Phineas Taylor Barnum was an American showman, businessman and politician remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017) with James Anthony Bailey. He was also an author, publisher and philanthropist, although he said of himself: "I am a showman by profession ... and all the gilding shall make nothing else of me." According to Barnum's critics, his personal aim was "to put money in his own coffers." The adage "there's a sucker born every minute" has frequently been attributed to him, although no evidence exists that he had indeed coined the phrase.
Anna Haining Bates, was a Canadian woman famed for her great stature of 7 feet 11 inches (2.41 m). She was one of the tallest women ever. Her parents were of average height and were Scottish immigrants.
The Fiji mermaid was an object composed of the torso and head of a juvenile monkey sewn to the back half of a fish. It was a common feature of sideshows where it was presented as the mummified body of a creature that was supposedly half mammal and half fish, a version of a mermaid. The original had fish scales with animal hair superimposed on its body and pendulous breasts on its chest. The mouth was wide open with its teeth bared. The right hand was against the right cheek, and the left tucked under its lower left jaw. This mermaid was supposedly caught near the Fiji Islands in the South Pacific. Several replicas and variations have also been made and exhibited under similar names and pretexts. P. T. Barnum exhibited the original in Barnum's American Museum in New York in 1842, but it then disappeared—likely destroyed in one of the many fires that destroyed parts of Barnum's collections.
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Earth. It and its predecessor shows ran from 1871 to 2017. Known as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, the circus started in 1919 when the Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth, a circus created by P. T. Barnum and James Anthony Bailey, was merged with the Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows. The Ringling brothers had purchased Barnum & Bailey Ltd. following Bailey's death in 1906, but ran the circuses separately until they were merged in 1919.
Francesco "Frank" Lentini was an Italian-American sideshow performer who toured with numerous circuses. Born with a conjoined twin, Lentini had three legs.
The sexuality of Abraham Lincoln, and the possibility of his homosexuality, has been the topic of historical speculation and research. No such discussions have been documented during Lincoln's lifetime; however, some historians and authors have recently discussed what they say is evidence that he may not have been heterosexual. Proponents of this claim have cited the fact that he shared a bed with Joshua Fry Speed for four years, when both were bachelors, and a poem he wrote that referred to a marriage between two men as evidence.
Charles Sherwood Stratton, better known by his stage name "General Tom Thumb", was an American with Dwarfism who achieved great fame as a performer under circus pioneer P. T. Barnum.
Barnum Brown, commonly referred to as Mr. Bones, was an American paleontologist. Named after the circus showman P. T. Barnum, he discovered the first documented remains of Tyrannosaurus during a career that made him one of the most famous fossil hunters working from the late Victorian era into the early 20th century.
William Cameron Coup was a Wisconsin businessman who partnered with P. T. Barnum and Dan Castello in 1870 to form the "P. T. Barnum's Museum, Menagerie and Circus". Previously Barnum had a museum at a fixed location in New York City and the traveling circus allowed him to bring his curiosities to more paying customers. Coup's innovations were the circus train to transport the materials from town to town. He also came up with the concept of adding a second ring in 1872 and a third ring to the circus in 1881 to allow more people to view the events.
Ann Street is a 3-block-long street located in the Financial District in Lower Manhattan. It runs roughly east to west from Broadway to Gold Street.
Wonder Boys is a 2000 comedy-drama film directed by Curtis Hanson and written by Steve Kloves. An international co-production between the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan, it is based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Michael Chabon. Michael Douglas stars as professor Grady Tripp, a novelist who teaches creative writing at a university but has been unable to finish his second novel.
Isaac W. Sprague was an entertainer and sideshow performer, billed as the living human skeleton.
Captain George Costentenus, also known as "The Arvanite Greek" or "The Tattooed Greek Prince", was a circus performer in the late 1800s. A man who was tattooed over his entire body, he was a famous traveling attraction who claimed to have been kidnapped by Chinese Tartars and tattooed against his will. His surname was sometimes spelled as Constantenus and Constantinius. He was also known as Djordgi Konstantinus and Georgius Constantine.
William Blevins Tripp, is an American outsider artist, poet, writer, painter, welder, and sculptor, known primarily for his metal sculpture The Mindfield and his stream-of-consciousness autobiography novel, The Mindfield YearsVol. 1: The Sycamore Trees (1996).
William H. Mumler (1832–1884) was an American spirit photographer who worked in New York and Boston. His first spirit photograph was apparently an accident—a self-portrait which, when developed, also revealed the "spirit" of his deceased cousin. Mumler then left his job as an engraver to pursue spirit photography full-time, taking advantage of the large number of people who had lost relatives in the American Civil War. His two most famous images are the photograph of Mary Todd Lincoln with the ghost of her husband Abraham Lincoln and the portrait of Master Herrod, a medium, with three spirit guides.
A freak show is an exhibition of biological rarities, referred to in popular culture as "freaks of nature". Typical features would be physically unusual humans, such as those uncommonly large or small, those with intersex variations, those with extraordinary diseases and conditions, and others with performances expected to be shocking to viewers. Heavily tattooed or pierced people have sometimes been seen in freak shows, as have attention-getting physical performers such as fire-eating and sword-swallowing acts.
Charles Eisenmann was a famous New York photographer during the late 1880s who worked in the Bowery district.
Eli Bowen was an American sideshow performer known as "The Legless Wonder", or "The Legless Acrobat". He was also billed as "The Handsomest Man in Showbiz" and the "Wonder of the Wide, Wide World". His peak weight was 140 pounds (64 kg), his height - 24 inches (61 cm).
The Greatest Showman is a 2017 American biographical musical drama film directed by Michael Gracey from a screenplay written by Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon, and a story by Bicks. The film stars an ensemble cast led by Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, and Zendaya. Featuring nine original songs from Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and a score composed by John Debney and Joseph Trapanese, the film is based on the story and life of P.T. Barnum, a famous showman and entertainer, and his creation of the Barnum & Bailey Circus and the lives of its star attractions.
Apolonia "Miss Loni" Van Voorden was a Dutch American foot juggler who began her career at the age of 10 in her father's family circus in the Netherlands.
