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MANAGEMENT GIANT

Phileas Taylor Barnum

Timeline
1810 1841 1842 1850 1853 1870 1875 1877 1882 1888 1891 Born. Opens American Museum in New York City. Introduces General Tom Thumb. Creates first American superstar, singer Jenny Lind. Starts New Yorks first illustrated newspaper. Starts The Greatest Show on Earth. Serves as mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Elected to first of two terms in the state General Assembly. Purchases Jumbo the elephant from London Zoo. Proposed as a potential presidential candidate. Dies.

Summary
A consummate showman and raconteur, P. T. Barnum was one of the most colorful figures to grace the business stage. He started out as a clerk and became a newspaper editor. His media career was cut short, however, when he was sued for libel and ended up in prison for 60 days. It was the nature of his release40 horsemen, a carriage, and a bandthat sold him on the power of spectacle. Barnum went on to stage a series of extravaganzas, backed by astounding claims, each a little more superlative than the last. He paraded a woman called Joice Heth as the 161year-old nurse of George Washington; exhibited 500,000 natural and artificial curiosities from every corner of the globe in the American Museum on Broadway in New York City; showed an embalmed mermaid to a mixed reception; and in 1842 hired the diminutive Charles Stratton as General Tom Thumb, who earned him an audience with Queen Victoria in England. Toward the end of his career as a showman, he teamed up with James A. Bailey to take the Barnum and Bailey Greatest Show on Earth on tour across America. Fittingly for a man with such great powers of persuasion, he also tried his hand at politics. In 1875 he

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was elected mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and went on to serve two terms on the state General Assembly. He was even touted as a potential presidential candidate.

Background and Rise

There is no proof that Phileas Taylor Barnum ever said, Theres a sucker born every minute. If he did, he was certainly not among their number. Born on July 5, 1810 in Bethel, Connecticut, Barnum was the eldest of five children. He was a bright child who excelled at math. At the age of ten, he was woken one night by his teacher who had bet a neighbor that Barnum could calculate the height of a pile of wood in five minutes. He did it in less than two. He also demonstrated a flair for salesmanship, selling lottery tickets at the age of 12. After his father died, Barnum traveled to Brooklyn, New York, where he found work at a general store. Captivated by the hustle and bustle of the city, he left the general store, but stayed on in New York working at a weekly newspaper. His journalistic career was shortlived. Although promoted to the role of editor, he was successfully sued for libel and sentenced to serve 60 days in jail. In a sign of things to come, Barnum was greeted on his release by a band, a troop of 40 horses, and a horse and carriage.

Defining Moments
Barnums career as showman and huckster extraordinaire started in earnest when he was 25. He paid the then considerable sum of $1,000 for the services of Joice Heth, who claimed to be both 161 years old and the nurse of the first U.S. president, George Washington. To a man with an innate sense of the dramatic, Heth was too good a business opportunity to pass up. Unquestionably the most astonishing and interesting curiosity in the world! was Barnums handbill slogan. His investment in Heth paid off handsomely. Exhibiting in New York and New England, he pulled in $1,500 a week. When interest in Heth began to flag, he spread a rumor that she was not a living person but an automaton. It worked, drawing crowds who wished to see if it was true. Heth was exhibited until her death in February 1836. Even then, Barnum refused to allow her death to restrict his cashflow, arranging a public autopsy to verify her age. When the stunt backfiredthe doctor said the woman was no older than 80Barnum successfully spun the story in his own favor. Building on the success he enjoyed with Heth, Barnum bought Scudders American Museum on Broadway in New York City, and populated it with 500,000 natural and artificial curiosities from every corner of the globe. In a wonderful example of his characteristic audacity, he put up a sign in the Museum bearing the words This way to the egress. Unsuspecting visitors would follow the directions in pursuit of the mysterious egress, only to learn that egress meant exit and they would then have to pay another quarter to get back in. Barnums famous attractions included The Feejee Mermaid, an embalmed mermaid (in reality half monkey, half dried fish), and in 1842 Charles Stratton, a.k.a. General Tom Thumb, the worlds smallest man. Measuring just

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25 inches in height, Tom Thumb was a worldwide hit, and earned Barnum an audience with Queen Victoria in England. In 1850 Barnum conducted perhaps his most profitable business venture of all. He introduced America to the European opera star Jenny Lind, popularly known as the Swedish Nightingale. When Lind disembarked at New York harbor in 1850, she was greeted by a crowd of 30,000 drawn by Barnums publicity machine. He turned her into one of the first entertainment superstars. She performed over 90 concerts in all in the United States. When they parted company in 1852, Barnum had grossed over $700,000 from her performances. Barnum ran the American Museum in New York City for 27 years. As well as dealing with the constant stream of visitors and sourcing new exhibits, he also had to deal with three major fires, which burned down the building. After the last of these in 1868, he retired from the museum business. At the age of 60, Barnum started the business that he is probably most closely associated withP. T. Barnums Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan, and Circus, or The Greatest Show on Earth, as it became known. We ought to have a big show, said Barnum, the public expects it, and will appreciate it. Barnums show was the biggest circus in America, grossing $400,000 in its first year. On the road, Barnum teamed up with James A. Bailey and James L. Hutchinson, both Englishmen, and in 1881 toured as the Barnum and London Circus. The Towering Monarch of His Mighty Race, Whose Like the World Will Never See Againor Jumbo as he was better knownwas another of Barnums acquisitions. Purchased from London Zoo in 1882 for $10,000, the elephant became the subject of a transatlantic tug-of-war when, in an outbreak of Jumbo mania, the English public objected to his departure. As usual, Barnum got his way, shipping the creature to the United States. In a promotional tour de force, he arranged for Jumbo to walk across the brand new Brooklyn Bridge in 1883 to test its strength. Both survived. Sadly, however, Jumbo didnt survive a collision with a freight train in St. Thomas, Ontario. Undaunted, Barnum had him stuffed and continued to display both the elephant and its skeleton. In 1888 he teamed up once again with Bailey to tour as Barnum and Baileys Greatest Show On Earth. Throughout the years of his circus triumphs, the irrepressible Barnum also dabbled in politics. Not surprisingly for a man with such consummate PR skills, he had some success. In 1875 he was elected as mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and in 1877 he was elected to the first of two terms in Connecticuts General Assembly. He was even put forward as a potential presidential candidate in 1888, although this came to nothing. In 1891 Barnum made a lighthearted remark to the effect that the press only said nice things about people when they were dead. Picking up on his comments, the New York Sun printed his obituary on the front page with the headline Great and Only Barnum He Wanted to Read His ObituaryHere It Is. Ironically, several weeks later Barnum

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was dead. He died quietly in his sleep on April 7, 1891. Professional to the last, his final words were reportedly about the show he was promoting at New Yorks Madison Square Garden: Ask Bailey what the box office was at the Garden last night.

Context and Conclusions

Huckster, showman, impresario, and entrepreneurP. T. Barnum was all these and more. The man who could justifiably be considered the father of advertising and public relations was the king of hyperbole. He invented the beauty contest, the baby contest, and the traveling show. He persuaded thousands to pay to see a mermaid, which was in reality half monkey, half fish. In a manner that would make the most Svengali-like of pop managers blush, he discovered the diminutive Tom Thumb aged four and groomed him for stardom, teaching him to sing and dance live (no lip-synching in the 1800s). A man who knew the value of contacts, he hunted buffalo with General Custer and was friends with General Grant. He was said to be the United Statess second millionaire and was so famous around the world that a letter sent from New Zealand addressed to Mr. Barnum, America still found its way to him. When he died the London Times printed the following editorial: Barnum is gone. That fine flower of Western civilization, that arbiter elegantiarum to Demos, has lived. At the age of 80, after a life of restless energy and incessant publicity, the great showman has lain down to rest. He gave, in the eyes of the seekers after amusement, a lustre to America. A fitting epitaph.

Close But No Cigar

Don King The shock-haired boxing promoter monopolized the money-spinning heavyweight division of the boxing world. Larger than lifealthough not quite as outsize as BarnumKing was especially noted for speaking at breakneck speed, quoting Shakespeare at press conferences, and having a Teflon-coated ability to deflect criticism and bad publicity.

For More Information

Books: Barnum, P. T. The Life of P. T. Barnum: Written by Himself. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2000 (originally published in 1854). Barnum, P. T. Struggles and Triumphs, or, Forty Years Recollections of P. T. Barnum, Written by Himself. New York: American News Company, 1871. Werner, M. R. Barnum. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1923. Fitzsimons, Raymond. Barnum in London. New York: St. Martins Press, 1970. Saxon, A. H., (ed). Selected Letters of P. T. Barnum. New York: Columbia University Press, 1983.

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