manuscript of his composition: And, for good measure, here’s a clip of Carmen Borgia and me performing it at a Ukulele Cabaret.  […]

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Clement Wood contributed two booklets about Greenwich Village to the long-running series of Little Blue Books published by Haldeman-Julius.  The first, Bohemian Life in N.Y.’s Greenwich Village (1926), describes several of the area’s personalities, mostly in rather peevish style.  He’s none too keen on Edwards, but, as he admits, it may be his own fault. […]

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Edwards not only played cigar box ukes; he made and sold them.  His first efforts, I believe, were created for a production number in a revue.  They were brightly painted (the Edwards color sense was always loud); and, judging from contemporary accounts, sounded pretty good. I’ve often wondered if any of those instruments survive.  So […]

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In 1922, Edwards appeared in the revue “A Fantastic Fricassee.”  Alexander Woollcott, then drama critic for the New York Times, singled him out as one of the highlights: “An enchanting little marionette show and some diverting lyrics by one Robert Edwards, said to be the Greenwich Village cut-up — those two items constitute the oases […]

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Edwards shows up as a character in this rackety 1933 novel by that other (and considerably darker) Village personality, Maxwell Bodenheim.  Despite the fictional name Bodenheim bestows on our troubadour, this may be an accurate description of Edwards at work.  The lyrics, at any rate, are lifted from genuine Edwards songs. (Posted by Doug Skinner)

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Much to my surprise, I found this charcoal sketch at the flea market last weekend.  The artist, Edward C. Caswell, frequently sketched Village subjects.  Edwards is seen here as a sidewalk sketch artist at an outdoor art show.  A note accompanied it: “This was drawn in Macdougal Alley and Macdougal St.  Bobby had just told […]

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I’ve long been interested in the career of Bobby Edwards, who played and made ukuleles in Greenwich Village in the ‘teens and ‘twenties, and established himself as one of the Village’s most conspicuous and colorful personalities. I haven’t been able to dig up much biographical information.  I know that he was born in Buffalo in […]

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