Lieutenant Gitz Rice (May 5, 1891 – October 16, 1947) was a Canadian service member and

entertainer An entertainer is someone who provides entertainment in various different forms. Types of entertainers * Acrobat * Actor * Archimime * Athlete * Barker * Beatboxer * Benshi * Bouffon * Circus performer * Clown * Club Hostess/Host * Comed ...

, best known for creating various

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

war songs popular among both troops and civilians.

Early life

Ingraham "Gitz" Rice was born in 1891 in

New Glasgow, Nova Scotia New Glasgow is a town in Pictou County, in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It is situated on the banks of the East River of Pictou, which flows into Pictou Harbour, a sub-basin of the Northumberland Strait. The town's population was 9,075 ...

to Amos Ingraham Rice and Eliza G Rice.Edmund Rice (1638) Association, 2020. Descendants of Edmund Rice: The First Nine Generations

/ref> His father, Amos, was a photographer who developed his craft in Nova Scotia but transferred his business to Montreal in 1892 when the Gitz was young. He earned the nickname "Gitz" from his eldest brother Charles, due to his odd walking style during his earliest years. Gitz Rice was a direct patrilineal descendant of Edmund Rice (1638), Edmund Rice, an early immigrant to

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...

from England. Rice studied

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

during his childhood. He attended

Victoria School Victoria School (VS) is a government autonomous boys' secondary school in Siglap, Singapore. Established in 1876, it is Singapore's second oldest state secondary school. It offers a six-year Integrated Programme, which allows students to skip t ...

, Montreal High School, the Feller Institute, and French Protestant School at Grande Ligne,

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

before enrolling in the

McGill Conservatory The Schulich School of Music (also known as Schulich) is one of the constituent faculties of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 555, rue Sherbrooke Ouest (555, Sherbrooke Street West). The faculty was named after benef ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, where he was influenced by music professor Eddy Upton.

Military career

Rice enlisted in the army on the exact day

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

declared war on Germany in 1914, beginning as a

gunnery officer The gunnery officer of a warship was the officer responsible for operation and maintenance of the ship's guns and for safe storage of the ship's ammunition inventory. Background The gunnery officer was usually the line officer next in rank to the ...

. He began writing songs during training, mostly jokingly musing on the training procedures. Once deployed, he fought in various battles across Europe. He first wrote about

trench A trench is a type of excavation or in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a wider gully, or ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or pit). In geology, trenches result from eros ...

life in 1915, at the battle of

Neuve Chapelle Neuve-Chapelle ( vls, Nieuwkappel) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. It was the site of a First World War battle in 1915. Geography Neuve-Chapelle is situated some northeast of Béthune and ...

. Rice organized the first World War I concert party for

servicemen The term serviceman, alternatively service member, refers to enlisted members of a nation's armed forces. More generally, the term can be applied to officers as well. For more information see: *Soldier *Sailor *Airman *Marine *Coast guard *Nat ...

in France. Rice joined Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry Comedy Company as a piano player from time to time. In an interview with the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', Rice cites one of his clearest war memories as a time when he saved a piano from destruction:

I shall never forget, in one town, stealing a piano out of an old house that was being shelled. The piano would have been destroyed anyhow. We got a wagon, put the piano on the wagon, and drove down a road where thousands of infantry boys were lined along the sides. I couldn't keep my fingers from the keys, and started to play as we went along. There were shouts, cheers, and singing, and one English soldier came up to me in all seriousness and said: 'What is the idea of the celebration? Has peace been declared?' Of course, I had to answer the negative.

Following the

Battle of Somme The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place be ...

, Rice created a committee to develop concerts to entertain soldiers. He was removed from combat upon being gassed at

Vimy Ridge The Battle of Vimy Ridge was part of the Battle of Arras, in the Pas-de-Calais department of France, during the First World War. The main combatants were the four divisions of the Canadian Corps in the First Army, against three divisions of ...

in 1917, and returned to Canada. There he became

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

of musical entertainment for soldiers, overseeing the entertainment of approximately 70,000 troops per week.

Life after service

Having developed a reputation for writing numerous popular war songs, Rice moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1919 to pursue an entertainment career further. He began as a piano

accompaniment Accompaniment is the musical part which provides the rhythmic and/or harmonic support for the melody or main themes of a song or instrumental piece. There are many different styles and types of accompaniment in different genres and styles ...

player, and continued to write. Much of his work was based around emulating his war time experiences and performances, and he often appeared on stage in uniform. He went on to create the successful vaudeville act "Gitzy Rice and His North West Mounted Police," which featured performers in Royal Canadian Mounties uniforms. He wrote multiple musicals, although none matched the success of his other work. Rice stopped performing in 1930 in order to enter a

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

career, though he returned to the stage to entertain Canadian troops during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Personal life

Rice married

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

actress

Ruby Hoffman Ruby Hoffman (July 28, 1886 – September 22, 1973) was an American silent film and stage actress. Background Ruby Hoffman was born on July 28, 1886, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. She was an actress, known for '' The Lightnin ...

in 1918. He died in October 1947 after facing

bronchial asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, coug ...

for a number of months.

Notable works

Dear Old Pal of Mine Dear Old Pal of Mine is a World War I song written by Harold Robe and Gitz Rice. The song was first published in 1916 by G. Ricordi & Co. in New York, NY. Irish tenor John McCormack earned the nickname the "Singing Prophet of Victory" by popul ...

" *" Keep Your Head Down, Fritzie Boy" *"

Mademoiselle from Armentières "Mademoiselle from Armentières" is an English song that was particularly popular during World War I. It is also known by its ersatz French hook line, 'Inky Pinky Parlez Vous,' or the American variant 'Hinky Dinky Parlez-vous' (variant: ''Parlay ...

" *"On the Road That Leads to Home"

References

;Notes ;Citations

External links

*
Lieutenant Gitz Rice and Henry Burr
* * * ttps://www.loc.gov/jukebox/artists/detail/id/3281/ Gitz Ricebr>Lieutenant Gitz Rice of the First Canadians : Life in a Trench in Belgium

Gitz Rice
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rice, Gitz 1891 births 1947 deaths Canadian Expeditionary Force officers Canadian songwriters Musicians from Nova Scotia People from New Glasgow, Nova Scotia 20th-century Canadian male singers