WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.600 Welcome back to the deep dive. So we have a pretty 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:05.820 massive stack of research on the desk today. 00:00:05.900 --> 00:00:08.140 Yeah, this one's a big one. And it feels a bit 00:00:08.140 --> 00:00:11.939 like like we're trying to catch smoke with our 00:00:11.939 --> 00:00:15.580 bare hands. We are tackling a figure who is, 00:00:15.640 --> 00:00:17.800 I mean, arguably one of the most recognizable 00:00:17.800 --> 00:00:21.339 names in American history. But somehow he's also 00:00:21.339 --> 00:00:24.339 one of the most misunderstood. We are talking 00:00:24.339 --> 00:00:28.899 about. Phineas Taylor Barnum. P .T. Barnum. Yeah. 00:00:28.980 --> 00:00:31.579 And that name, it just carries so much baggage, 00:00:31.699 --> 00:00:33.539 doesn't it? It does. You hear Barnum and you 00:00:33.539 --> 00:00:35.340 immediately get this picture in your head. It's 00:00:35.340 --> 00:00:38.380 top hats, red coats, elephants. The three ring 00:00:38.380 --> 00:00:41.039 circus. Exactly. It's the greatest showman mythology. 00:00:41.420 --> 00:00:44.100 Right. The Hugh Jackman effect is very strong 00:00:44.100 --> 00:00:46.320 with this one. And we get this image of a lovable 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:48.420 rogue who just wants to put a smile on people's 00:00:48.420 --> 00:00:50.500 faces. Right. But looking at the source material 00:00:50.500 --> 00:00:52.560 we have here, I mean, his own autobiography, 00:00:52.719 --> 00:00:55.619 struggles and triumphs, ledgers from his museum, 00:00:55.719 --> 00:00:58.219 records from his political career. Which is surprisingly 00:00:58.219 --> 00:01:02.799 dense. So dense. The reality is just, it's grittier, 00:01:02.899 --> 00:01:05.099 it's more complex, and honestly, it's a lot more 00:01:05.099 --> 00:01:06.680 interesting than the musical. Oh, absolutely. 00:01:06.980 --> 00:01:10.340 That whole ringmaster persona, that's a tiny, 00:01:10.420 --> 00:01:12.900 tiny fraction of his life. And it happened right 00:01:12.900 --> 00:01:14.719 at the end. Yeah, he was an old man by then. 00:01:14.819 --> 00:01:17.989 Exactly. If you only focus on the circus. You 00:01:17.989 --> 00:01:20.769 miss the whole story. You miss this fascinating 00:01:20.769 --> 00:01:24.489 evolution of a man who basically invented the 00:01:24.489 --> 00:01:27.170 concept of modern hype. So that's our mission 00:01:27.170 --> 00:01:29.209 for this deep dive. We want to look past the 00:01:29.209 --> 00:01:32.049 grease paint. We want to understand the hustle, 00:01:32.310 --> 00:01:35.049 the hoaxes, or humbugs, which is a word we are 00:01:35.049 --> 00:01:37.890 going to be using a lot. A whole lot. The darker 00:01:37.890 --> 00:01:40.730 side of his rise to fame. But before we get into 00:01:40.730 --> 00:01:42.349 any of that, we have to clear the air. There 00:01:42.349 --> 00:01:45.310 is one quote. Oh, yeah. Everybody knows it. If 00:01:45.310 --> 00:01:47.290 I stop someone on the street right now and ask 00:01:47.290 --> 00:01:49.609 them, what did P .T. Barnum say? What are they 00:01:49.609 --> 00:01:51.730 going to say? There's a sucker born every minute. 00:01:51.950 --> 00:01:54.569 Exactly. It's the ultimate cynical catchphrase. 00:01:54.569 --> 00:01:56.750 It makes it sound like he just saw his audience 00:01:56.750 --> 00:01:59.109 as, you know, walking wallets just waiting to 00:01:59.109 --> 00:02:01.769 be fleeced. Right. That he was just preying on 00:02:01.769 --> 00:02:04.269 people's stupidity. But here's the problem. And 00:02:04.269 --> 00:02:07.010 it's a big one. He never said it. He never said 00:02:07.010 --> 00:02:08.810 it. We checked the sources multiple times on 00:02:08.810 --> 00:02:11.069 this. There is absolutely no evidence that he 00:02:11.069 --> 00:02:13.110 ever coined that phrase. It was probably attributed 00:02:13.110 --> 00:02:16.050 to him by a rival. And it just, it stuck. It 00:02:16.050 --> 00:02:18.389 stuck because it fit the caricature. It fit the 00:02:18.389 --> 00:02:20.930 caricature perfectly. Yeah. But if you actually 00:02:20.930 --> 00:02:24.270 read his own writings, that whole sentiment, 00:02:24.310 --> 00:02:27.509 it completely contradicts his business philosophy. 00:02:27.789 --> 00:02:30.990 Which is so wild because that one quote is his 00:02:30.990 --> 00:02:34.710 legacy for so many people. But his actual philosophy, 00:02:34.810 --> 00:02:36.810 it was more nuanced. He wrote, and I'm quoting 00:02:36.810 --> 00:02:39.969 here, I don't believe in duping the public, but 00:02:39.969 --> 00:02:42.590 I believe in first attracting and then pleasing 00:02:42.590 --> 00:02:45.409 them. And that distinction is crucial. It's everything. 00:02:45.930 --> 00:02:48.270 Barnum didn't see himself as a common scam artist. 00:02:48.389 --> 00:02:51.250 No. He saw himself as a provider of value. He 00:02:51.250 --> 00:02:53.530 might use a humbug, a trick, an exaggeration, 00:02:53.530 --> 00:02:55.610 whatever to get your attention, to get you by 00:02:55.610 --> 00:02:58.729 the ticket. But once you were inside, he felt 00:02:58.729 --> 00:03:02.569 this. This almost moral obligation to make sure 00:03:02.569 --> 00:03:04.370 you were entertained enough that you left feeling 00:03:04.370 --> 00:03:06.590 like you got your money's worth. So the lie was 00:03:06.590 --> 00:03:09.030 just the marketing hook. Exactly. But the product, 00:03:09.110 --> 00:03:12.009 the entertainment itself, had to be real. Precisely. 00:03:12.270 --> 00:03:14.870 And to understand how he developed that philosophy, 00:03:15.150 --> 00:03:17.590 we can't start with the circus. It's the wrong 00:03:17.590 --> 00:03:20.009 place to start. We have to go way, way back. 00:03:20.210 --> 00:03:23.069 We have to go to Bethel, Connecticut in 1810. 00:03:23.129 --> 00:03:25.189 This is where Phineas Taylor Barnum is born. 00:03:25.610 --> 00:03:27.810 And looking at his family background in the minutes. 00:03:28.520 --> 00:03:30.860 Well, the apple didn't fall far from the grand 00:03:30.860 --> 00:03:33.020 tree, I guess. His maternal grandfather, yeah. 00:03:33.560 --> 00:03:36.259 Phineas Taylor. This guy was a massive influence. 00:03:36.740 --> 00:03:39.060 Uncle Finn, he was called. And he wasn't just 00:03:39.060 --> 00:03:41.280 some practical joker, was he? He was a pillar 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:44.139 of the community. Oh, very much so. A legislator, 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:47.340 big landowner, justice of the peace. But he was 00:03:47.340 --> 00:03:50.259 also a notorious practical joker. And more importantly, 00:03:50.460 --> 00:03:52.860 a lottery schemer. And we should probably give 00:03:52.860 --> 00:03:54.919 a little context on lotteries here. In the early 00:03:54.919 --> 00:03:57.060 1800s, they weren't like they are today, right? 00:03:57.099 --> 00:03:59.150 They weren't all state -run. No, not at all. 00:03:59.210 --> 00:04:01.229 They were often private ventures, sometimes used 00:04:01.229 --> 00:04:04.370 to fund a new bridge or a church. But they were 00:04:04.370 --> 00:04:08.189 also incredibly unregulated, rife with manipulation. 00:04:08.289 --> 00:04:12.150 A gray area. A huge gray area. And Phineas Taylor 00:04:12.150 --> 00:04:15.289 thrived in it. He taught young Barnum that you 00:04:15.289 --> 00:04:17.490 could have official authority, you could be a 00:04:17.490 --> 00:04:22.029 pillar of the community, and still... bend reality 00:04:22.029 --> 00:04:24.689 a little bit. That combination is key, the respectable 00:04:24.689 --> 00:04:27.069 trickster. And Barnum internalized that immediately. 00:04:27.709 --> 00:04:29.870 So Barnum starts hustling really young. By his 00:04:29.870 --> 00:04:32.329 early 20s, he's not just, you know, working on 00:04:32.329 --> 00:04:34.509 a farm. He's got a general store. He's auctioning 00:04:34.509 --> 00:04:36.790 books. He's running a statewide lottery network. 00:04:37.009 --> 00:04:41.230 He had this frenetic energy, just always looking 00:04:41.230 --> 00:04:43.689 for the next angle. But the venture from this 00:04:43.689 --> 00:04:45.930 early period that really jumps out, for me at 00:04:45.930 --> 00:04:47.670 least, is the newspaper. The Herald of Freedom. 00:04:47.850 --> 00:04:51.300 He launched it in 1831. And the name. The Herald 00:04:51.300 --> 00:04:54.379 of Freedom. It sounds so grand. But this wasn't 00:04:54.379 --> 00:04:56.540 just a community newsletter about bake sales. 00:04:56.759 --> 00:04:59.399 No. Barnum used this paper to go to war with 00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:00.939 a religious establishment. You have to put yourself 00:05:00.939 --> 00:05:04.360 in 1830s Connecticut. The church elders had immense 00:05:04.360 --> 00:05:06.740 power, not just spiritually, but politically, 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:10.319 socially. And Barnum just... Takes them on. Head 00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:13.879 on. He writes these scathing editorials attacking 00:05:13.879 --> 00:05:17.279 them for what he saw as their hypocrisy, their 00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:19.480 interference in politics. I can't imagine that 00:05:19.480 --> 00:05:21.779 went over well. It went over terribly. It led 00:05:21.779 --> 00:05:24.040 to multiple libel suits. And he was actually 00:05:24.040 --> 00:05:27.639 prosecuted and imprisoned for two months. Wow. 00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:30.860 The future king of family entertainment sitting 00:05:30.860 --> 00:05:34.220 in a jail cell for libel. But the detail that 00:05:34.220 --> 00:05:36.040 just tells you everything you need to know about 00:05:36.040 --> 00:05:39.500 him, he didn't stop. He kept editing the paper 00:05:39.500 --> 00:05:42.300 from his jail cell. He turned his own imprisonment 00:05:42.300 --> 00:05:45.000 into content. He had a sympathetic reverend, 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:47.439 of all people, helping him smuggle the copy out. 00:05:47.560 --> 00:05:49.639 That's incredible. It's a key insight into his 00:05:49.639 --> 00:05:53.879 psychology. Bartum didn't fear friction. He realized 00:05:53.879 --> 00:05:55.800 early on that controversy wasn't something to 00:05:55.800 --> 00:05:58.579 avoid. It was something to monetize. If the town 00:05:58.579 --> 00:06:00.579 is arguing about you, they're buying your paper 00:06:00.579 --> 00:06:02.980 to read about it. That is a lesson he absolutely 00:06:02.980 --> 00:06:07.339 carries forward. But we have to pivot now. He 00:06:07.339 --> 00:06:10.459 moves to New York in 1835, and this is where 00:06:10.459 --> 00:06:13.660 the story gets dark. Yeah. I mean, I want to 00:06:13.660 --> 00:06:15.339 be clear for everyone listening that this isn't 00:06:15.339 --> 00:06:17.100 the fun part of the story. This is sort of the 00:06:17.100 --> 00:06:20.300 original sin of his career. It is. We're talking 00:06:20.300 --> 00:06:22.959 about Joyce Heth. It's genuinely disturbing to 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:26.980 read about. So in 1835, Barnum gets the right 00:06:26.980 --> 00:06:29.339 to exhibit this woman, Jace Heth. An enslaved 00:06:29.339 --> 00:06:33.199 African -American woman. And she was blind, almost 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:36.350 completely paralyzed. It's just awful. And the 00:06:36.350 --> 00:06:38.509 hook, the story that Barnum was selling. Was 00:06:38.509 --> 00:06:41.970 that she was 161 years old. 161. And that she 00:06:41.970 --> 00:06:43.529 had been the nursemaid to George Washington. 00:06:44.009 --> 00:06:46.470 He claimed she was the first person to ever dress 00:06:46.470 --> 00:06:48.750 the founding father. So let's just break down 00:06:48.750 --> 00:06:50.769 the mechanics of this because it's so revealing. 00:06:51.370 --> 00:06:53.529 Slavery was technically outlawed in New York 00:06:53.529 --> 00:06:56.209 by then. So how could he buy her? He found a 00:06:56.209 --> 00:06:59.589 loophole in the law. A nasty one. He couldn't 00:06:59.589 --> 00:07:02.589 buy her outright, so he leased her services for 00:07:02.589 --> 00:07:06.310 one year. For $1 ,000. $1 ,000 he didn't have. 00:07:06.550 --> 00:07:09.009 Not even close. The sources say he had to borrow 00:07:09.009 --> 00:07:12.730 $500 just to make the down payment. He went into 00:07:12.730 --> 00:07:16.209 debt to acquire a human being as a business asset. 00:07:16.449 --> 00:07:18.170 And he treated her like one. She was working 00:07:18.170 --> 00:07:20.990 10 to 12 hours a day, right? Just on display. 00:07:21.329 --> 00:07:23.009 Yeah, telling stories about little George and 00:07:23.009 --> 00:07:26.810 singing hymns for paying customers. It was grueling. 00:07:27.329 --> 00:07:30.209 grueling work for a woman who was clearly elderly 00:07:30.209 --> 00:07:33.149 and extremely frail. And she died the following 00:07:33.149 --> 00:07:36.389 year in February of 1836. And for most people, 00:07:36.410 --> 00:07:38.850 that would be the end of the exploitation. But 00:07:38.850 --> 00:07:41.529 for Barnum, it was just another opportunity. 00:07:41.610 --> 00:07:43.949 This is the part that really made me just stop. 00:07:44.029 --> 00:07:46.970 He hosted a live autopsy. He did in a New York 00:07:46.970 --> 00:07:50.360 saloon. And he charged spectators 50 cents a 00:07:50.360 --> 00:07:52.939 head to watch a surgeon dissect her body. Why? 00:07:53.040 --> 00:07:55.439 What was the justification? The stated goal was 00:07:55.439 --> 00:07:58.040 to prove her age scientifically, to settle the 00:07:58.040 --> 00:08:00.560 debate that he himself had started. That is just, 00:08:00.680 --> 00:08:03.160 it's grim. It completely strips away any of the 00:08:03.160 --> 00:08:05.899 fun, lovable showman gloss, doesn't it? It does. 00:08:05.959 --> 00:08:07.899 This wasn't just showmanship. This was a willingness 00:08:07.899 --> 00:08:10.600 to commodify absolutely anything, even a person's 00:08:10.600 --> 00:08:13.399 death. And the punchline, if you can call it 00:08:13.399 --> 00:08:16.120 that, is that the autopsy revealed she was likely 00:08:16.120 --> 00:08:19.959 around 80 years old. Not 161. The whole thing 00:08:19.959 --> 00:08:23.899 was a fabrication. But this moment, it establishes 00:08:23.899 --> 00:08:26.420 the foundation for his entire career. It does. 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:29.600 He learned that the public's curiosity was this 00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:33.059 incredibly powerful force and that they would 00:08:33.059 --> 00:08:36.019 pay to have that curiosity satisfied no matter 00:08:36.019 --> 00:08:38.340 what the morality of it was. So moving on from 00:08:38.340 --> 00:08:40.779 that very dark beginning, we get into the era 00:08:40.779 --> 00:08:43.120 where... Barnum really becomes the prince of 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:45.419 humbugs. Right. And for that, he needs a venue. 00:08:45.460 --> 00:08:47.440 He needs a headquarters. Enter Scudder's American 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:50.639 Museum. He buys this place in 1841. It's right 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:52.840 on Broadway and Anne Street in Manhattan, a prime 00:08:52.840 --> 00:08:54.820 location. And he doesn't just want a museum. 00:08:54.840 --> 00:08:57.309 He wants a landmark. And the way he transformed 00:08:57.309 --> 00:09:00.309 this building is just a master class in marketing, 00:09:00.470 --> 00:09:02.909 in physical marketing. He understood that in 00:09:02.909 --> 00:09:05.350 a city like New York, you have to scream to be 00:09:05.350 --> 00:09:07.629 heard. So he puts a massive lighthouse lamp on 00:09:07.629 --> 00:09:09.490 the roof of the building. And you have to remember, 00:09:09.590 --> 00:09:11.629 this is before widespread electric lighting. 00:09:11.769 --> 00:09:13.870 So if you're walking down Broadway at night, 00:09:13.970 --> 00:09:16.750 this massive beam of light is just, you can't 00:09:16.750 --> 00:09:18.899 ignore it. It's stopping traffic. Literally. 00:09:19.080 --> 00:09:21.960 And he puts these giant colorful paintings of 00:09:21.960 --> 00:09:24.720 exotic animals all over the outside of the building, 00:09:24.779 --> 00:09:27.340 flags on the roof. And he hired a band to play 00:09:27.340 --> 00:09:30.059 on the balcony. Right. But the notes say he gave 00:09:30.059 --> 00:09:32.500 them some very specific instructions. This is 00:09:32.500 --> 00:09:34.139 one of my all -time favorite Barnum stories. 00:09:34.779 --> 00:09:37.320 He hired a band and specifically instructed them 00:09:37.320 --> 00:09:40.120 to play badly. Why on earth would he do that? 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:43.120 His reasoning was that if the music was terrible, 00:09:43.659 --> 00:09:46.159 And loud, people walking on the street below 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:48.419 would be driven to buy a ticket and go inside 00:09:48.419 --> 00:09:50.879 the museum just to get away from the awful noise. 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:54.299 That is diabolical. It's aggressive, weaponized 00:09:54.299 --> 00:09:56.740 annoyance. But it worked. And once you were inside, 00:09:57.100 --> 00:09:58.679 you were in the kingdom of Humbug. What kind 00:09:58.679 --> 00:10:00.360 of stuff did he have? He had America's First 00:10:00.360 --> 00:10:02.559 Aquarium. He had wax figures. He had the famous 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:06.179 Siamese twins, Chang and Eng. The real crown 00:10:06.179 --> 00:10:08.799 jewel of this period, the thing that defines 00:10:08.799 --> 00:10:12.159 his entire method, was the Fiji Mermaid. Ah, 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:16.059 the Fiji Mermaid, 1842. I think a lot of people 00:10:16.059 --> 00:10:17.779 have heard of this, but the actual operation 00:10:17.779 --> 00:10:19.820 behind it is what's so fascinating. It wasn't 00:10:19.820 --> 00:10:22.159 just, hey, look at this weird fake thing. No, 00:10:22.200 --> 00:10:24.980 it was a coordinated media campaign, a full -on 00:10:24.980 --> 00:10:27.639 blitz. But what was the object itself? The object 00:10:27.639 --> 00:10:32.009 was hideous. It was the upper torso of a juvenile 00:10:32.009 --> 00:10:35.149 monkey that had been sewn onto the tail of a 00:10:35.149 --> 00:10:38.289 large fish. It was probably made by Japanese 00:10:38.289 --> 00:10:42.110 fishermen as some kind of talisman. Barnum leased 00:10:42.110 --> 00:10:45.889 it from a guy in Boston. But he knew just putting 00:10:45.889 --> 00:10:48.289 it in a glass case wouldn't sell tickets. He 00:10:48.289 --> 00:10:51.389 needed a story. He needed hype. So he invents 00:10:51.389 --> 00:10:54.909 a character. Dr. Griffin. Barnum hires an accomplice 00:10:54.909 --> 00:10:57.649 to pose as this Dr. Griffin for the Lyceum of 00:10:57.649 --> 00:10:59.889 Natural History in London, which, by the way, 00:10:59.889 --> 00:11:01.870 was a place that did not exist. Of course not. 00:11:02.009 --> 00:11:04.090 He has this guy check into a fancy hotel and 00:11:04.090 --> 00:11:06.610 start discreetly showing the mermaid to influential 00:11:06.610 --> 00:11:09.690 friends. Then Barnum starts planting stories 00:11:09.690 --> 00:11:11.649 in the newspapers. He sends anonymous letters 00:11:11.649 --> 00:11:14.129 to editors. Claiming that this amazing scientific 00:11:14.129 --> 00:11:16.230 discovery is in town and the museum is trying 00:11:16.230 --> 00:11:18.700 to get it. He manufactured the credibility. He 00:11:18.700 --> 00:11:20.980 used the press to validate the hoax before the 00:11:20.980 --> 00:11:23.340 public even laid eyes on it. He created a debate. 00:11:23.679 --> 00:11:26.240 Is it real? Is it fake? The scientists are arguing. 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:28.580 So by the time he finally puts it on display 00:11:28.580 --> 00:11:31.279 at the museum, people aren't paying to see a 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:33.039 mermaid. They're paying to see what everyone 00:11:33.039 --> 00:11:35.179 is talking about. They just want to be part of 00:11:35.179 --> 00:11:37.440 the cultural conversation. That sounds incredibly 00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:40.820 modern. It's basically viral marketing, 1840s 00:11:40.820 --> 00:11:43.240 style. It's the exact same principle. It doesn't 00:11:43.240 --> 00:11:45.519 matter if the content is real. It only matters 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:48.110 that it's trending. And his justification was 00:11:48.110 --> 00:11:50.610 that, OK, maybe you realize the mermaid is just 00:11:50.610 --> 00:11:53.809 a stitched up monkey. But you also saw a thousand 00:11:53.809 --> 00:11:57.009 other real curiosities in the museum. So you 00:11:57.009 --> 00:11:59.169 still got your money's worth. The humbug was 00:11:59.169 --> 00:12:01.529 just the advertisement. So while he's doing this 00:12:01.529 --> 00:12:03.730 with objects, he's also still exhibiting people. 00:12:04.090 --> 00:12:07.389 And this brings us to probably his most famous 00:12:07.389 --> 00:12:10.370 partnership. Charles Stratton. Better known as 00:12:10.370 --> 00:12:13.149 General Tom Thumb. And this relationship is a 00:12:13.149 --> 00:12:16.399 really big turning point for Barnum. It changes 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:19.039 his social standing. So Charles Stratton was 00:12:19.039 --> 00:12:21.179 a four -year -old boy from Connecticut who had 00:12:21.179 --> 00:12:24.399 stopped growing. Barnum finds him, brings him 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:26.460 to New York. And bills him as an 11 -year -old. 00:12:26.600 --> 00:12:29.600 Which, again, by our standards today, feels incredibly 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:32.059 exploitative. He's teaching a toddler to drink 00:12:32.059 --> 00:12:34.460 wine and smoke cigars and imitate Napoleon for 00:12:34.460 --> 00:12:36.600 an audience. Oh, it was exploitative, no question. 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:40.659 But unlike the Joyce Heth story, this did become 00:12:40.659 --> 00:12:43.600 a genuine partnership. Stratton was a gifted 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:46.840 performer. And he and Barnum became very close. 00:12:47.059 --> 00:12:50.200 And in 1844, Barnum decides to take this act 00:12:50.200 --> 00:12:52.940 to Europe. This is a huge moment. This is when 00:12:52.940 --> 00:12:55.700 Barnum decides he's done being just a hustler. 00:12:55.799 --> 00:12:58.019 He wants legitimacy. He wants to be respectable. 00:12:58.220 --> 00:13:00.539 And he aims for the very, very top. He wants 00:13:00.539 --> 00:13:03.059 an audience with Queen Victoria. Which was an 00:13:03.059 --> 00:13:05.340 incredibly audacious goal. I mean, the British 00:13:05.340 --> 00:13:07.440 aristocracy generally looked down on American 00:13:07.440 --> 00:13:10.899 showmen like him as, you know, crude and uncouth. 00:13:11.100 --> 00:13:13.059 And he gets it. He gets it. Stratton completely 00:13:13.059 --> 00:13:16.259 charmed everyone. and they managed to secure 00:13:16.259 --> 00:13:18.379 an audience at Buckingham Palace. I was reading 00:13:18.379 --> 00:13:20.659 the account of this meeting in the notes, and 00:13:20.659 --> 00:13:23.000 the Queen's reaction is so telling. It says she 00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:25.840 was amused but saddened. Yeah, that phrase does 00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:28.000 a lot of heavy lifting, doesn't it? It perfectly 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:30.960 captures that Victorian tension around these 00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:35.000 freak shows. There was this intense curiosity, 00:13:35.019 --> 00:13:38.500 but also this sense of pity. a recognition of 00:13:38.500 --> 00:13:40.980 Stratton's fundamental humanity. But for Barnum, 00:13:41.019 --> 00:13:43.179 he didn't care about the pity. He cared about 00:13:43.179 --> 00:13:45.659 the headline. General Tom Thumb Entertains the 00:13:45.659 --> 00:13:48.899 Queen. That headline was a golden ticket. It 00:13:48.899 --> 00:13:51.919 was a publicity coup. Suddenly, doors start opening 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:54.860 all over Europe. The Tsar of Russia, the King 00:13:54.860 --> 00:13:58.039 of France. It legitimized Barnum in a way nothing 00:13:58.039 --> 00:14:00.440 else could. He wasn't just the guy with the monkey 00:14:00.440 --> 00:14:02.580 fish anymore. He was the man who had been invited 00:14:02.580 --> 00:14:04.700 into the royal drawing rooms of Europe. And he 00:14:04.700 --> 00:14:08.110 comes back to America a star. By 1846, the American 00:14:08.110 --> 00:14:10.769 Museum is pulling in 400 ,000 visitors a year. 00:14:10.889 --> 00:14:12.889 Which is a massive percentage of the population 00:14:12.889 --> 00:14:15.809 at the time. He's rich. He's famous. But he still 00:14:15.809 --> 00:14:18.389 has this chip on his shoulder. He does. Because 00:14:18.389 --> 00:14:20.549 he knows the elites, the high society types, 00:14:20.690 --> 00:14:24.070 still see him as a purveyor of low entertainment, 00:14:24.370 --> 00:14:27.029 of curiosities and freaks. He wants to be seen 00:14:27.029 --> 00:14:29.389 as a patron of the arts. And that insecurity 00:14:29.389 --> 00:14:33.110 leads him to the single biggest financial gamble 00:14:33.110 --> 00:14:36.169 of his entire life. The Jenny Lin tour. This 00:14:36.169 --> 00:14:38.169 is a pivot that makes absolutely no sense on 00:14:38.169 --> 00:14:41.129 paper. Jenny Lin was the Swedish Nightingale, 00:14:41.169 --> 00:14:44.970 a massive opera star in Europe. But in America? 00:14:45.570 --> 00:14:49.450 Virtually unknown. And Barnum himself was, by 00:14:49.450 --> 00:14:51.889 his own admission, completely unmusical. The 00:14:51.889 --> 00:14:54.330 notes say he had never even heard her sing? Not 00:14:54.330 --> 00:14:57.320 once. Not a single note. He was betting his entire 00:14:57.320 --> 00:14:59.840 fortune on a voice he had never heard. And the 00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:02.519 offer he made her was insane. A thousand dollars 00:15:02.519 --> 00:15:06.279 a night for 150 nights. Plus all expenses paid. 00:15:06.740 --> 00:15:09.419 And Lind, who is a very shrewd businesswoman. 00:15:09.879 --> 00:15:11.919 had a condition. She wanted the money up front. 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:14.639 She demanded the entire advance be placed in 00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:17.100 a London bank before she set sail. So Barnum 00:15:17.100 --> 00:15:19.500 has to scramble. He mortgages the museum. He 00:15:19.500 --> 00:15:21.480 mortgages his mansion. He's borrowing heavily 00:15:21.480 --> 00:15:23.720 from friends. I mean, if she flocks, he is completely 00:15:23.720 --> 00:15:25.740 ruined. He's back to zero. But he wasn't just 00:15:25.740 --> 00:15:28.080 selling a voice. He was selling a reputation. 00:15:28.360 --> 00:15:31.100 He was selling the idea that he, P .T. Barnum, 00:15:31.139 --> 00:15:33.379 could bring the highest form of European high 00:15:33.379 --> 00:15:36.100 culture to the American masses. It was about 00:15:36.100 --> 00:15:39.200 elevating his own brand. And the marketing campaign 00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:42.840 he launched, he called it Lindmania. It makes 00:15:42.840 --> 00:15:45.000 the marketing for the Barbie movie look subtle. 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:47.980 It was total saturation. He started a newspaper 00:15:47.980 --> 00:15:51.659 war. He held contests for poets to write songs 00:15:51.659 --> 00:15:55.139 for her. He manufactured so much hype that by 00:15:55.139 --> 00:15:57.779 the time her ship docked in New York in 1850... 00:15:57.779 --> 00:15:59.799 How many people were there? There were 40 ,000 00:15:59.799 --> 00:16:02.120 people at the pier. 40 ,000 people for an opera 00:16:02.120 --> 00:16:04.700 singer they had never heard. And another 20 ,000 00:16:04.700 --> 00:16:07.340 surrounding her hotel. She was a prisoner of 00:16:07.340 --> 00:16:09.809 her own fame before she'd even performed. And 00:16:09.809 --> 00:16:12.149 this is where Barnum's economic genius kicks 00:16:12.149 --> 00:16:15.649 in again. The demand for tickets is so high he 00:16:15.649 --> 00:16:18.049 can't just sell them at a fixed price. So what 00:16:18.049 --> 00:16:20.289 does he do? He invents the ticket auction. He 00:16:20.289 --> 00:16:22.129 auctions off the first tickets to the highest 00:16:22.129 --> 00:16:24.490 bidder. The very first ticket in New York went 00:16:24.490 --> 00:16:28.649 for $225. In the 1850s. That's thousands and 00:16:28.649 --> 00:16:31.429 thousands of dollars today. He created FOMO fear 00:16:31.429 --> 00:16:33.629 of missing out before the term even existed. 00:16:33.889 --> 00:16:36.809 And the tour was, of course, a massive hit. The 00:16:36.809 --> 00:16:39.230 source material says Barnum personally netted 00:16:39.230 --> 00:16:42.309 at least half a million dollars. Which in 2024 00:16:42.309 --> 00:16:45.789 currency is nearly 19 million dollars. From one 00:16:45.789 --> 00:16:48.889 tour. And Ginny Lind made a fortune too. A lot 00:16:48.889 --> 00:16:51.129 of which she gave to charity for schools in Sweden. 00:16:52.149 --> 00:16:54.590 But the relationship didn't last the full tour. 00:16:54.809 --> 00:16:56.870 Why not? This is where you see that friction 00:16:56.870 --> 00:17:00.090 between art and commerce. Lind eventually grew 00:17:00.090 --> 00:17:02.789 very uncomfortable with Barnum's relentless aggressive 00:17:02.789 --> 00:17:06.079 marketing. She hated the ticket auctions specifically? 00:17:06.579 --> 00:17:09.420 She hated them. She felt it was blatant commercialism, 00:17:09.420 --> 00:17:12.000 that it was pricing out the genuine music lovers 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:14.819 in favor of the wealthy who just wanted to be 00:17:14.819 --> 00:17:18.160 seen. So they parted ways? Anicably. But they 00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:20.500 did. She finished the tour under her own management. 00:17:20.859 --> 00:17:23.079 But for Barnum, it didn't matter. He had proved 00:17:23.079 --> 00:17:25.240 his point. He could sell high culture just as 00:17:25.240 --> 00:17:27.519 effectively, if not more so, than he could sell 00:17:27.519 --> 00:17:30.250 a humbug. So let's take stock here. It's the 00:17:30.250 --> 00:17:33.809 mid -1850s. Barnum is on top of the world. He's 00:17:33.809 --> 00:17:35.789 conquered lowbrow entertainment with the museum. 00:17:36.009 --> 00:17:38.309 He's conquered highbrow with Jenny Lind. He's 00:17:38.309 --> 00:17:41.069 fabulously wealthy. And he decides. I'm going 00:17:41.069 --> 00:17:43.509 to be a serious businessman now. And this right 00:17:43.509 --> 00:17:46.190 here is what leads us to what the biographies 00:17:46.190 --> 00:17:48.849 call the Great Fall. It feels like a Greek tragedy, 00:17:48.930 --> 00:17:51.710 doesn't it? The hubris. It really does. He decides 00:17:51.710 --> 00:17:53.890 he's going to develop East Bridgeport, Connecticut. 00:17:54.539 --> 00:17:57.259 turn it into this major industrial metropolis 00:17:57.259 --> 00:18:00.539 and he invests everything in the jerome platt 00:18:00.539 --> 00:18:02.839 company he wanted to be an industrialist yeah 00:18:02.839 --> 00:18:06.809 a city builder but he got He got swindled. He 00:18:06.809 --> 00:18:09.190 didn't do his due diligence and was tricked into 00:18:09.190 --> 00:18:11.269 signing guarantees for the clock company that 00:18:11.269 --> 00:18:13.450 made him liable for all of their debts. He was 00:18:13.450 --> 00:18:15.970 signing blank notes, essentially. Pretty much. 00:18:16.170 --> 00:18:19.549 And in 1856, the company went bust. And it took 00:18:19.549 --> 00:18:22.190 Barnum's entire fortune down with it. He went 00:18:22.190 --> 00:18:23.910 from being one of the richest men in America 00:18:23.910 --> 00:18:26.490 to being millions of dollars in debt. He lost 00:18:26.490 --> 00:18:29.190 almost everything. And the public reaction, it 00:18:29.190 --> 00:18:31.750 wasn't exactly a flood of sympathy cards, was 00:18:31.750 --> 00:18:34.779 it? No. The vultures came out. You have to remember, 00:18:34.900 --> 00:18:37.480 for decades, the moralists and the highbrow critics 00:18:37.480 --> 00:18:41.220 had looked down on him as this vulgar scam artist. 00:18:41.380 --> 00:18:44.500 And when he fell, they cheered. Ralph Waldo Emerson, 00:18:44.660 --> 00:18:46.940 the great philosopher, even commented on it. 00:18:47.000 --> 00:18:49.440 He did. He said Barnum's bankruptcy showed the 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:52.240 gods visible again. Ouch. That is a devastating 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:55.339 burn. It's a slap in the face. Emerson valued 00:18:55.339 --> 00:18:59.519 truth, authenticity, nature. Barnum represented 00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:03.400 artifice and commerce. So for Emerson, Barnum's 00:19:03.400 --> 00:19:05.920 failure wasn't just a business failing. It was 00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:09.500 the universe correcting a moral mistake. It was 00:19:09.500 --> 00:19:11.980 justice. Getting publicly dunked on by Ralph 00:19:11.980 --> 00:19:14.859 Waldo Emerson has to sting. But this is where 00:19:14.859 --> 00:19:17.119 Barnum really earns his reputation for resilience, 00:19:17.359 --> 00:19:19.619 right? He doesn't just hide. No, he goes on a 00:19:19.619 --> 00:19:22.140 lecture tour. And the topic of the lecture. The 00:19:22.140 --> 00:19:25.420 art of money getting. The bankrupt guy is lecturing 00:19:25.420 --> 00:19:27.539 people on how to make money. I mean, you just 00:19:27.539 --> 00:19:29.579 have to admire the sheer audacity of it. And 00:19:29.579 --> 00:19:31.789 people came to see him. They loved him for it. 00:19:31.829 --> 00:19:34.029 And he also pivoted hard into the temperance 00:19:34.029 --> 00:19:36.630 movement. He became a teetotaler and a very famous 00:19:36.630 --> 00:19:39.069 speaker against the evils of alcohol. And Tom 00:19:39.069 --> 00:19:40.950 Thumb helped him out, too. In a really touching 00:19:40.950 --> 00:19:43.789 moment of loyalty, yeah. Tom Thumb was a grown 00:19:43.789 --> 00:19:46.470 man by then, independently wealthy, and he went 00:19:46.470 --> 00:19:48.849 on tour specifically to help Barnum pay off his 00:19:48.849 --> 00:19:51.829 debts and get back on his feet. And this period 00:19:51.829 --> 00:19:54.710 of ruin and rebuilding, it also coincides with 00:19:54.710 --> 00:19:57.529 this huge shift in his politics. And this is 00:19:57.529 --> 00:19:59.190 the part of the Barnum story that really surprised 00:19:59.190 --> 00:20:02.220 me. The side of him most people have no idea 00:20:02.220 --> 00:20:04.880 about. His political career. We think of him 00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:06.960 as a showman, but he was a serious politician. 00:20:07.380 --> 00:20:10.000 He was. And his evolution on the issue of slavery 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:13.240 is fascinating because it kind of mirrors the 00:20:13.240 --> 00:20:15.359 evolution of the northern United States at the 00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:18.720 time. Early in his life as a Democrat, he was 00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:21.160 what they called a northern man with southern 00:20:21.160 --> 00:20:23.420 principles. He even admitted to owning slaves, 00:20:23.700 --> 00:20:25.960 didn't he? He did. During a period living in 00:20:25.960 --> 00:20:27.460 the South when he was younger, he owned slaves 00:20:27.460 --> 00:20:30.960 and he wrote in his autobiography about whipping 00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:33.619 them. He was fully complicit in the system. But 00:20:33.619 --> 00:20:36.380 by the 1850s, as the country is tearing itself 00:20:36.380 --> 00:20:38.940 apart over this issue, he has a change of heart. 00:20:39.059 --> 00:20:41.759 A huge one. He switches to the newly formed Republican 00:20:41.759 --> 00:20:44.960 Party. the anti -slavery party of Lincoln. And 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:47.440 he didn't just switch quietly. He became a very 00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:50.380 vocal advocate for abolition. He really did. 00:20:50.539 --> 00:20:52.400 When he was serving in the Connecticut legislature 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:55.839 in 1865, right at the end of the Civil War, they 00:20:55.839 --> 00:20:58.140 were debating the ratification of the 13th Amendment. 00:20:58.400 --> 00:21:01.680 And Barnum gave this speech that's really quite 00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:03.819 powerful. I have the quote here. I want to read 00:21:03.819 --> 00:21:06.160 it because it's such a complete pivot from the 00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:11.039 man who exploited Joyce Heff. He said, that God 00:21:11.039 --> 00:21:14.119 has created and Christ died for is not to be 00:21:14.119 --> 00:21:17.019 trifled with. It may tenant the body of a Chinaman, 00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:20.180 a Turk, an Arab, or a Hottentot, it is still 00:21:20.180 --> 00:21:23.079 an immortal spirit. I mean, that is a massive 00:21:23.079 --> 00:21:25.740 distance to have traveled philosophically and 00:21:25.740 --> 00:21:28.140 morally. He's arguing for the fundamental equality 00:21:28.140 --> 00:21:31.220 of the human soul, regardless of race or origin. 00:21:31.400 --> 00:21:34.000 It suggests genuine growth, but... And there 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:36.079 is always a but with Barnum. There's always a 00:21:36.079 --> 00:21:38.420 but. We can't paint him as some progressive saint, 00:21:38.519 --> 00:21:40.279 because while he was fighting for that, he was 00:21:40.279 --> 00:21:42.819 also trying to police private morality. This 00:21:42.819 --> 00:21:44.720 is the contradiction that is so hard to square. 00:21:44.900 --> 00:21:47.019 Later, when he becomes the mayor of Bridgeport 00:21:47.019 --> 00:21:50.859 in 1875, he runs as a moral crusader. He cracks 00:21:50.859 --> 00:21:54.460 down on liquor sales, on prostitution. And, most 00:21:54.460 --> 00:21:57.420 significantly, for American legal history. He 00:21:57.420 --> 00:21:59.440 sponsored a piece of legislation in Connecticut 00:21:59.440 --> 00:22:02.740 that prohibited the use of any form of contraception. 00:22:02.940 --> 00:22:04.900 And that wasn't just some minor law that got 00:22:04.900 --> 00:22:07.660 forgotten about, was it? No, that law, which 00:22:07.660 --> 00:22:10.480 became known as the Barnum Law, it stayed on 00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:14.039 the books in Connecticut until 1965. 1965. It 00:22:14.039 --> 00:22:15.920 was the subject of the landmark Supreme Court 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:18.940 case Griswold v. Connecticut, which established 00:22:18.940 --> 00:22:21.559 the right to privacy for married couples. So 00:22:21.559 --> 00:22:23.960 Barnum's legislative legacy directly affected 00:22:23.960 --> 00:22:26.500 privacy rights in America for almost a century. 00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:29.619 It is such a strange duality, a man who expands 00:22:29.619 --> 00:22:31.700 the world with his shows and fights for abolition. 00:22:32.299 --> 00:22:34.240 but on the other hand, tries to restrict the 00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:36.880 most private aspects of people's lives. He was 00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:39.279 a progressive on race eventually, but a Puritan 00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:41.980 on behavior. And during this same political era, 00:22:42.140 --> 00:22:45.000 he faces even more disaster. His beloved American 00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:48.960 Museum burns to the ground. Twice. Once in 1865 00:22:48.960 --> 00:22:52.059 and then again in 1868. And the 1865 fire is 00:22:52.059 --> 00:22:53.420 particularly interesting because it was almost 00:22:53.420 --> 00:22:55.819 certainly arson. Started by a Confederate sympathizer. 00:22:56.160 --> 00:22:59.960 Exactly. Barnum's very public, very vocal unionist 00:22:59.960 --> 00:23:03.259 views and his support for Lincoln made him a 00:23:03.259 --> 00:23:06.740 target. So, OK, the museum is gone. He's been 00:23:06.740 --> 00:23:09.640 bankrupt. He's been a politician. He is now pushing 00:23:09.640 --> 00:23:11.859 60 years old. Most people at this point would 00:23:11.859 --> 00:23:13.799 call it a day. They'd retire to the porch. But 00:23:13.799 --> 00:23:16.180 not Barnum. Barnum decides to start a circus. 00:23:16.460 --> 00:23:19.279 And this is where the legend that we all think 00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:22.599 we know finally begins. It's almost a postscript 00:23:22.599 --> 00:23:24.799 to his main career, but it's the thing that became 00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:27.700 his defining act. So in 1870, he launches his 00:23:27.700 --> 00:23:30.640 traveling show. And then in 1881, he partners 00:23:30.640 --> 00:23:33.599 with James Bailey. To form Barnum and Bailey. 00:23:33.799 --> 00:23:35.940 The greatest show on earth. And that wasn't just 00:23:35.940 --> 00:23:38.299 a slogan. They completely revolutionized the 00:23:38.299 --> 00:23:40.880 industry. Before Barnum, circuses were these 00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:43.359 small horse and wagon affairs. They were slow. 00:23:43.539 --> 00:23:45.940 They were local. Barnum put the circus on a train. 00:23:46.140 --> 00:23:48.599 He developed the whole system. the flat car system 00:23:48.599 --> 00:23:51.339 for efficiently loading and unloading these massive 00:23:51.339 --> 00:23:54.200 tents, all the animals, all the equipment. This 00:23:54.200 --> 00:23:56.420 allowed them to hit major cities one after the 00:23:56.420 --> 00:23:58.660 other rapidly. It turned the circus from a local 00:23:58.660 --> 00:24:01.440 event into a national industrial scale operation. 00:24:01.900 --> 00:24:04.920 And because he had so much capacity now, he could 00:24:04.920 --> 00:24:07.859 make everything bigger. He invented the three 00:24:07.859 --> 00:24:11.460 ring circus. Why three rings? What was the thinking 00:24:11.460 --> 00:24:13.480 there? It was about the attention economy again. 00:24:13.869 --> 00:24:16.250 Think about it. In a one ring circus, if they 00:24:16.250 --> 00:24:18.329 have to change the set or, you know, clean up 00:24:18.329 --> 00:24:21.730 after the horses, there's dead air. The audience 00:24:21.730 --> 00:24:25.009 gets bored. Right. Barnum realized with three 00:24:25.009 --> 00:24:27.569 rings, there's always something happening. Your 00:24:27.569 --> 00:24:30.769 eye is always moving. If you get bored with the 00:24:30.769 --> 00:24:33.180 jugglers in ring one. You can look over at the 00:24:33.180 --> 00:24:35.640 tigers in Ring 3. It's sensory overload. It's 00:24:35.640 --> 00:24:37.819 the TikTok scroll of the 19th century. You never 00:24:37.819 --> 00:24:40.240 have a second to get bored or to think. That's 00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:42.440 it exactly. A guarantee the audience felt they 00:24:42.440 --> 00:24:44.140 were getting value. Look at all this stuff happening 00:24:44.140 --> 00:24:46.140 at once. How could I possibly feel cheated? And 00:24:46.140 --> 00:24:49.900 the undisputed star of this whole new show was 00:24:49.900 --> 00:24:52.720 Jumbo. Jumbo the elephant. This was another one 00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:55.960 of his huge media moments. He buys this massive 00:24:55.960 --> 00:24:59.140 African elephant from the London Zoo in 1882. 00:24:59.380 --> 00:25:01.759 Which caused a huge international incident. The 00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:04.339 British public loved jumbo. Kids were writing 00:25:04.339 --> 00:25:06.440 letters to Queen Victoria begging her to stop 00:25:06.440 --> 00:25:09.099 the sale. The art critic John Ruskin wrote about 00:25:09.099 --> 00:25:11.539 it. It was like a national mourning. And Barnum 00:25:11.539 --> 00:25:14.960 didn't care. He loved the controversy. He thrived 00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:17.440 on it. He capitalized on it. Jumbo mania swept 00:25:17.440 --> 00:25:21.220 America. He sold jumbo hats, jumbo soap, jumbo 00:25:21.220 --> 00:25:25.099 playing cards. And then, tragically, jumbo was 00:25:25.099 --> 00:25:27.309 killed after being hit by a freight train. Which 00:25:27.309 --> 00:25:30.009 is deeply ironic considering the train was Barnum's 00:25:30.009 --> 00:25:33.690 great innovation for the circus. It is. But Jumbo's 00:25:33.690 --> 00:25:35.930 legacy lives on. You went to Tufts University, 00:25:36.329 --> 00:25:38.690 right? I did. Our mascot is Jumbo the elephant 00:25:38.690 --> 00:25:41.849 because of Barnum. Exactly. Barnum was a trustee 00:25:41.849 --> 00:25:45.210 and a huge donor to Tufts. He gave them $50 ,000 00:25:45.210 --> 00:25:47.349 to start the Barnum Museum of Natural History 00:25:47.349 --> 00:25:50.299 there. And this ties into his whole concept of 00:25:50.299 --> 00:25:52.299 profitable philanthropy. OK, break that down 00:25:52.299 --> 00:25:54.559 for me. Profitable philanthropy. It sounds like 00:25:54.559 --> 00:25:57.539 a complete oxymoron. To Barnum, it was just common 00:25:57.539 --> 00:26:00.119 sense. He believed you could do good works for 00:26:00.119 --> 00:26:03.019 the community that would also conveniently help 00:26:03.019 --> 00:26:05.579 your own wallet. For example, he spent a ton 00:26:05.579 --> 00:26:07.720 of his own money beautifying the city of Bridgeport, 00:26:07.839 --> 00:26:10.579 building parks, seaside boulevards, installing 00:26:10.579 --> 00:26:12.579 gas lighting. Out of the goodness of his heart. 00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:15.549 Because he owned most of the land. If the city 00:26:15.549 --> 00:26:17.970 was beautiful and modern, his property values 00:26:17.970 --> 00:26:20.509 went up. He was very open about this. He didn't 00:26:20.509 --> 00:26:22.630 see a conflict between public service and private 00:26:22.630 --> 00:26:24.710 profit. He thought they should go hand in hand. 00:26:25.069 --> 00:26:27.789 It's cynical, but it's effective. Everyone wins, 00:26:27.910 --> 00:26:30.210 but Barnum wins a little more. That is the Barnum 00:26:30.210 --> 00:26:32.569 way in a nutshell. So that brings us to the end. 00:26:32.670 --> 00:26:36.589 It's 1891. He's 80 years old. He's been a hustler, 00:26:36.630 --> 00:26:40.029 a millionaire, a bankrupt, a politician, a moral 00:26:40.029 --> 00:26:44.369 crusader, a global icon. How does a man like 00:26:44.369 --> 00:26:48.109 that say goodbye? With one last perfect act of 00:26:48.109 --> 00:26:51.230 showmanship. As he was lying on his deathbed, 00:26:51.410 --> 00:26:54.809 he actually asked the Evening Sun newspaper to 00:26:54.809 --> 00:26:57.710 print his obituary early. So he could read it. 00:26:57.730 --> 00:26:59.410 He wanted to read his own reviews. He wanted 00:26:59.410 --> 00:27:01.450 to know how the story ended. He wanted to see 00:27:01.450 --> 00:27:03.430 how the world was going to remember him while 00:27:03.430 --> 00:27:05.269 he was still around to see it. And his actual 00:27:05.269 --> 00:27:07.430 final words? They weren't a prayer. They weren't 00:27:07.430 --> 00:27:09.829 some profound message to his family. He turned 00:27:09.829 --> 00:27:12.440 to an assistant. and asked about the box office 00:27:12.440 --> 00:27:14.700 receipts for the circus that day. How much did 00:27:14.700 --> 00:27:17.559 we make? Basically, yeah. The hustle never stopped. 00:27:18.140 --> 00:27:21.299 Not for one second. Not even at the very end. 00:27:21.660 --> 00:27:23.920 So when we look back at this whole life, it's 00:27:23.920 --> 00:27:26.359 so easy to judge him by our modern standards. 00:27:26.539 --> 00:27:28.420 I mean, the exploitation of Joe's head is just 00:27:28.420 --> 00:27:31.940 unforgivable. The animal cruelty is hard to stomach. 00:27:31.980 --> 00:27:35.920 But he also, he democratized entertainment. He 00:27:35.920 --> 00:27:38.940 brought color and wonder to a very gray industrial 00:27:38.940 --> 00:27:41.960 world. He was a perfect mirror for 19th century 00:27:41.960 --> 00:27:44.799 America, wasn't he? He was ambitious, innovative, 00:27:45.140 --> 00:27:47.359 obsessed with growth, and sometimes incredibly 00:27:47.359 --> 00:27:50.529 cruel. He professionalized the art of hype. He 00:27:50.529 --> 00:27:52.490 understood that the truth was often less important 00:27:52.490 --> 00:27:54.789 than a good story, as long as the audience felt 00:27:54.789 --> 00:27:56.289 they got their money's worth in the end. And 00:27:56.289 --> 00:27:57.829 that brings me to the thought I really want to 00:27:57.829 --> 00:27:59.609 leave our listeners with today. We look back 00:27:59.609 --> 00:28:02.049 at those people in the 1840s, you know, lining 00:28:02.049 --> 00:28:04.349 up to stare at the Fiji mermaid, that monkey 00:28:04.349 --> 00:28:06.509 sewn onto a fish. And it's easy to think, wow, 00:28:06.630 --> 00:28:08.789 how naive were they? How could they fall for 00:28:08.789 --> 00:28:11.089 something so obvious? But then you look at our 00:28:11.089 --> 00:28:14.740 world today. Exactly. We live in an entire economy 00:28:14.740 --> 00:28:17.980 of influencers curating these perfect lives on 00:28:17.980 --> 00:28:20.660 social media that aren't real. We click on headlines 00:28:20.660 --> 00:28:22.920 that we know are exaggerated just because we 00:28:22.920 --> 00:28:26.079 want that little dopamine hit of outrage or surprise. 00:28:26.500 --> 00:28:29.380 We follow Internet drama that is so clearly manufactured, 00:28:29.660 --> 00:28:31.640 but we do it because it's entertaining. We are 00:28:31.640 --> 00:28:36.599 essentially living inside a 247 global Barnum 00:28:36.599 --> 00:28:39.160 Museum. And Barnum's whole philosophy was that 00:28:39.160 --> 00:28:42.079 these humbugs were justified. if the public was 00:28:42.079 --> 00:28:44.500 entertained by them. So the question is, are 00:28:44.500 --> 00:28:47.039 we really that different from those crowds in 00:28:47.039 --> 00:28:49.960 1842? Are we the suckers for believing this stuff? 00:28:50.160 --> 00:28:52.599 Or are we just willing participants in the show? 00:28:52.759 --> 00:28:55.400 Because deep down, we prefer the entertaining 00:28:55.400 --> 00:28:57.779 show to the boring reality. And it raises that 00:28:57.779 --> 00:29:00.220 really uncomfortable question. Is it still deception 00:29:00.220 --> 00:29:02.900 if you know you're being deceived, but you enjoy 00:29:02.900 --> 00:29:05.720 it? Barnum would say no. That is a lot to chew 00:29:05.720 --> 00:29:07.740 on. Thanks for taking this deep dive into the 00:29:07.740 --> 00:29:09.819 life of the Prince of Humbugs. It was a pleasure. 00:29:09.980 --> 00:29:10.839 We'll catch you on the next one.