Editing Circus clown (section)

====[[Dan Rice]]====
[[File:Portrait of Dan Rice c. 1840.jpg|thumb|Daguerreotype Portrait of Dan Rice]]
However, the first American clown to achieve genuine star status was a jockey, gambler and strong man who used to catch cannonballs on the back of his neck.  He was born as Daniel McClaren, but he is better known by his mother's maiden name of Rice.

Born in New York City, Dan Rice gained 19th century fame with many talents, most of which involved him clowning in circuses. In addition to his 'clowning' talents, he was an animal trainer, songwriter, commentator, political humorist, strong man, actor, director, producer, dancer, and politician. He ran for [[United States Senate|Senate]], [[United States Congress|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 Multifarious Account of Shakespeare's [[Hamlet]]" He would perform these with various songs and dialects showing just how versatile he was.

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 circus clowning and reinvented himself as 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 ''[[Adventures of Huckleberry Finn|Huckleberry Finn]]'', and it is likely a boyhood Twain actually saw Rice perform when his circus came to [[Hannibal, Missouri|Hannibal]] for a show.

His shows became more famous than any of the other shows touring at the time including that of rival, [[P. T. Barnum|Phineas Taylor]]. 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]]".

With changes in circus and popular culture after the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], his legendary talents under the [[Circus|big top]] have gradually slipped into almost total historical obscurity; biographer David Carlyon (2001) called him "the most famous man you've never heard of".

While Dan Rice's talking and singing clown was taking America by storm, a new type of clown was emerging on the British pantomime stage, one that would have a more lasting influence on contemporary American circus clowning.