PHINEAS T. BARNUM
HE liked to boast that “There’s a sucker born every minute” – and Phineas T Barnum proved it time and again by carrying out amazing hoaxes on the public.
His ingenuity and his outrageous lies to lure the crowds made him the most famous showman ever.
In 1834 Barnum, a 24-year-old country store clerk, arrived in New York to launch a Broadway sideshow, using blatant ruses to usher in the punters.
He advertised “the world’s only cherry coloured cat”, which was no more than a black alley cat that, he explained, was the colour of black cherries. A “horse with its tail where its head should be” was an ordinary horse tethered back to front.
When his show went on tour, he bought a herd of “white elephants” – dazzling until rain washed the paint off.
His human exhibits included “the world’s oldest woman”, supposedly 160 but actually half that age. His “genuine mermaid” was a large decomposed fish.
A genuine attraction was the 3ft 4ins midget named Charles Stratton, though advertised as “General Tom Thumb”.
Another memorable name was coined by Barnum for his most celebrated creature, an elephant he bought from London Zoo. Labelling it “the last mastodon”, he renamed it Jumbo.
It was not until 1871 that Phineas was able to make his proudest boast – this one true – when he founded the famous Barnum and Bailey Circus, labelling it “the greatest show on earth”.
Twenty years later, the ailing tycoon even made a feature of his own last curtain call. He persuaded the New York Evening News to publish his obituary in advance so that he could read it. “Great And Only Barnum” was the headline.
It was by his bedside when he died, leaving a fortune of $5million – proving beyond doubt his saying: “There’s a sucker born every minute.”