Cale Young Rice
{{Short description|American writer (1872–1943)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Cale Young Rice
| image = Portrait of Cale Young Rice.jpg
| caption = Portrait of Cale Young Rice
| birth_date = {{birth date|1872|12|07}}
| birth_place = Dixon, Kentucky, US
| death_date = {{death date and age|1943|01|24|1872|12|07}}
| death_place = Louisville, Kentucky, US
| nationality = American
| occupation = poet and dramatist
| spouse = Alice Hegan Rice
| children =
}}
Cale Young Rice (December 7, 1872 – January 24, 1943) was an American poet and dramatist. He was professor of English at Cumberland University. His opera, Yolanda of Cyprus, was widely received.
Life and career
Rice was born in Dixon, Kentucky, to Laban Marchbanks Rice, a Confederate veteran and tobacco merchant, and his wife Martha Lacy. He was a younger brother of Laban Lacy Rice, a noted educator, author, and president of Cumberland University. Cale Rice grew up in Evansville, Indiana, and Louisville, Kentucky. He was educated at Cumberland University where he was a member of the Theta chapter of Kappa Sigma fraternity and at Harvard (A.B., 1895; A.M., 1896).
On December 18, 1902, Rice was married to the popular author Alice Hegan Rice; they worked together on several books. The marriage was childless. In 1910, they built a house at 1444 St. James Court, where they lived for 40 years.{{cite book|last1=Harrison|first1=Lowell H.|last2=Klotter|first2=James C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=63GqvIN3l3wC&q=Cale%20Young%20Rice |title=A new history of Kentucky |date=1997 |page=324|publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=9780813120089 |access-date=2022-07-01}}{{cite book|last1=Kleber|first1=John E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8eFSK4o--M0C&q=Cale%20Young%20Rice |title=The Kentucky Encyclopedia|date=1992|publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=0813128838 |access-date=2022-07-02}}
Cale Rice's poems were collected and published in a single volume, The best poetic work of Cale Young Rice, by his brother, Laban Lacy Rice (1870–1973).{{cite book|first1=Laban Lacy |last1=Rice |title=The best poetic work of Cale Young Rice.|url=http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/2665467|place= Lebanon, Tenn.|publisher=Cumberland University Press|date=1943|oclc=2665467 }}
His birthplace in Dixon is designated by Kentucky State Historical Marker 1508, which reads:
{{blockquote|Birthplace of Rice brothers, Cale Young, 1872–1943, noted poet and author; Laban Lacy, 1870–1973, well-known educator and author. Lacy published The Best Poetic Works of Cale Young Rice after Cale's death. Included in famous collection is poem, "The Mystic." Cale married Alice Hegan, also a distinguished Kentucky writer. Home overlooks Memorial Garden.{{cite web|url=https://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/browse?search=Historical+Marker+%231508+&sort_field=relevance&submit_header-search=Submit|title=Search For Markers|accessdate=1 July 2022|work=explorekyhistory.ky.gov}}}}
Rice adapted his play Yolanda of Cyprus into an opera libretto for Clarence Loomis; the resulting work was premiered on September 25, 1929, in London, Ontario, under the baton of Isaac Van Grove, and featured Charles Kullman. The production was directed by Vladimir Rosing.{{cite book|author1=Margaret Ross Griffel|author2=Adrienne Fried Block|title=Operas in English: A Dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WxIKAQAAMAAJ|year=1999|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=978-0-313-25310-2|author1-link=Margaret Ross Griffel}} The opera later received the Bispham Memorial Medal Award.{{cite book|author=Ken Wlaschin|title=Encyclopedia of American Opera|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SBkKAQAAMAAJ|year=2006|publisher=McFarland & Company|isbn=978-0-7864-2109-1}}
Death
Rice committed suicide by gunshot during the night of January 24, 1943, at his home in Louisville a year after his wife's death due to his sorrow at losing her.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104777955/obituary/ |title=Cale Y. Rice Is Found Dead|work=Messenger-Inquirer|place=Owensboro, Kentucky|date=25 Jan 1943|page=1|accessdate=2022-07-01}}
Works
=Verse=
- From Dusk to Dusk (1898)
- With Omar (1900)
- Song Surf (1900)
- Nirvana Days (1908)
- Many Gods (1910)
- At the World's Heart (1914)
=Plays=
- Charles di Tocca (1903)
- Yolanda of Cyprus (1906){{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104777268/plays-and-lyrics/ |title=PLAYS AND LYRICS. The Collected Poems of Cale Young Rice--His Tragedies "Yolanda of Cyprus" and "David."|date=August 11, 1906|work=The New York Times|place=New York, New York|page=17|accessdate=2022-07-01}}
- A Night in Avignon (1907)
- The Immortal Lure (1911)
- Porzia (1913)
=Collection=
- Collected Plays and Poems (two volumes, 1915)
=Other works=
- Youth's Way. New York, The Century Co., 1923.
- A New Approach to Philosophy. Lebanon, Tenn: The Cumberland University Press, 1943.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{commons category}}
- {{Gutenberg author | id=34439| name=Cale Young Rice}}
- {{Internet Archive author |sname=Cale Young Rice}}
- {{Librivox author |id=1645}}
- {{Find a Grave|18083751}}
- [http://exploreuk.uky.edu/catalog/xt798s4jmh56/ Guide to the Cale Young Rice papers, 1927–1939] housed at the University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center
- [http://www.rootsweb.com/~kywebste/families/rice.htm Rice family page]
- [http://www.webstercountyky.com/index.php Rice family home on Dixon, KY site]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rice, Cale Young}}
Category:Harvard University alumni
Category:Writers from Louisville, Kentucky
Category:People from Webster County, Kentucky
Category:Writers from Evansville, Indiana
Category:Suicides by firearm in Kentucky
Category:Cumberland University alumni
Category:American male dramatists and playwrights
Category:19th-century American poets
Category:20th-century American poets
Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
Category:19th-century American dramatists and playwrights