Editing Thomas D. Rice (section)

==Career==
[[File:Jimcrow.jpg|thumb|left|Thomas D. Rice as [[Jim Crow (character)|Jim Crow]] as drawn by [[Edward Williams Clay]]]]

Rice had made the Jim Crow character his signature act by 1832.<ref>''American Sentinel'' (Philadelphia), September 11, 1832: "Mr. Rice will appear and sing Jim Crow."</ref> Rice went from one theater to another, singing his Jim Crow Song. He became known as "Jim Crow Rice". There had been other blackface performers before Rice, however it was Rice who became so indelibly associated with a single character. Rice claimed to have been inspired by a Black stable groom who was crippled, who sang and danced as he did his work,<ref name="Devil">{{cite book|title=The Devil's Music|author=Giles Oakley|publisher=[[Da Capo Press]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/devilsmusichisto00oakl_0/page/22 22]|isbn=978-0-306-80743-5|date=1997|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/devilsmusichisto00oakl_0/page/22}}</ref>  and even claimed to have bought the man's clothes for "authenticity." The time, place and truth of this claim have been disputed.

He soon expanded his repertoire, with his most popular routine being his "shadow dance." Rice would appear on stage carrying a sack slung over his shoulder, then sing the song "Me and My Shadow" (not the better-known 1920s song). As Rice began to dance, a child actor in blackface would crawl out of the sack, and emulate each of Rice's moves and steps. Rice also performed as the "Yankee" character, an already-established stage stereotype who represented rural America and dressed in a long blue coat and striped pants.

Rice's greatest prominence came in the 1830s, before the rise of full-blown blackface minstrel shows, when blackface performances were typically part of a variety show or as an [[entr'acte]] in another play.<ref name="Times">''The Times'', Friday, January 18, 1833; pg. 5: 'PARTAKING OF A THEATRICAL ENTERTAINMENT': Describes a performance of Shakespeare's ''Richard III'' at the [[Bowery]] followed by Rice performing his 'Jim Crow' act.</ref>

During the years of his peak popularity, from roughly 1832 to 1844, Rice often encountered sold-out houses, with audiences demanding numerous encores.<ref name="Times"/> In 1836 he introduced his blackface performances overseas when he appeared in London,<ref>"[[Surrey Theatre|SURREY THEATRE]]: This theatre, which last year was so prolific in sea pieces, has this season been abundant in a novel species of entertainment. A sort of extravaganzas, called "black operas", has superseded the ancient drama, and the ''[[Black-Eyed Susan]]'' of former days has been obliged to give place to the black-faced Susan of the Transatlantic importations from Boston and New York.  Mr. Rice, whose Jim Crow has insured his reputation in every street of the metropolis, and whose admirable representation of the negroes of the United States has raised a host of imitators, is the hero of these black burlettas.  Mr Rice is in his way the most accomplished artist on the boards, his personation is the beau ideal of a negro. There is something in his chuckle which is not to be described, but which is equally rich, veracious, and inimitable.  He has the faculty of twisting his limbs in such a manner as to represent the distortions of an ill grown African, and the very tibia of his legs appear to shape themselves in aid of his endeavours.  The novelty of last night is called, ''Oh, Hush! or Life in New York''. This is merely a vehicle for the exhibition of the very peculiar talent of the performer, and as such it fully answers its purpose. The plot consists in the loves of the Black hero and heroine (Mr. W. Smith) who are made to dance, sing and caper through three or four scenes... There is not much point in the songs or the dialogue, but there are several good hits, and of them Mr. Rice made the most." ''The Times'', Wednesday, October 26, 1836; pg. 5; Issue 16244; col G. Rice was so successful he soon transferred to the more upmarket Adelphi Theatre in a play built especially around his Jim Crow character; this was also a hit. ''The Times'', November 8, 1836, p. 5</ref> although he and his character were known there by reputation at least by 1833.<ref name="Times"/>

Rice not only performed in more than 100 plays, but also created plays of his own, providing himself slight variants on the Jim Crow persona—as Cuff in ''Oh, Hush!'' (1833), Ginger Blue in ''Virginia Mummy'' (1835), and Bone Squash in ''Bone Squash Diavolo'' (1835). Shortly after making his first hit in London in ''Oh, Hush'', Rice starred in a more prestigious production, a three-act play at the [[Adelphi Theatre]] in London.<ref>''A Flight to America, or Ten Hours in New York'' (1836), was the vehicle written for Rice by [[William Leman Rede]]. In it the Jim Crow character is developed to share similarities with the 'witty servant' of stage tradition.  An Englishman fleeing creditors arrives in New York, where on the quayside he meets Jim Crow and hires him as his valet. The plot involves a beautiful young heiress being forced into a loveless marriage by her rascally uncle, and an episode where the astonished Englishman returns to his lodgings (drunk) to find Jim Crow has invited all his friends there to celebrate "the emancipation of the negroes" – presumably a reference to the ending of enslavement in the British Caribbean colonies. Eventually, thanks to Jim Crow, the machinations of the uncle and his wicked associate (a "regular calculating Yankee... from Virginia" [''sic'']) are defeated. The thwarted villain then claims Jim Crow is an escaped slave but the Englishman buys his freedom and the play ends with the heiress marrying her own true love and Jim Crow marrying his. ''The Times'', November 8, 1836; pg. 5</ref> Moreover, Rice wrote and starred in ''Otello'' (1844); he also played the title character in ''Uncle Tom's Cabin''. Starting in 1854 he played in one of the more prominent (and one of the least [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]]) "[[Tom show]]s", loosely based on [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]]'s [[Uncle Tom's Cabin|book]].<ref>Lott, Eric. ''Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. {{ISBN|0-19-507832-2}}. p. 211.</ref>

"The Virginny Cupids" was an operatic [[Olio (musical number)|olio]] and the most popular of the time. It is centered on a song "[[Coal Black Rose]]", which predated the playlet. Rice played Cuff, boss of the bootblacks, and he wins the girl, Rose, away from the Black [[dandy]] Sambo Johnson, a former bootblack who made money by winning a [[lottery]].<ref>Lott, Eric. ''Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. {{ISBN|0-19-507832-2}}. p. 133.</ref>

According to Broadbent,<ref>''Annals of Annals of the Liverpool Stage, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time'' (New York), 1969:</ref> "T. D. Rice, the celebrated negro comedian, performed "Jump Jim Crow" with witty local allusions" at Ducrow's Royal Amphitheatre (now [[Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool|The Royal Court Theatre]]), Liverpool, England.

At least initially, blackface could also give voice to an oppositional dynamic that was prohibited by society.  As early as 1832, Rice was singing, "An' I caution all white dandies not to come in my way, / For if dey insult me, dey'll in de gutter lay."  It also on occasion equated lower-class white and lower-class Black audiences; while parodying Shakespeare, Rice sang, "Aldough I'm a Black man, de white is call'd my broder."<ref>Ashny, LeRoy, With Amusement for All, University Press of Kentucky, 2006, pg. 17-18</ref>