The Sun (Baltimore), July 11, 1865, said: “The voice of W. H. Lewis, the Prima Donna, is something remarkable, and it strikes us could be better employed than mere burlesquing.”
The Philadelphia correspondent of the New York Clipper, September 4, 1869, said: “This is Mr. Rice’s first appearance in his native city, and he has made a big hit, for on the night we were present, he received the only third encore, and a fourth was demanded, but not given.”
The Evening Post (Albany, N. Y.), of June 13, 1871, said: “Wm. Henry Rice does the Prima Donna capitally; he is one of the best grotesque singers we ever saw—Rice is a star of the first magnitude, and can infuse more low comedy into an operatic song than any other artist.”
The Stage (New York), November 13, 1871, said: “Nillson is capitally burlesqued by W. H. Rice, who never descends to vulgarity, and who displays his peculiar talents to the best possible advantage.”
The Era (New York), June 15, 1873, said: “One noticeable feature about the performance was the gorgeous dress of Mr. W. H. Rice, prima donna of Bryant’s company. The dress could not have cost less than nine hundred dollars. The workmanship was far superior to anything we have yet seen upon the stage. Neither Morris, Davenport or Ethel can boast of such rich apparel. * * * * * Rice deserves great praise for his painstaking endeavors. He is an excellent singer, and conscientious actor, and would only acquire the distinction he has already made but by application and study. To-day he is without a peer in the profession, and undoubtedly one of the best that ever appeared upon the minstrel stage.”
An advertisement in a Liverpool, England, paper, of Hague’s Minstrels, July 20, 1874, reads, “Second week of the star Burlesque Prima Donna of the world, Mr. W. Henry Rice, whose success with the Hague’s is unprecedented in the history of minstrelsy in Liverpool. Each night at the conclusion of his performance Mr. Rice has received a most enthusiastic call before the curtain, an instance of popularity seldom equaled.”
The Times (Philadelphia), of December 17, 1901, said: “Wm. Henry Rice again made his appearance as a special member of the Dumont troupe, in the Eleventh Street Opera House, and duplicated his hit of last season in a new skit, “Roosevelt’s Reception,” in which he gave a grotesque feminine impersonation along the lines long ago made familiar by him. He is the best and one of the very last exemplars of an older style of burnt-cork fun-making than obtains to-day, and was wholly successful with last evening’s audience.”
Frank Dumont, in an interview in the North American (Philadelphia), Dec. 29, 1907, said: “* * * To my dying day I will not forget his scene where Camille writes to the father of Armand that she will give him up. Talk about acting! Why, he had Bernhardt beaten a mile in that scene. It was the purest burlesque I have ever seen. For more than twenty minutes he would keep the audience in convulsions of laughter. No end man ever equaled him as a genuine comedian.
“I really think he ought to be classed among the greatest of actors. I mean the really great ones, for his work was as much of an art as that of the most classic actors that are world-famous. * * * He deserves to live in the traditions of the stage. * * * ‘Bill’ was too fond of Philadelphia to remain long away from it. Here he wanted to live and die; and he had his wish.”
Wm. Henry Rice was born in Philadelphia, June 1, 1844; he died there December 20, 1907.