Dan Rice: The Most Famous Man You've Never Heard of - Hardcover

Carlyon, David; Emerson, Ken

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1891620576 ISBN 13: 9781891620577

Publisher: PublicAffairs, 2001

Synopsis

Looks at the life and times of the 19th century circus performer and humorist.

About this title

About the Author

After graduating from Clown College, David Carlyon toured three years with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He has since worked as an actor, director, playwright and university professor. He was in the Army, has a Ph.D. in Theatre from Northwestern University and holds a Berkeley law degree. He lives in Larchmont, New York with his wife and two sons.

Reviews

Except in the works of political commentators, clowns and presidents hardly ever inhabit the same body. But Dan Rice perhaps the premiere clown and showman of 19th-century America was also a presidential candidate. This wonderfully appealing and constantly fascinating biography is not only a perceptive examination of Rice's life and times, but a serious and deeply researched look at the complex intersections among popular culture and politics, and the birth of a unique American character in the years before and after the Civil War. Born in 1823, Rice joined, as a dancer and jockey at the age of 13, the transitory, not very respectable world of traveling shows, and ran a "learned pig" routine in small towns (the pig could tell time and ascertain the character of audience members). He eventually made a name doing "nigero singing and dancing" blackface and by the 1850s became a major producer of popular circus events. By 1864 he was running for public office and ran for president in 1868. Carlyon, who has been a clown, actor, director and playwright and holds a Ph.D. in theater as well as a law degree from Berkeley, places Rice firmly in the spectacle of 19th-century popular culture. Covering such diverse topics as the Astor Place riots (which were caused by rival performances of Shakespeare), the birth of the clown as an American type who commented on politics, the sexualization of popular entertainment, the appropriation of African-American culture for white audiences, the regendering of popular culture after women's suffrage and many others, Carlyon has produced a masterful work of cultural and theater criticism that advances the literature as well as it entertains.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Dan Rice, a 19th-century American circus entertainer, was one of the country's first nationally known humorists. He climbed from poverty to wealth and celebrity, leaving New York and finding success in the Midwest and South. First-time author Carlyon has fashioned the first scholarly account of Rice, which is both a biography and a historical account of circus life in the 1800s. A former clown with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus who also holds a Ph.D. in theater, Carlyon brings a unique perspective to the task. He organizes the book chronologically, recounting in detail Rice's successes, failures, struggles, and adventures. At times, Carlyon's fascination with his subject overshadows his critical eye, and the generalist may be overwhelmed. Still, this is a well-researched and informative study that will delight connoisseurs of American theater and entertainment. Recommended for larger public libraries, academic libraries, and specialized Americana collections. David Potash, Baruch Coll., New York

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Dan Rice (1823-1900) was a pioneer in the American circus, a nationally beloved clown and humorist; people flocked from all over the country to see his circus shows and hear his songs and stories. Why is it, then, that none of us have ever heard of him? According to Carlyon, the rise and fall of Dan Rice pretty much paralleled the cultural evolution of the circus from a form of entertainment in which audiences participated, shouting back at the performers, to an event that audiences merely watched. Dan's singular talents--his ability to use audience feedback to shape a performance--were suddenly no longer useful to him. When Americans decided the circus was "lowbrow," when audiences felt it uncouth to join in, they decided that performers like Rice were an embarrassment to "civilized" culture. Rice fell into bankruptcy and, finally, obscurity, and the American circus has never been the same again. This is a compassionate and moving biography and an incisive look at a neglected aspect of American popular culture. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1891620576
• ISBN 13: 9781891620577
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 512