Rosenbaum Studios (R.S.)

*Aloha Oe, 1914 (Maurice Richmond)
*Aloha Oe, 1915 (Deluxe Music Co.)
*Aloha Oe Waltzes, 1916
*Honolulu America Loves You, 1916
*The Honolulu Blues, 1916
*Cocoanut Grove "Jazz," 1917
*Hawaiian Butterfly, 1917
*Hawaiian Lullaby, 1919
*Hawaiian Nights, 1919
*Chili Bean; Eenie-Meenie-Minie-Mo, 1920
*Honolulu Eyes, 1920
*Underneath Hawaiian Skies, 1920
*Kicky-Koo, Kicky-Koo, 1922
*'Neath the Passion Vine, 1923
*Hawaiian Patrol, 1926

One of a number of logo variations
used by Rosenbaum Studios

Many sheet music collector's have puzzled over the rose symbol, or the initials 'R.S.' which appear with the logo, at the bottom of scores of pieces of sheet music from approximately 1906 to 1928. For some years it was erroneously believed to be the initials for a non-existent person named Rose Starmer.

Sheet music illustrator Sydney Leff, still alive as of this writing, remembers the symbol and initials standing for Rosenbaum Studios. Journalist and Art Deco enthusiast Hal Glatzer further investigated the mystery, and according to a 1920 Manhattan directory, he came up with an artist named Morris Rosenbaum running the studio.

The 1930 census has a commercial artist named Morris Rosenbaum living at 4 East 120th Street with his Polish parents. He was born in 1886, and the family immigrated to America while he was still an infant. His rose logo (Rosenbaum is German for rose bush) would have first appeared when he was about twenty-one (1906), and it's possible he formed the Rosenbaum Studios a few years later, when the initials R.S. first began to appear. The theory is that several artists were employed by the studio over the years, as the design styles changed dramatically.

In 1913 the studio employed down-on-his-luck Wizard of Oz illustrator William Wallace Denslow for a mere $25 a week. According to Denslow biographer Michael Patrick Hearn, he designed postcards for the 45th Street art agency. Maurice Kursh, a co-worker at the studio who was the same age as Denslow, befriended the reclusive artist. W.W. Denslow passed away in 1915.

A classified advertisement in the New York Times which appeared on April 25, 1937 seems to indicate the studio was still in existence well into the thirties: "Advertising Artists Desire Work, illustrated folder free! Rosenbaum Studios, 587 5th Ave.