Great And Only Barnum

Discover the true story of P.T. Barnum, the man who created the world-famous Barnum & Bailey Circus, as featured in the movie The Greatest Showman! The award-winning author of The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary, Amelia Lost, and Our Eleanor brings us the larger-than-life biography of showman P. T. Barnum. Known far and wide for his jumbo elephants, midgets, and three-ring circuses, here’ s a complete and captivating look at the man behind the Greatest Show on Earth. Readers can visit Barnum’s American Museum; meet Tom Thumb, the miniature man (only 39 inches tall) and his tinier bride (32 inches); experience the thrill Barnum must have felt when, at age 60, he joined the circus; and discover Barnum’s legacy to the 19th century and beyond. Drawing on old circus posters, photographs, etchings, ticket stubs—and with incredible decorative art by Ray Fenwick—this book presents history as it’s never been experienced before—a show-stopping event!

Here is a larger-than-life biography of P.T. Barnum, showman and founder of the Barnum & Bailey Circus. Visit Barnum¿s American Museum! Meet Madame Josephine Clofulia, the Swiss Bearded Lady. Get to know Tom Thumb, a miniature man (only 25 inches tall), and his tiny bride (32 inches). Watch as the circus parade goes by, elephants tail to trunk, costumed performers waving, lions yawning. Then, under the big top, cast your eyes on the center ring. The book includes old circus posters, photos, etchings, ticket stubs, playbills -- and decorative elements inspired by 19th-cent. designs. ¿Presents history as it¿s never been experienced before -- a stupendous, tremendous, show-stopping event!¿ Ages 8-12. A Junior Literary Guild Selection.

In a series of interwoven fictionalized stories, Deborah Noyes gives voice to the marginalized women in P. T. Barnum’s family — and the talented entertainers he built his entertainment empire on. Much has been written about P. T. Barnum — legendary showman, entrepreneur, marketing genius, and one of the most famous nineteenth-century personalities. For those who lived in Barnum’s shadow, however, life was complex. P. T. Barnum’s two families — his family at home, including his two wives and his daughters, and his family at work, including Little People, a giantess, an opera singer, and many sideshow entertainers — suffered greatly from his cruelty and exploitation. Yet, at the same time, some of his performers, such as General Tom Thumb (Charles Stratton), became wealthy celebrities who were admired and feted by presidents and royalty. In this collection of interlinked stories illustrated with archival photographs, Deborah Noyes digs deep into what is known about the people in Barnum’s orbit and imagines their personal lives, putting front and center the complicated joy and pain of what it meant to be one of Barnum’s “creatures.”

The first book to consider the career of P. T. Barnum from a cultural studies perspective. Phineas Taylor Barnum lived from 1810 until 1891, and in the eighty-one years of his life he created show business as we know it. In E Pluribus Barnum, Bluford Adams investigates the influence Barnum had on American popular culture of the nineteenth century, and expands our understanding of the ways he continues to influence us today. Beginning with a discussion of Barnum's early shows, Adams demonstrates the dynamic interplay between Barnum's increasingly "respectable" aspirations for his entertainments and his active cultivation of middle-class sensibilities in his audiences. In his discussion of the 1850-51 concert tour of the "Swedish Nightingale" Jenny Lind, Adams explores the role played by women's rights and class issues in Barnum's management of these concerts. Barnum's American Museum and the "moral dramas" presented in its theater are examined, as well as the later circuses. Adams relates the rise of Barnum to the emergence of a new U.S. society, one riven by conflicts over slavery, feminism, immigration, and capitalism, and considers his career as a crucial moment in the on-going struggle over the politics of U.S. commercial entertainments.

A New York Times bestselling author shares wryly funny and heartwarming lessons on life, motherhood, and python attacks. Named one of Oprah Daily’s 50 Most Anticipated Books of 2022 From becoming an iconic MTV VJ to starring in Dumb and Dumber to being diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, Karen Duffy has been through a lot. But it was only when she became a mother that she realized she had some pretty solid life lessons to pass down. In her new book, she offers advice on building a friend group that is weasel free, finding the love of your life, and determining how much to tip the waiter (as with everything—be generous!). With dry humor and maternal warmth, she shows how we all can learn from unexpected philosophers, even from Bulgarian dancing bears. There are times in life when we should turn to the wisdom of great thinkers. And there are times when you need the kind of enlightenment that only a former Coney Island Mermaid Queen can give. Wise Up offers wisecracks—and some profound insights—in a unique book of parental inspiration.

I believe hugely in advertising and blowing my own trumpet, beating the gongs, drums, to attract attention to a show, Phineas Taylor Barnum wrote to a publisher in 1860. "I don't believe in 'duping the public,' but I believe in first attracting and then pleasing them." The name P.T. Barnum is virtually synonymous with the fine art of self-advertisement and the apocryphal statement, "There's a sucker born every minute." Nearly a century after his death, Barnum remains one of America's most celebrated figures. In the Selected Letters of P.T. Barnum, A.H. Saxon brings together more than 300 letters written by the self-styled "Prince of Humbugs." Here we see him, opinionated and exuberant, with only the rarest flashes of introspection and self-doubt, haggling with business partners, blustering over politics, and attempting to get such friends as Mark Twain to endorse his latest schemes. Always the king of showmen, Barnum considered himself a museum man first and was forever on the lookout for "curiosities," whether animate or inanimate. His early career included such outright frauds as Joice Heth, the "161-year-old nurse of George Washington," and the Fejee Mermaid-the desiccated head and torso of a monkey sewn to the body of a fish. Although in later years he projected a more solid, respectable image-managing the irreproachable "legitimate" attraction Jenny Lind, becoming a leading light in the temperance crusade, founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus-much of his daily existence continued to be unabashedly devoted to manipulating public opinion so as to acquire for himself and his enterprises what he delightedly termed "notoriety." His famous autobiography, The Life of P.T. Barnum, which he regularly augmented during the last quarter century of his life, was itself a masterpiece of self-promotion. "Will you have the kindness to announce that I am writing my life & that fifty-seven different publishers have applied for the chance of publishing it," he wrote to a newspaper editor, adding, "Such is the fact-and if it wasn't, why still it ain't a bad announcement." The Selected Letters of P.T. Barnum captures the magic of this consummate showman's life, truly his own "greatest show on earth."

The greatest showman on Earth in his own words is great! Required reading for all entrepreneurs, relive the remarkable true-life adventure of the world's best-known circus promoter and entertainment mastermind. A story that's as relevant today as it was in the 19th century, P.T. Barnum's wild tale of rags to riches success is vain, egotistical, self-serving, and thoroughly entertaining. This printing is refreshed for modern audiences with enlarged pages, remastered images, new cover design and the original classic retro font. P.T. Barnum originally released his raucous autobiography in 1869 and again in 1884 with updated "recollections" as he puts them. Few people have ever lived a career more crowded with incident, enterprise, and self-promoted success than the world's foremost circus promoter who brought us the Barnum and Baileys Circus, among other attractions. Barnum's business acumen launched such projects as the American Museum, Tom Thumb, Jenny Lind, and other famous curiosities. He served as a mayor and a successful politician but also endured his share of failures and disappointments. This re-telling of his life is filled with spectacular periods engravings to aid in storytelling enlarged for viewing pleasure. Table of Contents: Chapter 1: Early Life Chapter 2: Incidents and Anecdotes Chapter 3: In Business for Myself Chapter 4: Struggles for a Livelihood Chapter 5: My Start as a Showman Chapter 6: My First Traveling Company Chapter 7: A The Foot of the Ladder Chapter 8: The American Museum Chapter 9: The Road to Riches Chapter 10: Another Successful Speculation Chapter 11: General Tom Thumb in England Chapter 12: In France Chapter 13: In Belgium Chapter 14: In England Again Chapter 15: Return to America Chapter 16: At Home Chapter 17: The Jenny Lind Enterprise Chapter 18: The Nightingale in New York Chapter 19: Successful Management Chapter 20: Incidents of the Tour Chapter 21: Jenny Lind Chapter 22: Close of the Campaign Chapter 23: Other Enterprises Chapter 24: Work and Play Chapter 25: The Jerome Clock Company Entanglement Chapter 26: Clouds and Sunshine Chapter 27: Rest, But Not Rust Chapter 28: Abroad Again Chapter 29: In Germany Chapter 30: In Holland Chapter 31: The Art of Money-Getting Chapter 32: An Enterprising Englishman Chapter 33: Richard's Himself Again Chapter 34: Menagerie and Museum Memoranda Chapter 35: East Bridgeport Chapter 36: More About the Museum Chapter 37: Mr. and Mrs. General Tom Thumb Chapter 38: Political and Personal Chapter 39: The American Museum in Ruins Chapter 40: My War on the Railroads Chapter 41: Bennett and the Herald Chapter 42: Public Lecturing Chapter 43: The New Museum Chapter 44: Curious Coincidences - Number Thirteen Chapter 45: Sea-Side Park Chapter 46: Waldermere Chapter 47: Best Only Found in Action Chapter 48: Among My Friends and Neighbors Chapter 49: Hippodromical, Hymenial, and Municipal Chapter 50: Foreign and Domestic Chapter 51: The Great Alliance