author
Edw. Le Roy (Edward Le Roy) Rice
1871–1938
A colorful figure in early American entertainment, he performed in and produced minstrel shows and later wrote one of the best-known histories of the form. His work preserves a slice of theatrical culture that was hugely influential in its day and is deeply troubling to read now.
1 Audiobook
Monarchs of minstrelsy, from "Daddy" Rice to date
by Edw. Le Roy (Edward Le Roy) Rice
About the author
Born in Manhattan on August 24, 1871, Edward Le Roy Rice worked in American theater as a performer, producer, and collector of theatrical memorabilia. He became especially associated with minstrel entertainment and was often described as a leading authority on its history.
Rice is best known as the author of Monarchs of Minstrelsy, from "Daddy" Rice to Date (1911), a large historical survey of performers and productions in the minstrel tradition. For listeners and readers today, the book is useful less as a neutral history than as a firsthand record of a major entertainment industry whose legacy is inseparable from racist performance traditions.
He remained active in theatrical circles for many years and died on December 1, 1938. Because his surviving reputation rests largely on his documentation of minstrelsy, he is remembered both as a chronicler of stage history and as a witness to one of the most contested forms in American popular culture.