Word: barnumism
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...thrown into House strong relief the ethics of armament makers and of those who own shares of stock in these companies of doubtful morality, yet the Senate committee makes no attempt to define any workable set of standards by which their ethics may be judged. Partly through P. T. Barnum publicity, but more because of the amazing facts that were revealed, England has appointed a royal commission to examine the arms, trade, while public interest all over the world is keener than ever before. Undoubtedly this is a good thing in principle. But just as hurried and ill considered action...
...bands of six or more to the Copley Theatre. There ye are allowed, nay, even urged, to exert your exuberance in any manner short of breaking chairs. Fit buit for your witty sallies is that touching dra-a-ama, resurrected in all its pristine glory from P.T. Barnum's American Museum, vintage 18 34,--I speak of "The Drunkard, or the Fallen Saved". Ye may hiss the deep-dyed villian, Lawyer Cribbs; ye may shout "Look out," or "Youse is a viper," as he prepares to enmesh in his toils that jewel, that unfortunate yet loyal wife of the intemperate...
...donnas who made news with every utterance, set fashions in food and dress, left vivid memories with every song they sang. Old men still live who remember pious Jenny Lind when she trilled in gaslit Castle Garden, a protégée of that amazing Yankee, Phineas T. Barnum. Adelina Patti was singing at the old Academy of Music on 14th Street when broughams first brought Vanderbilts and Astors to the shiny new doors of the Metropolitan Opera House...
...years the Technicum has been training clowns, acrobats, jugglers and bareback riders for the 150-odd circuses which are perpetually junketing up & down & across the Soviet Union, furnishing entertainment which the "little brothers" like almost as well as cinemas. To U. S. circus troupers, toughened in the service of Barnum's, the Technicum's method of training is apt to seem funnier than the serious-minded clowns it produces...
...nurse proves to be a fake but the museum prospers. Presently Barnum has a bigger one where General Tom Thumb does a minuet with his tiny wife. Bailey Walsh goes to purchase Jumbo from the London Zoo. When he returns with Jenny Lind (Virginia Bruce) instead, Barnum's troubles start. A Swedish masseur teaches him a toast. When he uses it at a banquet, Jenny Lind thinks he is trying to insult her. She scuttles back to Sweden, the neglected museum goes bankrupt, and Barnum is forlornly slouching on a park bench when his old friend General Thumb discovers...