If you want to understand the line of descent of American showmanship , look no further than P.T. Barnum . He was the single most influential public bod in American entertainment during the latter half of the 19th century . His bequest still resonate today , from his wildly successful advancement tactics to the introduction of the first three - ring circus . His exhibitions and tours of the " Feejee Mermaid , " Tom Thumb and singer Jenny Lind do a maven among the American world .
Barnum ’s life story story is as stupefying as one of his appearance and sometimes as hard to think as his absurd exhibition . His was a true story of rags to riches — and then to rag and wealth again . He yearned for stability but never stopped take risks . He languish for respectability but never hesitated to manipulate his hearing or to appeal to a base human interest in the grotesque .
He legitimatise his profession , saying , " The noble artwork is that of earn people well-chosen . " But he also had a free-lance intent , having been quote as saying , " every crowd has a smooth-spoken lining " [ source : Ringling ] . He preached that people should last within their agency , but he sank into debt on multiple occasion .
Barnum became a maven of the temperance movement — after drinking heavy during a tomboy in Europe . He was an abolitionist and an impassioned Unionist during the Civil War — after owning a hard worker and using her as an exhibition . He preached that we should n’t care what our neighbor think of us , yet he was so concerned about how he would be remembered that he quest ( and was granted ) the publication of his obituary before his end .
Was Barnum a dissimulator ? Did he have a good pith under his astute business concern manoeuvre ? Let ’s probe his life , and you could decide for yourself how genuine Barnum was . tread right in and take a gander at the neat showman the world has ever seen !
Early Life
Phineas Taylor Barnum was brook in 1810 in Bethel , Connecticut , from firm American roots . His great , great , great gramps , Thomas Barnum , come to America from England as an indentured handmaiden in the seventeenth C and eventually became a landowner . However , P.T. ’s don , Philo Barnum , was mostly stillborn . Like hisancestorThomas , P.T would have to become a self - made mankind .
P.T. ’s enatic grandfather and namesake , Phineas Taylor , was a sharp - witted prankster , what P.T. call a " shake . " At P.T. ’s baptism , Phineas handed over acres to the fry . Thisinheritance , called " Ivy Island , " made P.T. the rich kid in town — or so he was always told . But , at the years of 10 , P.T. ’s magic of grandness shattered when he visited his property . What he find was an " almost unprocurable , despicable spot of desolate land " [ rootage : Barnum ] . The joke was on him .
P.T. ’s father was a farmer , and P.T. grow up doing farm work . He acknowledge in his autobiography that he hated manual labour , although he would work inexhaustibly to make money in other endeavors . Eager to leave the farm , he find a more suitable job for himself as a clerk in the local country store . Here , he learned how to barter with customer and discover that people would often try on to cheat on him . In his autobiography , he write , " There is a great mass to be learned in a country store , and principally this — that sharp craft , tricks , knavery and deception are by no means confined to the city " [ reference : Barnum ] .
P.T. ’s founding father pop off when P.T. was just 15 age onetime , leaving behind debt and four younger siblings to take upkeep of . His female parent was forced to get a job , and P.T. moved to the nearby town of Grassy Plain to get another task as a memory board clerk .
Lottery Mogul and Local Crusader
In Grassy Plain , while the proprietor were gone from the store , P.T. traded some unsellable goods for a collecting of trash bottles . Using these bottles and other unsellable tinware from the store as prizes , he organized alottery , twist old , unsellable inventory into immediate payment . He quickly sold 1,000 tickets , promising one-half would be winners . Major plunder were Johnny Cash , but minor prizes were feeding bottle and tinware . It was around this time that he was introduce to Charity Hallett , " a reasonable , rosy - cheeked , zaftig girl , with beautiful snowy tooth " [ seed : Barnum ] .
Before he could think about marriage , however , he needed to make something of himself — so he left for the heavy city . When he was only 16 , P.T. moved to Brooklyn to clerk in a grocery store for a earnings , but he quickly learned he ’d rather have a job with acommissionthat would countenance him employ his energy to increase his net income . The next year , hit a hurdle : He came down withsmallpoxand had to return home .
Undaunted by his health problems , in 1828 , Barnum open up his own fruit and confectionary shop class with help from his grandad but soon turned his attention back to drawing . He learn other lottery and , rather of managing his own , opted to buy tickets from other managers and sell them at 30 percent profit , eventually with agents of his own selling them all over the state .
It was n’t all business , though . The same year he spread out the shop , P.T. became reacquainted with Charity . They marry and would go on to have four daughters together .
Before the girl , though , came the paper . In 1831 , as a immature man " in a full point of unattackable political excitement , " Barnum oftentimes wrote letters to the local composition and grew frustrated when they were pooh-pooh . He decide to depart his own hebdomadal newspaper anticipate " Herald of Freedom " [ beginning : Barnum ] . He quick made enemies with his print accusation , and a jurist finally slapped him with a poky sentence after Barnum lost alibelsuit . After his 60 - daytime stint in gaol , however , the paper ’s subscription had increase , and Barnum was celebrated as a local Italian sandwich for his crusade to expose putrescence and wrongdoing .
In 1833 , around the time the first of Barnum ’s girl was born , Connecticut banned lotteries , cutting off a major source of income for him and his class . By 1834 , after Barnum pass on his paper and sold his interest in his store , Bethel had no more hold on him . And so he moved his family to New York City to assay his portion .
Joice Heth and Beginning Life as a Showman
In New York , Barnum started a embarkation house and bought interestingness in a grocery store , but the restless entrepreneur sought something more personally rewarding .
The opportunity came in 1835 when he pick up of Joice Heth , a slave woman who not only claim to be 161 years older but also the nursemaid to young George Washington . Her owner even lay claim to have the bill of sale from Augustine Washington , founder of George . Upon hearing that her owner was await to sell , Barnum travelled to Philadelphia to see her . Heth was unreasoning , toothless and partially paralyzed , but she blab hymns and was a springy verbalizer . Amazed , Barnum negotiated her price down to $ 1,000 and became a showman .
But when exuberance depart to wane , the tricksy Barnum got a letter published in the newspaper that incriminate Heth of being an zombie — a golem constructed of whalebone , rubber and give [ rootage : Harris ] . Thanks to pop enchantment with automaton at the time , the gadget work , and attending increase again . Barnum learned that a showman need not make any promises to get involvement . Indeed , inviting doubt can make an shower seem real .
When Heth passed away , Barnum made good on a hope to have her torso canvas by doctors . Looking at the province of herbones , they did n’t wonder at her old age , but were instead shocked that this woman was so young , believably no one-time than 81 [ source : Harris ] . Nevertheless , Barnum always claimed that he did not cook up the visor of sale or train her himself , saying she was on exhibition when he discover her .
Signor Vivalla
Barnum had caught the entertainment hemipteran . While still on tour with Heth in Albany , Barnum find Signor Antonio , a talented balancer , plate - spinner , stilt - walker andjuggler . He took on Antonio as a client and convinced him to convert his stage name to the supposedly more alien Signor Vivalla .
Barnum publish a posting of Vivalla ’s endowment in the Albany papers and sent copy to theater owners , but with little response ; the bit was n’t unique , so Barnum had trouble sell it . He was so convinced in Vivalla ’s superior talent , however , that he offered a free carrying out to a theater and assisted Vivalla onstage himself . The design worked , and the theatre hired him to execute for the rest of the hebdomad . Although new to the business , clearly , Barnum had a natural gift for describe endowment .
The pair trip down to Boston , Washington and Philadelphia , encountering mixed succeeder . The people who came were thrilled with the turn , but overall attendance was low . Barnum had to tempt interest again . He found his next idea in an unexpected place .
During one performance , a rival balancer and juggler name Roberts sit around in the audience and started hissing and heckling Vivalla . When Roberts claim he could do better , Barnum was inspired . Barnum offered $ 1,000 to anyone who could execute Vivalla ’s act in public , and Roberts accepted . After arranging with a theatre to share profits , Barnum approached Roberts and offered to employ him . So while Barnum advertised a resilient competition between rival , behind the scenes , Barnum , Vivalla and Roberts collaborated to arrange the public presentation . The show was a smasher , and functioning went on for a month .
On the Road with a Travelling Circus
In the saltation of 1836 , Barnum decided to get together a traveling carnival as a ticket seller . He shared a dowery of the net income , and Vivalla joined as a stipendiary performing artist .
The carnival encountered trouble along the way , including butt on heads with local clergy who object to their show . But the worst was when a syndicate nearly lynched Barnum in Annapolis , Maryland .
The circus proprietor , Aaron Turner , was a virtual joker who enticed a crime syndicate against Barnum . Turner separate the crowd that Barnum was in fact Rev. Ephraim Avery , a notorious man recently acquitted of execution ( but who was nonetheless convict in the eyes of public opinion ) . Barnum claim in his autobiography that he just barely got away with his life before Turner take aim back his story and the mob rent Barnum go .
When he asked Turner why he did it , Turner exact it was good for business , saying , " All we need to cover success is notoriety " [ seed : Barnum ] . Indeed , he was right , and audiences flocked to the show to see the genus Circus manager who played such jokes on each other . ( Barnum did finally get revenge on Turner with a less dangerous practical caper . )
After six months with the carnival , Barnum settle to go off on his own with Vivalla and a blackface Isaac M. Singer and dancer nominate James Sandford . When Sandford give the show suddenly , Barnum supercede him , putting on blackface and singing himself . Later , with the makeup still on , he tried to break up a fight and ( harmonize to his autobiography ) was nearly shoot down , until he revealed himself to be white .
Barnum soon acquire horses and wagons and hired aclownand an African - American singer to bring together his troupe , knight it , " Barnum ’s Grand Scientific & Musical Theater . " They locomote the American South until the next spring and then disband . After a few calendar month at habitation , Barnum come to the route again in the summer of 1837 . He bought a steamboat and hired a bunch , render performances along the Mississippi River over the wintertime . The next summer , he sold the sauceboat and return home , having learn much from his adventure but longing for a more " permanent , estimable " business [ source : Barnum ] .
Back home in New York , Barnum longed for stability . He took out an advertizement seek a partner with whom to invest his money . He ultimately settle on a man named Proler who manufacture spread , cologne and grease . It seemed to do well at first , but after funds prevail out and it was empty the troupe was fail , Proler abandoned him . Meanwhile , Barnum had continued to look for natural endowment .
Seeking a Respectable Business
Barnum came across an African - American dancer name John Diamond , hire a theater and put a show together before trying his luck on the route again . Just as he had done with Vivalla , Barnum staged fake competitions between Diamond and other dancers , which again proved profitable — until Diamond desert him too . eat up after becoming entangled in contention with other showmen , Barnum pass home in 1841 .
But he still felt the call of the entertainment business . After selling exemplify Bibles proved to be a binge , he leased another dramatics for performances but still did n’t clear much achiever . With a family to take care of and little money to go around , he was desperate . When he hear Scudder ’s Museum was up for sales agreement , Barnum have it away it was the perfect chance . At last , he envisioned a way to employ his showmanship attainment while enjoying stability .
The trouble was how to come up with the investment trust to purchase a museum . The owners of the solicitation want to get rid of it and priced it at $ 15,000 . Although it was a steal , Barnum did n’t have the cash . This did n’t discontinue his resolve . When a Quaker asked him how he could possibly buy it , Barnum reply , " Brass , for ash gray and gold have I none " [ source : Barnum ] .
Barnum approach Francis W. Olmsted , the owner of the building , and call for if he could purchase the collection in his own name and secure it to Barnum on acknowledgment . Olmsted investigate Barnum ’s reference and agreed . Barnum then met with the administrator of the collection , John Heath , who match to sell the assembling for $ 12,000 to be paid in installments . Barnum had succeeded — or so he imagine .
Having no sign arrangement with Barnum , Heath later assume a better offering with investors calling themselves the New York Museum Company . Barnum claims in his autobiography that they were speculators who planned to sellstockand pocket most of the money . Like he had done so many sentence before , Barnum turned to the newspapers . He published hit small-arm exposing the speculators and monish the world not to bribe the stock . Meanwhile , he on the Q.T. set up with Heath to buy back the property as shortly as the investors ' first installment defrayal was preceding due . To grease one’s palms Barnum ’s secrecy , the New York Museum Company offered him a business , and Barnum took delight in verbally accepting the offering ( to make them believe they were good ) . A few weeks later , when they failed to give their first installment to Heath , Barnum bought it back with Olmsted .
Now that he had his museum , Barnum finally had his chance to shine . The first order of line of work was to climb out of debt , which he did by living frugally for a year . Barnum credit his married woman , Charity , for her supporting during this time , and he himself eat inhuman dinner party , except on Sundays , until he was debt - free .
Barnum’s American Museum
Barnum bit by bit enlarged his permanent aggregation of " curiosities , " but the performances were what really pull the crowd . Barnum drew from every sort of popular amusement of the time , including musicians and dancer , jugglersand ventriloquist , giant star and little people , take dogs , automaton , creature theaters and even American Indians performing ceremonies . finally , he feature animals , including grizzly bear , giraffes , orangutans and a rhinoceros . And one of Barnum ’s most democratic exhibits during his early years included a mannikin of Niagara Falls with hunt body of water .
Why was his museum so successful while his theater shows had fizzled ? Part of the answer has to do with preconceived cultural associations . The theater had a defective reputation , whereas museums were still a shoes of sophistication . The tidy mass who would n’t make bold be realize entering a theater would fill the American Museum ’s Lecture Room to see the same amusement .
Barnum advertised with card and newspapers ( as always ) , but he also employed originative , improper methods to draw crowds in — even by intentionally confusing mass . He wrote that he once engage a beggar to walk around the town put down and picking up brick with a sober expression on his face . Barnum instructed him to refuse to babble to anyone and then to take back to the museum . This demeanor puzzled spectators so much that they followed the beggar back to the museum and bought tag to get in .
Another maneuver was to offer gratuitous outdoor music . But , of track , there was a catch : Barnum hire the bad player he could , which drive people into the museum to escape the music . He wrote , " When masses expect to get ' something for nothing ' they are certain to be cheated " [ beginning : Barnum ] .
Feejee Mermaid, Tom Thumb and the Art of Humbug
In his autobiography , Barnum takes pride in his success but writes with svelte embarrassment about his shameless , deceitful promotion manoeuvre — his so - call " fraudulence . " He writes it off as " the universe ’s way " however , and defends himself by saying that if his advertising was " more daring " than his competitors ' , " it was not because I had less scruple than they , but more vigor , far more cleverness , and a good basis for such hope " [ source : Barnum ] .
The " Feejee Mermaid , " appearing in 1842 , was arguably Barnum ’s big snake oil . For this , Barnum sought out the help of Levi Lyman , an old fellow worker who work with him while promoting Joice Heth . Lyman pose as Dr. J. Griffin , a naturalist who worked for the British Lyceum of Natural History ( which did n’t exist ) . Then , Barnum wrote letter under assumed names touting Dr. Griffin and his amazing " Feejee Mermaid . " He station the alphabetic character to Friend in Alabama , South Carolina and Washington , D.C. , asking them to mail the letter of the alphabet to New York newspaper publisher [ source : Daly ] . Crowds flock to Barnum ’s museum to see the spectacle — which was really just the head of ababoonattached to the torso of anorangutan , all of which was stick to the keister of a expectant fish .
That same yr , Barnum meet 4 - twelvemonth - old Charles S. Stratton . The little person , who stopped spring up at 24 inches , would become Barnum ’s biggest attractiveness . Barnum paid Stratton ’s green parent a modest sum for a one - class contract [ source : Harris ] . He rebranded Stratton with a name borrowed from British folklore , " General Tom Thumb , " and advertised him as an 11 - twelvemonth - old from England . Stratton was so modest and charming , and Barnum was so skilful at promoting him , that Tom Thumb became a sensation . The next year , he procure another declaration for a gamey salary and fetch Stratton to Europe .
European Tour and Jenny Lind
While in England in 1844 , Barnum and Stratton were invite to Buckingham Palace , where Stratton enamour Queen Victoria and Prince Albert so well that they were ask for back twice . Barnum name meeting most of the nobility staying in London at that time , including the succeeding King Edward VII , Queen Dowager Adelaide , King Leopold of Belgium , the business leader of Saxony and Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt . They then traveled to France and assemble King Louis Philippe .
While Barnum was in Europe , he hear of Swedish opera house singer Jenny Lind . Although he never had the chance to hear her in somebody , Barnum was convinced he could profit off of her if he could convince her to hail to America . Not only would she draw in crowd , but she would facilitate legitimize him in the eye of the populace as something more than provider of cheap humbug .
To entice her , Barnum propose Lind the astronomical heart of $ 1,000 per performance . This was a major risk even for Barnum , but it paid off in a profit of more than half a million dollars [ root : Biography ] . The " Swedish Nightingale " get in America in 1850 and , thanks to Barnum ’s promotion , was an inst celebrity : crowd pile to her in the street , and noblewoman simulate her fashions . Once , she allegedly cast off her shawl amid a frenzied crowd that quickly tore it asunder [ source : Saxon ] .
Barnum craft Lind ’s repute as a sweet , unpretentious and devoid angel , when , in reality , she looked down on the uncultured American masses who came to hear her sing , she had unattackable opinions about certain ethnicities and she could be a hard soul to play with . Barnum know how to spin the media , however , and gave them what they wanted wherever they pass to be — even squashing rumors in the South that she was an abolitionist [ seed : Saxon ] .
After her contract was up in 1851 , Barnum and Lind parted way .
A Reversal of Fortunes and War
The 1850s were not as kind to Barnum as the antedate decade . During this time , Barnum bought up land next to Bridgeport , Connecticut , planning to build up the new city of East Bridgeport . In 1855 , he vest in the Jerome Clock Company and sought to relocate it to East Bridgeport , but it twist out to be a disastrous financial move . The party went bankrupt , and Barnum retrieve himself on the come-on for much more than he intended to vest . Suddenly , he was give . He was forced out of his mansion house in Bridgeport , and to make matters worse , the untenanted manse burn down after workmen get a firing in 1857 .
Ironically , or perhaps fitly , he was capable to pull in himself out of debt by going on tour giving talk on " The artwork of Money Getting . " He sold his museum ingathering , but he transferred the letting to his wife ’s name , so they received some income from subleasing . On one function , he purchased a freshly stagnant hulk and brought it to the museum in exchange for a cold shoulder of the profit . In 1857 , he even revert to Europe to tour again with Charles Stratton .
By 1860 , after five long years of claw his way out ofdebt , he was able to buy back his museum collection . He was shortly up to his old antics , acquiring the first hippopotamus expose in the United States , then present two live beluga whales in large tankful in the museum basement . Barnum find another little person , George " Commodore " Nutt , to take up where Tom Thumb left off , and President Lincoln invited the pair to visit him at the White House .
Barnum Gets Political
In 1861 , the Civil War erupted in the United States . Barnum , who had previously been a Jacksonian Democrat , had owned a slave ( Joice Heth ) and up to this spot had stick to the coarse practice of cast out African - Americans from his museum , now became an fiery Unionist . Accordingly , he used his museum as a political mouthpiece , featuring patriotic words and plays . Union war heroes and spies berate about their experience . help of the South , calledCopperheads , often protested the museum and jeopardize Barnum ’s sprightliness .
regard Barnum ’s public appeal and gift forspeeches , ornateness and ( some would say ) use , it seemed fitting that he enter politics . In April 1865 , he won an election to the Connecticut General Assembly . During his tenure , he drum up for the ratification of the 13th Amendment to abolish slaveholding , and he supported the right hand of blacks to vote in Connecticut .
A few month after his election , Barnum ’s wanted museum burned down , along with most of his exhibits and brute . But neither a new vocation in politics nor a burned - down museum was enough to keep Barnum away from show concern . He give a raw museum just two months after the fire . Unfortunately , three days later in 1868 , this museum combust down , too , and Barnum opted not to rebuild . Although he did n’t have a museum anymore , he was eager to get back into show occupation . The 1870s were to strike off yet another phase in Barnum ’s life , a form he is now perhaps advantageously known for — the circus .
The Greatest Show on Earth
In 1870 , Barnum accepted an offer from William Cameron Coup to start a traveling circus . The so - advert " P.T. Barnum ’s Grand Traveling Museum , Menagerie , Caravan , and Circus " opened in Brooklyn in 1871 and went on to gross $ 400,000 in its first year [ source : Barnum - Museum.org ] . It was the first circus to travel by train and featured acrobats , clownsand various performance ; magnanimous exotic creature such as giraffes and elephant in addition to trained horses and dogs ; and " human curio , " such as petty people , albino and giants . Barnum famously called it " The Greatest Show on Earth , " and that probably was n’t an exaggeration .
During the wintertime , Barnum housed his carnival and fauna in theHippotheatron , on the site of what would later be Madison Square Garden . In 1872 , yet another disastrous fire make for mayhem in Barnum ’s life , destroy the Hippotheatron and killing the circus animals . The partner successfully reorganize , determined to outdo the rival circuses despite the black eye .
The next year , while Barnum was visiting his friend John Fish in England , Charity break down of heart unsuccessful person . Barnum was supposedly too heartbreak - stricken to retrovert for her funeral . But thegriefmust’ve subsided quick ; he secretly married Fish ’s daughter , 22 - class - old Nancy Fish , less than 14 calendar week later . ( They hold a public wedding party in the United States nine months after that . )
In 1875 , Barnum took a break from traveling with the carnival to successfully run for mayor of Bridgeport . He had become a teetotaler ( after drinking heavily during his circuit in Europe ) , and so he campaigned against allowing taproom to be clear Sundays . He also fought for gaseous state - lit street and threaten that the city would take over the water system company unless it improved standards . After his full term expired as mayor , Barnum wait on in the Connecticut General Assembly for two more terms [ informant : Sullivan ] .
Barnum disunite with Coup in 1876 and combine forces with the " European Menagerie and Circus . " It was n’t until 1880 that he finally partner with James A. Bailey for " P.T. Barnum ’s Great London Combined . " The next year , he attained Jumbo , an elephant 11 feet magniloquent and 6 tons in weight — the circus ’s large attractor until Jumbo ’s death in 1885 when he was struck by a train . In true Barnum style , however , he continued to display Jumbo ’s preserved pelt and skeletal system . That same yr , Barnum and Bailey go their separate ways , but they would join again to become adequate partners in 1887 for the " Barnum and Bailey Circus . "
By 1890 , the aged Barnum was still operate strong until he suffered astrokeduring a functioning . While Barnum was restrain at home and knew he was near death , the New York Sun granted his request to put out his necrology early . The great entertainer give out the next year .
Lots More Information
Whether one believes that P.T. Barnum was a shameless booster and hypocrite , we can at least sympathise with his human desire to be well liked . It is perhaps this desire that drove him to the amusement business , where he could make the great unwashed happy ( even if by deceiving them ) . It was also this desire that credibly repulse him to become a statesman later in spirit , a role that allowed him to make a difference and improve mass ’s lives — but also atone for his unscrupulous business practices .
