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podcast transcript
PT Barnum was one of the most famous entertainers of the 19th century, a man who turned curiosity, spectacle and publicity into an art form and money.
He built museums, started tours, entered politics, created legends, and helped define the modern circus.
His life was full of ambition, controversy, genius, and considerable exaggeration.
Learn more about PT Barnum, the self-proclaimed prince of con artists, in this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
PT Barnum was born Phineas Taylor Barnum on July 5, 1810, in Bethel, Connecticut, to Philo and Irene Barnum. Phineas was his father’s sixth child and had ten siblings, including a half-brother from his father’s first marriage.
Phineas grew up in a conservative area where most values were set by the Congregational Church. To entertain himself, Phineas often played pranks, a hobby he shared with his grandfather.
At school, Phineas was perceived as a good student, but he had some flaws. Many people who knew him said he hated physical labor.
In his youth, Phineas worked for his family, including at his father’s farm and general store, which he reportedly disliked, possibly due to his aversion to working.
After his father’s death in 1825, Phineas decided to liquidate the family’s assets. After liquidation, he got a job at a general store in the nearby town of Grassy Plains. While working there, he met his future wife, Charity Hallet, with whom he would be married for the next 44 years.
With funds from liquidated assets, Barnum financed various entrepreneurial projects in Connecticut. However, while working on these projects, he became increasingly concerned about the influence of the Congregational Church in political affairs.
In 1831, Barnum founded a weekly newspaper called: messenger of freedomThese were published over the next three years. His paper led the church to sue Barnum for libel, which resulted in Barnum being imprisoned for two months.
After publication of the paper, Barnum moved to New York and began a new career as a showman. In 1835, while Barnum was working in a grocery store, a Kentucky promoter named Coley Bartram came in.
Bartram was aware of Barnum’s interest in “speculative investments” and sought to take advantage of him.
Bartram owned a slave named Joice Heth. Although the woman was almost completely paralyzed and blind, Bartram advertised that she was 161 years old and had been a former nurse to President George Washington.
Although slavery was illegal in New York in 1835, Barnum was able to obtain Joice Heth through a loophole. He first leased her and then completed the purchase.
Shortly thereafter, Barnum began an intensive marketing campaign. He distributed numerous posters promoting Heth as “the world’s greatest curiosity.” As public interest waned, Barnum showcased her throughout New England to maximize profits.
Heth worked hard for 10 to 12 hours a day and became a spectacle for spectators. Despite her circumstances, Barnum’s approach, although highly unethical, proved to be profitable as many people paid money to witness her speaking and singing.
When Heth died in 1836, Barnum showed neither respect nor regret. Instead, he saw an opportunity to make money. He broke the news of a live public autopsy that would reveal her real age.
Thousands of people paid 50 cents to watch and hear the reveal. An autopsy revealed that she was at most 80 years old.
Following Joice Heth’s financial success, Barnum attempted to open Barnum’s Grand Scientific and Musical Theater in 1836. The show traveled throughout the South and along the Mississippi River, producing performances. This bill did not proceed well due to the financial crisis that occurred at the time.
After experiencing ups and downs in his early ventures, Barnum turned his attention to his next major goal. The idea was to purchase a museum in Manhattan.
To draw attention to the museum, Barnum searched for any strange landmarks he could find. He also decorated the top of the building with banners and floodlights to attract the attention of the crowd. To attract people to the museum, he hired some of the worst musicians to perform on the rooftop, hoping that people who wanted to escape the noise would find peace inside.
Attractions inside the museum included a dog show. People whom Barnum classified as ‘exotic’ – Native Americans, albinos, giants, little people, replicas of Niagara Falls, magicians, magicians. Barnum also offered daily hot air balloon rides and changed attractions regularly.
In the first three years of Barnum’s ownership, the museum more than doubled its previous total revenue. But this wasn’t enough.
To make more money, Barnum created a hoax to attract more people to the museum. The first of these hoaxes involved combining a monkey body and a fish tail to create the “Fijian Mermaid.”
His next big attraction was a kid he discovered in Bridgeport, Connecticut named Charles Stratton. Stratton is better known by his stage name General Tom Thumb. Although Stratton was only four years old when he met Barnum, he was promoted as an 11-year-old English dwarf.
Stratton’s size made him a valuable attraction to Barnum, who saw not a child but a ticket to fame and fortune. Between 1844 and 1845, Barnum paraded Stratton throughout Europe, enthralling audiences.
During the tour, Barnum and Stratton were introduced to Queen Victoria, who was greatly intrigued by the performance. Her enjoyment led Barnum to meet other monarchs, including the King of France and the Tsar of Russia.
Traveling through Europe gave Barnum a new fascination with automation and other mechanical wonders. The money he brought in during this period also enabled him to open other museums in Philadelphia and Baltimore.
While traveling in Europe, Barnum was introduced to popular singer Jenny Lind. Known in Europe as the “Swedish Nightingale,” Lind was at the peak of her career in Europe.
Despite having never heard her voice, Barnum offered Lind the opportunity to perform on a 150-show tour of the United States. There she was paid $1,000 a night and had all expenses paid.
Lind agreed to the tour but demanded advance payment, which Barnum agreed to. This was a big risk because Barnum was pursuing his fame alone. To pay Lind, he had to build a house and a museum. Lind used his own money to open a charity in Sweden to provide schools for poor children.
Barnum’s risky bet paid off spectacularly. In 1850, excited crowds crowded the docks and hotels where she arrived in America. Sensing her power, Lind renegotiated the deal so that there would be surplus funds after Barnum’s fee went to her charity.
The tour was a huge success, and the public enthusiasm surrounding the performance became known as ‘Lind Mania’. While on tour, Lind and Barnum could not see eye to eye. Lind was uncomfortable with Barnum’s intense marketing and commercialism. She eventually broke off her contractual relationship with Barnum in 1851.
Both Lind and Barnum earned a significant amount of money from their performances. Lind earned about $350,000 and Barnum earned about $500,000. Adjusted for inflation, Barnum’s earnings would now be $19,350,000.
Following the tour with Jenny Lind, Barnum embarked on the first of several retirements. He returned to his mansion in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he spent time with his three children and wife.
While at home, Barnum wrote a biography that vividly described how he deceived his audiences to make money. Naturally, the publication of this biography caused considerable backlash as the public felt misled by his admission of involvement in the deception.
Retirement did not last long. Around this time, Barnum not only opened a variety of entertainment venues, including theaters and America’s first aquarium, but he also brought new attractions to his museum.
During this time, he also made disastrous financial decisions in investments such as: jerome watch company 1850. In 1856, the company went bankrupt, taking Barnum’s fortune with it. Completely broke, Barnum had no choice but to hit the road again.
Fortunately for Barnum, Stratton was traveling alone and offered to bring Barnum along. The duo toured Europe for the second time. This, combined with Barnum’s lectures, allowed him to get out of debt.
Leaving his success in show business behind, Barnum turned to politics in Connecticut in 1865.
Barnum was successful in this political venture and was elected to the state legislature. In 1875, Barnum ran for mayor of Bridgeport and won. As mayor, he made great improvements to the city.
Barnum described his philanthropy as ‘profitable philanthropy’, believing that improving the community would increase local wealth and in turn benefit his business. He invested heavily in the development of Bridgeport based on this principle.
Barnum also contributed to Tufts University, serving as a member of the board of trustees prior to the institution’s founding.
However, this period was also marked by tragedy for Barnum. His wife Charity died in 1873. The following year he remarried Nancy Fish, with whom he remained for the remainder of his life.
Barnum’s best-known attraction, the circus, did not begin until 1874.
Barnum opened “PT Barnum’s Great Roman Hippodrome” in New York City in April of that year. This later became known as Madison Square Garden. He filled the place with new attractions and live animals. His goal was to put on “the greatest show on earth,” leveraging all the knowledge and connections he had gained from his previous efforts.
Despite his confidence in his own shows, Barnum had a rival circus called “International Allied Shows.” Barnum decided the best course of action was to merge the two circuses. He contacted Allied Shows biller James A. Bailey and the duo struck a deal.
The two later opened the “Barnum and London Circus” and later the “Barnum and Bailey Circus” in March 1881. This became a huge hit. One of the most popular attractions was an elephant named Jumbo.
Barnum considered Jumbo one of his greatest victories. The creature was 11.5 feet tall and weighed 6.5 tons. He became a beloved figure in America, and children all over the world talked about Jumbo. In its first six weeks with the circus, the elephant earned $336,000, the equivalent of roughly $10 million today.
Jumbo was a mainstay of the circus until he was killed by a train in 1885.
Barnum was ready to give up some of his rights to the circus by 1887. He gave Bailey equal management, and they continued to enhance the show, introducing groundbreaking acts and special creatures that transformed circus entertainment.
In 1891, Barnum died at home from a stroke.
Much of what most people know about Barnum’s legacy comes from the popular musical. the greatest showman. Although the film depicts the lives of Barnum and his family, it is important to note that it takes significant creative liberties and is highly fictionalized.
Many of the characters and events in the film were exaggerated or outright fabricated to show Barnum in a positive light. In reality, Barnum abused the circus members, taking advantage of the disabled and putting them in human zoos.
The movie creates a feel-good story by glossing over Barnum’s less palatable behavior.
P.T. Barnum understood how to capture public attention better than almost anyone else of his time, and he translated that understanding into museums, tours, circuses, political campaigns, and personal legends that often blurred the lines between truth and publicity.
His legacy is not just the circus that bears his name, but the modern world of publicity, celebrity and spectacle that originated from him.
