WHO WAS P.T. BARNUM?

Phineas Taylor Barnum, known more simply as P.T. Barnum, was a famous producer of entertainment exhibits. He also organized a circus in 1871, called "The Greatest Show on Earth," which required 500 men and horses to move it from one city to another.

Barnum made his entry into show business in 1835 by exhibiting a black woman said to be 161 years old and also professing to have been George Washington's nurse. The sideshow exhibit was a great success.

Later he opened Barnum's Museum in New York City, where his exhibits included a woolly horse, the Fiji Mermaid, a bearded lady and Gen. Tom Thumb, a midget who became world famous.

In 1844 Barnum took Tom Thumb to Europe and exhibited him before Queen Victoria and at the French Court.

Barnum brought Jenny Lind, "the Swedish nightingale," to America in 1850 and paid her a fortune: $1,000 a night for a 150 city concert tour. Barnum himself made several fortunes on the deal.