| Phineas Taylor Barnum was arguably the | | | | confluence of different cultures, Barnum |
| greatest showman of all time. He had a knack | | | | adjusted the exhibits, shows and educational |
| for finding and exhibiting unusual people, | | | | materials to accommodate different cultures |
| animals and a range of oddities, some of them | | | | and tastes as well as each strata of the |
| hoaxes, such as the Feejee Mermaid.While the | | | | social classes of the times. There was |
| Barnum & Bailey Circus continues as a living | | | | literally something for everyone.The public |
| testament to his talent for promotion, he was | | | | response was almost as varied as the museum's |
| also a politician and journalist and | | | | diversity. Some loved the museum/theatre and |
| enormously influential both here in the U.S. | | | | some were appalled by it.The flames of that |
| and in Europe during the 19th century. He | | | | outrage were fanned by Barnum's support of |
| could tomanipulate the press in ways that | | | | temperance, and on July 13, 1865, the |
| render today's spin doctors inept hacks.P.T. | | | | American Museum was burned to the ground. It |
| Barnum, as he was best known, was born in | | | | has never been determined who set the fire. |
| Bethel, Connecticut on July 5, 1810. After | | | | He subsequently built a new museum further |
| his father's death in 1826, rural life faded | | | | uptown, which also burned down.He is perhaps |
| as his ideal, and he was drawn to the city | | | | best known, however, for two special finds: |
| lights of Brooklyn, New York, where he worked | | | | Tom Thumb and Jenny Lind.It was in 1842 that |
| for a short time as a store clerk.His own | | | | he discovered Charles Sherwood Stratton, whom |
| fascination with curiosities, strange and | | | | he dubbed Tom Thumb, a man who stood only 25 |
| bizarre, convinced him that his | | | | inches tall and weighed a mere 15 pounds at |
| contemporaries of the era would be likewise | | | | age 11.Barnum invested two years in training |
| captivated, so he set out to make collecting | | | | Tom to sing, dance and mime, then embarked on |
| and displaying peculiarities his career. His | | | | a world tour with his tiny friend who |
| reading of the sentiments of the times was | | | | performed for fascinated domestic and |
| right on, and people gathered in large | | | | European audiences, including royalty and |
| numbers at the various venues he built, in | | | | Abraham Lincoln. Tom Thumb became a "must |
| particular, the American Museum in New | | | | see" in the American Museum.Jenny Lind, whom |
| York.The first of his endeavors involved | | | | Barnum called "The Swedish Nightingale" was a |
| Joice Heth, whom he billed as "The Greatest | | | | musical prodigy. She could play the piano at |
| Natural & National Curiosity in the | | | | age four and developed an extraordinary |
| World."Telling those interested that the | | | | singing voice, which she amply demonstrated |
| story-telling, African American woman was 161 | | | | to the influential and political, including |
| years old, he convinced his audiences that, | | | | President Millard Fillmore, General Winfield |
| as a slave, she had tended to a young George | | | | Scott, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Henry |
| Washington.When a prominent physician pared | | | | Wadsworth Longfellow, Washington Irving and |
| back her true age to 80 after her autopsy, | | | | others.The Barnum & Bailey Circus, which he |
| Barnum insisted that her body was a fake and | | | | dubbed "The greatest show on earth" is his |
| that she was still performing elsewhere.In | | | | most enduring legacy.Mixing politics with his |
| 1841, Barnum founded and built the American | | | | passion for the bizarre enabled Barnum to |
| Museum in the heart of "Old New York City." | | | | serve a one-year term as mayor of Bridgeport, |
| It comprised an eclectic blend of sensational | | | | Connecticut, and he served two terms in the |
| and gaudy attractions, including Tom Thumb | | | | Connecticut legislature.The Barnum Museum is |
| and the Feejee Mermaid, natural history with | | | | an excellent chronicle of the life and times |
| exhibits displaying taxidermy and menageries, | | | | of Phineas Taylor Barnum and very much worth |
| and art, wax figures and a Lecture Room and | | | | a visit.Jim Hyde, an author, award-winning |
| theatre in which Shakespeare was performed.To | | | | writer and syndicated columnist, is editor |
| many historians and social scientists, the | | | | and co-owner with his wife, Terry, of a |
| American Museum was the bedrock of New York's | | | | top-ranked New England Website, |
| urban evolution.Remarkably perceptive of the | | | | NewEnglandTimes.Com, which covers travel, |
| changing demographics of the city and the | | | | tourism, real estate and lifestyles. |