Barnum, Phineas Taylor

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BARNUM, PHINEAS TAYLOR

P. T. Barnum (1810–1891) portrayed himself as the "Prince of Humbugs" to characterize many outrageous stunts and exhibits that were part of his exploits as a showman. His tours, lectures, museum, and autobiography made him famous and a millionaire long before he entered the circus business and formed the innovative Barnum and Bailey Circus in the 1880s. Although he probably never said, "There's a sucker born every minute," as is widely believed, he did act as if his audiences hoped to be fooled or, as he said, "humbugged."

Barnum was only 15 years old when his father died. He was forced to find the means to support his mother and five brothers and sisters. After trying his hand at various jobs he bought a weekly newspaper in his hometown of Bethel, Connecticut, called the Herald of Freedom. Over the course of several years he was arrested three times for libel and once spent 60 days in jail. In 1834 Barnum moved to New York City and became a shopkeeper.

Shortly afterward, Barnum was transformed from shopkeeper to showman when he discovered an elderly black woman, Joice Heth, who claimed to be George Washington's (1789–1797) nurse. A showman in Philadelphia had promoted Heth as the first president's 161-year-old nurse without much financial success. Under Barnum's management and sensational advertising, Heth toured the country telling her fabricated memories of the president's childhood. After her death, an autopsy showed her to be only 80 years old. A canny Barnum played to the public and claimed that he himself was also the victim of a hoax.

The Heth experience convinced Barnum that there was a market for satisfying the public's taste for the outrageous and improbable on a much larger scale. He bought John Scudder's American Museum in New York City which, at the time, housed conventional exhibits of stuffed animals and wax figures. Barnum transformed the museum into a place of lively entertainment and bizarre attractions, open to the public for 25 cents admission. The five–story museum, which he operated for more than twenty–five years, housed some 50,000 curiosities including strange objects, unusual animals, and assorted people. Some of his most popular attractions were "freaks," such as the Siamese twins Chang and Eng; Anna Swan, the tallest girl in the world; Annie Jones, the bearded lady; and 26-inch-tall Charles S. Stratton, who became internationally famous as "General Tom Thumb." Equally important to the success of the museum were advertising and the imaginative stunts Barnum created to publicize his exhibits.

Although his policy of exhibiting humans as freaks may dismay current sensibilities, Barnum's exhibits were not intended solely for the masses. With Tom Thumb acting as his calling card, the showman was received by many heads of state, including President Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) and England's Queen Victoria (1819–1901). His European tours were tremendously successful, as were his lectures on such topics as "The Science of Money Making and the Philosophy of Humbug." In the 1850s he staked his entire fortune on his most legitimate endeavor: importing Swedish soprano Jenny Lind, "the Swedish Nightingale," for a tour of the United States. After a publicity campaign that topped all the great showman's previous efforts, he made immense profits for himself and the singer.

Barnum was well past 60 when he entered the circus business. With a partner, James A. Bailey (1847–1906), he transformed a small, poorly-run, often fraudulent, wagon-based circus show into a railroad-travelling, three-ring, electrically-lit giant extravaganza that was fun for the entire family. Typically, he made the show a success with his relentless promotion of the Barnum and Bailey Circus as "the greatest show on earth."

Barnum also publicized his own life and career in an autobiography. It was designed to entertain as much as inform. The Life of P. T. Barnum, Written by Himself was published in 1855 and was repeatedly revised and supplemented by the showman. Barnum claimed sales of a million copies for the work and, presumably with the hope of even greater exposure, he eventually placed the book in the public domain. Barnum's obsession with publicity was so strong that when he became seriously ill at the age of 80 he asked a New York newspaper to run his obituary in advance so that he could read it himself. Two weeks later he died at his home in Connecticut.

See also: Entertainment Industry