P.T. Barnum and his Side Show

P.T. Barnum was a powerhouse in advertising during this period and some argue the greatest promoter of all time. The Side Shows he promoted are not so politically correct today, but these performers were very happy with their lifes. They were some of the highest paid entertainers of the day. Although Barnum died by 1981, his legacy continued with articles on his life and the medium that made him famous - The Side Show.

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Excerpt from the New York Tribune, May 22, 1904

IN the world of amusement enterprises the circus "freak" alone seems certain of lasting popularity. The elevation of a giant, the size of a midget, the figure of a human skeleton or a fat girl, are literally their fortunes. A play or a performance of any kind soon becomes monotonous, and loses its attraction a "freak" never. It is now more than half a century since the first exhibition of freaks was collected and exhibited by P. T. Barnum. These celebrities were photographed as early as 1858. In their quaint, old-fashioned clothes they are figures of actual historic interest.

The original freaks in nearly every instance were native American products. The great drag-net which the showmen have since spread to gather freaks from all parts of the world had not yet been set. In comparison with the most cosmopolitan of modern freak shows, however, the original Barnum forces will be found to compare very favorably. And an absolute compassion is possible, for the various dimensions of the freaks, the height of giants and of midgets, the weight of fat girls and the boys, are carefully preserved in the annals of the circus, much the same as tin- past performances of horses are recorded at the race-track.

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The Giantess - Annie Bates

Patrons of the circus of the last generation will remember the once famous Nova Scotia giantess, Annie Bates. Her figure looms up big in the memory of all survivors of the circus and museum audiences of half a century ago, for obvious reasons. Annie (the diminutive was always added to her name) was a sweet young thing, seven feet and eight inches in height and large in proportion at the time of her wedding, which was the season of her greatest popularity. Her's was a large, motherly figure; her nature was simple and wholesome. Her photograph suggests the matron at the head of a large family on a farm, rather than the great attraction at a side-show. Annie traveled about the country for several years, and finally met her fate in the person of Captain Van Buren Bates of Kentucky. They were married in London, and on their wedding tour traveled on the continent. Bridal couples, it is said, are usually easy to recognize: certainly no young couple ever attracted more attention. The husband was a large man, measured by ordinary standards - only about eighteen inches shorter than the bride. In later years the conventional size of houses andfurniture proved so irksome to Annie that she built a home to fit her proportions, with furniture and everything to match. The house stood for many years near Cleveland. Ohio. There was not a door in it which I need stoop to enter. She died in 1883, after traveling for ten years with Admiral Dot.

The Giant - Noah Orr

Every country in the world has been since ransacked to discover some giantess to replace the robust Annie, but without success. Ella Ewing is taller, but not nearly so ponderous, nor so pleasing. In discovering mere giants the showmen have been far more fortunate. Noah Orr, who was from Ohio, was for many years the tallest and bulkiest known giant in the world. His height was not remarkable in comparison with modern standards – he was a trifle over seven feet high - but his enormous bulk corrected the impression and challenged respect. He tipped the scales at five hundred sixteen pounds. He was well proportioned, broad-shouldered and well set-up, and was employed for years to serve as a foil to the famous Mrs. Tom Thumb. The extremely ill matched pair stood together at performances throughout the country for years. Subsequently he appeared with Admiral Dot in "Jack be Giant Killer." Orr amassed a considerable fortune, and finally retired to a firm that he had bought in the central part of New York state, where he died many years ago. Measured merely by his extreme altitude, the tallest of the giants of the old days was the famous Baltimore giant. He rose to a height of seven feet one and a half inches, in recent showmen have discovered and imported giants more than nine inches taller than the giants of fiftyyears ago, over whom the whole country marveled. Chang, the Chinese giant, was the forerunner of a number of these gigantic importations.

What the giants have gained in height in the modern circus the midgets have lost. There are several so-called midgets connected with the same circus today who would have been dwarfed beside the little people of half a century ago. Public taste in these matters has become more critical, and yet the midgets of a past generation attained a fame unrivaled in our day. The Baltimore Giant

General Tom Thumb

The name of Tom Thumb, for instance, is a house-hold word. It is an interesting fact that although he was a "bouncing boy" at birth, tipping the scalesat nine and a half pounds, he did not continue to grow naturally after he was seven months old. From that time on his growth was so slow that it was almost imperceptible. Even at the time of his first engagement with Barnum, in 1842, he was not more than two feet tall and weighed less than sixteen pounds. But at the time of his death, which was caused by a stroke of apoplexy, he Weighed seventy pounds, and measured forty inches in height. His wife added to her proportions with succeeding years, being a little shorter than her husband at her marriage, but increasing to his exact height in Later life, however, only fifty pounds. Two years after his death, in I883, she married Count Primo Magri, an Italian dwarf, but survived her first husband only five years. Tom Thumb's unusual success seems to have been increased by his charming little personality. He was intelligent, active, full of pleasing little mannerisms and winning ways, and it is related to him that at the age of nineteen he had kissed one and a half million women.

On the right - Annie Jones

But, most noteworthy of all the incidents connected with the lives of these little people was their wedding, which took place in Grace church, New York on February 10, 1863. No wedding has ever been seen in this fashionable church in which the costumes were more elaborate and the conventional details of the occasion more rigidly observed. It was described as the "grand marital event of the week, and one of a lifetime." for not only did it unite the two smallest people then known, but two other Lilliputians, Millie Warren, sister of the bride, and Commodore Nutt, graced the occasion by acting as the attendants of the bridal couple. Then, the immortal P. T. Barnum and other dignitaries" were present, and those comprising the congregation of the church were all society's elect, the women "in full opera costumes while the men wore "dress coats and white neck cloths. It must have been a sight worth seeing to behold the dainty little quartet upon the platform, three feet high, that had been erected in front of the alter to accommodate their diminutive proportions.

To the right Isaac Sprague

P.T. Barnum is also the same showman who brought us the human skeleton, Isaac Sprague, a feature which scores of museums all over the world have since included in their attractions.

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The ad below appeared in the Daily evening bulletin, Maysville Ky. in 1886

The fine print reads:

Largest and Richest Amusement Enterprise on the face of the Globe

FAREWELL TOUR - Barnum- bid's Adieu to His American Patrons:

I regret being forced to take away from my fellow citizens an exhibition which they have enthusiastically appreciated and lavishly patronized, but the amusement-seeking people of Europe demand the opportunity of seeing this combination, which has a worldwide reputation, and no counterpart in any country. I have made all arrangements and contracts for its transportation, in its vast entirety, across the Atlantic. My able and experienced partner will conduct this unparalleled enterprise under my personal supervision. The public's obedient servant,

PHINEAS T. BARNUM