I always loved this carney term. I did a little web research and I have a decent handle on it's meaning. Can anyone give me an idea of it's age and origin? Rhubarb, perhaps? Any good stories about Hey Rube's in your memory banks?

rube, in this case, is short for personal name Reuben applied to suggest the figure of a farmer or rustic; a country bumpkin -- this is first attested in 1804.

hey, Rube!, a rallying call or a cry for help used by circus people dates to 1884.

Thanks, tsu!
I knew it had to do with calling for help in altercations between circus folk and townspeople. I thought it might have to do with the great fighting term, rhubarb. Any insight on that one?

I wasn't until now familiar with "Hey, Rube!" as a carney term (thanks, Only Doug and Joe Friday, for the info).... but down here in the American South we call rednecks 'rubes', as in the color. Any connection? Or am I loopy?

(as for 'rhubarb,' I anxiously await the Commando's return for comment)

(as for 'rhubarb,' I anxiously await the Commando's return for comment)

Rhuby explained that the RhubarbCommando moniker came from a
"fighting" situation (with words, not sword). Calling someone a rube has nothing to do with them having been in a
rhubarb, though if he is an aggressive rube he may start a
rhubarb over being called that.

the use of rhubarb as a row or rumble is attributed to Mel Barber whilst broadcasting baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1943; this usage actually® comes after the repetitive use of the word as crowd noise (1934) -- and the word is later attested as a verb in the latter sense: 1958 Spectator 11 July 47/1 ‘Hear, hear,’ they rhubarb-rhubarbed; 1976 Daily Tel. 21 Sept. 11/2 Livia faced the Roman mob, all seven of them, rhubarbing at the Palace back door.

p.s. - more crowd noises: The unemployed actors had a wonderful time. We'd huddle together in a corner and repeat ‘Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb’ or ‘My fiddle, my fiddle, my fiddle’—and it sounded like a big scene from some mammoth production.

the use of rhubarb as a row or rumble is attributed - - -
My apologies for the delay, ladies and gentlemen. It has taken me a while to get round to this thread.

I was totally unaware of the belligerent connotations for "rhubarb". It puts a somewhat different slant to my soubriquet, does it not?
I was aware of "Hey, Rube" as an alarm call - I had thought among fairground folk, but that was from my hazy memory.
I read a wonderful short story about a couple of retired jugglers (so they were circus folk, weren't they?) who kept a store out in a lonely part of the mid-west USofA, who were invaded by a bunch of crooks who used the place as a HQ. The old couple overcame these thugs bu putting on a juggling act for them, using tins cans from the store shelves. At the shout of "Hey, Rube!" from the man (of course ) they started to hurl the cans at the crims, causing damage and havoc, disarming them and generally conquering all before them.

Highly unbelievable, but the sort of thing that you wished would happen.

I read a story in a magazine a long time ago, which told about the carneys using the cry "Hey, Rube" to call for assistance from the other carneys when they were having trouble with a some farmer who was threatening violence because he had found out he was being cheated. Along with that went the cry "With it" by which carneys could keep from being bashed by other carneys.