The Indianapolis journal., 1889-06-02
THE FOUNDER OF NEGRO MINsTRELsE
A Brief Account Of the Man Who Did Much
to Amuse His Fellows.

to Amuse His Fellows.
Lawrence Hutton. in June Harper.
Thomas ID. Rice is generally conceded TO
have been the founder of Ethiopian MN,
streisy. Although, as has been seen, 1t dld
not originate with him. he made 1T popular
on both sides of the Atlantic. and his I'M
age deserves an honored niche in its cathe-
dral. The history of Jim Crow Rice." as
he was afiectionately called for many years,
has been written by many scribes ana In
many different ways, the most complete
and most truthful account, perhaps,
being that of Mr.. Edmon s. Con-
ner, who described in the col
nmns OF the New York Times; June, J., o. on. doSi,
ceptiOn. Mr.. Conner was member OF the
company at the COlum bia-street Theater,
Cincinnati, in 1sssS-29, when he first met
Rice, doing little negro bits" between the
had studied from life in Louisville the pre-
ceding summer. Back of the Louisville
theater was livery stable kept by man
named Crow. The actors could look into
the stable-yard from the windows of their
watching the movements of an old
and decrept slave who was EN-,
plOyed by the prOprietors to do all
sorts of odd jobs. AS was the custom
among the negroes, he had assumed his
Crow. He was very much Accommodating
right shoulder was drawn up high, and
the left leg was stiff and crooked at the
knee. which gave him a painful but at
the same time ludicrous limp. He was In
the habit of grooming a queer old tune, TO
which he applied words of his own. AT
the end of each verse he gave peculiar
step. rocking de heel" in the manner
since SO general among the long generation
of his delineatOrs; and these were the
words of his refrain.
"Wheel about, turn about,
An e6ery time wheel about
jump Jim Crow
Rice closely watched this unconscious
performer, and recognized in him a charac-
ter entirely new to the stage. He wrote
number of verses, quickened and slightly
changed the air, made up exactly like the
original and appeared before Louisville
audience, which, as Mr.. Conner says, went
mad with delight. recalling him on the first
night at least twenty times. And so jim
Crow jumped into fame. and something that
looks almost like Immortality. SOP Smith
says that the character was first seen in a
piece by SOlon Robinson, called The Rifle"
and he Smith, helped Rice little in fix
ing the tune"
Other cities besides Louisville claim Jim
Grow. Francis COurteney Wemyss, in his
autobiography, says he was a native of
Pittsburg, whose name was Jim Cuff while
Mr.. Robert +. Nevin, in the Atlantic
Monthly for November, 1867, declares that
Cincinnati. Gin and ' that f Pittsbarg % WA was the he
scene of Rice's first appearance in the part,
a local negro there whose professional
career was confined to holding his mouth
open for pennies thrown to him OH the
docks and the streets, furnishing the ward
robe for the initial performance.
Rice was born in the Seventh ward of
New York in 1908. He was supernumerary
at the Park Theater, where "Sam" C0well
remembered him in "Bombastes Furioso,"
attracting SO much attention by his eccen-
tricities that Hilson and Barnes the lead
ing characters in the cast made a formal
complaint, and had him dismissed from the
company, COwell adding that this man,
whose name did not even appear in the
the audience seemed to notice Cowell also
describes him in Cincinnati In 1899 n
very unassuming, modest young man, who
wore "a very queer hat. very much pointed
down before and behind, and very much
cooked OH one side" He went to England
in 1886, where he met with great success,
laid the foundation of "A very comfortable
fortune, and personally and professionally
he was the Buffalo Bill of the London of
half a century ago. Mr.. Ireland. speaking
of his popularity in this country, says that
he drew more money to the BOwery Theater
than any other performer in the same
period of time.
Rice was the author of many of his own
Virginia Mummy" and he was not the ver-
liable originator of the genus known to the
stage as the dandy darky," represented
particularly in his creation of DANDY Jim
of Caroline" and Spruce Pink" He died
in 1860, never having forfeited the respect
of the public or the good will of his fellow
men.