The Shooting of Dan McGrew
"The Shooting of Dan McGrew" is a narrative poem by British-Canadian writer
Details
The tale takes place in a
The poet was a Scotsman who came to Canada as a young adult, and was fascinated with the lives and landscapes of the Canadian Northwest where he went to work. Along with "The Cremation of Sam McGee", this poem was arguably his best known. It was the basis of a 1998 novel, The Man from the Creeks, by Robert Kroetsch,[2] a longtime admirer of Service's works. It was also the inspiration for the 1949 song "Dangerous Dan McGrew" by Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians. Also it has been recalled in the fourth strophe of the song "Put the Blame on Mame", sung by Rita Hayworth in the 1946 film Gilda; the text claims that rather than being shot and killed, Dan McGrew was slain by Mame's "hoochy-coo" dance. The poem was recited by Miss Marple in the 1964 film Murder Most Foul, as her audition to join a theatrical troupe.
The character of Dan McGrew was based on William Nelson McGrew (1883-1960), who was born and raised in Guinda, California to Isaac and Nellie Ophelia (Thomas) McGrew and whose nickname was "Dangerous Dan". William McGrew had gone to the Yukon seeking his fortune during the Yukon Gold Rush. William McGrew and Robert Service were mutually antagonistic toward each other, and after one argument Robert Service is reputed to have said: "McGrew, some day I'll kill you." Service achieved his goal by killing Dan McGrew in this poem.
The poem's unique history as a spoken word piece was highlighted when US President Ronald Reagan and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney did their own alternating recital of the poem both in private meetings and in public.
Extract
The opening verse suggests the poem's meter and tone.
- A bunch of the boys were whooping it up in the Malamute saloon;
- The kid that handles the music-box was hitting a jag-time tune;
- Back of the bar, in a solo game, sat Dangerous Dan McGrew,
- And watching his luck was his light-o'-love, the lady that's known as Lou.
See also
- The Shooting of Dan McGrew (1915 film)
- The Shooting of Dan McGrew (1924 film)
- Charlotte MacLeod, writing as Alisa Craig, had one of her characters write a play based on The Shooting of Dan McGrew in her 1988 mystery novel, The Grub-and-Stakers Pinch a Poke. The poem is quoted at the beginning of the book.
- Dangerous Dan McFoo, 1939 cartoon directed by Tex Avery.
- The Shooting of Dan McGoo, 1945 cartoon directed by Tex Avery.
- Bluto is named "Dangerous Dan McBluto" in the 1946 Popeye cartoon Klondike Casanova.
- Gunmen of the Apocalypse, episode of Red Dwarf in which Arnold Rimmer plays Dangerous Dan McGrew in an "artificial reality" video game[3]
References
- LCCN 16020848.
- ISBN 978-0-7710-9581-8.
- ^ "Red Dwarf:Gunmen of the Apocalypse". IMDB.
External links
- "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" text from Genius.com