P.T. Barnum - More than a Showman

I have just concluded reading an autobiography of P.T. Barnum, which at the end of the 19th Century had the second most printed copies of any book in North America after the New Testament. Barnum is now commonly known for his circus, or more recently as Hugh Jackman in The Greatest Showman, however, I have learnt that he was so much more than this, indeed, because he wrote this memoir in 1855, at the age of 45, his travelling circus does not even feature (it began when he was 60!) It also doesn't include any of his later political career.
     What it does include is a fascinating history of early 19th Century American life, both rural and urban; the shifting of culture from a generally agricultural society to one of business, enterprise and manufacture; and a study into the successful manipulation of the public to make money from business, showmanship, lotteries, banking, newspapers and many other enterprises.

Barnum was known as the Prince of Humbug, a term referring to the ways in which he presented things as something other than what they were. His ability to advertise successfully, however, induced people to keep coming back to his museums and tours time after time and on the whole it seems they always enjoyed what they saw. Sometimes they even appreciated when they'd been taken in by a hoax.
     This idea of a joke or a prank was birthed in Barnum from a very early age, and much of the first few chapters of the book is devoted to the various pranks he and other people played on each other. Later on he comments, "No doubt my natural bias is to merriment, and I have encouraged my inclination to 'comedy,' because enough of 'tragedy' will force itself upon the attention of every one in spite of his efforts to the contrary."
     Barnum was not only gifted at spotting a good gag, but also a good deal or a good idea. It was this ability that led him to such success in so many different areas, including running newspapers, building new towns, and managing the American tour of the singer Jenny Lind.

Possibly my favourite parts of the book include extracts from his three-year tour of Europe, in which he visited various royal families and other nobility. This insight into the lives and houses of the richest people in London, Paris and other cities is fascinating and there are probably few other accounts like this one. Also while he was in England Barnum managed to arrange for a team of Bell Ringers from Lancashire to tour America, after he had convinced them that they would pretend to be Swiss. Apparently their accents were so strong no one in America would know the difference!

Ultimately, despite his wealth, fame and general success, Barnum was very philosophical and practical and I agree wholeheartedly with him on many of his thoughts. Barnum became a teetotaller and toured America lecturing on temperance and troubles caused by alcohol. He also highly valued 'home and family' seeing them as the "highest and most expressive symbols of the kingdom of heaven."
     He also makes remarks that would not be out of place today. "What a pitiful state of society it is, which elevates a booby or a tyrant to its summit, provided he has more gold than others - while a good heart or a wise head is contemptuously disregarded if their owner happens to be poor! No man can be truly happy who, because he chances to be rich, mounts upon stilts, and attempts to stride over his fellow beings. My sincere prayer is, that I may be reduced to beggary, rather than become a pampered, purse-proud aristocrat."

Although the musical movie The Greatest Showman shows little of all this I think Barnum would have appreciated the joke. Millions of people have turned out to watch a spectacle, only part of which is true and yet went away very happy.
     Barnum was a more remarkable man than I ever realised and his memoir should be read by those interested in looking back, those studying the present and those planning for the future.