Dan Rice

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Dan Rice (1823-1901), was an American entertainer of many talents, most famously as a clown, who was pre-eminent before the Civil War. During the height of his career Rice was more of a household name than Abraham Lincoln or Mark Twain. Coining the terms "One Horse Show" and "Greatest Show", he was a leading personality in the new American "pop culture", brought on by the technological changes of the Industrial Revolution and resultant mass culture. Rice became so popular he ran for President of the United States in 1868. With changes in circus venues and popular culture after the Civil War, his legendary talents under the big top have gradually slipped in to almost total historical obscurity; biographer David Carlyon (2001) called him "the most famous man you've never heard of".

Biography

Born in New York City, Rice gained 19th century fame with many talents, most of which involved him gallivanting around as a clown figure in circuses. In addition to his 'clowning' talents, he was an animal trainer, song writer, commentator, political humorist, strong man, actor, director, producer, dancer, and politician. He ran for Senate, Congress, and President of the United States - dropping out of each race.

He changed the circus into what it is today by mixing animals, acrobats and clowns. His first break came in 1841 when he got a job of presenting a pig named Sybil who could do many tricks including the ability to tell time. From there he moved on to singing and dancing and got caught up in the popularity of the 'negro song', singing in blackface. He was said to sometimes go too far and make the song coarse. Gaining fame and popularity he changed styles once again he starred in various parodies of works by William Shakespeare, including that of "Dan Rice's Version of Othello" and "Dan Rice's Multifarioius Account of Shakespeare's Hamlet" He would perform these with various songs and dialects showing just how versatile he was. "Rice was not simply funnier than other clows; he was different, mingling jokes, solemn thoughts, civic observations, and songs." (Carlyon, 125).

Expanding his horizons he went into producing his own shows and often had more than one tour going on at the same time. He wanted to move on from his frivolous clowning and reinvented himself into a gentleman. He started to take up politics and would often have Democratic undertones in his shows. He was then regarded as not only a multi-talented performer, but a smart and noble man who was to be looked up to. He won the affection of many newspapers and publicists including that of a then unknown Mark Twain and Walt Whitman. Mark Twain paid him homage in his description of a circus in Huckleberry Finn, and it is likely a boyhood Twain actually saw Rice perform when his circus came to Hannibal for a show.

His shows became more famous than any of the other shows touring at the time including that of rival, Phineas Taylor Barnum. During the 19th century, his name was synonymous with theater. At a time, Dan Rice was more of a household name than Abraham Lincoln. He reinvented the theater into a vaudevillian style before there was vaudeville. He was a very patriotic person later influencing the likes of George M. Cohan. He was also one of the main models for "Uncle Sam".

Expressions

A number of popular expressions came into being around Dan Rice.

He campaigned for Zachary Taylor as president, inviting him to campaign on the circus bandwagon, whence the expression "to jump on the bandwagon."
Early in his career he was down on his luck and only had one horse (in early circuses the core show was a horse show) - his competitors mocked him saying it was a "one horse show" as a derogatory - he was able to turn the expression around by putting on a good show, and it became famously attached to him for the rest of his life.
The rallying cry of "Hey, Rube!" - later transformed into a noun - originated in New Orleans in 1848 when a member of Rice's troupe was attacked by a mob and he yelled to his friend Reuben "Hey, Rube!" - it is most commonly known today in the circus world as a "Hey, Rube" meaning "come help in this fight".
Decades before other circuses used the phrase, an Arkansas paper praised Rice's as "the greatest show on earth."

References

[""Yankee" Dan Rice, Uncle Sam's model"]
Carlyon, David (2001). Dan Rice: The Most Famous Man You've Never Heard Of. Persus Books Group. ISBN 1891620576

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