P.T. BARNUM Biography - Other artists & entretainers

 
 

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P.T. BARNUM

Name: Phineas Taylor Barnum                                                         
Born: 5 July 1810                                                                   
Died: 7 April 1891                                                                 
                                                                                     
Phineas Taylor Barnum (July 5, 1810 - April 7, 1891) was an American showman who   
is best remembered for his entertaining hoaxes and for founding the circus that     
eventually became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Barnum never       
flinched from his stated goal "to put money in his own coffers." He was a           
businessman above all else, his profession was pure entertainment, and he was       
perhaps the first "show business" millionaire. He never said "There's a sucker     
born every minute" as is famously ascribed, but his rebuttal to his critics was     
often "I am a showman by profession...and all the gilding shall make nothing       
else of me." Although famous for his brazen self-promotion and blatant             
puffery, he understood his times and profited from them brilliantly.