The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Movie tells story of Connecticut’s P.T. Barnum
‘The Greatest Showman’ opens this week
Let’s get this fact out of the way: Hollywood heartthrob Hugh Jackman looks about as much like P.T. Barnum as your cat.
But that shouldn’t keep you from seeing Jackman portraying Barnum in the new 20th Century Fox movie musical, “The Greatest Showman,” which opens in general release Wednesday.
“You know, I think that P.T. Barnum would totally approve,” said Kathleen Maher, executive director and curator of the Barnum Museum on Main Street. “It’s not supposed to be an historical account of his life. Rather, it’s a fantastical musical and visual experience that illustrates Barnum’s gift to us: showmanship. And P.T Barnum would have loved the casting.”
Maher, who attended a VIP premier screening of the film aboard the Queen Mary 2 last week, said there have been dozens of accounts of Barnum’s life, both in print and on film.
“But the idea behind ‘The Greatest Showman’ is to bring the spirit of P.T. Barnum back to life,” she said. “His story is enormous — too big for a two-hour movie. There would be too many tangents.”
For example, Barnum was, for a year, the mayor of Bridgeport, something not part of “The Greatest Showman.”
His ornate, Iranistan mansion near what is now Seaside Park? Not mentioned either.
“Instead, (the movie) focuses on his American Museum creation as well as his circus — and the performers, the music and the dancing,” Maher said, “his spectacular successes and his heartbreaking failures.”
Elinor Biggs, Barnum’s greatgreat-great-granddaughter, accompanied Maher at the premier screening, where they got to meet Jackman and the other cast members.
Biggs and Maher said that the people from 20th Century Fox spent about four hours with them at the Barnum Museum.
“Looking a Tom Thumb’s wool outfit, his little carriage and Barnum’s coat really made an impression with them,” Biggs said. “They were genuinely interested in finding out as much they could about Barnum.”
Biggs, 71, of the Southport section of Fairfield, described the move as “incredibly uplifting, genuine and fun,” and one that gives its audience a window into the showman’s life.
“I said to the director (Michael Gracey) that I felt incredibly proud — even more so now — to be a descendant of P.T. Barnum after seeing the film,” she said. “You’ll really want to go back and see it again — the dance sequences, the music — it’s all jaw-dropping."
This was by no means the first motion picture about Bridgeport’s most famous person.
In 2017, the documentary “P.T. Barnum, the Lost Legend,” about Bethel’s statue of the famous showman was released. It centered on Bethel Sculptor David Gesualdi and the statue he created in that town, Barnum’s birthplace.
Beau Bridges starred in the television miniseries, “PT Barnum,” which was released in 1999. It was filmed entirely in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia.
Then there was the 1986 TV movie “Barnum” that starred Burt Lancaster. For a time that film was shown continuously at the museum on Main Street.
Burl Ives played Barnum in “The Fantastic Flying Fools,” a fictional 1967 film about the master showman financing a failed effort to send Tom Thumb to the Moon aboard a cannon projectile.
In 1934, the Hollywood movie “The Mighty Barnum” was released, starring the rubber-faced comedian Wallace Beery as Barnum and siren Virginia Bruce as Jenny Lind.
Movie trivia: Beery’s career in show business began when he was hired as an assistant elephant trainer in 1904 for Barnum’s circus. He quit when he was clawed by a leopard. And the portly Beery, it can be said, did look a lot like Barnum.
There were several silent movies in the around 1900s about Barnum and his circus, such as “Barnum & Bailey’s Circus” (1903), “Arrival of Barnum and Bailey’s Circus” (1899) and “Barnum & Bailey's Circus Street Parade,” (1904).
There were numerous TV documentaries, too. “Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus: 113th Edition” from 1983 was one of the better ones.
Maher said that she, as curator, unearthed about 15 years ago a little-known quote from a dusty book in the museum’s vast archives that found its way into the new film.
“It was ‘The noblest art is that of making others happy,’ ” she said. “I use that 1886 quote over everything. And, you know, that quote made it into the closing shot of the film. I was really excited about that.”
“The man is phenomenal in all that he accomplished in his life — a man who is not well known by a lot of people,” Biggs said.
“And this is a great opportunity for us here at the Barnum Museum,” Maher said. “After people see the movie, they will want to see more about the man, and we’re here to give it to them.”
Biggs agreed. “Bridgeport should be very proud of him — and its all there in the museum,” she said.