Anthony Wayne's Music Page

Anthony Wayne was born on the lower east side of manhattan in 1893. He was born Anton Lipinski to a hard working cabinet maker named Franz Lipinski and his wife Agnus (nee Madanowicz.) His parents had immigrated from Poland sometime around 1885. Poland was occupied by Germany at that time and the area was known as Prussia. When they came they brought 6 of Anthony's brothers and sisters with them. Six More including Anthony were born after they settled in lower Manhattan on Third Street. They were members of the St. Stanislaus Church there. All Of the family spoke german as well as Polish due to the occupation of Poland for so many years by the Germans. It was this German background that prompted Anthony to change his name to Wayne for professional purposes. At That time Germans were more readily accepted than Polish people in many areas of life. It was almost impossible to succeed or to get a job in radio or other entertainment areas with a Polish name.

He grew up loving music and at an early age learned to play the piano by ear. He could not read music but had the gift of creating it either by playing someone else's tunes or by making up his own. Someone else had to write the music down on paper for him in order for it to be published.

The backgound music clip you heard when this page started is "N'You" from an old piano roll. Click to download and play the entire song.

Many of his songs were popular in the 20's era. He was known as "The Singing Reporter" for many years on the radio in the New York area. Then he formed a trio known as the "Wayne Family Trio", a comedy team on the radio. They were billed as two brothers and a sister even though they were not related.

THE WAYNE TRIO as they appeared on radio.
That's Tony on the right. The other names are not known.

Tony married Gladys Hasbrouck in 1922. She was of a very strict dutch background and her mother was very domineering. For this reason he emphasized his "German background." He also took three years from his age so that Gladys's Mother would accept him since there was an eleven year difference in their ages. Needless to say he was successful in this subterfuge as his wedding took place. Gladys did know that he had changed his name and his age although she never divulged the secret, not even to her own children. It must have been relatively easy to keep it from the children as Anthony was the youngest of the 12 Lipinski children and most of his much older siblings were dead or lived some distance away before his own children were born. Anthony had nieces and nephews that were older than him when he was born. Consequently his children never met his brothers and sisters or their children.

Times got very tough in the depression and he settled for a job with a more regular income in order to support his growing family. He did however continue to compose and play for his friends and family at many gatherings. He composed many songs writing both words and music. For many additional songs he wrote the music and others wrote the lyrics. His songs were performed by many radio personalities as well as great musicians such as Fats Waller. Milton Berle made a big hit out of "Fish And Chips" in England where the dish is a popular treat. Anthony died in 1963. He never told his children about the Polish background but always lived the German version.

Gladys died 31 years later in 1994 having told their children nothing about the secret. While researching their genealogy, the children located one of Anthony's great nieces on the Lipinski side of the family and she told them about the name and age changes that he had made.

Anthony and Gladys had 3 children all of whom went on to marry and have children of their own. Needless to say it was quite a shock to find out about their father's alteration of the family heritage. They all felt that he did the right thing and have no resentment about it.