Rubens was born in
Kensington, London, the eldest son of a successful German-born Jewish stockbroker, Victor Rubens, and Jenny Rubens, née Wallach. Rubens attended
Winchester College and then studied law at
University College, Oxford, from 1895 to 1897. Rubens had begun writing songs for shows as early as age 10, and he continued in music and dramatic societies throughout school. He intended, at first, to practise law, but he soon gave it up to write songs for the stage, including for a production of
Alice in Wonderland, while still at Oxford, in which
Lewis Carroll collaborated.
Early career '' Rubens supplied lyrics and melodies for a number of successful musicals in the 1890s, beginning with "The Little Chinchilla" in the hit musical
The Shop Girl (1894), sung by
Ellaline Terriss at the
Gaiety Theatre, London. Rubens was a talented melodist, but as he lacked musical training others had to supply the accompaniment for his songs. In 1899, he wrote songs for ''L'amour mouillé
and the international hit, Florodora'' (1899: "Inkling", "Tact", "When I Leave Town", "I Want to Marry a Man", "When an Interfering Person", "Queen of the Philippine Islands", and "When We're on the Stage"), which brought him wider fame. His best and most popular work from these years, however, is heard in his melodies and lyrics for ''
Tonight's the Night'' (1914). After the outbreak of the
First World War, Rubens wrote a successful recruiting song called "
Your King and Country Want You".
Vesta Tilley often performed the song. Rubens' songs continued to be used at least into the 1920s. "The Gondola and the Girl" was part of the score of Irene Bordoni's 1924 production,
Little Miss Bluebeard. Rubens met actress
Phyllis Dare when she was cast in
The Sunshine Girl, and he wrote a number of songs for her. They began a relationship and ultimately became engaged, but Rubens who had suffered severe ill-health through virtually his whole career, became too sick to marry, and so the couple separated. He retired to
Cornwall and died in
Falmouth, of
tuberculosis, at the age of 41. ==Notes==