The 16th Emergency Clown Nose® pick of the Holiday Season is Dan Rice.  In this series I’m exploring the noble as well as ignoble clown.  Each day through Christmas look for posts to my blog, www.LloydBrant.com, of a different public figure that either delighted in playing the clown, or that the public has unfortunately chosen to paint as a clown.

Dan Rice is the most famous person that you’ve never heard of even though his goatee, top hat, and red, white, and blue spangled costume became the model for Uncle Sam in the 20^th century.

Rice was a contemporary of English music hall clown, Joseph Grimaldi, but instead of imitating Grimaldi, he developed a uniquely American comic voice that influenced Mark Twain as a boy.

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