*P T BARNUM: BARNUM & BAILEY'S CIRCUS RARE 1889 PROGRAM*

Description

From the personal collection of the eminent American sculptor William Ordway Partridge, who was friends with Edwin Booth, Henry Irving, and the theatrical luminaries of the era. A rare original program clip of an early Barnum and Bailey's circus circa 1889. With an illustration of P. T. Barnum. Clipped from a larger program and pasted to a Victorian album page. Overall dimensions eleven and a half by nine inches. Edgewear to program page and small tears to backing otherwise good. See P. T. Barnum's extraordinary biography below.
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From Wikipedia:
Phineas Taylor Barnum
(
/
ˈ
b
ɑːr
n
ə
m
/
; July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the
Barnum & Bailey Circus
(1871–2017)
[1]
with
James Anthony Bailey
. He was also an author, publisher, and philanthropist, though he said of himself: "I am a showman by profession ... and all the gilding shall make nothing else of me".
[2]
According to his critics, his personal aim was "to put money in his own coffers."
[2]
He is widely credited with coining the adage "
There's a sucker born every minute
",
[3]
although no proof can be found of him saying this.
Barnum became a small business owner in his early twenties and founded a weekly newspaper before moving to New York City in 1834. He embarked on an entertainment career, first with a variety troupe called "Barnum's Grand Scientific and Musical Theater", and soon after by purchasing
Scudder's American Museum
which he renamed after himself. He used the museum as a platform to promote hoaxes and human curiosities such as the
Fiji mermaid
and
General Tom Thumb
.
[4]
In 1850, he promoted the
American tour
of Swedish opera singer
Jenny Lind
, paying her an unprecedented ,000 a night for 150 nights. He suffered economic reversals in the 1850s due to bad investments, as well as years of litigation and public humiliation, but he used a lecture tour as a
temperance
speaker to emerge from debt. His museum added America's first aquarium and expanded the wax-figure department.
Barnum served two terms in the Connecticut legislature in 1865 as a Republican for
Fairfield, Connecticut
. He spoke before the legislature concerning the ratification of the
Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude: "A human soul, 'that God has created and Christ died for,' is not to be trifled with. It may tenant the body of a Chinaman, a Turk, an Arab, or a Hottentot—it is still an immortal spirit".
[5]
He was elected in 1875 as mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut where he worked to improve the water supply, bring gas lighting to streets, and enforce liquor and prostitution laws. He was also instrumental in starting Bridgeport Hospital in 1878 and was its first president.
[6]
Nevertheless, the circus business, begun when he was 60 years old, was the source of much of his enduring fame. He established "P. T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan & Hippodrome" in 1870, a traveling circus, menagerie, and museum of "freaks" which adopted many names over the years.
Barnum was married to Charity Hallett from 1829 until her death in 1873, and they had four children. In 1874, a few months after his wife's death, he married
Nancy Fish
, his friend's daughter who was 40 years his junior. They were married until 1891 when Barnum died of a stroke at his home. He was buried in
Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport
, which he designed himself.
Barnum did not enter the circus business until he was 60 years old. He established "P. T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan &
Hippodrome
" in
Delavan, Wisconsin
, in 1870 with
William Cameron Coup
; it was a traveling circus, menagerie, and museum of "freaks". It went through various names: "P. T. Barnum's Travelling World's Fair, Great Roman Hippodrome and Greatest Show on Earth", and "P. T. Barnum's Greatest Show on Earth, And The Great London Circus, Sanger's Royal British Menagerie and The Grand International Allied Shows United" after an 1881 merger with
James Bailey
and James L. Hutchinson, soon shortened to "Barnum & Bailey's". This entertainment phenomenon was the first circus to display three rings.
[25]
The show's first primary attraction was
Jumbo
, an
African elephant
that Barnum purchased in 1882 from the
London Zoo
. The Barnum and Bailey Circus still contained acts similar to his Traveling Menagerie, including acrobats, freak shows, and General Tom Thumb. Barnum persisted in growing the circus in spite of more fires, train disasters, and other setbacks, and he was aided by circus professionals who ran the daily operations. He and Bailey split up in 1885, but they came back together in 1888 with the "Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show On Earth", later "
Barnum & Bailey Circus
" which toured the world.
Barnum was one of the first circus owners to move his circus by train, on the suggestion of Bailey and other business partners, and probably the first to own his own train. Given the lack of paved highways in America at that time, this turned out to be a shrewd decision that vastly expanded Barnum's geographical reach. In this new industry, Barnum leaned more on the advice of his partners, most of whom were young enough to be his sons.
Barnum became known as the "Shakespeare of Advertising" due to his innovative and impressive ideas.