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BACK  Dineh Mohajer

 P. T
Barnum
Phineas Taylor Barnum

Born on July 5, • American

1810, in Bethel, • Showman
Connecticut • Politician
Died on April 7, • Businessman
1891 (age of 80) • Author
Bridgeport • Publisher
Connecticut • Philanthropist

In 1871, he launched the traveling spectacle that would eventually become

the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. After an illustrious career,
Barnum died in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on April 7, 1891.
Family & Early Life

• Barnum was born in Bethel, Connecticut, the son of innkeeper, tailor, and store-keeper
Philo Barnum (1778-1826) and his second wife Irene Taylor.

• His maternal grandfather Phineas Taylor was a Whig, legislator, landowner, justice of
the peace, and lottery schemer who had a great influence on him.

• A natural salesman, he was peddling snacks and cherry rum to soldiers by age 12.

• Barnum moved to New York City as a young man and tried his hand at a variety of
businesses, including newspaper publishing and running a boarding house.

• Barnum had several businesses over the years, including a general store, a book
auctioning trade, real estate especulation, and a statewide lottery network
He started a weekly newspaper in 1879 called The Herald of Freedom in Danburry,
Connceticut.

In 1835, Barnum's knack for promotion surfaced when he paid $1,000 for an elderly slave
named Joice Heth. Claiming she was 161 years old and a former nurse for George
Washington, Barnum exhibited her throughout the Northeast, ranking in an estimated
$1,500 per week.
 The Greatest Showman Barnum’s Grand Scientific and
Musical Theater

Barnum had a year mixed

success with his variety troupe
called “Barnum’s Grand
Scientific and Musical
Theater”, followed by the
“Panic of 1837” and three years
of difficult circumstances.
 Panic of 1837 Barnum's American Museum

P.T. Barnum bought Scudder's

American Museum in lower
Manhattan in 1841 and
reopened it as Barnum's
American Museum. There he
displayed the "Feejee
Mermaid" and other oddities of
dubious authenticity among
The Panic of 1837 was a financial
what eventually expanded to a
crisis in the United States that
collection of 850,000 exhibits.
touched off a major recessions that
lasted until the mid-1840’s.
Barnum's American Museum
Feejee Mermaid In 1842, Barnum met 4-year-
old Charles Sherwood Stratton,
who stood 25 inches tall and
weighed 15 pounds. Sensing
The Fiji Mermaid another potential windfall,
was an object Barnum trained the boy to sing
composed of the and dance and revealed him to
torso and head of the public as "General Tom
a juvenile monkey Thumb." The massive
sewn to the back popularity of the exhibit led to
half of a fish a traveling tour of Europe,
which included an audience
with British monarch Queen
Victoria.
General Tom Thumb

Charles Sherwood
Strattton, better known by
his stage name “General
Tom Thumb”, was a
dwarf who achieved great
fame as a performer under
circus pioneer P. T.
Barnum

P. T Barnum and General Tom Thumb

P.T. Barnum’s Relationship with Jenny Lind

Although he became famous for championing the

weird and wacky, one of Barnum's most successful
ventures came with the promotion of Swedish opera
singer Jenny Lind in the early 1850s.

After hearing about Lind's sold-out concerts in Europe,

Barnum made the "Swedish Nightingale" an offer of $1,000
per performance for 150 shows in the United States and
Canada. He reportedly hoped to improve his public image as
the owner of a dime-store museum. It was risky, since
Barnum had never actually heard Lind sing. He launched a
public relations blitz, including newspaper coverage and Jenny Lind
competitions. His bet paid off, earning Barnum a profit of
more than $500,000.
Over the years, Lind and Barnum were suspected of
having a romantic relationship. In 2017, their
supposed romantic relationship made it to the big
screen in The Greatest Showman, a movie with Hugh
Jackman as Barnum and Rebecca Ferguson as Lind.
However reports suggests that Lind and Barnum’s
relationship was all business. In 1852, Lind married
pianist and accompanist Otto Goldschmidt, staying
together until her death in 1887. Barnum remained
focused on his career.
P.T. Barnum's Wife and Daughters

Barnum married his childhood friend Charity Hallett

in 1829, when the pair was 21 and 19, respectively.
They were married for 44 years and had four
daughters; their youngest daughter died during
childhood.

Charity Hallett
Politician and Philanthropist in Bridgeport, Connecticut

• In addition to his show-business career, Barnum sought to transform his

adopted hometown of Bridgeport, Connecticut, into a thriving
metropolis.

• He went bankrupt after attempting to lure the doomed Jerome Clock

Company to Bridgeport in the 1850s, but repaired his financial standing
through public-speaking engagements and additional touring with
General Tom Thumb.

• Barnum went on to serve multiple terms in the Connecticut legislature

and was elected mayor of Bridgeport in 1875. He helped found
the Bridgeport Hospital soon afterward, and was named its first
president.
Barnum's Museum Fires

In July 1865, Barnum's American Museum burned to

the ground in a massive fire. The promoter soon
opened another museum at a nearby location, but this
one also was demolished by a fire, in March 1868.
'The Greatest Show on Earth

• Barnum retired from the museum business and teamed up

with circus owners Dan Castello and William C. Coup.
Together they launched Barnum's Grand Traveling
Museum, Menagerie, Caravan and Hippodrome in 1871.
Referring to the traveling spectacle as "The Greatest Show
on Earth," Barnum took full ownership of the successful
venture by 1875.

• In 1881, Barnum joined forces with fellow circus

managers James A. Bailey and James L. Hutchinson. The
following year they introduced "Jumbo," an enormous 11
1/2-foot, 6 1/2-ton elephant from the Zoological Society of
London. As with many of Barnum's previous exhibits,
Jumbo was a hit with audiences until his death in 1885.
• In 1887, an aging Barnum agreed to cede everyday control of the circus, which
was rebranded as the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth.

• Following Barnum’s death in 1890, his Barnum & Bailey show was bought by
the rival Ringling brothers in 1907. In 1919 the two were incorporated into the
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows. In May 2017, the
circus he founded delivered its final performance.
Author and Debunker

• Barnum wrote several books, including Life of P. T. Barnum (1855),

The Humbugs of the World (1865), Struggles and Triumphs (1869) and
The Art of Money Getting (1880)
Key Thoughts For Entrepreneurs

Barnum’s Success Methods:

According to Joe Vitale in “There’s a Customer Born Every Minute: P.T

Barnum’s Secrets to Business Success” (AMACOM, 1998), the only book
to reveal Barnum’s entrepreneurial genius, Barnum practiced ten basic
principles to success:
 He believed
there was a
customer born
every minute.
He believed
in using
skyrockets.
 He believe in
giving people
more than
their money’s
worth .
He fearlessly
believed in the
power of
“printer’s
ink.”
He believed in
persistently
advertising.
 He believed in
people helping people
to get results.
 He believed in
negotiating
creatively, treating
employees and
performers with
respect.
He believed all
was well.
He believed in
the power of
the written
word.
He believed in
the power of
speaking.
 The End

BACK
  Thomas Edison
 P. T. Barnum
 William Harley & Arthur Davidson
 Maggie Lena Walker
 Ingvar Kamprad
 Stephen Wozniak & Steve Jobs
 Russell Simmons

BACK  Dineh Mohajer

 Well Known Entrepreneurs
 Famous Corporations
 Quiz
 Reference
 Article Title
P.T. Barnum Biography

Author
Biography.com Editors

Website Name
The Biography.com
Website URL

Reference https://www.biography.com/business-figure/pt-
barnum

Access Date
July 21, 2019

Publisher
A&E Television Networks

Last Updated
July 17, 2019

BACK Original Published Date

April 2, 2014