Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-06-21
FOUNDER or NEGRO MINsrRtLSY.



The Mimic Stage OF Over Sixty Years Ago.
Jump Jim Crow"
Thomas d. Rice is gencpally con.
coded 10 have been the founder of
Ethiopian mihstrelsy. Although. as
has been e il did not originate with
him, he made il popular on both sides
of the Atlantic. and his ima-r deserves
an Aouarrd niche I'm is cathedral.
The history ul Jim Crow Rice. as
he was alyrct!un9irly called for many
years. has been written by many
scribes and in many different WAYS.
the most complete and lIusl truthful
account, perhaps. being that ui Mr.
Edmon s Conner, who d -rribul i'm
the columns Of Tie New York Time.
June ;. 1881. what lac SAW and remrm.
Tered of lis conception. Nh Conner
was q member Of the company al the
Columbia street theatre, Cincinnati. in
1925 3. when lac first met Rice. doing
little negro bits" between the acts at
thal louise, notably II sketch hc had
studied from life in Louisville the pre-
cediup summer Rack of The InlIiS.
y;lln ijp,t,n NaS Eyor,. s,,Ilo L.pt
by a man named Grow. The actors
could look into the stable ward from
the windows OF their dressing rooms.
and were very fond of WATCHING the
movements of am old and decrppit
slave who was employed by the pro-
prietor Ia do all so,,t, of odd iobS As
was The custom among The negroes
he lad assumed his masters name and
calloi himself Jim Crow. He wa
ycrl much Geformed-the right
shoulder WAS drawn up high. and
the left leg was stiff and crooked
at the knee, which gave him a pain
full but at the same time ludicrous
limp. He was in the habit of o o
ing a queer old tune. 10 which he had
applied words Of his own. At the end
OF each verse he rave a 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 snou,. turn ,hou,
DO Jis so.
An cherry time ! wheel about
lump Jim croS,
Rice closely watched This unconscious
performer, and recognized in him a
character entirely lew TO the stage.
He wrote a number If verses, quicken
ed and slightly cha lged the air, made
upexactlyl like theoriginal, and appear
ed before q Louisvi. le audience, which,
Us Mr.. Conner s. IS, went mad with
delight. recallinG him on the first
night at least twenty times. And 50
Jim Crow jumrc0 into fame. and
something that .oo5S almost like im-
mortality. "SI.' Smith say, that the
character was trst seen IN "a piece By
Scion Robinson, called The ll,ile,
and that he, smith. "hCippd Rice n
little M liking the tune,
Other cIi.es beside, Louisville claim
Jim Crow. Francis ,uurlWpy We
mysN, Ia his Autobiography, says lac
was a native of P~itl,Yyr-, wil0-, name
was jim CUT; While Mr.. Robert l..
Ney'n, lG Tie Atlantic Monthly for
November, lcGT, declares that the
original was a negro stage driver Of
Cincinnati. and that PItlsDurg WAS
the scene oi Rice's first appearance in
the part, a local negro There whose
professional caIcer was confined 10
holding his mouth open fer pennies
thrown To him on the docks and the
streets, furnishing the wardrobe for
the initial performance.
Rice WAS born in the Seventh ward
of New York in lsJS. lie was su-
pernumerary at the Park theatre.
where Sam Cowcll remembered him
in Bombgstes Furioso, attracting 80
much attention by lis crcrntricities
that HilsOn and Barnes, the leading
characters in the cast, made "A formal
complaint, and had linn dismissed
from the company, Cuwcll adding
that this man, whose name did not
even appear ia the bills, WIS the only
actor on the stage whom the audience
seemed 10 notice. Cowcll also de-
scribes him ia Cincinnati in 1929 as a
hHO MDfE ~ AEIA queer lNN. AlAfA