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From: <>
Subject: [PAMERCER-L] "The Amazing Dan Rice", Part II
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 15:25:55 EDT

Cousins;
Thanks for not pointing out all the typos in Part I as I was in a hurry when
typing it.
PART II The "Amazing Dan Rice"
Despite the negative attention, Dan Rice was becoming enormously popular and
while traveling on a boat he intertaineded the passengers by dancing a jig and
clowning around while singing a song titled "Hard Times". One of the
spectators aboard the boat just happened to be the renowned Senator Henry Clay
who warmly applauded the dancing jester naming him "Yankee Dan". With
encouragement like that there was no way that Dan was going to be dampened by
his pious enemies.

In 1848 Dan decided that he would strike out on his own and formed the "Dan
Rice Great Circus". In those days of the one-ring circus the clown was the
dominant feature so Dan became the main act dancing and lampooning current
events and people. He was billed as the "Americas Favorite Clown". The crowds
loved his parodies and satirical slant on politics. The popular clown composed
a tune titled "Root Hog or Die" of which his fans demanded encore after
encore. Another ditty was "Red, White and Blue" in which he dressed in an
eccentric manner, a stars-and-stripes costume, with blue leotards and red-and-
white trunks, a top hat perched jauntily upon his head and the ever-present
gray chin beard. This became Dans trademark and it became immortalized when
Thomas Nast caricatured it for "Harpers Weekly" as "Uncle Sam".

Not forgetting that the pig Lord Bryon was also instrumental in his rising
fame and perhaps to thumb his nose at his hell and brimstone preaching foes,
Dan gave the animal due attention with an additional skit in which he would
ask the animal to pick out the biggest rascal present. It would sniff and mill
around the audience and, then would come back rubbing its snout against Rices
patriotic blue leotards. An additional animal act was added that being a
rope-walking elephant named Lalla Rookh after the heroine of a Persian poem.
This proved to be a favorite as well.

Dan Rice was not the traditional clown that we are familiar with these days as
he did not wear the white face makeup. He was an all around talent as
demonstrated in his dancing, his funny song writing, animal training and his
ability to lift heavy weights. He often played the Strong Man and could toss
cannon balls long distance. But his greatest talent was his ability to banter
in an impromptu manner with the ringmaster, audience or the other performers.
He would later be known as the "modern Shakespeare jester" and would answers
questions with quotes from various Shakespeare plays. The jester would retell
"Romeo and Juliet in a backwards fashion starting at the end and continuing to
the beginning which brought the house down in laughter. Dan became one of the
top acts in the American Circus and it is rumored that the celebrity was
earning the enormous salary of $1000.a week which was more than the President
of the United States was paid!

Later that year, Dan decided to abandon the wagon Mud Shows in favor of a
steamboat, "The Allegheny Mail". Animals and equipment were loaded onto the
riverboat and as it paddle wheels churned, it journeyed down the Mississippi
River to New Orleans, stopping at river towns along the way to put on shows.
Once arriving at the Mississippi Delta the paddle boat reversed his course
and headed back north to St. Paul Minn. This proved to be a much more
efficient means of tranportation and other circuses began to follow suit, but
the down side was that small communities located away from the river was now
denied the most exciting event often experienced in these hamlets and it
appeared that the era of the mud shows had came to an end.

Willl Dan's fantastic luck continue? To be continued if you all want me to
(?).

1)"Circus Days Under the Big Top" by Richard Glendinning, 1969, Garrard
Publishing Co.
2)"Circus Heroes and Heroines" by Rhina Kirk, 1972, Hammond Inc.
3)"The Book of Clowns" by Spearight, 1980, MacMillan Publishing

:) Patti

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