Episode 6
The most famous person you have never heard of - Dan Rice
🎙 Warning: These new shirts may cause history-inspired travel
Dan Rice was a circus clown...or rather a circus leader...in the mid-1800s. It is because of him that we have terms like "Jump on the bandwagon". He essentially made fun of politicians...before that was cool!
He also is the reason that we have the iconic "Uncle Sam" Army recruiting posters...those drawings were modeled after what he used to wear during his circus act. Learning about Dan Rice while living not far from where he made his home...was so much more than we expected!
Dan Rice: The most famous person you have never heard of
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Transcript
[Music]
Speaker:greetings and welcome to the talk with
Speaker:History Podcast I am your host Scott
Speaker:here with my wife and historian Jen on
Speaker:this podcast we talk about history's
Speaker:continuing impact on society to today
Speaker:as we try to teach you what we have
Speaker:learned in our personal journey through
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Speaker:and share our history walks with the
Speaker:world
Speaker:before we gently before we get into the
Speaker:main topic today before we introduce our
Speaker:topic
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Speaker:and family about the the podcast
Speaker:a lot of folks know
Speaker:that the United States has the nickname
Speaker:Uncle Sam
Speaker:but a lot of people don't know that the
Speaker:United States got the nickname Uncle Sam
Speaker:because in 1813 there was a meat Packer
Speaker:named Samuel Wilson from Troy New York
Speaker:Samuel Wilson supplied barrels of beef
Speaker:to the United States Army during the War
Speaker:of 1812 and he stamped them with U.S for
Speaker:United States
Speaker:and eventually the soldiers began
Speaker:referring to the food as Uncle Sam's
Speaker:after Sam Wilson
Speaker:a local newspaper picked up the story
Speaker:and Uncle Sam eventually gained
Speaker:widespread acceptance as the nickname
Speaker:for the U.S federal government
Speaker:but where did Uncle Sam's iconic image
Speaker:come from
Speaker:so Jen we're going to talk about that so
Speaker:why don't you tell us about our subject
Speaker:today so before Ringling Brothers before
Speaker:Barnum and Bailey there was Dan Rice and
Speaker:today we're going to talk about Dan Rice
Speaker:he is
Speaker:the most famous person you've never
Speaker:heard of yeah and
Speaker:he was our
Speaker:fifth episode
Speaker:of walk with history and so why are we
Speaker:picking these subjects
Speaker:so number one I found that interesting
Speaker:that we get our depiction of Uncle Sam
Speaker:from this circus clown personality named
Speaker:Dan Rice
Speaker:and that he was he had a winter home
Speaker:from
Speaker:1953 to 1975 in the town next to us when
Speaker:we lived oh yeah 1853 so 1853 to 1875 in
Speaker:the town next to us
Speaker:um in Erie PA in Gerard yes so the whole
Speaker:premise of walk with history is to have
Speaker:personal access to the locations so
Speaker:there's a marker in the town and we
Speaker:would drive by it and we would read it
Speaker:and I was like there's more to this
Speaker:story there's more to this person and so
Speaker:we've heard about Dan Rice days yeah so
Speaker:the first weekend in August Gerard does
Speaker:a three-day weekend of Dan Rice days
Speaker:they celebrate him they have a parade
Speaker:they have vendors come out and celebrate
Speaker:it's like a carnival and they've been
Speaker:doing that since 1975 and so
Speaker:um
Speaker:I just wanted to learn more about this
Speaker:so the the whole premise of walk with
Speaker:history is not just very interesting
Speaker:topics but access to those very
Speaker:interesting topics so being able to go
Speaker:to those locations yeah we are we are
Speaker:literally walking in the locations where
Speaker:history happened and we're we're looking
Speaker:at these historical markers and we're
Speaker:looking at not only the physical impact
Speaker:but the the impact that has kind of
Speaker:continued to resonate through today so
Speaker:so talk about
Speaker:talk about Dan Rice and kind of what he
Speaker:did back then that was unique that made
Speaker:him the most famous person that we have
Speaker:never heard of
Speaker:so Dan
Speaker:born in Gerard he was born actually in
Speaker:New York City in 1823 and like I said he
Speaker:had the winter home for his circus in
Speaker:Girard from 1852 to 1875 and that was
Speaker:kind of the height of his popularity and
Speaker:circuses you know they're traveling
Speaker:exhibits they come from the Roman times
Speaker:where you would bring
Speaker:they used to be stationary were wooden
Speaker:buildings where people would come and
Speaker:visit and see horses and there would be
Speaker:like combat and things like that Dan
Speaker:Rice was one of the first people he
Speaker:claims to be one of the first people to
Speaker:use cannabis tents and move the circus
Speaker:around
Speaker:so because it used to be in arenas you
Speaker:could see the circus in big towns with
Speaker:big Arenas but once you start to have
Speaker:access to a tent you can move the circus
Speaker:to smaller parts of
Speaker:the country
Speaker:so now you're getting into rural areas
Speaker:that don't have access to these big
Speaker:buildings but you can have access to
Speaker:large
Speaker:fields and put up the tents and you're
Speaker:bringing all of that culture to the
Speaker:small town yeah and if I remember right
Speaker:I mean you kind of drive home the point
Speaker:in the video of for a lot of small towns
Speaker:throughout America at that time in the
Speaker:late 1800s
Speaker:this was really
Speaker:the only kind of outside influence in
Speaker:outside culture outside anything that
Speaker:they saw yes so this is like you're
Speaker:getting these trains coming in all these
Speaker:people menageries of animals and and
Speaker:performance freak shows for lack of a
Speaker:better term that's what they call it
Speaker:Oddities so all of this access to small
Speaker:towns that they've never had so this
Speaker:influence of the circus it's a huge
Speaker:influence on America's culture and so
Speaker:the circus clown
Speaker:in areas that are too long or too big to
Speaker:hear speech the circus clown has this
Speaker:dialogue that is spoken through
Speaker:acrobatic skill or big demonstrative
Speaker:movements or clothing and things like
Speaker:that so the circus clown is using this
Speaker:flamboyant acting to convey emotion and
Speaker:a story to the people and so that's kind
Speaker:of where you're getting this Universal
Speaker:communication
Speaker:from the circus clown to the people yeah
Speaker:and if if we go back to our previous
Speaker:episode right talking about Lucille Ball
Speaker:and Vaudeville Vaudeville is kind of an
Speaker:evolution yes of the circus so think
Speaker:about these big performers and that's
Speaker:one of the things I found so interesting
Speaker:right even back then you didn't have to
Speaker:speak
Speaker:people in living in rural areas didn't
Speaker:have to be able to read the signs they
Speaker:didn't have to be able to
Speaker:know this stuff right it was physical
Speaker:comedy it's physical comedy and Dan Rice
Speaker:they say is he was the the the birth the
Speaker:idea of Vaudeville came from him
Speaker:because he did these
Speaker:shows he did a Vaudeville type show
Speaker:novelty Acts were part of his circus
Speaker:having the quick transition of novelty
Speaker:acts and to do something in between
Speaker:setting up the larger events he would do
Speaker:little acts just like a Vaudeville show
Speaker:so he they say he was the father of
Speaker:Vaudeville and he would he would do it
Speaker:so he would be wearing a flamboyant
Speaker:outfit which was like the Star-Spangled
Speaker:coat and the red and white striped pants
Speaker:and a big top hat that's red and blue
Speaker:and white with a white beard and so this
Speaker:very patriotic American looking clown is
Speaker:becoming the most they say if because
Speaker:this is before radio before TV that he
Speaker:he was a household name he was a pop
Speaker:culture celebrity
Speaker:in a time when you didn't have a radio
Speaker:and TV yeah if if people think about if
Speaker:they can picture some of those old
Speaker:Ringling Brothers posters yes right the
Speaker:things we know today because they kind
Speaker:of outlasted
Speaker:Dan Rice and his traveling circus a
Speaker:little bit better right they they
Speaker:translated further but when in doing the
Speaker:research as far as making the video for
Speaker:this I found posters I mean you just
Speaker:Googled Dan Rice and you'll you'll find
Speaker:a hundred different things and it's big
Speaker:old posters and newspapers yeah I was
Speaker:trying to think like what household name
Speaker:would you think of
Speaker:like Johnny Carson maybe to our hour
Speaker:parents maybe to us maybe like uh Jimmy
Speaker:Fallon like someone who's doing
Speaker:commentary someone who's doing something
Speaker:that he's a household name based on a
Speaker:show that he's producing
Speaker:daily or monthly or you know his circus
Speaker:is traveling from town to town everyone
Speaker:is aware of Dan Rice and so that is who
Speaker:he is everyone knows him and for a time
Speaker:it's the most famous show I mean he has
Speaker:fans
Speaker:Mark Twain was a fan Walt Whitman was a
Speaker:fan so he's very influential I think
Speaker:Zachary Taylor is a huge fan the
Speaker:president is a huge fan so it's um
Speaker:he does political commentary too yeah so
Speaker:you mentioned Zachary Taylor the
Speaker:president so so there's some there's
Speaker:more that kind of evolved around right
Speaker:politicians yes right it wasn't just the
Speaker:president it was congressman and yeah so
Speaker:he's making fun of both sides he's
Speaker:making fun of I mean because America you
Speaker:think in the 1850s there's lots of angst
Speaker:going on This Is pre-civil War
Speaker:there's a lot of different points of
Speaker:views and since he's traveling America
Speaker:he's inundated with these different
Speaker:points of political view so what he does
Speaker:is he makes fun of both he kind of gives
Speaker:both sides a hard time for their
Speaker:Ridiculousness and jokes about them and
Speaker:I mean Zachary Taylor thinks it's funny
Speaker:it's like almost being roasted kind of
Speaker:thing he comes up he coins the term get
Speaker:on the bandwagon so one of his shows
Speaker:would have like a bandwagon jumping
Speaker:around for different ideas and you could
Speaker:jump on the bandwagon if that was the
Speaker:idea you supported he also claims to
Speaker:come up with the greatest show like that
Speaker:was his coin term
Speaker:so here's this man who has this huge
Speaker:circus
Speaker:and he decides to come to Gerard
Speaker:to winter so what does that mean that
Speaker:means in the winter months they would
Speaker:come there they'd build these huge barns
Speaker:these huge Arenas to practice their acts
Speaker:over the winter and let the animals have
Speaker:a chance to rest
Speaker:and just convalesce for their winter
Speaker:months with the circus so they're coming
Speaker:into this small rural Town Northwestern
Speaker:yes to bring this big huge circus that's
Speaker:popular across America
Speaker:into the small area so the people
Speaker:at first aren't very welcoming
Speaker:but he ends up he ends up marrying in
Speaker:1861 he ends up marrying one of the
Speaker:prominent businessman's daughter he
Speaker:marries her on her 18th birthday he's 38
Speaker:at the time yeah and
Speaker:they you know they quickly have children
Speaker:and
Speaker:he gets accepted by the town and this
Speaker:really puts the town on the map but in
Speaker:our video and you'll see like why does
Speaker:he picture yarn right like what's the
Speaker:whole point and
Speaker:this is kind of our one of our first
Speaker:experiences with going to a graveyard
Speaker:and using Find A Grave because it was
Speaker:alegrippa Martin who is an animal
Speaker:trainer and he actually is a famous
Speaker:animal trainer he trained Hannibal the
Speaker:elephant so again if you look up
Speaker:famous circus acts Hannibal was a famous
Speaker:circus yeah and even I right again not a
Speaker:his not a history buff even I was like
Speaker:I've heard of that particular elephant
Speaker:yes so this is before elephants are I
Speaker:mean they're being brought over to
Speaker:America and again they're being shown to
Speaker:the the country and they're training
Speaker:them so Hannibal they would train him to
Speaker:kind of like
Speaker:you know stand on one foot and swing
Speaker:from the tusks and I know it sounds
Speaker:crazy but he people would swing from the
Speaker:tusks and stuff like he would do those
Speaker:things he was a trained elephant and
Speaker:Ella gripper Martin was his trainer and
Speaker:he was from Gerard
Speaker:and he was friends with Dan Rice he was
Speaker:part of his circus so when Dan Rice was
Speaker:looking for an area he suggested his
Speaker:hometown and that is why he brought it
Speaker:to Gerard so we find his grave so you
Speaker:know when you're doing this work most
Speaker:cemeteries have an office where you can
Speaker:go in and ask where is this grave
Speaker:located Girard Cemetery does not
Speaker:about what we were able to find was a
Speaker:picture of the Grave so you and I drove
Speaker:around trying to match that picture yeah
Speaker:and I believe you said the the website
Speaker:that we use and if folks I've never
Speaker:heard of it's called find a great yeah
Speaker:it's great it's it's a fantastic website
Speaker:it works very well but we found it and
Speaker:we were able to stand this if you watch
Speaker:the video we stand there but like I'm
Speaker:I'm learning things along the way we
Speaker:missed like he Dan Rice's widow
Speaker:um Charlotte
Speaker:his his wife that he marries 18 year old
Speaker:that he marries
Speaker:um Charlotte McConnell is actually
Speaker:buried there
Speaker:so we didn't go to her grave they
Speaker:actually have one of their children is
Speaker:buried there we didn't go to their grave
Speaker:so we there was more things we could
Speaker:have seen there that we didn't go to
Speaker:um they actually they actually get
Speaker:divorced in 1881 so they're only married
Speaker:for 20 years
Speaker:but and I don't think she ever remarries
Speaker:and she stays there in Gerard yeah and
Speaker:and one of the interesting things about
Speaker:these videos
Speaker:especially when we're when you're
Speaker:filming at a location where it's
Speaker:relatively Rural right we lived in the
Speaker:Erie area for a couple years
Speaker:and learning stuff from the locals so
Speaker:I'll tell you one thing that I learned
Speaker:while while making this video so I and
Speaker:it was actually after the after we made
Speaker:it or maybe just before and I remember
Speaker:being at work and talking to now retired
Speaker:Navy chief angelikowski
Speaker:and I remember saying hey yeah we were
Speaker:just down in Gerard and we were filming
Speaker:this thing and I ended up talking
Speaker:somehow this Dan Rice came up and the
Speaker:monument there's a monument in Gerard
Speaker:yes there's like a kind of a pedestal
Speaker:it's a civil war Monument Civil War
Speaker:Monument right so I start talking about
Speaker:the monument and he just looks at me
Speaker:he's like and I see this the look on his
Speaker:face and he's looking at me like I know
Speaker:more than this about you
Speaker:and all of a sudden so I stopped talking
Speaker:and he's like well do you know why the
Speaker:eagle that's on top of the monument is
Speaker:facing the direction that it was and I
Speaker:was like oh I'm about to get a lesson
Speaker:and he starts telling me how the eagle
Speaker:is facing west because that's where yes
Speaker:that's where the person who made is from
Speaker:Chicago is from Chicago the person who
Speaker:made the monument he starts telling me
Speaker:all these facts about Dan Rice yes rice
Speaker:days and all this stuff and that's one
Speaker:of the cool things about doing these
Speaker:YouTube
Speaker:videos and our history walks is we talk
Speaker:to people from the area yes and you'd be
Speaker:surprised when you do things like this
Speaker:at how much local people know like oh
Speaker:yeah I've been doing Dan Rice days for
Speaker:like my whole life exactly from Gerard
Speaker:and they just kind of rattle off all
Speaker:these things about
Speaker:again the most famous person that we've
Speaker:never heard of we've never heard of and
Speaker:so you have the marker there so what
Speaker:he's talking about is a civil war in
Speaker:1863 Dan Rice commissioned a civil war
Speaker:Monument to go up in the middle of
Speaker:Gerard and it's a pillar not an obelisk
Speaker:and it has an eagle on top and it's he
Speaker:commissions it by um a sculptor named
Speaker:Valk and Valk is kind of famous he did
Speaker:Abraham Lincoln's death mask
Speaker:that's right so
Speaker:he's commissioned to do the sculpture
Speaker:and he pays all this money for it and he
Speaker:brings it in huge 10 000 people show up
Speaker:and the city again this is two years
Speaker:after he has married Charlotte
Speaker:people think is he doing this to get in
Speaker:our good graces because this is
Speaker:considered the first U.S Civil War
Speaker:Monument to be erected in in
Speaker:the us because it's the very first one
Speaker:yeah because it's 1863. Civil War isn't
Speaker:even over yet oh wow so
Speaker:is he doing it to get in everyone's good
Speaker:graces is he doing it because he
Speaker:actually feels this way no one knows for
Speaker:sure I kind of talk about that on the
Speaker:video but he commissions it it comes
Speaker:into huge Fanfare and it's it's erected
Speaker:right in the middle it's still there
Speaker:today
Speaker:and so we show all of it and what's also
Speaker:neat
Speaker:is the city is proud of Dan Ryan so they
Speaker:still have the pillars
Speaker:markers and they have the two lions that
Speaker:were in front of his house that are in
Speaker:front of city hall and then the pillars
Speaker:there's four pillars so two of them are
Speaker:right there by the monument and two are
Speaker:where we used to take the boys to
Speaker:baseball remember they had they moved
Speaker:the two pillars there too so they they
Speaker:keep that history in and they eat those
Speaker:used to Marcus property lines desert
Speaker:Marcus property lines for his house his
Speaker:huge mansion that he built and then they
Speaker:also have that big mural and that's kind
Speaker:of where we talk in front of in the
Speaker:video and we depict his outfit and how
Speaker:that outfit was used as the model
Speaker:for Harper's Bazaar when they depicted
Speaker:when they drew Uncle Sam they drew Uncle
Speaker:Sam off of what Dan Rice wore when he
Speaker:was the clown in his circus yeah so if
Speaker:people get a chance to go watch the
Speaker:video it's it's very interesting but
Speaker:this mural we're standing there for a
Speaker:while so it's not a quick picture you
Speaker:get to see it for quite a while you'll
Speaker:see this character and you think like
Speaker:that's just a poor copy of Uncle Sam and
Speaker:it's actually not that's actually the
Speaker:the depiction of Dan Rice in his
Speaker:standard what became standard Dan Rice
Speaker:circus costume that Harper's Bazaar who
Speaker:ended up coming up with that Uncle Sam
Speaker:poster the I want you yeah and you see
Speaker:that all the time they based it off of
Speaker:him and that's Uncle Sam I mean that's
Speaker:the representation of the United States
Speaker:if you say like this picture oh you're
Speaker:like oh that's Uncle Sam all right
Speaker:that's yeah I mean school health Rock I
Speaker:think would use him talking to people as
Speaker:America like this is America talking so
Speaker:yeah that's Dan Rice so he's like again
Speaker:the famous person you never heard of and
Speaker:there's a book
Speaker:um that has that same title that goes
Speaker:all into his life and gives all the
Speaker:information but um yeah that's why we
Speaker:picked that video that's why we did it
Speaker:and I think we did it on a day date so
Speaker:made it easy for us to film it yeah
Speaker:without the kids yeah and it's
Speaker:interesting because we talk about some
Speaker:pretty famous comedians have kind of
Speaker:mentioned him yeah you know like Jon
Speaker:Stewart yes yes like folks like that
Speaker:right political commentary it is birthed
Speaker:you know he we call him we in the video
Speaker:we kind of call him the father of
Speaker:political commentary and back then that
Speaker:was part of his circus act just making
Speaker:fun of the people that everybody know
Speaker:and back then it was politicians the
Speaker:president stuff like that yeah and so
Speaker:and his after he divorces Charlotte and
Speaker:he kind of succumbs to alcoholism his
Speaker:star falls relatively quickly and then
Speaker:after the Civil War
Speaker:and I talk about this
Speaker:after radio after the Civil War really
Speaker:after World War II circuses basically
Speaker:fall because you have TV you have access
Speaker:to exotic animals and great shows and
Speaker:movies and it really it transitioned
Speaker:right think think of the transition of
Speaker:circus to Vaudeville yes to television
Speaker:Television right so think about the
Speaker:podcast that we've done we've done Dan
Speaker:Rice circus we've done some Vaudeville
Speaker:folks Bob Hope Lucille Ball yes on to
Speaker:television Jimmy Stewart Jimmy Stewart
Speaker:and Lucille Ball and again Bob Hope as
Speaker:well so there's that there's an
Speaker:interesting transition there there is
Speaker:that I never
Speaker:again I don't think you until you
Speaker:started learning about Dan Rice was just
Speaker:like holy cow like this guy
Speaker:the the Ripples and in history and time
Speaker:that he has left people see them but
Speaker:they don't know that he was the stone
Speaker:that was dropped in the lake
Speaker:he did it and so
Speaker:yeah and he he dies pretty penniless and
Speaker:obscure I think his his grave is in New
Speaker:Jersey I think people still leave
Speaker:flowers and things but
Speaker:um he has his last tour in 1885 and then
Speaker:he dies in 1900 at 77 years old so
Speaker:most people have forgotten Dan Rice but
Speaker:his impact is still felt today for sure
Speaker:anytime you see political commentary
Speaker:that's Dan Rice started all of that and
Speaker:he it worked it was the people want to
Speaker:see that the people want to see when
Speaker:they're being ridiculous in their ideas
Speaker:and they I think people still want to
Speaker:laugh at themselves and he was very good
Speaker:at doing that and people today you know
Speaker:when they're really good at doing that
Speaker:as well yeah yeah so yeah this was just
Speaker:such an interesting one to make because
Speaker:it was a Small Town Pennsylvania but
Speaker:here's this historical character who
Speaker:really when you learn about him and the
Speaker:effects that he had
Speaker:um it's just super interesting so again
Speaker:not many people know Dan Rice the circus
Speaker:performer but most people do know that
Speaker:iconic image that inspired the Army
Speaker:Recruiting posters with our very own
Speaker:Uncle Sam on there pointing at you
Speaker:with that statement of I want you for
Speaker:the US Army
Speaker:and while Dan Rice may have passed away
Speaker:to little Fanfare his impact on society
Speaker:Echoes throughout today
Speaker:through the political commentary of so
Speaker:many late night Comedians and even
Speaker:through something as simple as inspiring
Speaker:the phrase jump on the bandwagon
Speaker:just as we hope you our listeners are
Speaker:jumping on the talk with history
Speaker:bandwagon today
Speaker:so again thank you for listening to the
Speaker:talk with History Podcast and please
Speaker:reach out to us at our website talk with
Speaker:history.com but more importantly if you
Speaker:know someone else that might enjoy this
Speaker:podcast please share this with them we
Speaker:rely on you our community to grow and we
Speaker:appreciate you all every day
Speaker:we'll talk to you next time
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:[Applause]
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:[Applause]
Speaker:[Music]
