P. T. Barnum Essays

  • P. T. Barnum

    1977 Words  | 4 Pages

    P. T. Barnum 	Phineas Taylor Barnum reinvented the circus. His knowledge of what people want and how to make people think they want what he had was amazing. He constantly fooled people and had a way of making the customers come back. Barnum was ultimate salesman. He single handedly turned the circus into the "Greatest Show On Earth" it is today. 	P. T. Barnum was born in Bethel, Connecticut on July 5th 1810. He later called himself a "Yankee doodle dandy, plus one." He was the oldest of five

  • A Streetcar Named Desire Rhetorical Analysis

    1210 Words  | 3 Pages

    Blanche is heard singing ‘It’s a Barnum and Bailey world, Just a phony as it can be—’. ‘Barnum’, is an exophoric reference to the Barnum effect, from entertainer P. T. Barnum—a notorious hoaxer, that meant to accept vague information. In addition, by using the word ‘phony’ the concept of half-truth, hoaxes and deceit, foreshadowing to her fate to people’s

  • Freak Show History

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    The thought of the circus sideshow acts seems like a hazy memory in the history of America. However, many television programs are recreating a modern version of P. T. Barnum’s freak shows. People today have the same curiosity or maybe even more curiosity than the people of the past to see these types of shows. The strangest part of today’s society is that there has never been a time when viewing the strange was so accessible. Therefore, my personal perspective is that freak shows still exist in the

  • Rosemarie Garland Thomson's Extraordinary Bodies

    761 Words  | 2 Pages

    21st-century audience. During the era of P.T. Barnum, the stars of the freak show were those that were visibly deformed, the more extraordinary their disability, the more successful of an act they were (Thomson). Thomson notes that eventually the extraordinary moved from “portent to pathology”, the freaks of the 19th and 20th-century became the medical specimens of the 21st-century (Thomson). As moral values shifted in modern day society, Rose

  • The Lost Museum Research Paper

    1091 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Lost Museum Entertainment and art has always been an American past time, people are very curious beings and what better entertainment is there than exploring the lives of other people? The entertaining showman, Phineas Taylor Barnum made this possible when he opened his own museum in 1841. The American Museum was located in New York City and quickly became an extremely popular place for all kinds of people to visit to be dazzled by the amazing and unknown. The exhibits were full of facts and

  • Sideshow USA: Modern Freak Shows

    1004 Words  | 3 Pages

    However, while “freak shows” no longer have the same level of popularity, they have been able to attract a small audience and make a nice living for themselves. For example, Rachel Adams, author of Sideshow U.S.A: Freaks and the American Cultural Imagination, describes modern “freak shows” by stating, “Aware that scarcity or impending extinction are certain crowd pleasers, freak shows advertise not only the rarity of individual attractions, but the more general enterprise of human exhibition itself

  • Barnum And Bailey Circus: The Greatest Show On Earth

    610 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Greatest Show On Earth Many Americans call the Barnum and Bailey Circus “The Greatest Show On Earth.” For years, Hundreds of people have bought tickets to see the amazing spectacle of a Barnum and Bailey Circus. The circus has two different shows that the present in various cities around the United States. The first is called Circus eXtreme and the second is called Out Of This World. Both shows have many amazing acts including the famous Ringling Elephants. The shows are about two hours long

  • The Talented P.T. Barnum

    1506 Words  | 4 Pages

    Because P.T. Barnum catered to the public’s desire to be entertained, he paved the way for entrepreneurs in the entertainment industry. While P.T Barnum may be a name that at first may seem unfamiliar, one realizes that we are exposed to Barnum’s legacy every day. Which American has never heard of the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus, or never eaten Barnum animal crackers? Or which American hasn’t seen Toddlers and Tiaras, of which the concept of beauty and baby pageants was invented by

  • Why Are Freak Shows Popular

    1155 Words  | 3 Pages

    The beginnings of what people know as “freak shows” began with the Colloredo Twins. Lazarus and his brother Joannes where conjoined twins the toured Europe in the mid-17th century. The twins became minor celebrities and even performed for the court of King Charles I of England. Their popularity, no matter how minor, is where the niche audience for “freak shows” was discovered. “Freak Shows” are shows that displayed people with many different talents or gifts and the performers ranged from sword swallowers

  • PT Barnum: Circus Pioneer and his Modern Equivalent

    1138 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is one of the most popular shows in the United States. One of the founders of the circus, Phineas Taylor, or PT Barnum, did start running shows with a circus. Instead, he began with the famous American Museum in New York. He also became well known for forming a group of “freaks” who he would take on tour around the world. The American Museum became an incredibly popular entertainment venue in New York until it burned down in 1865 (Maher). A very popular

  • Circus Posters of P.T. Barnum and The Ringling Brothers

    1160 Words  | 3 Pages

    Before there was the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey and their Greatest Show on Earth there was just P.T. Barnum and the Ringling brothers each with their own traveling circus. Barnum’s circus was originally known as P.T. Barnum’s Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan and Circus, which was unveiled as the largest American circus in 1870 and quickly became a hit (Barnum’s Timeline). Then in 1881 Barnum, James Bailey, and James Hutchinson partnered up to create P.T. Barnum’s Greatest Show

  • The Virtue Of Business Case Study

    1085 Words  | 3 Pages

    honesty, virtue and quality. In other words, promoting the business principle that “ethical behavior is good for long-run profitability” (p. 47). In the article, case studies for Barnum & Bailey’s Circus, Whole Foods, and BB&T Bank, were presented to “illustrate how the market rewards virtuous behavior, even without consumers trying to do so” (Kotkin, 2010, p. 47). Barnum & Bailey’s Circus reformed the deceitful and negative reputation of the circus industry by selling tickets for reasonable prices, employing

  • The Circus

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    A circus is an arena for acrobatic exhibitions and animal shows. Usually circular and surrounded by tiers of seats for spectators, a circus may be in the open air but is usually housed in a permanent building or sheltered by a tent. The term circus is also applied to the performance itself and to the troupe of performers. The entertainment offered at a circus generally consists of displays of horsemanship; exhibitions by gymnasts, aerialists, wild-animal trainers, and performing animals; and comic

  • intro to lit

    1864 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Literature is one of the most interesting and significant expressions of humanity.” This is a popular quote by P. T. Barnum (“Barnum”, n.d.). In this quote P. T. Barnum is saying that literature in one of the most important aspects to human kind. Most of the time people read a piece of literature and don’t truly dig deep and feel what the author was intending, like in older pieces of work. First, a person should read a story. Then, they should ask themselves, “How did that make me feel and why did

  • Objectification And Sexualization Of Beauty Pageants

    990 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first beauty pageant can be traced back to P. T. Barnum in 1854, this competition was merely based on looks and was very small. As beauty pageants grew in popularity Barnum hosted many pageants, most of them had no talent or intellect portion. As the years flew by, many types of pageants began to take form. Many of these pageants had a children's portion. One of the most popular types of beauty pageants for children are glitz pageants, these kinds of pageants are known for their risque costumes

  • Eli Clare Freaks And Queers Analysis

    1059 Words  | 3 Pages

    mentions various words, like handicapped, cripple (crip), gimp, amongst others, which have come to be accepted by the disabled community. He says, “cripple makes me flinch…but I love crip humor, the audacity of turning cripple into a word of pride” (p. 83). Some of these words, like queer for the LGBT community, are used as a means of agency and community for minority groups. But he also turns to the ugly side of language, which can be used to decrease and erase the worth of an individual. He mentions

  • Brooklyn Bridge Essay

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Brooklyn Bridge Over the East River in New York City stands the Brooklyn Bridge, connecting the Brooklyn and Manhattan boroughs. From end to end, the bridge spans 6,016 feet and weighs a heavy 14,680 tons. Ever since construction on the Brooklyn Bridge was completed in 1883, the bridge has offered a safe route with scenic views to tens of thousands of tourists and commuters who have traveled it via train, car, pushcart, and bicycle. The history behind the Brooklyn Bridge is definitely intriguing

  • The New York Crystal Palace

    1488 Words  | 3 Pages

    The New York Crystal Palace: The Great Exhibition of Art and Industry "The Crystal Palace is a partial picture of the age; an exposition of the comforts and luxuries, the manners and attainments which belong to our civilization." -B. Silliman & C. R. Goodrich (The World of Science, Art and Industry at the Crystal Palace, New York, 1854) On July 14, 1853, the Great Exhibition of Art and Industry began in New York City, New York, with the commemoration of the Crystal Palace, the central exhibition

  • Castle Garden Must Be Heaven, for My Ancestors Came Through There

    1028 Words  | 3 Pages

    Garden morphed into a concert hall. For a few glorious years, it showcased the fireworks, concerts and talent of the day. In 1850, Swedish soprano Jenny Lind made her American debut at Castle Garden, promoted by none other than P. T. "There's-One-Born-Every-Minute" Barnum. But What About the I... ... middle of paper ... ... the summer of 1975, it opened its doors foor the first time in 34 years. Eleven years later, although somewhat beneath the castle's dignity, the National Park Service began

  • Psychology: Personality Theories

    1730 Words  | 4 Pages

    self-directed search. Advances in vocational psychology, 1 pp. 55--82. Loue, S. and Sajatovic, M. 2007. Encyclopedia of aging and public health. New York: Springer. Mccrae, R. R. and Costa Jr, P. T. 1997. Personality trait structure as a human universal. American psychologist, 52 (5), p. 509. Mccrae, R. R. and Costa, P. T. 1989. Reinterpreting the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator From the Perspective of the Five-Factor Model of Personality. Journal of personality, 57 (1), pp. 17--40. Morley, M., Moore, S., Heraty