Download or read book Becoming Tom Thumb written by Eric D. Lehman and published by Wesleyan University Press. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An “evocative and entertaining” biography of the nineteenth century circus performer who became a global phenomenon (Neil Harris, author of Humbug). When P. T. Barnum met twenty-five-inch-tall Charles Stratton at a Bridgeport, Connecticut hotel in 1843, one of the most important partnerships in entertainment history was born. With Barnum’s promotional skills and the miniature Stratton’s comedic talents, they charmed a Who’s Who of the nineteenth century, from Queen Victoria to Charles Dickens to Abraham Lincoln. Adored worldwide as “General Tom Thumb,” Stratton played to sold-out shows for almost forty years. From his days as a precocious child star to his tragic early death, Becoming Tom Thumb tells the full story of this iconic figure for the first time. It details his triumphs on the New York stage, his epic celebrity wedding, and his around-the-world tour, drawing on newly available primary sources and interviews. From the mansions of Paris to the deserts of Australia, Stratton’s unique brand of Yankee comedy not only earned him the accolades of millions of fans, it helped move little people out of the side show and into the limelight.

Download or read book Life of P T Barnum written by Phineas Taylor Barnum and published by . This book was released on 1855 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book P T Barnum written by A. H. Saxon and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 1989 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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."

Download or read book P T Barnum written by David K. Wright and published by Raintree. This book was released on 1997 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduces the life and accomplishments of the man who is known as the creator of the greatest show on Earth.

Download or read book Barnum written by Robert Wilson and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2020-08-11 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Robert Wilson’s Barnum, the first full-dress biography in twenty years, eschews clichés for a more nuanced story…It is a life for our times, and the biography Barnum deserves.” —The Wall Street Journal P.T. Barnum is the greatest showman the world has ever seen. As a creator of the Barnum & Baily Circus and a champion of wonder, joy, trickery, and “humbug,” he was the founding father of American entertainment—and as Robert Wilson argues, one of the most important figures in American history. Nearly 125 years after his death, the name P.T. Barnum still inspires wonder. Robert Wilson’s vivid new biography captures the full genius, infamy, and allure of the ebullient showman, who, from birth to death, repeatedly reinvented himself. He learned as a young man how to wow crowds, and built a fortune that placed him among the first millionaires in the United States. He also suffered tragedy, bankruptcy, and fires that destroyed his life’s work, yet willed himself to recover and succeed again. As an entertainer, Barnum courted controversy throughout his life—yet he was also a man of strong convictions, guided in his work not by a desire to deceive, but an eagerness to thrill and bring joy to his audiences. He almost certainly never uttered the infamous line, “There’s a sucker born every minute,” instead taking pride in giving crowds their money’s worth and more. Robert Wilson, editor of The American Scholar, tells a gripping story in Barnum, one that’s imbued with the same buoyant spirit as the man himself. In this “engaging, insightful, and richly researched new biography” (New York Journal of Books), Wilson adeptly makes the case for P.T. Barnum’s place among the icons of American history, as a figure who represented, and indeed created, a distinctly American sense of optimism, industriousness, humor, and relentless energy.

Download or read book The Art of Money Getting or Golden Rules for Making Money written by P.T. Barnum and published by Miasto Książek. This book was released on 2024-09-26 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: P.T. Barnum, the legendary showman and entrepreneur, shares his timeless wisdom in The Art of Money Getting; or, Golden Rules for Making Money. Drawing on his vast experience in business, Barnum outlines practical strategies for achieving financial success without compromising integrity. With wit and insight, he emphasizes the importance of perseverance, adaptability, and, most importantly, honesty in the pursuit of wealth. Far from being just a collection of get-rich-quick tips, this book serves as a guide to personal and professional development, teaching readers how to navigate the challenges of life and business with sound principles and a clear mind. A classic work that remains as relevant today as it was in Barnum’s time, this is essential reading for anyone looking to build a lasting fortune.

Download or read book Barnum s Own Story written by Phineas Taylor Barnum and published by New York : The Viking Press. This book was released on 1927 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Humbugs of the World written by Phineas Taylor Barnum and published by . This book was released on 1866 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Showman and the Slave written by Benjamin Reiss and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2001-10-09 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this compelling story about one of the nineteenth century's most famous Americans, Benjamin Reiss uses P. T. Barnum's Joice Heth hoax to examine the contours of race relations in the antebellum North. Barnum's first exhibit as a showman, Heth was an elderly enslaved woman who was said to be the 161-year-old former nurse of the infant George Washington. Seizing upon the novelty, the newly emerging commercial press turned her act--and especially her death--into one of the first media spectacles in American history. In piecing together the fragmentary and conflicting evidence of the event, Reiss paints a picture of people looking at history, at the human body, at social class, at slavery, at performance, at death, and always--if obliquely--at themselves. At the same time, he reveals how deeply an obsession with race penetrated different facets of American life, from public memory to private fantasy. Concluding the book is a piece of historical detective work in which Reiss attempts to solve the puzzle of Heth's real identity before she met Barnum. His search yields a tantalizing connection between early mass culture and a slave's subtle mockery of her master.

Download or read book Topsy written by Michael Daly and published by Open Road + Grove/Atlantic. This book was released on 2013-07-02 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true story of a nineteenth-century elephant caught between warring circuses and battling scientists, from the author of The Book of Mychal. In 1903, on Coney Island, an elephant named Topsy was electrocuted. Many historical forces conspired to bring her, Thomas Edison, and those 6,600 volts of alternating current together that day. Tracing them all in Topsy, journalist Michael Daly weaves together a fascinating popular history, the first book to tell this astonishing tale. At the turn of the century, circuses in America were at their apex with P. T. Barnum and Adam Forepaugh competing in a War of the Elephants. Their quest for younger, bigger, or more “sacred” pachyderms brought Topsy to America. Fraudulently billed as the first native-born elephant, Topsy was immediately caught between the disputing circuses as well as the War of the Currents, in which Edison and George Westinghouse (and Nikola Tesla) battled over the superiority of alternating versus direct current. Rich in period Americana, and full of circus tidbits and larger than life characters, Topsy is a touching and entertaining read. “A rollicking pachydermal tale . . . A summer escape.” —The New York Times “A nineteenth-century reality show that boggles the mind as the pages fly by with events that have you laughing out loud one moment and gasping in disbelief the next.” —Tom Brokaw “I’ve always respected Michael Daly as a great New York writer . . . He humanizes and speaks for those animals who cannot speak. He touches the hearts of those of us who are not animal activists.” —James McBride “A skillfully told and admirably researched reminder of a time not as long ago as we’d like to think.” —The Wall Street Journal

Download or read book Selected Letters of P T Barnum written by Phineas Taylor Barnum and published by New York : Columbia University Press. This book was released on 1983 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gathers correspondence by the famous American showman to his family, friends, writers, businessmen, and other public figures

Download or read book Icons of American Popular Culture written by Robert C. Cottrell and published by M.E. Sharpe. This book was released on 2009-09-25 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traces the evolution of American popular culture over the past two centuries. In a lengthy chronology of landmark events, and ten chapters, each revolving around the lives of two individuals who are in some way emblematic of their times, this provides a window on the social, economic, and political history of US democracy from the antebellum period to the present.

Download or read book Fraud written by Edward J. Balleisen and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2018-12-18 with total page 494 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive history of fraud in America, from the early nineteenth century to the subprime mortgage crisis In America, fraud has always been a key feature of business, and the national worship of entrepreneurial freedom complicates the task of distinguishing salesmanship from deceit. In this sweeping narrative, Edward Balleisen traces the history of fraud in America—and the evolving efforts to combat it—from the age of P. T. Barnum through the eras of Charles Ponzi and Bernie Madoff. This unprecedented account describes the slow, piecemeal construction of modern institutions to protect consumers and investors—from the Gilded Age through the New Deal and the Great Society. It concludes with the more recent era of deregulation, which has brought with it a spate of costly frauds, including corporate accounting scandals and the mortgage-marketing debacle. By tracing how Americans have struggled to foster a vibrant economy without encouraging a corrosive level of cheating, Fraud reminds us that American capitalism rests on an uneasy foundation of social trust.

Download or read book P T Barnum written by Philip B. Kunhardt and published by Alfred A. Knopf. This book was released on 1995 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A biography of the man who founded the famous circus, a millionaire and entertainer extraordinaire.

Download or read book Barnum s Bird written by Libby Larsen and published by Oxford University Press Music. This book was released on 2004 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An opera based on Jenny Lind's American tour in 1850, and her relationship with P. T. Barnum who organised the tour. For soprano, tenor, baritone, and mezzo soprano soloists, and 8 other on-stage singers. Plus a pit chorus of 16-32.

Download or read book Battle for the Big Top written by Les Standiford and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2021-06-15 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Les Standiford takes us under the big top and behind the curtain in this richly researched and thoroughly engaging narrative that captures all of the entrepreneurial intrigue and spirit of the American circus.” —Gilbert King, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Devil in the Grove Millions have sat under the “big top,” watching as trapeze artists glide and clowns entertain, but few know the captivating stories behind the men whose creativity, ingenuity, and determination created one of our country’s most beloved pastimes. In Battle for the Big Top, New York Times–bestselling author Les Standiford brings to life a remarkable era when three circus kings—James Bailey, P. T. Barnum, and John Ringling—all vied for control of the vastly profitable and influential American Circus. Ultimately, the rivalry of these three men resulted in the creation of an institution that would surpass all intentions and, for 147 years, hold a nation spellbound. Filled with details of their ever-evolving showmanship, business acumen, and personal magnetism, this Ragtime-like narrative will delight and enchant circus-lovers and anyone fascinated by the American experience.

Download or read book Among the Wonderful written by Stacy Carlson and published by Steerforth. This book was released on 2012-10-02 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: P.T. Barnum is a newcomer to New York and still unknown to the world when he purchases an old museum on the corner of Broadway and Ann Street. With uncanny confidence and impeccable timing he transforms the dusty natural history collection into a great ark for public imagination. Though Barnum's bold vision and shameless huckstering are essential to creating his magical, lucrative museum, its inhabitants are Carlson's concern. To taxidermist Emile Guillaudeu, nature's greatest beauty lies in its rational taxonomy, represented by his meticulous arrangements of mounted specimens. When Barnum takes over the museum, Guillaudeu's attempt to maintain order in an increasingly chaotic microcosm grows more frantic, and ultimately forces him out of the museum and into the unpredictable flux of antebellum New York. The giantess Ana Swift is plagued by chronic pain and jaded by a world of gawkers, but she is hopeful as she arrives in Barnum's museum. Working without a manager for the first time, she can present herself as she wishes. But does this constitute real freedom? With Ana, the narrative travels beneath the museum's baffling surface to visit the lives of Barnum's human performers, his Representatives of the Wonderful.