Word: barnumism
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Kimball's mermaid proved to be another huge success for Barnum. In the 1840s, Barnum apparently stumbled upon the mermaid. In reality, Barnum worked for weeks to prepare his New York audience for the arrival of the creature...
Early in 1842, Moses Kimball presented Barnum with "what purported to be a mermaid." Barnum, not quite certain himself what the creature truly was, gave it to a naturalist friend for confirmation of its mermaid status. In his autobiography, Barnum describes his friend's incredulous reaction: "He could not conceive how it could have been manufactured, for he never saw a monkey with such peculiar teeth, arms, hand & c., and he never saw a fish with such peculiar fins." However, the naturalist told Barnum it must be manufactured, not because he could prove it, but because he didn't "believe...
After this pre-emptory investigation, Barnum proceeded to prepare his audience. Letters from various parts of the country suddenly began to arrive at New York newspapers, describing daily life in Montgomery, Charleston and Washington. Coincidentally, these letters all mentioned the anticipated arrival of a certain Dr. Griffin, from the Lyceum of Natural History in London, bringing with him a remarkable curiosity. Also coincidentally, the letters were all sent by close personal friends of P.T. Barnum...
Soon thereafter, Levi Lyman, alias Dr. Griffin, checked into a hotel in Philadelphia on Barnum's payroll. After a few days he invited his landlord to inspect the mermaid. The landlord, greatly excited, urged the British doctor to let a few of his friends, including several reporters, have a look at it. And, as Barnum smugly notes in his autobiography, everyone was convinced that it was a genuine article, "nor is this to be wondered at, since, if it was a work of art, the monkey and fish were so nicely conjoined that no human eye could detect the point...
...gentle Dr. Griffin was at last persuaded to bring his specimen to New York, but he refused to let it be shown at any museum. In the meantime, Barnum had three woodcuts made up, all picturing mermaids as the public imagined them; not unlike beautiful Ariel in "The Little Mermaid." He offered three New York newspapers these woodcuts, explaining that Dr. Griffin was not going to allow the mermaid to be exhibited. The papers, each believing it had an exclusive copy of the woodcut, proudly printed it in their Sunday editions. Barnum also made up 10,000 little pamphlets with...