The Banana Man

The Banana Man was a vaudeville character created by Adolf Proper (November 27, 1886–December 17, 1950) who worked under the stage name "A. Robins".

The Banana Man's act consisted of Proper, dressed as a clownish character in a baggy tuxedo, producing an amazing and apparently impossible number of props from countless pockets and secret places in his costume. He would then perform various clown routines with the props. These props included (among many other things) a clarinet, a mandolin, a huge magnet, a violin, a music stand, several watermelons, and three hundred bananas. He did not speak in words, but uttered cries of delight, surprise, etc., in a nasal falsetto, and imitated the sounds of the musical instruments he "played." His costume was also capable of quick transformation, converting to a woman's dress and back again in seconds. A profile of Proper in The New Yorker reported that the costume weighed 60 pounds loaded, and it took him 2¹⁄₂ hours to prepare it for each performance. Proper performed as The Banana Man in the Broadway musical Jumbo, in the short film Seeing Red starring Red Skelton, and in the 1947 feature film Mother Wore Tights starring Betty Grable.

Fred A. Robins

Fred A. Robins was an American football at both Mercer and Mississippi. He served as the head football coach at Mercer University in 1914 prior to accepting the head coaching position with the University of Mississippi in May 1915. While at Mississippi, Robbins compiled a record of 5–12.

Head coaching record

Football

References

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