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 High Plains Chautauqua |
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From 1810 to 1891, P. T. Barnum not only exemplified such key American traits as enterprise and energy, but to millions of Americans and Europeans he was America. His uproarious energetic life is not only fascinating to explore for its larger than life escapades, it also reflects all the great themes of the nineteenth century. Barnum’s ardent passion for equality and independence was apparent in the controversy with scientific experts over his Humbug the “Fee Jee Mermaid” – one of many controversies – in which he stated only the common people could settle the dispute. Long before Emerson made the term “self-reliance” an American credo Barnum was living it. Phineas Taylor’s amazing rise from poverty to wealth was the consummate American “rags to riches” story. He believed in democracy enough to be involved in politics his whole life, from letters that landed him in jail in his youth, to serving as mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut, to being a state legislator and calling for both the enfranchisement of blacks and women’s equality, to narrowly losing a U.S. Senate election. Of course Barnum’s "monomania," as he proudly called it, was always to draw attention to his museum, his circus, and himself. People loved him for that mania and thronged to his every event. The self anointed “Prince of Humbug” found countless phenomena from exotic Colorado “wooly horses” to Tom Thumb that, while they outraged societal betters, entertained vast multitudes. He loved to tell how one woman was surprised to learn he did not have horns and cloven feet as she was led to believe. He flagrantly displayed bogus buffalo hunts, “freaks,” 160-year-old black nannies, “Jumbo” elephants that some times plowed his fields. People came in droves. Even though he is considered the patron saint of modern advertising, Barnum once noted that his biggest problem was not getting people into his museum but getting them out. Barnum is often remembered solely as a “humbug,” which we misunderstand as the bilking of “suckers.” No, he never said that famous line, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” In reality, he was a critical figure in the legitimization of the theater, opera, the circus, and Wild West shows. Along the way he introduced America to its first aquarium, first light bulb, first telephone, and the world’s most celebrated singer, Jenny Lind. By his death his circus with Bailey was an entertainment colossus with over 1,000 performers and audiences numbering yearly in the millions, and it rightfully held the title he gave it, “The Greatest Show on Earth.” How does one explain Barnum other than to say he was a combination of Walt Disney and Donald Trump (with better hair) who created great wealth by fully understanding Americans. Forget Lincoln, Emerson, Carnegie. Due to his remarkable career “edifying and enlightening” the American people, P.T. Barnum was “the” American of the nineteenth century or as he so blithely stated “I am the Sun of the amusement world from which all lesser luminaries take light.”
Doug A. Mishler For the last fifteen years Doug has brought history to life in well over one thousand Chautauqua presentations and one-man shows. He has performed as P. T. Barnum, Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Ford and the other voices in his head before more than 10,000 people. His “boys” include activist William Lloyd Garrison, war correspondent Ernie Pyle, explorer Capt. William Clark, industrialist Andrew Carnegie, the Reverend Billy Sunday, artist Thomas Hart Benton, and journalist Edward R. Murrow. He recently added the South’s only President Jefferson Davis, social novelist Upton Sinclair, and Governor George C. Wallace. With a Ph.D. in American cultural history, Doug teaches at the University of Nevada. To improve his characters he started in the theatre six years ago, has acted in ten plays, and just finished directing his seventeenth.
RECOMMENDED READING Barnum, P.T.Humbugs of the World. New York: Carelton, 1865. Funny Stories Told by Phineas T. Barnum. New York: Routledge and Sons, 1890. The Life of P. T. Barnum, Written by Himself. New York: Redfield, 1855. Struggles and Triumphs: Or the Life of P. T. Barnum, Written by Himself. George S Bryan ed. 2 vols. New York: Alfred K. Knopf, 1927. Harris, Neil. Humbug: The Art of P. T. Barnum. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973. Saxon, A. H. P. T. Barnum: The Legend and the Man. New York: Columbia University Press, 1989. Adams, Bluford. E Pluribus Barnum: The Great Showman. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997.
SIGNIFICANT POINTS ABOUT P. T. BARNUM
Built low cost homes for workers, endowed city parks, and built a hospital Endowed science department at Tufts University Joking called himself the “reverend P.T. Barnum” and preached in churches every Sunday if he felt the minister not up to it The first Disney, he made the Circus and theater family-friendly Once an aficionado of the grape, he became an unjokingly fierce temperance man and hated the fact Jumbo drank beer. In the 19th Century his autobiography outsold all books but the bible. Colorado Wooly Horse was part buffalo, part camel, part deer, part horse and could jump twelve feet straight up in the air – he said it was true! After a law suit he won against the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, he became the patron saint of the ASPCA. His agents in Europe acted as spies on Southern shipping during Civil War P.T. BARNUM QUOTES
“I am the sun of the amusement world from which all lesser luminaries borrow light” “Who is to decide when the experts disagree—the people decide themselves.” “Women should have a voice in the laws that govern them.” “Whether we are black or white we are all children of the same father.” “I earned my way by my own honest effort” “When my father died I was so poor I had to borrow shoes to go to the funeral.” “I am the Prince of Humbug” “The Ringling brothers operate nothing more than a Dog and Pony show, not a circus” “The Barnum and Bailey Circus is the greatest show on earth” “Hold your horses, the elephants are coming” “I bring you the ‘what is it.’ Is it man? Is it monkey? Is it both?” “The only music I know is the sound coins make in my purse” P.T. BARNUM TIMELINE
1810: Born in Bethel, Connecticut 1826: Father dies insolvent; P. T. works as a clerk 1829: Marries Charity Hallett in New York City 1831: Opens his first store in Bethel and begins publishing The Herald of Freedom 1834: Moves to New York City 1835: Begins managing Joice Heth 1836: Becomes secretary treasurer for the Aaron Turner Circus; tours South and West with Barnum's Grand Scientific and Musical Theatre 1840: Buys Scudders Museum and turns it into the American Museum. Friendship begins with newspaperman HoraceGreeley. 1842: Displays FeeJee Mermaid and first exhibits Tom Thumb 1844: European Tour with Tom Thumb 1847: Abstains from alcohol and begins lecturing on temperance 1850-51: Establishes Mountain Grove Cemetery in Bridgeport, Connecticut; manages tour of Jenny Lind; becomes trustee of Tufts College; establishes a bank and begins purchasing property in Bridgeport 1853: Publishes The Illustrated News 1855: The Life of P. T. Barnum is first published; goes bankrupt; sells museum to his business manager and returns to Europe managing Tom Thumb 1860: Returns from Europe wealthy and buys back the museum; starts an aquarium 1865-66: Represents Fairfield, Connecticut for two terms in legislature; speaks on black suffrage; museum burns at a loss of $400,000 but is soon rebuilt; publishes Humbugs of the World 1868: Retires after museum burns a second time; publishes second autobiography, Struggles and Triumphs 1870-71: Becomes close friend with Mark Twain; begins P. T. Barnum's Museum, Menagerie, and Circus; purchases cattle ranch in Colorado 1873-74: Wife Charity dies; builds Barnum's Roman Hippodrome in New York; marries Nancy Fish (28 years younger) 1875-76: Elected Mayor of Bridgeport 1878-79: Serves two terms in state legislature from Bridgeport 1881-82: James A. Bailey joins him for The Barnum and London Circus; brings Jumbo to America 1884: Barnum Museum of Natural History opens at Tufts College 1887: Bailey becomes full partner with Barnum in "The Greatest Show on Earth," Barnum & Bailey 1889: Barnum & Bailey becomes first American circus to tour Europe 1891: Endows and designs Barnum Institute of Science and History in Bridgeport; dies at home in Bridgeport, April 7
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