P. T. Barnum: Life, Legacy, and The American Dream

“I have a word or two to say, in order that we may have a thorough understanding between ourselves at the outset. I see the symptoms of a pretty jolly time here this evening, and you have paid me liberally for the single hour of my time which is at your service. I am an old traveller and an old showman, and I like to please my patrons. Now it is quite immaterial to me; you may furnish the entertainment for the hour, or I will endeavor to do so, or we will take portions of time by turns—you supplying a part of the amusement, and I part;—as we sometimes say in America, ‘you pays your money, and you takes your choice.’ ”..

Youth

Phineas Taylor Barnum, alias P. T. Barnum, born July 5, 1810, Bethel, Connecticut. P. T. Barnum was named after his paternal grandfather, Phineas Taylor Barnum Senior. Barnum SR., bestowed upon his infant grandson the most generous gift of the deed to five acres of worthless Connecticut swampland at the boy's birth, making Barnum a landowner before he was even a year old. Barnum SR. Favored his grandson immensely, the latter recalling of their kindred spirit:

“My grandfather was decidedly a wag. He was a practical joker. He would go farther, wait longer, work harder and contrive deeper, to carry out a practical joke, than for anything else under heaven.”

Barnum grew up on the family farm and was given an early sense of the daily toils of the 19th century farmer. At age six, he began school. Barnum excelled in mathematics and was an excellent student. In 1825, when he was only 15-years-old, his father Philo died suddenly. Grief-stricken, with the world on his shoulders to support himself, then-teenaged P. T. Barnum would quickly learn the value of the almighty dollar. ..

In the fall of 1826, P. T. Barnum left Bethel, taking up residence in Brooklyn, New York. After answering numerous help-wanted ads, he was offered employment as clerk in a grocery store owned by Oliver Taylor. During this initial grocery store job he made several contacts within the city of New York that would sustain him in the grocery business for most of his young life. Oliver Taylor began routinely taking young Barnum along to meet the vendors and purchase fresh goods for their store. Barnum was eventually trusted to go by himself to the vendors and negotiate for produce, and after a year at the store in the summer of 1827, Barnum used the money earned at Oliver’s Grocery Store to purchase his own porter house. The porter house did very well, Barnum was a young, charismatic, good-humored barkeeper, constantly amusing patrons with his capacity for hijinks and practical jokes. In 1828, Barnum unexpectedly sold his bar, packed his things, and returned to Bethel, Connecticut. Tired of New York City perhaps, as he became at various stages in his life, he opened a new grocery store Bethel, Connecticut, residing himself to the guest house on P. T. Barnum SR.'s farm.

After purchasing his own store, Barnum began stocking it with the various essential items amounting to the contents of a general store. He maintained routine trips back to Brooklyn and the area of Long Island to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables from New York sources otherwise not found in Bethel, cornering the market in the little town on fresh goods from New York:

“I was worth about one hundred and twenty dollars, and I invested all I possessed in this enterprise. It cost me fifty dollars to fit up my little store, and seventy dollars more purchased my stock in trade.” ..

As the store did better, Barnum continued to take his profits into New York to try and spot items unique to any other store in Bethel. It was Barnum’s first experiment with marketing of the strange and unusual, focusing his grocery store with items not found anywhere else in town: “My assortment included pocket books, combs, cheap finger-rings, pocket-knives, and a few toys.”

Connecticut Lottery Baron—Newspaper Man

Beginning in 1828, at the suggestion of his grandfather, Barnum SR., Barnum took the grocery store business in a dramatically different, much more lucrative direction—The Connecticut Lottery. In the late 1820’s, private store owners sold tickets for the lottery dealers in larger cities like Danbury, earning a sales commission for every ticket sold. Barnum S.R., a cunning investor, immediately saw in this the opportunity for young Barnum.After becoming the only ticket vendor within the City of Bethel, Barnum was a monopoly, generating enough profits to cover his own lottery region over which he would eventually manage independently of Danbury. Everything was coming together for Barnum, and in 1829, he and longtime-sweetheart Charity Hallett were married. Following the ceremony, Barnum immediately set to work traveling Connecticut and neighboring States, setting up lottery vendors and selling as many tickets as he could:

“In my turn I established agents all through the country, and my profits were immense. I sold from five hundred to two thousand dollars worth of tickets per day.” ..

?During the many religious reforms that swept across America in the summer of 1830, there were a number of outspoken evangelical leaders that sought to eradicate the Connecticut Lotteries in every form and function—Barnum stood to lose his entire operation, describing the situation:

“By 1830, a sustained national movement to ban lotteries in the states and the District of Columbia had been organized. State and National Baptist, Methodist, and Quaker organizations began to publish anti-lottery literature and petition legislators in the United States and the members of Congress to ban lotteries.” ..

P. T. Barnum was in disbelief at the thought of the lotteries being shutdown. The lottery absolutely made him, and Barnum would've been understandably furious at this potential loss of income. In the summer of 1831, he wrote a letter to The Danbury Weekly in protest of these reforms, disagreeing on the grounds of Separation of Church and State. After no initial response to his letter, Barnum unleashed a further series of letters upon The Weekly, none of which were ever published, further enraging Barnum: “I wrote several communications for the Danbury Weekly, setting forth my fears upon the subject, and animadverting in strong terms upon the evils resulting from undue religious excitement, and especially from countenancing the publicly announced policy of certain fanatical clergymen in relation to public affairs. The publication of those communications was refused to me by the Danbury paper. I became exceedingly indignant, and declared, as I honestly believed, that already had this sectarian influence become so powerful as to muzzle the press, and hence I felt it a double-duty to arouse the public to a full apprehension of the state of affairs.” ..

In that simmering indignation, in full-protest at the suppression of his complaints, P. T. Barnum purchased a printing press and started his own newspaper. “The Herald Of Freedom,” first issue October 19, 1831, was a Jacksonian Democratic journal of the times, campaigning for the business interests of Barnum (at this time a Democrat). In the paper’s three-year-run of publication under Barnum—who was now a newspaper editor at 21-years-old—The Herald Of Freedom was successfully prosecuted and fined on three separate occasions for libel.

By winter of 1833, the grocery business began to slow, and Barnum sold off all but one remaining store in order to continue to publish The Herald. That year, May 27, 1833, P. T. And Charity Barnum's first daughter, Caroline, was born. With his newly-expanded family to support, Barnum continued to challenge the reform of his lottery institutions in his newspaper with greater effort than ever. Unfortunately, after receiving word that Connecticut State Legislature planned to vote to ban the lotteries that summer, after 160 issues, Barnum sold his printing press and The Herald of Freedom. That June 1834, the State of Connecticut passed Title 62:

“Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened, That no lottery, or any class of lottery, under the pretense of any grant made heretofore made by the General Assembly, shall be drawn for this State, excepting such class or classes as may have been made and published on or before the third day of June, 1834.” ..?

Joice Heth—Barnum the Showman

Following the sale of his printing press and copyright to the Herald Of Freedom in 1834, Barnum sold his remaining general store in Bethel, and bought a partnership in another grocery store in New York City with his friend John Moody. Barnum, Charity, and two-year-old Caroline, shared a modest apartment in New York while Barnum worked days at the new store. Barnum would clerk and be responsible for the purchase of fresh goods—everything he had already been doing for years—except now he had to exist without the monetary ferocity of the lotteries. Not clearing the old returns of a lottery baron and struggling to make ends meet, Barnum was out of ideas and on the verge of returning home to Bethel. Then one day, as often as occurred and has been said throughout history—his whole life changed..

While working at the grocery store, a customer came in one afternoon named Coley Bartram. Mr. Bartram said he was from Reading, Connecticut, and began to talk to Barnum and Moody about a rare oddity he had owned a stake in—a woman named Joice Heth. Barnum recalled the encounter: “He informed us that he had owned an interest in an extraordinary Negro woman, named Joice Heth, whom he believed to be 161 years-of-age, and whom he also believed to have been the nurse of George Washington.” .. Mr. Bartram then handed Barnum a cutting from the Pennsylvania Inquirer dated July 15, 1835, describing the woman and her appearance:?

“Curiosity—The citizens of Philadelphia and it’s vicinity have an opportunity of witnessing at the masonic hall, one of the greatest natural curiosities ever witnessed, viz., Joice Heth, a negress aged 161 years, who formerly belonged to the father of Gen. Washington. She has been a member of the Baptist Church for one hundred and sixteen years, and can rehearse many hymns, and sing them according to former custom. She was born near the old Potomac River in Virginia, and has for ninety or one hundred years lived in Paris, Kentucky, with the Bowling family.

All who have seen this extraordinary woman are satisfied of the truth of the account of her age. The evidence of the Bowling family which is respectable, is strong, but the original bill of sale of Augustine Washington, in his own handwriting, and other evidence which the profiteer has in his possession, will satisfy even the most incredulous.

A lady will attend the hall during the afternoon and evening for accommodation of those ladies who may call.” ..

Barnum, in disbelief such a thing even possible, let alone be printed in the paper, inquired with wondrous curiosity at the tale of Mr. Bartram and Joice Heth. Coley Bartram said he was a ex-showman that used to travel the country, presenting Joice Heth to paying crowds. After a tour of the Eastern United States, not having the necessary flair for show business, Bartram sold his interest to partner and fellow showman, R. W. Lindsay. According to Bartram, Lindsay was not much of a showman himself and anxious to get out the line-of-work altogether. At hearing all this, P. T. Barnum decided that he must find this woman, Joice Heth, and see the 161-year-old for himself. Later that summer of 1835, Barnum went to Philadelphia and attended her performance. He would later recall of their first encounter:

“I was favorably struck by the appearance of the woman. She was totally blind, and her eyes were so deeply sunken in the sockets that the eyeballs seemed to have disappeared altogether. She had no teeth, but possessed a head of thick, bushy, gray hair. The fingers of her left hand were drawn down so as nearly to close it, and remained fixed and immovable. The nails upon that hand were about four inches in length, and extended above her wrist. She sang a variety of ancient hymns, and was very garrulous when speaking of her protege: ‘Dear Little George,’ as she termed the great father of country. She declared that she was present at his birth, that she was formerly the slave of Augustine Washington, the father of George, and that she was the person to put clothes on him.” ..

Following Joice Heth’s performance, P. T. Barnum arranged a meeting with Heth and her owner R. W. Lindsey; owing to the fact that in 1830's America, Joice Heth was technically Lindsey’s African American slave. After listening to Mr. Lindsey’s legend of how he came to own the old woman, Barnum advanced inquiry into whether Mr. Lindsey would be willing to sell Joice Heth. Mr. Lindsey agreed, and that Barnum may arrange to purchase Joice Heth following her completion of tour performances. Barnum returned to New York City at once, selling his share of the grocery store with his friend John Moody, then returned to Philadelphia with the money. After contacting R. W. Lindsey for a second time, the two were able to agree a price, and Barnum: “Became the proprietor of the Negress,” for the sum of $1000. ..?

P. T. Barnum and his freshly purchased elderly slave-woman entertainer, Joice Heth, returned to New York City in 1835. Barnum began making preparations to get the ancient 161-year-old woman in front of a mass-crowd of people as soon as possible, beginning to see visions of himself as "Showman." Barnum knew that simply touring Pennsylvania State—as Joice had done with her previous master Mr. Lindsey—was small potatoes compared to the amount of money needed to support his family living in New York City. He would need to go for the largest market possible and bring Joice Heth to the crowds of New York, advertising in every newspaper and “penny press” that would print. The plan worked: following initial success in New York, largely due to the fact that Joice Heth was already quite popular in print, Barnum began presenting his slave at a variety of venues and town halls throughout the Eastern United States. He began to experiment with the best ways at presenting Joice, finding his stride as a early showman. At the conclusion of the show the audience was permitted to come in for a closer look and encounter the 161-year-old. Barnum: “Joice never faltered under cross-examination to stray from the fact that she was Augustine Washington’s former slave, and had nursed George Washington.” ..?

After extensive touring and excellent initial profits, Barnum’s ticket returns and audiences began to drop off. Fearing for his only source of livelihood, the resourceful showman would deploy a new tactic for generating large crowds that would serve him well for the rest of his life—disinformation. He contacted New York newspapers anonymously and began to float the rumor that Joice Heth was in fact, not a real person. The newspapers began printing notices that Joice Heth wasn’t a 161-year-old woman at all, arguing instead that she was an automation that worked like a puppet, fully controlled the entire time by Barnum himself. Her popularity soared. Ticket sales increased and Barnum doubled his audiences over-night to see Joice Heth. P. T. Barnum had realized very early the power of the press with his first successful attraction. People of all ages would come to see Joice Heth and Barnum, who by now was increasing in notoriety himself.

One night in Albany, in 1836, Joice Heth was billed with a opening act that captivated Barnum. Signor Antonio at the time was virtually an unknown, his act included: amazing feats of juggling, spinning plates on long wooden sticks, stilt-walking—and most famously—balancing a rifle, bayonet-side-down on the tip of his nose while standing on stilts. Barnum approached Signor Antonio after his act, struck up negotiations with him, and Signor Antonio agreed to join forces with Joice Heth and Barnum. The three of them hit the road after Albany, Barnum changed Signor Antonio’s stage-name to the more exotic: “Signor Vivalla.” After a few successful shows and big crowds to see the rare juggling abilities of Signor Vivalla, one night, in front of a packed house, a member of the audience began to heckle his act. The man shouted to be twice the juggler as Vivalla; that his tricks weren't anything special. After the show, Barnum went into the crowd and approached the heckler, a man known only as Roberts. Upon questioning Roberts' abilities, Barnum learned he was in the employ of a fellow traveling act as a juggler. Knowing the attractive value of healthy competition, Barnum convinced Roberts to battle with his juggler, Signor Vivalla, in a grand battle of abilities known as a "juggle-off."?

Barnum, always eager to take advantage of a good media promotion, called the papers, and the headline ran: “One Thousand Dollars Reward!” The article guaranteed a $1000 reward to anyone that could beat Barnum’s Signor Vivalla in a juggle-off. Roberts had already accepted the challenge in advance of the publication's notice, having signed with Barnum to be his third traveling attraction well-before the juggler’s duel. Barnum brought the two jugglers together at a private facility so they could rehearse tricks together, presenting a higher quality and longer drawn-out production of competition by learning each other's tricks. Barnum knew Signor Vivalla to be far above the ability of Rogers, but with the aid of several rehearsals and some practice, and the co-billing of Joice Heth, the show was a hit.

That following February 21, 1836, after many successful and unrelenting tours, Joice Heth died. The touring with Barnum had proved to be the last days of her life. Barnum would later recall of the death of his slave and first star attraction: “She died at his (Barnum’s brother Philo’s) house on Friday night, the 19th, and her body was then in the sleigh, having been conveyed to New York for me to dispose of as I thought proper.” .. Barnum’s cold-nature and total lack of empathy for the remains of Joice Heth were commonplace behavior among American Whites in the treatment of African American slaves in the 1830’s. Barnum was as guilty of slavery as anyone, a prejudiced incident he would spend the rest of life trying to repair. Barnum’s mistreatment and disresptect of Joice Heth’s remains was unfortunately just getting started.. Barnum continues in this same passage:

”I at once determined to have it (Joice Heth’s remains) returned to Bethel and interred in our village burial ground, though for the present it was placed in a small room of which I had the key. The next morning I called on the eminent surgeon, who upon visiting Joice (at a performance) at Niblo’s, had expressed a desire to institute a post-mortem examination if she should die in this country. I agreed that he should have the opportunity, if unfortunately, it should occur while she was in my protection. I now informed him that Aunt Joice was dead, and he reminded me of my promise. I admitted it, and immediately proceeded to arrange for the examination the following day.”

Barnum initiated the phone call to pay a licensed surgeon to cut up and identify the age of his dead elderly female slave’s remains to determine if she was in fact 161-years-old..

The post-mortem examination of Joice Heth was by far the single greatest inhumane horror of P. T. Barnum’s career. In a stunning act of medieval hedonism, Barnum arranged a large hall and seating for a 1000 guests. The post-mortem examination would be conducted by a Dr. David Rogers, before the eyes of a large paying crowd—Barnum having sold tickets to the abomination. The day of the autopsy, a crowd gathered at the large hall. The first 1000 people to purchase a ticket, entered and took their seats. After calling the crowd to silence, Dr. Rogers, though not a showman himself, stood in the middle of the room over the flat medical examination table that held the body of Joice Heth. Her lifeless, naked Black chest, exposed by a white medical sheet covering her from the waist down. Dr. Rogers set to work cutting open the chest of Joice Heth in front of the onlooking anxious spectators, many of whom regretted the gore beyond the price of admission. After the procedure was completed, the venerable Dr. Rogers concluded Joice Heth was not 161-years-old. She was considerably younger, determined to be between the ages of 75-80-years-old. After the procedure had concluded, Dr. Rogers met with P. T. Barnum to communicate the results. Barnum would later recall the meeting:

“Dr. Rogers himself, remarked to me that he expected to have spoiled a half a dozen knives in severing the ossification in the arteries around the heart and chest. I assert, then, that when Joice Heth was living, I never met six persons out the many thousands that visited her, who seemed to doubt the claim of her age and history.” ..

Barnum's American Museum

Barnum’s second daughter, Helen, was born April 18, 1840. With a wife and two daughters at home to provide for and his top money-getter Joice Heth dead-and-buried, Barnum needed to put together another source of income. In the fall of 1841, he leveraged the five acres of swampland given to him at birth by his grandfather Barnum SR., and purchased a financially dwindling Museum of worldwide curiosities in New York City—Scudder’s American Museum. Scudder’s main attractions at that point were taxidermy animal remains, a two-headed lamb, wax figures, and snakes.?

Barnum’s vision was to transform Scudder’s into “Barnum’s American Museum” using his eye-for-the-unusual, modernization, and ability to create and shamelessly exploit public controversy. Barnum began to staff and stock the Museum with every eccentric extravagance of man, beast, and historical artifact (whether real or not), that he could possibly get his hands on from all over the world. Barnum’s American Museum contained: Revolutionary War relics, dog shows, a troop of Native Americans that performed a buffalo hunt with real buffalo, two giant Beluga Wales in enormous tanks of pumped-in salt water (unheard of anywhere in the world at the time), contortionists, standup comics, clowns, the first Egyptian mummy in America, an infant with a large tumorous growth on the back of it’s head known as the “Two-Headed Baby,” a young Black child with vitiligo called “Leopard Boy,” and even a massive working replica of Niagara Falls with real water. Barnum hired a brass band to stand outside the door of the museum and blare loud, off-key music, so that people might enter the Museum to escape the music. Barnum’s American Museum was an instant hit success, New York City citizens simply couldn’t get enough. That following May 1, 1842, Barnum’s wife Charity gave birth to their third daughter, Frances.

FeJee Mermaid

In July 1842, Barnum acquired a curious creature from his friend and fellow museum curator in Boston, Massachusetts—Moses Kimball. Moses had recently come into the possession of what he’d been told were the remains of a dead mermaid. Unlike stereotypical mermaids of legend—a beautiful woman with the lower body of a fish—Moses’ mermaid was hideous. It resembled the upper-body of a small hairy monkey joined at the mid-section with the tail of an equally-sized fish. The entire creature was covered in petrified decaying skin. Barnum recalled:

“An ugly dried-up, black-looking diminutive specimen, about 3 feet long. Its mouth was open, its tail turned over, and its arms thrown up, giving it the appearance of having died in great agony.” ..

Barnum and Moses Kimball quickly hatched a scheme to begin showing the mermaid at Barnum’s American Museum at once, creating a fantastic backstory as to the mermaid’s origins and how it was discovered. Barnum hired one of his henchmen, Levi Lyman, to pose and assume the alias "Dr. J. Griffin." Lyman, alias Griffin, would play the pretended authority on marine biology from England whom Barnum charged with authenticating the mermaid, staking his phony reputation as a scientist.???

The next week, Barnum began the media-blitz to hype the “FeJee Mermaid.” He ran ads in every local paper and publication in New York describing "Dr. Griffin’s" brilliant discovery, paired with illustrations of topless mermaids. The FeJee Mermaid began to draw huge crowds following the success of Barnum’s advertising campaign, there was a massive spike in attendance at the American Museum and everyone flocked to see it. Some were skeptical, others believed; most were in awe at what P. T. Barnum had come up with next. Barnum told everyone the Fejee Mermaid was real, insisted in the newspapers that he believed it was real, even exhibited in his museum as real. Later in life, Barnum himself admitting:

“If I have exhibited a questionable dead mermaid at my Museum, it should not be overlooked that I have also exhibited camelopards, a rhinoceros, grizzly bears, orang-outangs, great serpents, etc., about which there there could be no mistake because they were alive; and I should hope that a little ‘clap-trap’ occasionally, in the way of transparencies, flags, exaggerated pictures, and puffing advertisements, might find an offset in a wilderness of wonderful, instructive, and amusing realities.” ..

History remembers the Fejee Mermaid as a total hoax orchestrated by P. T. Barnum. Current experts believe the Fejee Mermaid to have been constructed by Japanese fishermen, who commonly created them by mating half-a-monkey with half-a-fish to honor the sea-god Ningyo. .. The actual Fejee Mermaid vanished in the summer of 1859, and was never seen again.

General Tom Thumb

In the winter of 1842, while on holiday away from the bustle of New York, Barnum was made aware of a most interesting curiosity in his hometown:

“I had heard of a remarkably small child in Bridgeport; and by my request my brother brought him to the hotel. He was the smallest child I have ever seen that could walk alone. He was not two feet in height, and weighed less than sixteen pounds.” ..

Charles S. Stratton, born January 4, 1838, was only five years old when he and Barnum first met. Stratton had stopped growing at age two, and stood only three feet tall. After singing a couple of song-and-dance routines, Barnum noticed right away Stratton was one of the most natural performers he’d ever seen. After a brief negotiation with Stratton’s father, it was decided that Stratton would join Barnum at the American Museum in New York. Barnum and the child set to work at once, training the boy to be a sharp performer and learn the skills necessary for the stage. The two even worked on impersonations of celebrities—including a spot-on Napoleon Bonaparte—featuring Stratton riding a real horse with a sword and pistols. By 1843, Stratton, now age 6, was a star regular performer at the Barnum American Museum. Barnum and Stratton would often preform together, and at the suggestion of Barnum, Stratton soon adopted the stage-name General Tom Thumb. ..

“I took great pains to train my diminutive prodigy, devoting many hours to that purpose, by day and night, and succeeded, because he had native talent and an intense love of the ludicrous.” ..

By 1844, Barnum and General Tom Thumb had become household names. The two became such a wildly popular duo, that word spread beyond America of their fame all the way to Buckingham Palace. Her Majesty Queen Victoria, Queen of England, had summoned Barnum and his little General to the Court of the Queen. Barnum immediately arranged a ship for England, and he and Tom Thumb departed for Europe. They arrived in Liverpool, January 18, 1844, and after booking a couple of shows, Barnum began reaching out to the British newspapers to exploit his situation to the very best of his abilities. Advertising that the curiosities of Barnum and General Tom Thumb were in England by appointment to Her Majesty the Queen and would only be in Europe doing a small number of shows before returning to America.

After three days in Liverpool, Barnum and Tom Thumb were summoned to the Royal Court of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. They arrived at Buckingham Palace by carriage and entered the great hall, where 20-30 royals stood dressed in puffy pomp and frilly cravats. After being introduced, Tom Thumb became distracted by the Queen’s dog, and began chasing the animal around the Palace to the delight of everyone present. After a hearty laugh at the entire scene, everyone enjoyed drinks while Tom Thumb performed slapstick jokes and sang songs—the Queen’s favorite of which being “Yankee Doodle Dandy.” .. Barnum and General Tom Thumb left Buckingham Palace that night in total elation at the success they'd achieved after just one year together.

The two would spend the next four months touring Europe. Barnum and Tom Thumb met other royal families and prominent political figures, touring day-and-night. The money was good and Barnum sent plenty of it back home to Charity and his young daughters, but as a citizen of the world he was largely rendered an absentee father. That April of 1844, Barnum received word that his second daughter, Frances, died just before her second birthday. Barnum hurried home to America to tend family affairs and arrange the burial and funeral of his daughter. It would be the first of only two trips home made by Barnum to see his family during the entire three years he and Tom Thumb were in Europe. Barnum was already back in Europe performing a show when he received word that his wife Charity had given birth to their fourth daughter, Pauline, March 1, 1846. With Frances' death, Pauline's birth, and his elevation in fame in Europe—Barnum became increasingly disposed to drunkenness. The life of celebrity, the long absences from his family, and the death of his daughter, were all big contributors to this behavior. He and Tom Thumb continued to play packed-houses, meeting Her Majesty Queen Victory a total of three times over the three year Tour. Finally, his legacy firmly cemented among Europe’s socially elite, in February 1847, Barnum and Tom Thumb boarded a ship back to America. ..

Jenny Lind—The Swedish Nightingale

Barnum and Tom Thumb went back to the American Museum and resumed performing. By now Tom Thumb was so popular that Barnum let him tour by himself at 9-years-old. Barnum returned to raising his family and his love of curating the American Museum. Always thinking about his next move, the next big attraction. With all the money at his disposal to now finally do whatever he wanted, Barnum began to think of his legacy. He didn’t want to be simply remembered as the purveyor of hokum. Barnum wanted to bring a act to America of undeniable musical talent, something America could no longer deny as "humbug."?

“In October, 1849, I first conceived the idea of bringing Jenny Lind into this country. I had never heard her sing. Inasmuch as my name has long been associated with ‘humbug,’ and the American public suspect that my capacities do not extend beyond the power to exhibit a stuffed monkey-skin or a dead mermaid, I can afford to lose fifty thousand dollars in such an enterprise as bringing to this country, at the zenith of her life and celebrity, the greatest musical wonder in the world.” .. Barnum called on Jenny Lind, and inquired her availability for a Barnum financed Tour of America. In February 1850, after multiple letters of correspondence between Lind and Barnum, Jenny Lind agreed in principal for 150 shows. ..

With Jenny Lind secured under contract, Barnum set to work at promoting the arrival of the famed singer, dubbed "The Swedish Nightingale," in every newspaper. By the time the Jenny Lind arrived in America for her first show she was a spectacle of inherent status in New York. Jenny Lind’s debut in America was legendary, a sold-out crowd her very first show. President Millard Fillmore even came to one of her concerts. Jenny Lind was extremely generous with her profits during the American Tour, donating ten thousand dollars in profits to charity. Barnum’s gamble on the singer he’d never heard before paid off:

“The reception of Jenny Lind on her very first appearance, in point of enthusiasm, was probably never before equalled in all the world.” ..

By the late 1840’s Barnum had stopped drinking and began attending rallies of the growing “Temperance Movement.” He would remain an outspoken critic of alcohol for the remainder of his life, even writing in “The Art Of Money Getting,” that the practice of hiring such a man as even favored a drink was the ultimate sin of mismanagement one could inflict upon their business. Jenny Lind’s final American concert under contract with Barnum was held on June 9, 1851, in Philadelphia. It was the 95th concert of her agreement with Barnum, afterwards they settled for the remaining shows and the two parted ways. ..

Bankruptcy

“I now come to a series of events which, all things considered, constitute one of the most remarkable experiences of my life—an experience which brought me much pain and many trials; which humbled my pride and threatened me with hopeless financial ruin; and yet, nevertheless, put new blood in my veins, fresh vigor in my action, warding off all temptation to rust in the repose which affluence induces, and developed, I trust, new and better elements of manliness in my character.” ..

P. T. Barnum had made so much money by this point on his life that the time had come to start giving some of it away. Hit-show after hit-show and famous the world over, he decided to start investing back into his hometown of Bridgeport, Connecticut. In 1851, Barnum purchased 50 acres of undeveloped farmland east of the Pequonnock River from the City of Bridgeport. East Bridgeport—as the area became known—benefited tremendously in it’s infancy from the money and influence of P. T. Barnum. He immediately set to naming and mapping streets, locations for industry and housing, and even a park. Barnum would eventually purchase some 174 acres of land where East Bridgeport was to rise. ..?

East Bridgeport lacked initial investment. In an effort to establish a major factory in the young town, Barnum exerted his influence as majority shareholder in the Litchfield Clock Company, Litchfield, Connecticut. Barnum proposed a generous investment of capital on the condition they expanded operations and relocate to East Bridgeport. The other board members agreed, and the Terry and Barnum Manufacturing Company opened in East Bridgeport in 1852. Barnum purchased and built bridges connecting East Bridgeport to Bridgeport, and even made on-a-handshake cash mortgages to the workers of his factory to build their houses. As Barnum's effort to influence and cater generously to businesses willing to relocate to East Bridgeport began to work, other manufacturing jobs began moving into the area.

In 1853, Territories north of the 36°30’ Missouri Compromise of 1820 were prohibited from having slaves. That all changed in 1854, when Democrats began to lobby that the Territories that would become Nebraska and Kansas should be able to have slaves if they wanted them—despite being in geographical violation of the Missouri Compromise, which incidentally had been preventing The Civil War for the last 30 years.. The Kansas-Nebraska Act passed, despite widespread bipartisan-hatred among the Northern States, reopening the the west to slavery. This split the major political parties of the United States: Southern Whig Party members sided with Democrats, Abolitionist Whigs of the North departed the Whig Party altogether to form the Republican Party, and Northern and Southern Democrats were a house divided at maintaining slavery. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 was one of the major contributors to the Civil War. In the political outrage that followed, then-Democrat and former slave owner P. T. Barnum switched parties—as many Northern Democrats did—joining the Republican Party and the fight against slavery. ..??

In 1855, Barnum was approached by the owner of a rival clock firm, Mr. Chauncey Jerome. The Jerome Clock Company was failing, desperate, and fully-aware of Barnum’s top-hand policy towards the relocation of struggling manufacturing firms to drive the economy of East Bridgeport. Barnum agreed to loan $100,000 to settle The Jerome Clock Company’s outstanding debts, in exchange the firm relocate to East Bridgeport and be absorbed into the Terry and Barnum Manufacturing Company. After taking Barnum’s initial $100,000 to keep the company afloat—supposedly while making preparations in consolidating their facility to East Bridgeport—Chauncey Jerome’s Company continued to borrow money from Barnum to the tune of $500,000 in Barnum’s name. The Jerome Clock Company, once discovered, promptly declared bankruptcy; never having moved a single job to East Bridgeport. The incursion effectively bankrupted Terry and Barnum Manufacturing, and Barnum had to shut down. The loss of jobs in East Bridgeport meant that none of the workers who had moved there could make their mortgage payments to Barnum, most simply defaulted on the debt and moved away. With the deeds to vacant houses and the ownership of an bankrupt factory, Barnum, the visionary of East Bridgeport, descended into financial ruin: “The Deceiver Is Duped!..” Ran the headline in the Chicago Tribune. ..

Barnum had to leverage everything he had just keep from going completely under, borrowing money against his beloved American Museum and even putting his newly completed home “Iranistan,” up for sale. By 1856, Barnum’s life had totally reversed fortunes: the bank now owned The American Museum, he moved out of the exuberant 17-acre-mansion Iranistan, and he had been played for a fool. As if matters couldn’t get worse, while Iranistan was being sold it was completely destroyed in a fire—the uninsured property was a total loss. Not one newspaper did miss vengeance on the great public hoaxer. The Fejee Mermaid, Joice Heth.. Tell-all hit-pieces proclaiming Barnum's financial destruction were numerous and brutal. 46-years-old, bankrupted, and thoroughly embarrassed professionally, The Showman returned to Barnum’s American Museum in New York City to scout new curiosities.

New Curiosities—Civil War

Chang and Eng Bunker were conjoined twins from Siam, present-day Thailand, born in 1811. After a brief career in show business in Asia and Europe, the brothers immigrated to the United States and toured extensively.

Chang and Eng bought a plantation in North Carolina and married two daughters of a wealthy White land owner, sisters Adelaide and Sarah Yates. Chang and Eng fathered 22 children by Adelaide and Sarah, despite their conjoined disposition. With large families to support and kids to feed, these “Siamese Twins,” as the public scornfully regarded their condition, were running out of money. Fortunately for them, and very fortunately for one bankrupt showman, timing is everything. P. T. Barnum contacted the brothers’ Bunker in hopes of luring them to his American Museum. He offered Chang and Eng a decent salary, and the brothers agreed to join Barnum in New York. ..?

“Zip the Pinhead,” born William Henry Johnson, 1842, was an above-average sized man with a dramatically disproportionate-sized head. Johnson suffered from a condition known as microcephaly, a birth defect that effects the size of the brain. Barnum met and recruited Johnson in 1860, dubbing him the stage-name “Zip the Pinhead.” Barnum dressed him in furs and introduced him as the missing link to man, discovered by gorilla hunters on the Gambia River. In character, Zip the Pinhead never spoke. At the direction of Barnum, Zip would run wildly about the stage, grunting and leaping in angry sporadic fits of primal rage. Despite his characterization by Barnum and having to lower himself to performing as a wild beast, it’s easy to imagine William Henry Johnson in all his unforgiving physical disfigurement having felt the most loved in his entire life while onstage at Barnum’s American Museum. ..

“Commodore Nutt,” born George Washington Morrison Nutt, April 1, 1848, was a little person that performed at Barnum’s America Museum. Slightly taller than General Tom Thumb, Nutt was in love with a fellow performer at the American Museum. A woman long on looks and similarly short on stature, Lavinia Warren. Tom Thumb, Lavinia, and Nutt, regularly performed as a troop together at the American Museum. Tom Thumb was the star, still a legend the world over from the European tour. Barnum conceived a public wedding ceremony in 1863—upon which Tom Thumb and Lavinia would be married—Commodore Nutt acting as best man. Nutt was furious, for it was he that secretly loved Lavinia all along. Still, ‘the show must go on,’ as they say, and Nutt proceeded with Barnum’s sham-wedding to the delight of thousands of public spectators. The relationship between P. T. Barnum and Nutt took a turn for the worse following the wedding of Lavinia, Commodore Nutt never forgave Barnum for not being the one to marry her. Following a disagreement with Barnum sometime later, he resigned Barnum’s American Museum. ..

On April 12, 1861, Confederate soldiers fired on the Union brigade at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, igniting the Civil War. Barnum’s American Museum remained open for those that occasionally still took to the streets for a little humbug. Barnum kept bringing in fresh entertainment, now competing with War news in the papers for advertising his latest shows. During the course of the War, Whigs that sided with the Democrats following the signing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act became desperately hostile at Northern Whigs that had spilt the party to become Republicans. As the Civil War began to favor the North, the Confederacy would seek revenge on disavowed Democrats like Barnum in a series of cowardly acts of arson. Unaware that he was even a target, Barnum continued to procure new and exciting curiosities for the American Museum as the Civil War raged on.

Anna Haining Swan, born August 7, 1846, was a giantess from Nova Scotia, Canada. Anna was almost 8-feet-tall, and weighed over 400 pounds. Upon hearing of her, Barnum traveled to Nova Scotia and convinced the 16-year-old’s parents to let their daughter go and work for Barnum at the American Museum in New York City.

Billed by Barnum as "The Tallest Woman in the World,” Anna Swan enjoyed the patronage and favor of large crowds at the American Museum. She was young, attractive, educated (as Barnum had agreed to hire a tutor for the girl), and was well-received by the thousands that came to see her. In her later years, following her employ with Barnum, Anna Swan married a fellow large person named Martin Van Buren Bates. Bates, known as the “Kentucky Giant,” was 7-feet-tall and over 300 pounds. He was touring in a small circus when he met his future wife, Anna Swan, and Bates’ promoter hired her away from Barnum’s American Museum. Bates had been a former soldier in the Confederate Army and was revered for his bravery and courage in battle. During the Civil War, Bates was captured and interred in a Union prisoner-of-war camp, after the war he became a circus performer. Their public marriage, dubbed “The Giant Wedding,” was in June, 1871, London. The newlyweds bought a large plot of land in Ohio where Bates intended to become a farmer, constructing a house and special furniture built for he and his wife’s enormous stature. Anna eventually became pregnant, giving birth to a 18-pound-baby-girl that died shortly after being born. A few years later, Anna would be with child again. This time giving birth to a 23-pound-baby-boy that also died after being born. The boy, “Babe,” would later be recognized—despite being deceased—'Guinness World Record “Heaviest Birth,”' a record that still stands. ..?

“The Middlebush Giant,” born Arthur James Caley, 1824, was a 7’5'' man that weighed over 400 pounds. Discovered after settling in Middlebush, New Jersey, Caley was hired by Barnum and given the name Middlebush Giant. He performed next to Anna Swan, Tom Thumb, and others. Arthur James Caley would tour extensively with Barnum’s Traveling Circus later in life. Following his death in 1889, he was buried in an unmarked grave so that his remains might not be exhumed or examined. In the years that follow human civilization, it’s ironic to consider someone like P. T. Barnum coming along and discovering the remains of the Middlebush Giant. Will his Goliath skeletal remains, when discovered, be purported by some charlatan to be the remains of a giant prehistoric man from scripture just to sell a few tickets? ..

Next was a young man named Isaac Sprague, born May 21, 1841, Massachusetts. Isaac had PMA, or Progressive Muscular Atrophy, which caused his body to appear as though he had no muscle anywhere, hence Barnum dubbed Isaac, “The Human Skeleton.” By 1863, The Human Skeleton was performing in Barnum’s American Museum and touring the United States. Needless to say, the sheer sight of a living skeleton completely whiled the audiences at Barnum’s American Museum. Was it a puppet controlled by automation and just another Barnum hoax? Nobody could be sure until they went to the American Museum, paid the price of admission, and saw for themselves. ..

Arson—Politics

As the Civil War got desperate for the Confederacy in late November, 1864, a team of Confederate sympathizers journeyed to New York City with the intent to start fires and protest the destruction of Southern cities by conquering armies of the North. Right at the top of their list was the former Democrat-turned-Republican Showman—P. T. Barnum. A man named Robert C. Kennedy, part of a team of Confederates known as the “Confederate Army of Manhattan,” were going to start fires all-over Manhattan in protest of Lincoln’s reelection to a second term. The team started a dozen fires throughout New York on November 25, 1864: hotels, theaters, and Barnum’s American Museum. Though several of the fires were significant and the men had indeed succeeded in creating a panic, Barnum’s Museum had only sustained a small amount of damage before the fire was quickly extinguished. Robert Kennedy and his team then fled to Canada and were captured trying to reenter the United States. He was brought to trial, confessed to being a Captain in the Confederate Army, and to starting the fire that had damaged Barnum’s American Museum. Kennedy was hanged the following year at Fort Lafayette, NY., March 25, 1865.?

In March, as Kennedy met his fate at the noose, Barnum made a successful bid to the Connecticut House Of Representatives. The Civil War was in it’s final days. Barnum ran as a member of the newly-formed Republican Party and was elected to the Connecticut House in March 1865. The American Museum was doing great, though Barnum was still in a massive amount of debt to the bank for the East Bridgeport and Jerome Clock Company disasters. Several new businesses were now up and running in East Bridgeport, with the expansion in manufacturing to the area came the need for worker housing, schools, city sanitation, etc. ..?

With the success of the Museum and The Civil War drawing to a close, Barnum was now an elected official for the State of Connecticut. In the weeks that followed Barnum’s election, on April 9, 1865, Gen. Robert E. Lee formally surrendered his forces at Appomattox Courthouse, encouraging other Confederate forces to do the same.

Suddenly, July 13, 1865, Barnum’s American Museum caught fire a second time. This time Barnum and the occupants of the American Museum would not be so lucky.. The museum was completely devastated, several performers were lucky to escape with their lives. The Giantess Anna Swan was too tall to fit out a stairwell window, became trapped, and was badly burned in the blaze. Barnum’s mighty Beluga Wales—resting in their monstrous sea-water-conditioned tanks—were boiled alive.. The fire spread to nearby buildings. Many of the wild animals Barnum had confined within the mass-menagerie escaped and flooded into the streets of New York where the police wasted little time executing them in the streets. The original Barnum’s American Museum had burned to ground, all the animals were either escaped or dead, and several of Barnum’s acts quit as well. ..

After gathering what remained of his staff and performers, Barnum opened a new location just down the street. In 1865, the same year it’s predecessor had burned down, Barnum’s New American Museum opened. Almost all the attractions that hadn’t elected to move away or leave for better opportunities still remained in his employment, but Barnum needed to start seeking new talent and curiosities to stock The New American Museum.

One of Barnum’s most famous performers was a woman named Annie Jones. Born in Virginia, 1865, Annie was only one-year-old when she was first exhibited at Barnum’s New American Museum. At nine-months-old, Annie Jones had a fully developed beard on her face. A most curious development, she fascinated audiences and thrilled crowds that observed her. ‘How could a baby girl be born with a whole beard of facial hair?’ Most wondered. Annie had a medical condition known as Hirsutism, causing abnormal facial hair growth in women. As Annie grew up, she developed into quite the performer at The New American Museum. She could sing, dance, and even perform songs on the ukulele. Barnum dubbed her “The Bearded Lady,” and she very quickly became a staple within Barnum’s new location. She would wear revealing women’s dresses and had a full beard. She delighted audiences with her outgoing personality, and was especially outspoken in combating the stigma that had forever surrounded the many curiosities of P. T. Barnum. She was an ambassador for the socially outcast members of Barnum’s troop, challenging the public perception of so-called “freaks.” ..

Just as The New American Museum was finally coming into it’s own and pulling in tremendous crowds, tragedy struck again. Barnum’s New American Museum caught fire due to a faulty chimney flue—the building was a total loss. Many of the patrons and performers were very lucky to escape the inferno, as it was the dead of winter and firetrucks took extra time to arrive on the scene. Congressman P. T. Barnum was again financially devastated. Busy with the matters of a Government Representative, Barnum had neither the time nor inclination to rebuild the American Museum a third time. He folded following the completion of his first term in The Connecticut House of Representatives and began to invest his interests in money-getting elsewhere. ..

Circus—Back on the Road

In 1870, following the total destruction of The New American Museum, P. T. Barnum decided to take his act back on the road. He took the remaining attractions in his employ and commenced under the name “Barnum’s Circus.” Later that year, Barnum joined forces with resourceful circus innovator and pioneer William Cameron Coup and his business partner Dan Costello, of the “Great Circus and Egyptian Caravan.” Together with Coup’s innovations in circus rail transportation and logistics, and Barnum’s notoriety, the three men had a instant-hit Circus. The alliance emerged as “P. T. Barnum’s Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan and Hippodrome.” The flat-top railcars designed by Coup for unloading and loading the Circus quickly were his finest innovation, suddenly the work of many could be done by few and in less time. P. T. Barnum’s Circus was the American Museum brought to life. Everyone that couldn’t get to New York City to see Barnum’s American Museum had an opportunity to see all the curiosities they had always read about, right in their hometown. Barnum’s new business partnership had replaced the revenue of the American Museum and then some. Finally it looked as though Barnum might be in the clear. ..

George Hull, a wealthy cigar-maker, tobacconist, and fervent atheist, became enraged during a discussion with a friend about religion over the folly of Christian Priest’s literal interpretation of the Bible. Hull had grown increasingly frustrated in particular with the book of Geneses. “There were giants on the earth in those days,” was a particular passage in which Hull was most passionate and conflicted about. No doubt inspired somewhat by Barnum, Hull wondered if he could hoax people into believing that he’d suddenly unearthed the remains of giant from the Bible.. In 1869, Hull traveled to Fort Dodge, Iowa, where he obtained a 5-ton-slab of gypsum for $3,000, claiming to be in full-cooperation with a purchaser for carving the material into a gigantic likeness of Abraham Lincoln. Hull then delivered the raw material into the capable hands of two Chicago-area marble dealers, and with himself posing as the model, the men proceeded in sculpting the large stone in his personal likeness. Pins were driven into the face of statue to represent skin pores, everything about the Cardiff Giant was to represent The Book Of Geneses that Hull had been trying to reproach.?

?Hull then took this 10-foot-tall fashioned likeness of himself, and shipped it to a distant relative in Cardiff, New York, named William “Stub” Newell. Hull proposed that Stub bury the massive sculpture, and after awhile, unearth the discovery in dramatic fashion on the grounds of his own farm. Stub’s agreed, buried the massive statue, and one year later hired a small team of men to dig a well in the exact place he'd buried it. Two unsuspecting workers dug the up the statue and thought they had unearthed the remains of a prehistoric giant.

The report of the massive body ran in every paper. By October 1869, the “Cardiff Giant” was being displayed with a traveling circus all over New York. It was then that George Hull approached his relative Stub and offered to buy the statue back for a sum of $30,000. Stub accepted, and Hull proceeded to exhibit the statue for the remainder of the year. P. T. Barnum learned of the prehistoric giant’s remains that had been touring with a rival circus, and sought to bring it into the traveling ranks of his own circus. That year of 1870, Barnum approached Hull with the proposition of securing the Cardiff Giant for himself and exhibiting the statue. George Hull declined, and continued to show the Cardiff Giant himself. Barnum elected to have his own carving made, calling it something else, which others quickly replicated and proceeded to show at their own circuses. By 1870, the hoax had been identified by geologists as a sculpture and nothing more. George Hull died in 1902, amused as even The Showman himself at the ease with which he was able to dupe such a massive amount of people. ..

Barnum’s Grand Circus and Traveling Museum was a hit all over America. So fantastic of a hit-show that he was once again being propositioned for a second European Tour. Barnum, reluctant to ever disappoint his lifelong endeavor at legacy—at any cost—regularly his own—had only to hesitate a few moments at the ailing health of his wife of 44 years, Charity, who was now 64-years-old, sick, and needed Barnum more than ever.. The Showman didn’t hesitate at further European fame for long. He kissed his wife goodbye and was aboard a steamer for Germany in November 1873, where Barnum would later receive word that Charity Barnum had passed away of heart failure. P. T. Barnum did not travel home from Europe for Charity Barnum’s funeral. Instead remaining on tour, spending the days following her death staying with his friend and cotton mill owner, John Fish, at his home in England.

While staying with John Fish in the weeks following his wife’s death, Barnum was introduced to Fish’s wife Martha, and their two daughters—Jane and Nancy. While in their comfort and hospitality, grieving over the recent loss of his wife, P. T. Barnum and the 22-year-old daughter of John Fish struck a relationship. On February 14, 1874, just two weeks and as many days after the death of Charity Barnum, P. T. Barnum was remarried to Nancy Fish. Barnum and Nancy were married in London, and following the ceremony they returned to America to re-stage the ceremony a second time in a Barnum-style public spectacle that ran in every newspaper and attracted a tremendous crowd. ..

Mayor—Bridgeport, Connecticut

In 1875, Nancy by his side, after four terms in the Connecticut House of Representatives, P. T. Barnum was elected mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut. He led a number of reform efforts and initiatives as Mayor, most notably his efforts in city sanitation. He and Nancy settled into Barnum’s newest estate, “Waldemere,” located in East Bridgeport. P. T. Barnum is remembered as a modern Mayor for the day, seeking to improve and further modernize the City of Bridgeport with the very latest in infrastructure updates of the times. Keeping with his Temperance ideals, Barnum also led several actions against the bars and brothels of Bridgeport during his single term as Mayor, declaring in his inaugural address:

“While we should by no means unreasonably restrict healthy recreation, we should remember that ‘time is money,’ that idleness leads to immoral habits, and that the peace, prosperity, and character of a city depend on the intelligence, integrity, industry and frugality of it’s inhabitants.” ..

Following his Mayoral stewardship of Bridgeport, Barnum went back to the business of owning and operating his Traveling Circus. “The Wild Men of Borneo,” would be one of Barnum’s first new acts following his time its Mayor. Barney and Hiram Davis, were mentally-disabled brothers born two-years-apart in rural Ohio, that joined Barnum’s Traveling Circus 1880. They stood a little over three-feet-tall and each weighed just 40 pounds. Barnum supplanted the fantasy that the two brothers were in fact part of a ancient lost civilization captured on the lost Island of Borneo. The two would run wild through audiences, shouting gibberish and grunting animal noises at the crowd. The brothers' physical strength was substantial considering their size. They would regularly lift full-bodied patrons into the air and perform feats of strength that wowed audiences. By 1880, their given stage-names were: “Waino and Plutanor, The Wild Men of Borneo," one of Barnum’s top-draw acts. ..

Barnum And Bailey's Greatest Show On Earth

In 1881, Barnum’s Traveling American Circus was the biggest tent show in America. The only main competitor being: James E. Cooper and James A. Bailey’s “Great International Circus.” The Great International Circus performed all over South America and Europe, a worthy and growing adversary to the Barnum’s Circus. The Showman merged forces with his competitor in 1881, and this new partnership and massive circus that effectively combined the two largest circuses of the day became known as “Barnum and Bailey’s Greatest Show On Earth.”

James Bailey, born James Anthony McGinnes, July 4, 1847, was the version of P. T. Barnum from 30-years-gone-by. He had all the charisma and showmanship of a top-rate entertainer, and could perform all duties as presenter and showman. Barnum would attend the circuses, present a few acts in his later years.. By now he was little more than a temporary facet during the show, appearing periodically from retirement to earn his name in the billing—leaving the remainder of the show to Bailey. Bailey was the perfect young prodigy to learn at the hands of the late master, P. T. Barnum. Already an accomplished showman himself and at it for years, James Bailey met P. T. Barnum at exactly the right time—a match made in circus-heaven. James Bailey would now be unknowingly responsible for bringing probably the most lasting image of P. T. Barnum's Circus to the public eye. ..

After a few years touring America, "Barnum and Bailey’s Greatest Show On Earth” was a household name. Bailey, at the behest and encouragement of P. T. Barnum to begin to take over the business of scouting for new curiosities, began looking for the world’s largest elephant. In 1882, James Bailey found his elephant. Bailey arranged for the purchase of “Jumbo,” a six-ton African elephant, from the London Zoological society. "Jumbo the Elephant,” quickly became James Bailey’s star attraction.?

On May 24, 1883, New York City officially opened the Brooklyn Bridge. Somewhere around Memorial Day, the bridge would enter a shroud of controversy when a fatal stampede occurred under fear of the bridge’s imminent collapse. A woman had apparently fallen down a flight of stairs, which caused the scream of another person, followed by the ensuing panic and immediate evacuation all persons under the fear that the bridge was collapsing. The New York Times reported 12 dead, and 35 injured in the massive stampede of people. Public faith in the newly opened Brooklyn Bridge—at that time one of the largest suspension-bridges in the world—was called into question and pressed upon every local New York politician. Enter P. T. Barnum, James Bailey, and their newly acquired six-ton elephant, Jumbo.

Following this dramatic turn of events with The Brooklyn Bridge, Barnum and Bailey arranged through their various contacts with city leaders—to dispel once-and-for-all the rumors of the Brooklyn Bridges’ safety—the most public spectacle of Barnum and Bailey’s brief career together. On May 17, 1884: Barnum and Bailey arranged for Jumbo the Elephant, 20 other elephants, and 17 camels, to march over the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan to Long Island. The entire ordeal was a massive PR-success for both the public perception of The Brooklyn Bridge, Barnum and Bailey’s Circus, and the City of New York. ..

Barnum and Bailey’s Greatest Show On Earth was again back on the road. Barnum, increasingly absent from the duties of showman these days, relegated himself to his estate and the business of an old man: preparing his memoirs, and managing his vastly diverse business interests. But the aging Showman never relinquished his role in obtaining new and exciting acts for his Circus with James Bailey.?

“Jo-Jo The Dog-Faced Boy,” born Fedor Jeftichew, 1868, was brought to the United States by P. T. Barnum in 1884. Fedor suffered from a medical condition known as Hypertrichosis—a hereditary disease that causes excessive hair growth all over the face and body. Fedor’s biological father also suffered from the disease, and the two had been touring all over Russia when Barnum first heard of them. When Fedor was 16-years-old, his father and touring partner died. Barnum paid to bring the boy to America to work in Barnum and Bailey’s Circus, where the name “Jo-Jo,” was born. Barnum and Bailey came up with the ruse that the boy and his father were captured in a cave by a hunter and only the boy survived. He was a wild animal that couldn’t be tamed.. At the last moment, Jo-Jo The Dog-Faced Boy would seem to escape all control and violently bark and growl viscously at audiences, inciting fear and manic delight in the crowds. ..

By 1885, P. T. Barnum was an active member of The Church of Christian Universalism. The Church had gotten around to the business of opening it’s own church-affiliated college, and P. T. Barnum threw the full-might of his now fully-recovered wealth behind the venture. A local Boston businessman, Charles Tufts, gave the Church a 20-acre plot of land on a hillside in Medford, Massachusetts, where the college would originally be located and still stands today. Barnum was named a trustee of the college due to his early and very generous donations, resulting in a Hall that still stands bearing his name.

That summer, September 15, 1885, while performing at a show in Canada, Jumbo the Elephant was tragically struck and killed by a locomotive while crossing the tracks. It was a tremendous blow to the circus family of Barnum and Bailey, as the elephant was a crowd favorite and had many fans all over the world. In a heartwarming tribute, Barnum donated the taxidermy-rendered hide of Jumbo the Elephant to the newly-founded Christian Universalist Church College—“Tufts College.” By the turn of the century Tuft’s College had widely accepted?Jumbo as the college mascot, henceforth the “Jumbos.” The hide of Jumbo stood inside Barnum Hall for 86 years, at which time Jumbo’s remains were destroyed in an accidental electrical fire on April 14, 1975. Some of Jumbo’s ashes were recovered, and remain within a peanut jar that has been passed down to every acting Athletic Director through the generations at Tuft’s (now University) ever since. Jumbo’s legacy to Tuft’s University was celebrated with a large statue of the elephant in front of Barnum Hall that still stands. ..?

Barnum and Bailey’s Greatest Show On Earth continued to tour the world to packed audiences everywhere. Barnum was in his later years now, and the day-to-day of running the Circus was by now entirely in the capable hands of James Bailey. The business seemingly could not be doing better. But a new circus troop was beginning to draw big crowds of their own in Wisconsin.. The Rüngeling Brothers: Albert, Otto, Alfred, Charles, and John, began as a backyard circus that featured the five brothers performing vaudeville comedy and doing song-and-dance routines. The Rüngeling Brothers grew their successful partnership to the point they were able to purchase railcars to travel as a circus, even getting their own elephant. By 1890, the brothers had begun a successful circus that had begun to steal crowds from the great Barnum and Bailey, P. T. Barnum’s health was in decline, and the business of scouting for new and exciting curiosities fell squarely on James Bailey. Already having the day-to-day of the circus to account for, and not being nearly as good a judge of talent as Barnum—The Greatest Show On Earth seemed to be coming of age.

Final Act

P. T. Barnum suffered a major stroke in 1890, and on April 7, 1891, P. T. Barnum died. He survived by his wife Nancy Fish, and three daughters: Caroline, Helen, and Pauline. Barnum is buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery in Bridgeport, Connecticut, right next to General Tom Thumb. Following Barnum’s passing in 1891, Nancy Fish immediately sold Barnum’s interests in Barnum and Bailey’s Greatest Show On Earth to James Bailey. Bailey immediately set forth on a massive tour of Europe, elevating his own name into the aristocracy of the continent. In 1863, Barnum’s “Institute of Science and History,” that was nearing completion during the late showman’s death, was completed. The building still stands at it’s original location at 820 Main Street, Bridgeport, Connecticut.

In tribute to Barnum himself, the City of Bridgeport erected a bronze statue of it’s proud citizen in Seaside Park. The park donated by P. T. Barnum to the city along Long Island Sound.

Bailey continued in fierce competition with the Rüngeling Brothers Circus, who had since changed names to "Ringling Brothers" following the growing sentiment of discontent towards German-Americans during the lead up to the First World War. James Bailey passed away April 11, 1906. His interests in Barnum and Bailey’s Greatest Show On Earth were purchased by the tiny backyard band-of-brothers that started out all those years ago in Baraboo, Wisconsin, The Ringling Brothers. In 1919, “Ringling Brothers Barnum And Bailey’s Greatest Show On Earth” was the end result. Their operation would go to be the largest, most widely known touring circus of all time: jugglers, dancers, singers, trapeze artists, contortionists, clowns, animals of every kind from all over the earth, comedians—the entire operation a streamlined business model that P. T. Barnum himself would’ve been proud of. After a successful run of operation for over 146 years, Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey’s Greatest Show On Earth performed their final circus on May 21, 2017, at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. The company later absolved following a decrease in attendance, ticket sales, and the mounting pressure of animal rights activists protesting the captive life of the circus animals. ..

Fires—Barnum Effect

The enterprises and personal residences of P. T. Barnum included six tragic fires: The American Museum caught fire twice, The New American Museum, Iranistan, the remains of Jumbo at Tufts University (long after Barnum’s death), and the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey’s Hartford Circus Fire of 1944. One can’t help but notice the frequent tendency of fires connected to P. T. Barnum. Though some of these fires were absolutely confirmed accidents—some long after the Confederate Arsonist’s acts of 1864—it’s interesting to speculate whether or not Barnum’s above average incidents of fire were connected. ..

In the late 1940s, American Psychologist Bertram Forer, launched what has become widely known as one of the classic studies the field. A scientifically-proven experiment known as the Barnum-Forer effect, or Barnum Effect. Forer’s experiment contained a character assessment questionnaire of both complimentary and defamatory statements given to a control group to agree or disagree with. Forer found that people had an overwhelming tendency to believe positive sounding, vague statements about themselves, over negative statements, such as: “You have a great need for other people to like and admire you,” or “Security is one of your major goals in life.” The study found that people will often take this vague information about themselves and fill in the blanks of the story with what they believe to be true. Barnum is credited in the name of the study because he was one the first to really weaponize the effect for professional gain, although others have certainly come before him and since. The most common readily available application of the Barnum Effect can be found in daily horoscopes, which follow a basic confirmation-bias template by design, complimenting the reader with broad, agreeable statements, very similar to the questionnaire used by Dr. Forer. ..

The Barnum Effect In American Politics

The modern-era comparisons of P. T. Barnum to politicians and entrepreneurs have been extensively made and debated since the late showman’s death, and will continue to be made and debated until the end of time. One most recent comparison, probably the most apt to be found within the United States in the year 2020, is President Donald Trump. The similarities between the two men are staggering: both were born into wealth, both changed from Democrat to Republican when they began their political careers, and both men have experienced controversy involving racial prejudice. Barnum, obviously for Joice Heth, her public autopsy, and generally owning slaves; Trump, for his racist generalization concerning citizens illegally crossing the United States border from Mexico being: “Rapists and Murderers,” and that “We don’t want them here.” Both Barnum and Trump have also owned multiple gambling establishments (Trump casinos--Barnum lotteries), both stopped drinking in the middle of their lives, and both have filed bankruptcy. Barnum, after the Jerome Clock Company disaster; Trump, four different times: including the “Trump Taj Mahal in 1991, Trump Plaza in ’92, Trump Hotels and Casinos Resorts in ’04, and Trump Entertainment Resorts in ’09.” ..

Apart from these resemblances we can also look at direct quotes by the two men that utilize hyperbole, call-to-action, and scare headlines, designed to create division and sow discord among the masses. How many times has a story broken that casts a negative light on the Trump Administration, and what are the President’s usual first words to the media? “Fake News.” Even if the story is true.. Specifically the recent coronavirus outbreak—Trump early-on referring to the the disease as a “Democratic Hoax.” P. T. Barnum had a quote that largely describes the manner in which President Trump operates, censoring the credence and credibility of anyone outside his administration, Barnum:

“The greatest humbug of all, was someone who believes—or pretends to believe—that everything and everybody are humbugs. That every man has his price, and every woman hers; that any statement from anybody is just as likely to be false as true; and that the only way to decide which is to consider whether truth or lie was likely to have paid best in that particular case.” ..

On the matter of hyperbole, examples abound. When Barnum said: “The reception of Jenny Lind on her first appearance, in point of enthusiasm, was probably never before equalled in the world.” Sounds just like when Donald Trump was inaugurated on January 21st and said of the event: “This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration—period—both in person and around the globe.” Here we see both men using complimentary hyperbole, or “Barnum-Forer Effect,” to make positive-sounding, general statements, and engage at the individual level with a statement that triggers a positive response. But what about the other half of Forer’s study? If it’s true that positive-reinforcement can unite people; it should also therefore divide on an individual basis with negative statements. Such as when P. T. Barnum said: “But the public appetite was craving something tangible…The community was absolutely famishing. They were ravenous. They could’ve swallowed anything, and like a good genius, I threw them not a ‘bone,’ but a regular tit-bit, a bon-bon—and they swallowed it at a gulp!” Sounds a lot like when Donald Trump proclaimed: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.” These tactics are designed to illicit a passionate response, a call-to-action; whether in agreement or disagreement. The idea being: whether liked or disliked, what was said is on every mind and mouth that heard it—for better or worse. Bad publicity and good publicity become indistinguishable currency, regarded as fame. ..?

The year 2020 marks the 72nd Annual Barnum Festival. A celebration of the life and civic service of P. T. Barnum to the citizens of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Barnum Festival begins in April and lasts several weeks at various historical locales throughout Bridgeport. The celebration culminates with a week-long, heart-of-the-festival, known as Barnum Palooza: featuring parades, outdoor concerts, a fireworks display, and other family-friendly activities that draw tourism and benefit the local economy of Bridgeport. ..

Closing

My very favorite part of the entire research was a letter, claimed by Barnum to have been sent to him in 1853, included in his first autobiography: “The Life of P. T. Barnum.” According to Barnum the letter was from soap maker in Providence, R.I., propositioning Barnum in financing a business venture. When one observes the writing style of Barnum throughout his various autobiographies—as was necessary in researching his life—I cannot imagine this letter being written by anyone but P. T. Barnum himself. A theory I leave to the reader:?

“Providence, R. I., Oct 20, 1853.

Barnum:—I never saw you, nor you me, yet we are not strangers. You have soaped the community, and so have I. You are rich, I am not. I have a plan to add half-a-million to your wealth, and many laurels to your brow. I manufacture by far the best soap ever known, as a million gentlemen, and three millions of God’s greatest work, beautiful women, will testify. I’ll send you a sample to prove the worth of my words. Try it, and when you find that I state FACTS, put $10,000 in the soap business, join me as an equal partner, and we will thoroughly soap the American Continent in three years, at a profit of a million dollars.

By doing this, sir, you will erect a monument in the hearts of people worthy of your name! You will have the satisfaction of knowing that you conferred a boon upon your countrymen. Cleanliness is next to godliness, you, sir, can aid in the cleaning and purifying of at least ten millions of your dirty fellow-citizens. It is a duty you owe to them and yourself. Look at my portrait on the soap wrapper, and you will see the face of an honest man. Send me your check next week for $5000, and the week after for $5000 more. This additional capital will enable me to supply the demand for my unrivaled soap, and I will send you the quarterly returns and profits. Come, old fellow, fork it over, and no grumbling! You will thus become a public benefactor, and unwashed millions shall chant your name in praise.

My soap makes soft hands, and cures soft heads. It removes paint and grease, is unsurpassed for shaving, cures chaps on hands or face, and is death on foul teeth. It cures eruptions to a charm. I have no doubt that a sufficient quantity, properly applied, would cure the eruption of Vesuvius.

Address me immediately at Providence, Rhode Island.

Yours, etc.,

Professor Gardner,

ITL.—> Known as the New-England Soap Man.”?