Variety (Jan 1949)

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PICTURES Forly^third p^IsfT Anniversary Wednesday, January 5, 1949 Clown Dan Rice Was Willing to Take A Cut-He Tried to Become President By DON CARLE GILLETTE Tt is hard to believe that an unparalleled artist-Showman, a man who was the most popular living American in h.s dav his name a household word for at least three decades, could be ataost completely forgotten less than 50 years Dan Grlhette after his death. Yet that is the way fickle fortune; has dealt with Dan, Hice, greatest of clowns, highest paid joey and biggest drawing card In circus history, an en- tertainer of surprising originality? and more, versatility then George M. Cohan; a tanbark, theatre and show- boat showman who made the multi- tudes mai-vel and thereby amassed three fortunes, which he promptly lost again; a chameleonic personality whose meteoric rise and spectacular accomplishments amazed America and Europe, a waif who became a cosmo- polite at the age when other boys are still in grade school; a jester whose bizarre career included the distinction ot running for a State Senate, then Congress, and hnaily tor President of the United States. - In his heydey as a clown and circus owner, Dan Rice . was more publicizad and made more money than Bai-num. But there is an ironic difference between them. Barnum humbugged the public—and won enduring fame. Dan 'Rice made a reputation as an honest showman who de- tested, humbugs—and nobody has bothered to perpetuate his memory. Proving aRain that Barnum was right! Dan Rice was a humorist-philosopher of the. Will Rogers type half a century before Rogers. As an athlete with Sbakespsarlan tastes, this modern Samson—who alsp was a wrestler-outdid Gene Tunney to the extent of win- ning fame as The Shakespearian Clown. The elder John D. Rockefeller's stunt of giving away new dimes was practiced by Rice on "a much more lavish sca:e. He used to ride at the head of his circus parade scattering a liatful of change among worshipping fol- lowers, mcstly small boys. President Lincoln would keep official White House business waiting-while he relaxed in tlie company of the famous jester. King William of Prussia personally in- terviewed him after beins spellbound by his perform- ance. While in exile as a French prince before he became Kmperoi-, Louis Napoleon played cards with him. And Queen Isabella ol Spain took such a fancy to the Young Amor'.can Hercules, whose strength she desired to study in private; that he had to be whisked out of the country by diplomatic pressure to avert an International incident! When Dan Rice was broke and too old to embark on ncvi' ventures, the personal friends who joined in spon- soring a benefit for him at Niblo's GnrdSn included such great names as Horace Greeley, William Cullen Bryant, - Kdwjn Forrest and James Gordon Bennett. . Stranger Tliaii Fiction Yet these were only minor incidents of a life that pales th& most fantastic fiction. Unfortunately, most of the records of Dan-Rice's incredible career were destroyed by fire before' he could convert them into an official auto- biography, so now very little authentic material on him is to be had except by patient digging through old files and private collections. Dan Kice was the oilspring of a runaway marriage that lasted only long enough to bring him into the world. He was born Jan. 25, 1823, on Mulberry Street in New York. His father, Daniel McLaren, who became a storekeeper after starting out to study law under Aaron Burr, eloped with Elizabeth Crum, daughter of a New Jersey minister, and the irate father of the bride had the marriage an- nulled as soon as he located the couple. The boy later adopted the name of Dan Rice for his professional career. - At the age of eight, being unhappy at home following his mother's death, Dan ran away, mixed around with leading horse trainers, and in a year was one of the coun- try's ace jockeys. Prominent horse owners bid for his services. While going from Pittsburgh to the Louisville track by Ohio River boat, Dan met Henry Ciay, who, in a moment of relaxation from Senatorial duties, borrowed a violin and played a popular tune while Dan did a jig for the passengers. In a special match race between two favorite horses, the judge—who also had placed a small bet on Dan and hold tlie stakes—was a gawky young Illinots lawyer, Ab- raham Lincoln. Between racing seasons, when Dan was abodt 16, he worked briefly as a postal officer, taking official papers and riding cross country to establish new post offices as directed by the government. at)pear for a short time at the museum. He wa? heavily billed as a combination Young American Hercules, Vir- ginia Negro Minstrel, Comic Singer and Modern Samson. Barnum would have signed him for a long term, but Dan already had bigger things in view. Rice appeared as a song-and-dance man at the old Bowery Amphitheatre in New York in 1844. Among his fellow performers was the famed minstrel, Dan Emmett His debut as a circus clown took place that same year When he accepted a deal from G. R. Spaulding wliereby, in addition ta performing as jester, strong man, singer, dancer, driver, blatkface minstrel, and in several other capacities, he also had to be ready to lick any three men after the show—all for $15 a month and board! Spsuld- ing had made this ofl:er as a joke—and Dan went along with the joke. Later the same showman, and many others, gladly paid Rice the highest salary ever com- manded by a clown—$1,000. weekly. After Rice started his own show and played in opposi- tion to Spaulding, a guerilla and billposting war devel- oped between them and lasted several years. One of their clashes resulted in Dan being arrested and locked up in the Blue Eagle Jail in Rochester, N. Y. He took advantage of the occasion to write a song titled "Blue Eagle Jail" which he later sang all around the country with great success. 1 A Truly Varied Career } No one ever could predict what Dan Rice would do next. He became a preacher with Joseph Smith, the Mormon "prophet," performing feats of strength that the char- latan Smith sold as "miracles" to his sucker following, Unable to stomach Smith's fakery for long. Rice exposed him. In 1847, after achieving renown as the Shakespearian Clown, he made, his bow as an equestrian clown with.Spth B. Howe's Circus at Welch's National. Amphitheatre in Philadelphia. Within a short time he was the most pop- ular man in the Quaker City. Late the following year he launched his own first cir- cus on a Mississippi River steamboat. Down in the bayou country he was stricken with yellow fever. His doctor sard only a miracle could save him. Among friends who called on him was General Zachary Taylor, just back from a victorious Mexican expedition. Having had much experience with yellow fever. General Taylor insistecl on. becoming Rice's nurse—and soon pulled him through. In Taylor's Presidential campaign, Rice ^vas ojie of the Louisiana delegates to the convention that nominated the General. He also worked hard for Taylor's election and was placed on the General's private stafl' with the rank of Colonel.. Thereafter the clown was consistently called Col. Dan Rice. ' . During his so.;oi'rns in New Orleans he planned and erected Dan Rice's. Ampitheatre, in which he scored his usual success, and Dan Rice's Southern Museum. The.se palaces of amusement were popular local land- marks for years. Rice's stfbng man stunts included catching real cannon- balls on the back of his neck, holding two teams of .horses pulling in opposite directions, and allowing blocks of stone to be broken on his chest. On the literary side, by assiduous study and his particular interest in Shakes- peare, he became a prolific writer of topical verse, both •lumorous and philosophical, which he recited or sang in the sawdust ring. He departed still further from traditional clowns hy growing Uncle Sam chin whiskers and wearing a stars- and-stripes costume. This makeup became his permanent trademark. Dan Bice's versatility seemed without limit and his en- durance almost superhuman. He was an expert animal trainer, acrobat, wrestler, gymnast, hypnotist, lecturer, songwriter and jokesmith, in addition to other accom- plishments already mentioned. He was a natural orator as well as a powerful fighter, willing to face a mob at any time, ready to take on all comers in either a debate or a fist fight. But he made friends easily and had a gift of flattery that helped him get along with anyone. I Another Vietorian Precedent I A Bright Kid Still in his teens, he went to work on: a river boat. Gambling on these Mississippi and Ohio River boats was the passion of the day, and Dan was so clever with the cards that he won the boat itself from the captain. Being guided always by an .instinctive principle of justice, how- ever, he gave the vessel back to the skipper at the end of the trip. With liis winnings at the card tables, 17-vear-old Dah bought an interest in a Pittsburgh livery stable." He made friends with the personnel of the Nieholls Circus playing next door, and in a short time was ab^e to duplicate prac- tically every feat performed by anyone on the show— from the strong man's act to bareback riding. His first venture in the executive end of show business came when he bouglit a third-interest in an educated pig, Lord Byron. At first people came primarily to see the trained porker; but it was not long: before Dan became the main attraction. At one stand a famous mesmerizer, De Bonneville, proved too strong competition for the Pig Act. So Dan turned mesmerist himself and hypnotized the hjrpnotist! Around-this time, attendance at Barikum's Museum was suffering due to a dearth of noveltieg; and Barnum's un- cle, Phineas Taylor, succeeded In getting Dan Rice to Whenever the Dan Bice Circus played Washington, the capital literally observed a holiday. All the big political, military, diplomatic and social figures attended the show. During the Presidency of Franklin Pierce, Dan Rice was a bearer of diplomatic dispatches from Washington to England. These dispatches were received by Queen Victoria in person. She would take the envelope, hand it to a secretary, then bow slightly to signify the inter- view was over. Instead of just bowing in return, Dan grabbed her hand, shook it heartily, and said, "My Dear Madame, this is the American fashion." Thus Dan Rice became the first American to shake the hand of Queen Victoria. The Civil War broke out at a most inopportune time for him. Finding himself in the South, where lie had vainly tried to discourage secessionists, he carried ojn his circus under the Confederate flag until he had worked himself batk to Northern territory. For this he was ac- cused by Unionists of being a "Johnny Reb." Although he denied the charges and tried to explain his position, he never regained his former popularity, and from that point on his career zigzagged downward. In Girard, Pa., where he established a home and winter quarters for his circus, he erected a $35,000 monument to the memory of Union soldiers. When he was broke, however, there was no one in Girard from whom he could borrow a five-spot. One of his steamers was taken over by the government during the Civil War, and later he was awarded $32,000 as compensation. Instead of taking the money, he asked Lincoln to turn it over to needy soldiers. Nor would he ever sell his trained blind horse. Ex- cetewr, though he was offered as much as $100,000. Rice made money fast and spent it just as fa^t. Even m pre-Civil War days he earned as much as $100,000 a season. But he was an easy touch, gave money away freely to needy strangers. and sponging friends, thought nothing of throwing $5,000 to $25,000 over a bar in * single night, became a soft mark for fake as well as genuine charitfes—especially for schoolhouses and church meeting houses for slaves in the South—and thus he al- ternated frequently between affluence and the edge of bankruptcy. The last Of his three fortunes disappeared in the collapse of the'big banking house pleaded by his l.'iend'Jay-.Cooke.;^ '^ ■ - , ■ ■ I Pcditically-Minded ■ Dan Rice's interest in politics increased after his as- sociation with Zachary Taylor. For a time he even pub- lished a newspaper in Girard for the primary purpose of furthering his political ambitions. In 1864 he was nominated for the Pennsiylvania Senate but was on the road with his show during the campaign and lost by a narrow margin—though he ran ahead of the ticket. Two years later he was put up for Congress by soldier delegates and citizens of Erie and Crawford counties. Though he lost this nomination, another po- litical boom in his behalf got under way in 1868 when a group of Pennsylvania Democrats picked him as Presi^ dential timber. Immediately "Dan Rice for President" Clubs sprang up in all parts of the country. No less than 71 news- papers supported . Rice's candidacy and he was spon- taneously acclaimed by crowds in many sections. When conservative newspapers challenged the fitness of a clown to be President, there were many defenders who claimed that Bice, by reason of his extensive travels and close contact with the public, had a better under- standing of the people and their problems than any pro- fessional politician, Nevertheless the Democrats even- tually nominated Governor Horatio Seymour of New York to run against Ulysses S. Grant. After his unfortunate Civil War episode, political dis- appointments and other adversities. Bice took heavily toJ drink. Many circus owners still ofliered him $1,000 a week, but he became undependable, failing to live up to contracts and frequently disappearing for days and weeks. Adam Forepaugh told liiin he could name his own terins for a season in California, provided ^he remained sober for the whole season. Dan refused, i He turned evangelist, reformer and tempevance lec- turer. With his remarkable gift of oratory, he was a fanatical preacher. During his scorching attacks on ■demon rum he frequently would reach for a water pitcher on the table before him and partake of what he described ' to his audience as "God's drink to mankind-^pure water." Invariably the pitcher was filled with gin! Bice was married three times. His separation from Iiis first wife was regarded by their friends as the step that started his luck downward. The circus line started by Rice still carries on today, however, in the person of Ira Millette, aerialist with the Ringling-Barnum show. In his closing years, at the turn of the century, when he was penniless and living with relatives in Long Branch, N. J., he sometimes attended the circus openings at Madi- son Square Garden, where he saw. much pomp and cere- mony, but no spontaneous hero-worship such as the public used to shower on the incomparable Dan Rice. Disillusionment and bitterness marked his final days before he died on Feb. 22, 1900. In one of his last letters, written to another circus immortal, Gil Bobinson, he said: "I hope you are enjoying life for wMt it is worih. Believe me, dear friend, it is eat, drink, and have a lillle fun —that is all there is to it." . This from a man whose life had embraced more adven- ture, thrills, accomplishments, fame, material success and public adulation than the combined careers of SO or more average men! » ■ (CopyriBht 1943, Don Garle Gilletfp.) Hollywood Nursery Rhymes =By GRACIE ALLEN= Hi, Siddle Skolsky, my son, John, Sleeps in bed with nothing on. Pease porridge cold, pease porridge hot, 6,000 Hungarian writers have checked oif the lot. Badio writer, keep blowing your horn, . The public's in stitches, the profit's in corn. Little Bing Crosby sang for his supper. What did we give him? $2,584,399,702.98. Higgledy-Piggiledy, my Red Biddy. She lays eggs for the Un-American Committee. Baa, baa, Black Sheep, have you any wool? Yes, .sir, yes, sir, three bags full. One for the U. S. and one for the state ' And one for my ex-wife who doesn't like to wait. There was an old Benny, who lived in a stew With so many comics he didn't know what to do. . So he gave each his blessings and a half-hour show. Now eyeiyone's happy with bundles of dough. Mary had a little lamb With eyes like Eaymond Massey. She signed him up with M-G-M For a featured spot with Lassie. Tom and Earl went up the hill , To fetch a pail of water. But somehow Harry got there first With Jessel tumbling after. Sing a song ot 10%, a pocketful of cash. Four and twenty actors baked in a hash. When the ha.sh was opened they began to sing i" chorus, "This is another package deal set up by William Mo ris." Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub. They all went out on a limb. Kiplinger, Roper and Gallup. M.D.— And their future looks awfully dim. Swanky Doodle came to town And opened a smart salon. Ha stuck a feather in a hat And called it "Weary Autumn Leaves Drifting Over « Puce Landscape."