P.T. Barnum: The Greatest American Showman

Podcast Transcript

P.T. Barnum was one of the most famous entertainers of the 19th century, a man who turned curiosity, spectacle, and promotion into an art form and money.

He built museums, launched tours, entered politics, created legends, and helped define the modern circus.

His life was filled with ambition, controversy, genius…and a fair amount of exaggeration.

Learn more about P.T Barnum, the self-proclaimed Prince of Humbugs, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

P.T. 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 10 siblings, including older half-siblings 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 engaged in practical jokes, a hobby he shared with his grandfather.

In school, Phineas was perceived as a good student, though he did have some flaws. Many people who knew him commented on his hatred of physical labor.

In his youth, Phineas worked for his family, including on his father’s farm and at their general store, which he reportedly disliked, likely due to his aversion to working.

Following his father’s death in 1825, Phineas made the choice to liquidate his family’s assets. After the liquidation, he got a position at a General Store in the nearby town, Grassy Plains. While working there, he met his future wife, Charity Hallet, to whom he would be married for the next 44 years.

With funds from the liquidated assets, Barnum went on to finance a variety of entrepreneurial projects in Connecticut. However, while working on these projects, he became increasingly concerned about the Congregational Church’s influence in political matters.

In 1831, Barnum started a weekly newspaper titled The Herald of Freedom, which was published over the next three years. His paper prompted the church to sue Barnum for defamation, resulting in his imprisonment for two months.

After the publication of his paper ended, Barnum moved to New York City and took up a new occupation: being a showman. In 1835, Barnum was working at a grocery store when a Kentucky-based promoter named Coley Bartram entered.

Bartram had known of Barnum’s interests in “speculative investments” and intended to take advantage of him.

Bartram had owned a slave named Joice Heth. The woman was almost completely paralyzed and was blind, but Bartram marketed her as being 161 years old and a former nurse of President George Washington.

Though slavery was illegal in New York in 1835, Barnum was able to obtain Joice Heth through a loophole: he first leased her, then completed her purchase.

Immediately after, Barnum initiated an intensive marketing campaign. He distributed numerous posters announcing Heth as the “greatest curiosity in the world.” As public interest waned, Barnum showcased her throughout New England, seeking to maximize earnings.

Heth worked grueling 10-12-hour days and was presented to audiences as a spectacle. Despite her circumstances, Barnum’s approach proved profitable, if highly unethical, as many paid to witness her speak and sing.

When Heth died in 1836, Barnum showed neither reverence nor regret. Instead, he saw an opportunity to make money. He sent out word of a live, public autopsy, where her true age would be revealed.

Numerous people showed up to see and hear the reveal, paying 50 cents to watch. The autopsy found that she was at most 80 years old.

Following the financial success of Joice Heth, Barnum attempted to open up Barnum’s Grand Scientific and Musical Theater in 1836. This act traveled, producing shows in the South and along the Mississippi River. This act did not fare well due to a financial crisis that occurred at the time.

After facing ups and downs in his early ventures, Barnum set his sights on his next major pursuit: purchasing a museum in Manhattan.

To bring attention to the museum, Barnum sought out any odd attraction he could find. He also decorated the top of the building in banners and floodlights to draw the crowds’ eyes. To get people into the museum, he hired the worst musicians he could find to perform on his rooftop, hoping that those seeking to escape the noise would find peace inside.

Attractions inside the museum included dog shows; people labeled by Barnum as ‘exotic’-Native Americans, albinos, giants, little people, a replica of Niagara Falls, jugglers, and magicians. Barnum also offered daily hot-air balloon rides and regularly changed the attractions.

In the first three years under Barnum’s ownership, the museum more than doubled its previous gross earnings. However, this was not enough.

Wanting to make more money, Barnum created hoaxes to attract more people to the museum. The first of these hoaxes was a monkey torso and a fish tail joined together to create a “Feejee mermaid.”

His next big attraction was a child named Charles Stratton who he found in Bridgeport, CT. Stratton is better known by his stage name, General Tom Thumb. Stratton was only four years old when he met Barnum, but was marketed as an 11-year-old English dwarf.

Stratton’s size made him a prized attraction to Barnum, who saw not a child but a ticket to fame and fortune. Between 1844 and 1845, Barnum paraded Stratton through Europe, dazzling audiences.

On the tour, Barnum and Stratton were introduced to Queen Victoria, who was greatly amused by the act. Her enjoyment led Barnum to meet other monarchs, including the King of France and the Russian Tsar.

By touring Europe, Barnum acquired new attractions, namely automations and other mechanical wonders. The money brought in during this time also allowed him to open other museums in Philadelphia and Baltimore.

During his tour of Europe, Barnum was introduced to a popular singer, Jenny Lind. Known in Europe as the “Swedish Nightingale,” Lind was at the height of her career in Europe.

Despite never having heard her voice, Barnum offered Lind the chance to perform in the United States in a 150 tour show, where she would be paid $1,000 a night and have all her expenses paid.

Lind agreed to the tour but required payment in advance, which Barnum agreed to do. This was a big risk for Barnum as he was going on his reputation alone. To pay Lind, he had to put up his home and the museums. Lind took her money and opened a charity in Sweden to supply schools for poor children.

Barnum’s risky bet paid off spectacularly. In 1850, crowds surged at the docks where she arrived in the US and at her hotel, swept up by anticipation. Sensing her power, Lind renegotiated her deal, ensuring there would be surplus funds after Barnum’s fee went to her charities.

The tour was a smash hit, with the public’s enthusiasm around the performances being known as “Lind mania.” While on the tour, Lind and Barnum didn’t really see eye-to-eye. Lind was uncomfortable with Barnum’s intense marketing and commercialism. She eventually severed her contractual ties to Barnum in 1851.

Both Lind and Barnum made substantial amounts of money from the performances: Lind earned around $350,000, and Barnum earned approximately $500,000. Adjusted for inflation, Barnum’s earnings would equal $19,350,000 today.

Following the tour with Jenny Lind, Barnum began the first of several retirements. He returned to his mansion, known as “Iranistan,” in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he spent time with his three children and his wife.

While at home, Barnum wrote a biography in which he graphically described how he conned audiences to make money. Unsurprisingly, the publication of this biography sparked significant backlash, as the public felt misled by his admissions of having engaged in trickery.

The retirement didn’t last long. Around this time, Barnum also opened a variety of other entertainment venues, including a theater and America’s first aquarium, as well as brought new attractions to his museum.

During this period, he also made a disastrous financial decision in investing in the Jerome Clock Company in 1850. By 1856, the company went bankrupt, taking Barnum’s fortune with it. Being completely broke, Barnum was forced to go back on the road.

Fortunately for Barnum, Stratton was touring on his own and offered to bring Barnum in. The duo did a second European tour. This, combined with Barnum’s lectures, allowed him to pull himself out of debt.

With entertainment successes behind him, Barnum transitioned into politics in Connecticut in 1865.

Barnum was successful in this political venture, which led to his election to the state legislature. In 1875, Barnum ran for mayor of Bridgeport and won. As mayor, he vastly improved the city.

Barnum described his charitable efforts as ‘profitable philanthropy,’ believing that improving the community would increase local wealth and, consequently, benefit his business. He invested heavily in Bridgeport’s development based on this principle.

Barnum also contributed to Tufts University, serving as a board trustee before the institution was founded.

However, this period also marked tragedy for Barnum as his wife, Charity, passed away in 1873. The following year, he remarried to Nancy Fish, with whom he would spend the rest of his life.

The attraction Barnum is best known for, the circus, didn’t start until 1874.

Barnum opened “P. T. Barnum’s Great Roman Hippodrome” in April of that year in New York City. This later became known as Madison Square Garden. He filled the location with new attractions and live animals. His goal was to use all the knowledge and connections from his previous endeavors and open the “greatest show on earth.”

Despite being confident in his show, Barnum had a major competitor: a rival circus called “International Allied Shows.” Barnum decided the best course of action was to merge the two circuses. He contacted the Allied Shows biller, James A. Bailey, and the duo began working on a deal.

The two later opened the “Barnum and London Circus,” later the “Barnum and Bailey Circus” in March of 1881. It became a smash hit. One of the most popular attractions was an elephant named Jumbo.

Jumbo was considered by Barnum to be one of his greatest triumphs. The creature was 11.5 feet tall and 6.5 tons. He became a beloved figure in the United States, with children everywhere talking about Jumbo. In his first six weeks with the circus, the elephant grossed $336,000, which equates to roughly $10 million today.

Jumbo was the featured act of the circus until he was hit by a train and killed in 1885.

Barnum was prepared to relinquish a portion of his authority over the circus by 1887. He granted Bailey equal managerial power, and together they continued to elevate the show through the introduction of groundbreaking acts and extraordinary 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. While this film portrays Barnum and his family’s lives, it is important to note that the movie takes significant creative liberties and is highly fictionalized.

Many characters and events in the film are exaggerated or outright fabricated to present Barnum in a favorable light. In reality, Barnum abused the members of his circus, where he took advantage of disabled people and put them in human zoos.

The movie creates a feel-good story by glossing over Barnum’s less palatable actions.

P.T. Barnum understood how to get the public’s attention better than almost anyone of his era, and he turned that understanding into museums, tours, circuses, political campaigns, and a personal legend that often blurred the line between truth and promotion.

His legacy is not just the circus that bore his name, but the modern world of publicity, celebrity, and spectacle that can all be traced back to him.