by Robert Laurence
Phineas Taylor Barnum, American impresario and forerunner of all the Mike Todds and Sol Hurokses of Broadway and movie history, was born in 1810, the
son of a storekeeper and farmer. At twelve he became a successful lottery
operator, but he failed in business and publishing before beginning his
career as a showman in 1835. Barnum began by exhibiting Aunt Joice Heth, an
aged black woman he fraudulently claimed had been George Washington's nurse.
Thousands paid to see the "162-year-old" woman, who wasn"t more than eighty
when she died, illustrating the saying, probably falsely attributed to him,
that "there's a sucker born every minute." The showman soon founded the
American
Museum in New York, embarking on a career that included exhibitions
of the dwarf General Tom Thumb (Charles Stratton), reputedly thirty-one
inches tall; singer Jenny Lind, the famous 'swedish Nightingale"; and the
first bearded lady, among countless other attractions. Among his many frauds
or "poetic licenses" were a sign labeled TO THE EGRESS, implying a
mysterious monster but actually a fancy word for exit, which helped empty
his museum so more paying customers could fit in; a "genuine preserved
mermaid," which in realty was a monkey's torso expertly sewed to a tail of a
fish; dancing turkeys that danced because the floor of their cage was
heated; an animal "of a horse's size, a deer's haunches, an elephant's tail,
a camel's color, and the curly wool of a sheep, with some resemblance to a
young buffalo"; a cherry-colored cat (black-cherry-colored); and 'swiss"
bell ringers who were really British. Barnum opened his circus in Brooklyn
in 1871, proceeding to tour the world with "The Greatest Show on Earth."
The African elephant, Jumbo,
purchased from the London Zoo, was one of the show's stars, as were the
famous Siamese twins, Chang and Eng. Barnum had not only a great flair for
showmanship, but was the master or inventor of every method known for
fleecing the public, from unscrupulous advertising to inflated attendance
figures. "The Prince of Humbugs" became mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut,
and a member of the state legislature, but his name is rightfully
remembered as a synonym for pretentious ballyhoo and boastful
exaggeration, as well as for a great showman. He died in 1891 without ever
publicly regretting his past, and that he was something of an American
folk hero is illustrated by the fact that at least six towns in the United
States are named after him. Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus also
bears his name.