Video: Shocking exhibits of the Barnum Museum: how the "grandfather" of modern show business entertained the audience in the 19th century
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Name Phineas Taylor Barnum well known in the world of show business. This American entrepreneur is considered to be the "grandfather" of the modern entertainment industry. Barnum went down in history thanks to the circus, where people with extraordinary abilities, freaks and outlandish animals from all over the world performed. However, Barnum had another brainchild - American Museum, a grand exhibition center with shocking exhibits!
The American Barnum Museum, in addition to the actual museum exhibits, included a zoo, a freak show, a lecture hall, a theater, and a wax museum. All this could be seen for a nominal fee of 25 cents. Barnum was convinced that it was possible to broaden the horizons of visitors in various ways, including shocking, surprising, giving ground for thought.
The idea of making money by entertaining the public was born to Barnum in 1835. Then he bought the first "exhibit" of his future collection - a blind and almost completely paralyzed black slave named Joyce Heth. Despite the fact that the woman was about 80 years old, Barnum wrote a legend according to which she was twice as old and nursed George Washington himself. The audience came to look at Joyce with interest, but the woman was destined to live only a year. Barnum successfully wrote the continuation of the legend: so, according to rumors, it was in fact a mechanical doll. After Joyce's death, Barnum put on another public show - an autopsy that was supposed to establish the truth.
The experience with Joyce was so successful that Barnum decided to open a whole museum of outlandish people and things. The museum was opened in 1841, was located on Broadway in the building of the former museum, which belonged to the entrepreneur Skudder. To draw attention to the newly opened museum, Barnum turned on the lamps that illuminated Broadway, hung flags on the building, and placed images of animals between the windows. He turned the roof of the museum into a blooming garden, from where the strolling visitors could admire the beautiful panorama of the city. Balloons were also launched from the roof from time to time.
The exposition of the Barnum Museum was regularly updated. One of the museum's trademarks is a mermaid from the Fiji island, archaeological artifact, which was a mummified body of a giant fish with a monkey's head sewn to it.
Another famous "exhibit" of the museum was the most famous dwarf in the world, General Tom-Tam … Barnum bought a midget from childhood, taught him singing, dancing and pantomime, so that he could entertain the audience in the future.
Among the other freaks of the Barnum Museum were: Siamese twins Chang and Eng and the tallest couple in the world Anna and Martin Bates
… The albino family also performed in the museum.
The public was offered to watch the performances of fortune-tellers, phrenologists, and magicians. The program included a performance of trained bears, visitors could see a white whale in the pool, there were also halls with exotic birds, mammals, reptiles, insects and inhabitants of the deep sea. The exposition included an exhibition of paintings, a hall with crooked mirrors, a hall with mummies and historical artifacts, with precious stones and minerals. Also on display were fossils, skeletons, weapons and shells. On one of the floors one could visit an exhibition of wax figures of famous historical figures. The theater at the Barnum Museum hosted performances for the whole family.
The museum was very popular. For 15 hours of a working day, the record of visits could reach 15 thousand people! To "unload" the halls, Barnum resorted to a trick, hanging signs with the unusual word "Egress", which meant exit. Many visitors followed the arrows and ended up on the street, in order to get back to the museum, they had to pay for a ticket a second time.
The history of the museum ended tragically in July 1865. The building was engulfed in fire. Wild animals, trying to escape, jumped out of windows, but were doomed to die from police bullets. Many were burned alive in the enclosures, two belugas died when the water in the pools boiled. The firefighters did not so much put out the fire as they tried to carry away the surviving curiosities. No people were hurt by the fire, but the museum was completely destroyed. According to one version, the arson was carried out by ill-wishers.
After some time, Barnum made an attempt to restore the museum, but it was burned down a second time. After that, the legendary entrepreneur decided to organize the most grandiose show on the planet - Barnum's Circus. human zoos, there you could see Bushmen, Indians, Eskimos, Zulu, Nubians and other representatives of "uncivilized" peoples.
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